Chapter 12: Penalty of Death

Sudan suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood, panic flooding her eyes as she cried out, "W-What... what is happening..."

Before she could finish her sentence, a jet of blood suddenly gushed from her neck. Clutching the ball, she convulsed a few times before collapsing lifelessly, her death filled with lingering resentment.

"Ah..." Screams erupted from the crowd of Class 1-6. After all, they had only just begun playing this game, and seeing someone die was still a rare and terrifying sight. Fear gripped each and every one of them in that moment.

"What's going on? Why did Sudan die for no reason?" Wang Hu roared.

"It must be Class 1. They definitely pulled some dirty trick," a female student said viciously.

Since this was a match against the students of Class 1-6, it was only natural for the classmates to share a bitter hatred of the common enemy and view Class 1-6 with hostility. No matter how many internal conflicts they had, the moment an external enemy appeared, human instinct united everyone against the foe.

"Damn it, they actually cheated! Sudan clearly stopped the ball, yet she died," Jiang Jiewei pulled out a dagger and glared fiercely at Liu Neng as he spoke.

"Hey, what are you guys talking about? Want to fight?"

"Damn it, so they're in the second year. What's so great about being a grade higher than us? There are more of us."

"Damn it, say another word and we'll slice you up."

The students of Class 1-6 began shouting back and forth, practically itching for a fight.

Wang Hu and the others were about to step forward to brawl when Zhang Xiaofan shouted, "Stop, all of you!"

"Brother Xiaofan, they've gone too far."

"That's right, they cheated."

Zhang Xiaofan shook his head and said, "You're all wrong. Sudan brought this death upon herself."

"Brother Xiaofan, how can you say that?"

"Yeah, Sudan was killed because of the match, how can you talk about her like that?"

Everyone looked at Zhang Xiaofan in utter confusion, disbelief written across their faces.

Zhang Xiaofan said in a painful tone, "Have you all forgotten? This match never designated a goalkeeper, which means no one is allowed to touch the football with their hands. That rule was stated right from the beginning! And Sudan—she broke the rule!"

Ding!

Bao Lei: Student Zhang Xiaofan is truly clever! Sudan touched the football with her hand, a foul, and thus received the penalty of death!

Because of Sudan's foul, Class 1-6 wins the first round! The second round will begin in three minutes!

Everyone stared in shock at the message in the group chat. Only then did they remember that Sudan was not a goalkeeper—or rather, there was no goalkeeper at all in this match. By touching the ball with her hands, she had indeed committed a foul!

"Haha... What an absolute idiot, fouling like that." Class 1-6 pointed at Zhang Xiaofan and the others, laughing uproariously.

"They were just accusing us of cheating. I have to wonder, do they watch too much Detective Conan?"

"I'd say so. Their IQ is so low it's unprecedented."

The smug remarks from Class 1-6 infuriated Wang Hu and the others, stirring up their righteous indignation as they shouted threats to go over and teach them a lesson.

"Shut up, all of you! The situation is already against us. Do you still want to go over and distract Lin Rou and the others?" Zhang Xiaofan yelled fiercely.

Su Qianqian said nervously, "Now there are only five of us left, and the opponent has scored another goal. That means they only need to defend well and stall for half an hour to win."

"This is bad. Lin Rou, please don't let anything happen to you." Zhang Xiaofan watched the field. Moments later, the three minutes were up. With the group chat prompting the start of the match, it was Lin Rou's turn to kick off, and she immediately sprinted forward.

However, her footwork was far inferior. Several times, due to excessive force, she kicked the football right to the opponents' feet. Fortunately, Lin Rou was fast and quickly drove the ball into the enemy penalty area.

It was obvious that Liu Neng had adopted a defensive strategy this time; everyone was standing right in front of the goalmouth, clearly prepared for a desperate defense.

"Ah Fei, go try to intercept her," Liu Neng said to a sturdy man.

The burly man called Ah Fei nodded, rushing forward with a ferocious expression as he sneered, "Little girl, with an ass that big, I bet someone stretched it out by groping you."

"Haha..." A roar of laughter erupted from the group of first-year students.

"Bastard, he's intentionally messing with Lin Rou's state of mind," Hu Xiaoning said, clutching a set of copper coins. He desperately wanted to divine the outcome for Lin Rou and the others, but he was too nervous to quiet his mind.

"Don't panic, Lin Rou won't be rattled so easily," Zhang Xiaofan said in a deep voice.

On the field, Lin Rou had already dribbled the football to a halt right in front of Ah Fei. A cold smile suddenly curved across her lips, and she swiftly dashed to the right. Ah Fei let out a cold snort and charged at her, but with a flash, Lin Rou skirted right past him.

"Haha, I saw that trick coming! That's just retarded behavior for people like us who play football all the time."

Ah Fei laughed loudly. Just as Lin Rou thought she had evaded him, Ah Fei suddenly slammed his shoulder into her. Caught off guard, Lin Rou was knocked back a few steps, and the next moment, the football was in Ah Fei's possession.

"Brother Liu Neng, catch!" Ah Fei passed the ball back.

Liu Neng laughed heartily and gave Ah Fei an enthusiastic thumbs-up!

"Damn, they actually used physical force!" Wang Hu roared angrily.

The students of Class 2-4 glared furiously at the pitch. If that guy Ah Fei hadn't suddenly slammed into Lin Rou, how could the ball have been stolen so easily?

At this moment, after receiving the football, Liu Neng maneuvered it with the agility of his own arms, nimbly shifting its direction as he instantly bypassed Lin Rou and surged rapidly into her team's penalty area.

Chunying panicked. She hadn't expected the opponent's soccer skills to be this good; in the blink of an eye, they were about to score again.

"Bang!"

Liu Neng finally struck the ball hard, sending it grazing past Chunying before it crashed heavily into the back of the net.

"Yay!"

Instantly, the entire Class 1-6 burst into thunderous cheers. Class monitor Li Yunfeng shouted joyfully, "Our Class 1-6 is the strongest! We're definitely going to crush the second-year class!"

"Yay..."

The students cheered happily, while the students of Class 2-4 stood there like frosted eggplants, their eyes filled with despair and disappointment.

"We're done for, we're done for. They've already scored two goals, and not only have we not scored any, but we also have one fewer person than them. It's over," a male student beside Zhang Xiaofan said with a pale face.

"Wuwu... We've survived so many red envelope games, only to lose to these newbies, wuwuwu..." a female student cried out in terror.

"Stop crying, it's so damn annoying," Wang Hu said irritably. He looked over at Zhang Xiaofan and said, "Xiaofan, think of something! You're our class leader now."

Zhang Xiaofan watched the pitch, racking his brains in agony. How could they possibly break this deadlock?

Whether in speed, explosive power, or soccer skills, this Liu Neng far surpassed Lin Rou and the others—not to mention that Liu Neng also had an exceptionally fast female teammate by his side.

If this continued, Lin Rou and her team would definitely lose!

He checked the time; only ten minutes remained.

Seeing that Zhang Xiaofan hadn't reacted after a long while, Wang Hu looked angrily toward the pitch and said, "If all else fails, let's just beat these bastards to a pulp."

Zhang Xiaofan quickly stopped him, saying in a low voice, "Are you out of your mind? Have you forgotten what the penalty for a foul is?"

"But if this keeps up, Lin Rou and the others are definitely going to lose!"