Shi Lang held the pen between his fingers and said, “Loser.”
His words fired up the student, but the cold gaze from the young man in front of him was akin to a fire extinguisher. He did not dare to even look him in the eye, but Shi Lang did not care and said, “Today is my first day at the job and all of you were handed to me. Do you know what they said when they told me I have to teach you? They said that you all are problematic children they cannot deal with.
I thought, since I do not know much about you, I should not judge you and slowly work things out, but who knew that you had to seek out trouble? People who do not know their limits and yet they try to outplay people above them are tagged as losers. So, congratulations, you all have earned this tag.”
The classroom was silent, and the students were angry, but they were aware that their strength was not as high as this guy, so they did not cause a ruckus. Suddenly one of the students said, “If you are so good then come at us with your strength limited to the same level as ours?”
Shi Lang looked at the student with a strange gaze and started laughing as if he heard the best joke of the century. The student was flushed with embarrassment and Shi Lang calmed down after a few minutes and asked while pointing at the guy, “What is your name, oh bright child of heaven.”
The student knew that Shi Lang was making fun of him on purpose but an angry teenager inside him did not want to bow down and said, “Theseus.”
Shi Lang nodded and said, “Have you ever watched a tiger hunt?”
Subconsciously, the whole class shook their heads. Shi Lang nodded and said, “Go ahead and check the videos of a predator hunting weak prey, and feel free to check how the same kind of predator attacks a much weaker prey.”
The class sprang into action and they operated the holo-comps to find the videos of hunting beasts. They were all problematic children, but that did not mean their brain was lax in IQ. Quickly they found that even if the size and strength of their prey differed, the effort they put in was always the same.
When the students raised their heads, Shi Lang was standing in front of the table, leaning against it with his hands crossed in front of his chest and he asked, “What did you learn?”
Theseus said in a low voice, “A hunter attacks its prey with full strength regardless of the size.”
Shi Lang nodded and said, “Good analysis, but you missed something. In this class, I am the hunter while you all are the prey. Since one of you dared to go against me, let me show you all once and for all, what will happen if you dared to do this again.”
As soon as his words dropped, pressure emitted from Shi Lang and it targeted the students. The faces of the youngsters turned pale and they started sweating in an instant. Shi Lang did not put any pressure on their heads and allowed them to look at his visage with their eyes filled with horror.
He took this treatment one step forward and hopped off the podium and began strolling in the class, and he said, “This pressure you are feeling is just a tenth of what I can exert on your puny physiques. Yes, I can kill you all, if I wished. It is the first day and I do not know anything about you, so let me put it out here right now.
If you have trouble, feel free to come and ask me for help. I want you all to learn well, to ensure that I will help you deal with stuff outside your academics. If you are lacking in resources, I will show you the way to earn them. If you have family troubles, I will talk to your parents and have them keep it between themselves.
I am not a godly being to solve it all for you, but I am not a devil that will watch you all suffer. However, if you love to create trouble, then take a mental note that you should do your best to not get caught, if I caught you, I will teach you a good lesson.
Oh, and just so you know, if I did not catch you, the whole class will suffer for your action and the punishment will be more severe. So, make sure that you keep your urges in check, otherwise, someone might rat you out and then you will suffer even more.”
As he finished his monologue, he took back the pressure, some students were on the verge of passing out, while all of them were panting with Shi Lang’s words ringing in their ears. This sensation was terrifying and terrible. They did not want to suffer it ever again in the future.
Shi Lang sat behind the table and asked, “I do not understand, why are you all even willing to stay at the bottom of the food chain.”
Then, there was no then. He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes to meditate. His words were not a question but they were like hooks for the fish in his class. A simple sentence could sometimes leave more effect than a tormenting session of humiliation.
Shi Lang had no intention to look at the students, he simply left them to stare at him in a daze.
…
Principal Edwards decided to take a round of the school and see how the classes were going. Most importantly, he wanted to check if Shi Lang was able to tame the students or was he struggling. Thinking about the past exploits of this young man, Edwards wanted him to suffer a setback so that Shi Lang could learn to be more low-key.
The moment he was close to the class, Shi Lang sensed his presence and said, “Open your book for Federal criminal laws and look at it. You do not have to read, I do not worthy for me to teach you and you do not wish to learn anyways. Just keep up the facade.”
The students cooperated, and they turned on the Holocomps to open the book. Shi Lang leaned back in his chair and asked, “Yo! Theseus, what happens when you breach someone’s privacy?”
Theseus was stunned by the question and then the slacker’s instinct kicked in and the boy searched the book of law and found the topic and said, “According to the FCL, which is the federal criminal law code, the person found guilty for the breach of privacy can be sentenced to either pay a fine of fifty thousand credits or serve a hard sentence in a prison for three months.”
Suddenly a student said, “Damn that harsh? So if I sneak a picture of Mellow Star, she can call the cops on me?”
A girl asked, “Mellow Stark? That vanilla flower? You boys surely have no class, it is good that you will go to prison. Let me lay down a ground rule if any of you punks tried to sneak on other girls. You are all going to prison. Cause our parents are definitely not going to pay the fine.”
The girls in the class agreed to this while the males protested when suddenly Shi Lang slapped the table and asked, “Do you know what will happen if you all annoyed me?”
Instant silence, Shi Lang nodded and leaned back in his chair, and the students let out a sigh. Suddenly, they discovered an intranet chat feature. Before this, they were all busy with trouble and standing outside the class and did not pay attention to this feature. It was like a new world for them.
Just like that, a discussion thread was opened and they began talking about the federal laws. All sorts of crimes and laws were discussed as well as the punishments for those crimes. They even went on to mention a few crimes that they thought should exist and what the punishment should be. They were having a great time, but what they did not know was that the early discussion happened to be heard by the old general, who thought that Shi Lang was a monster to tame these demonic fiends.
Suddenly, Shi Lang said, “Time for the practical class. Let’s go.”
The students were engrossed in discussing laws and this sentence poured cold water on their excitement. Shi Lang stood up and said, “You all can go and run amok in the corridors, I know you all like to be looked down upon. Feel free to fulfill your masochist tendencies. Keep a distance from me.”
He was giving them jabs of humiliation and letting them understand that he was the stronger one and thus they will have to hold back and endure. They were in to learn things the hard way.