Chapter 58

A rather ordinary-looking, seemingly thin and pale Caucasian boy was currently sprawled on the bathroom floor, making a very ungraceful gesture. ▲∴

Several tall, muscular Caucasian boys were standing around, laughing and joking. Some were taking photos with their phones, some were scolding the bullied boy, and others were occasionally kicking him.

The bullied Caucasian boy's face was swollen and covered in blood, indicating that he had been beaten severely.

Jin Xuntao narrowed his eyes. Seeing this, he felt it was necessary to step in and stop it.

It wasn't that Jin Xuntao wanted to stand up for the victim, but as a 'middle-aged man' with a soul over thirty years old, he couldn't just turn a blind eye to such a situation.

At that moment, because of Jin Xuntao and Omar's intrusion, the few bullies all looked at them with unfriendly and hostile expressions.

Jin Xuntao was completely unmoved by their hostile and strongly malicious gazes.

What a joke! A grown man, would he be scared by a few glares?

Jin Xuntao was utterly dismissive of it!

But just as he was about to speak and say something to stop the bullies, he was suddenly pulled forcefully by Omar and dragged out of the bathroom.

Caught off guard, Jin Xuntao was pulled and dragged all the way out of the bathroom by Omar.

After leaving the bathroom, Omar didn't stop but continued to drag Jin Xuntao away from the cafeteria, all the way to the small square lawn outside the high school section of the academy. Only then did Omar stop, his face pale with fear, and he collapsed, panting heavily. He looked at Jin Xuntao with a terrified expression and said,

"It's the school bully, Nathan. Oh my God, thank goodness I reacted quickly and pulled you away, or we would both be in trouble."

Pulled by Omar, Jin Xuntao tried to break free several times but failed, so he only managed to 'liberate' himself now.

Hearing Omar's words and seeing his terrified face, Jin Xuntao felt a bit annoyed.

But considering that Omar was also a teenager, and at his age, it was normal to be afraid when encountering such a situation and someone like Nathan, Jin Xuntao's resentment towards Omar dissipated.

"Wait here, I'll be right back."

Ignoring Omar, Jin Xuntao turned to head back.

"What are you going to do!"

Seeing Jin Xuntao turn and walk back, Omar, who was sitting on the lawn, quickly stood up and ran to Jin Xuntao's side, pulling him forcefully again.

"Let go, I need to go back and stop those people."

"Are you crazy? Nathan will kill you. He really will do it. That guy is a notorious lunatic."

Omar was terrified by Jin Xuntao's crazy idea. He never expected his new friend to actually want to get involved with Nathan.

If it were someone else, Omar wouldn't care, but Jin Xuntao was already his friend. As a friend, he couldn't let him do something foolish.

"No! You can't do this. Nathan is not someone you can provoke."

Omar refused to let go, holding onto Jin Xuntao's coat with all his might, leaving Jin Xuntao helpless.

"Omar! Do you think your behavior is right or wrong? Don't you understand the difference between right and wrong?"

"There are many people who dislike Nathan in school, but even more are afraid of him. This isn't the first or second time Nathan has done this. Even the school can't do anything about him. What can we do? Especially since his father and brother are members of the Aryan Brotherhood. Provoking Nathan will really get you into big trouble."

Omar, who was holding onto Jin Xuntao, rambled on about a lot of information about Nathan, one of which made Jin Xuntao's eyes flash with a cold light.

Aryan Brotherhood?

Jin Xuntao had some knowledge about this organization after coming to this timeline.

It was a well-known organized crime group in the United States of this parallel timeline, with a strong racial bias. They advocated white supremacy and used extremely cruel and bloody methods, making them a feared organization.

Nathan, the school bully, and his father and brother were members of this organization, which clearly meant they were violent individuals.

Given such a father and brother, it was understandable that Nathan would be a bully at school with a strong tendency towards violence.

But even so, what could be done? Could he just pretend he didn't see it?

No!

Since he had seen it, he couldn't pretend it didn't happen, acting like an ostrich.

Moreover, bullying in school was wrong. If it was wrong, someone needed to stand up and stop it. Even if it didn't succeed, it would set an example for the majority of students, showing them how to act and how to face such behavior.

If everyone acted like turtles, how could they expect others to stand up for them when they were the victims?

Furthermore, the more silent everyone was, the more the bullies would feel successful, leading them to believe that everyone was a potential target for bullying.

Jin Xuntao wasn't a saint, but he knew there were some things he couldn't ignore, especially when he encountered them.

Thinking further, his daughter was still young and would eventually go to school.

What if bullying became more rampant, and his daughter faced such a situation?

Struggling free from Omar, Jin Xuntao stubbornly returned to the cafeteria and ran straight to the bathroom.

Unfortunately, the bathroom was now empty except for bloodstains. Clearly, the bullies and the victim had already left.

Sigh!

Looking at the blood on the floor, Jin Xuntao could only sigh in his heart, feeling ashamed and regretful for not standing up to the bullies when he had the chance.

"Jin, I'm here, don't be afraid!"

Just as Jin Xuntao stood in the bathroom, feeling ashamed and regretful, Omar pushed open the door and ran in, his face full of fear.

Omar's expression was distorted with fear, making him look even more ridiculous. But Jin Xuntao noticed that Omar was clenching his fists, as if ready to fight, and understood something.

When Jin Xuntao met Omar's concerned gaze, he smiled with relief.

Indeed, although Jin Xuntao had learned that Omar had many flaws in their brief time together, he was reliable in critical moments.

Jin Xuntao could see that Omar had mustered up a lot of courage to follow him back.

Moreover, from his expression and actions, it was clear that Omar was prepared to take a beating with him.

As for fighting back?

Jin Xuntao didn't think Omar was capable of that.

But regardless, for his friend, Omar had temporarily set aside his fear of Nathan and stood by his side, showing that he was worth befriending.

At least, he wasn't the kind of person who would abandon you.

"We're too late. It seems Nathan and the others have already left."

Jin Xuntao's voice was tinged with disappointment as he looked at Omar's eyes and said with regret.

Phew!

Although Jin Xuntao was disappointed at not arriving in time, Omar was greatly relieved.

After all, he had gritted his teeth and, for Jin Xuntao's sake, had come prepared to take a beating.

This outcome was not bad in his view.

Nathan and the others had left, so he and Jin Xuntao didn't have to confront them.

Ha, this was something to be happy about.

As for the unlucky victim, oh, he just had bad luck.

Although he was happy inside, Omar didn't show it on his face. "Let's go. Since Nathan is gone, what are we still doing here?" Omar walked over, put his arm around Jin Xuntao's shoulder, and led him away.

After leaving the cafeteria, Omar said to Jin Xuntao, "I was really scared. You don't know, I was prepared to take a beating. Nathan is a member of the boxing club, and his punches hurt. But I couldn't abandon my friend, so I had to come. How about that, I'm a good friend, right?"

What could Jin Xuntao say to Omar's self-praise?

Getting him to this point was already quite good, and Jin Xuntao couldn't be too demanding.

After all, Omar had no such obligation.

And they had just met and become good friends.

"Does this kind of thing happen often at the academy?"

Jin Xuntao changed the subject and asked about the bullying incidents at the school.

"It doesn't happen often, but it's not rare either. After all, our Monica Academy is located in the southern suburbs, near the border between Monica City and Los Angeles, close to the South Central area of Los Angeles, which has serious gang problems. So, many students with gang issues attend our school, and it's not surprising that such problems occur."

Omar, who grew up in Compton, the birthplace of the notorious Bloods gang, knew a lot about this and explained the reasons in great detail.

Faced with Omar's detailed explanation, Jin Xuntao remained quiet, feeling a bit disappointed.

"I didn't expect that high schools in this parallel timeline's United States aren't as idyllic as they seem."

Through Omar's explanation, Jin Xuntao realized that this was quite different from his imagined American high school life, leading to a bit of disappointment.

Indeed, Omar seemed to have the racial talent for 'information gossip,' making it easy for Jin Xuntao to gather a lot of information from him.

Thus, as Omar explained these matters to Jin Xuntao, they entered the teaching building to start their afternoon classes. Despite the small incident at lunchtime, Jin Xuntao's mood wasn't affected.

When they arrived at the classroom for the afternoon session, half of the 22 students had already ended their lunch break and were waiting for class to start.

The new student, Jin Xuntao, was still being treated cautiously by the others, and no one spoke to him. Only Omar, the oddball, had quickly become good friends with Jin Xuntao and was planning to introduce him to the 'brotherhood' after school.

"I'm Yang Weiwei, from China. I'm an international student. Are you an international student too? Korean? Japanese? Or from another country?"

When changing classrooms, students could choose their seats freely. One of the five Asian students, an Asian girl, had taken the seat next to Jin Xuntao.

Since class hadn't started yet, the girl, after observing Jin Xuntao, finally couldn't resist and started a conversation.

Oh, there's a Chinese student in the class. After hearing her introduction, Jin Xuntao felt a sense of familiarity.

After all, she was a compatriot, so feeling familiar was natural.

But when Jin Xuntao thought about the fact that he had been given a fabricated life trajectory and false history by the unscrupulous alien elementary school student, he could only respond in heavily accented Mandarin.

"I should be from China, I guess. I'm not sure because I grew up in an orphanage. The nuns said I was found outside the St. Juan Convent in California, with only a jade pendant on me, nothing else to prove my identity.

As for why I think I might be from China, it's because of the Chinese character on my jade pendant..."

"I'm sorry, I didn't know about your background," the girl, Yang Weiwei, frowned, looking pitiful, and apologized to Jin Xuntao with her hands clasped together.

But then, Yang Weiwei couldn't resist her curiosity and asked, a bit embarrassed, "Why does your Mandarin have such a strong Northeastern accent?"

Indeed, Jin Xuntao deliberately spoke in a strong Northeastern accent, which naturally raised such a question.

"I used to work in a Chinese restaurant and learned Mandarin from a chef who said he was from Northeast China..." Jin Xuntao was deliberately speaking in a Northeastern accent, just to tease this little compatriot, so he made up a story on the spot.