Hearing the president, Zhao Rong said with a laugh, "So, if we defeat the 18 Bronze Men, we can join your club for free, but if they defeat us, we each pay a hundred-yuan membership fee to join?"

The president nodded, pointing to the 18 Bronze Men behind him. "Exactly."

Zhao Rong burst out laughing. "Mr. President, I think it's best to keep things peaceful. There's no need to fight. Why don't we each just pay you a hundred yuan and join the club? That settles it, right?"

The assistant also chimed in, "Yeah, if the five of us fight your 18 Bronze Men, we'd just end up on bad terms."

Realizing that Zhao Rong's group had no intention of fighting his 18 Bronze Men, the president insisted, "No. Even if you defeat them, these are the rules of our Martial Arts Club, and they must be followed."

Hearing such a bizarre rule, Lili, who was standing behind Zhao Rong, rubbed her hands together gleefully. "Brother Zhao Rong, since the president is insisting that the five of us give his 18 Bronze Men a thrashing, then it would be rude not to oblige."

Once she finished, Lili thought to herself, These 18 Bronze Men look formidable, all painted gold to be intimidating, but they're actually a bunch of frail weaklings. They won't be able to withstand a single blow.

Yu Lan also stepped forward, agreeing with Lili. "Brother Zhao Rong, instead of wasting our breath arguing with the president, let's just accept the challenge from the 18 Bronze Men. It'll save us the trouble."

After she spoke, Xuelian thought to herself, Although Zhao Rong is the best fighter among us, we ladies aren't just for show. At the very least, we're all tenth-level cultivators, while those 18 Bronze Men aren't cultivators at all. They don't even seem to have basic martial arts training. So why should we be afraid of their challenge?

Xuelian then struck a "White Crane Spreads Its Wings" pose and addressed the 18 Bronze Men. "Once the fight starts, don't blame us for hitting you. Your own president demanded it."

Seeing that his team members were all eager to fight, Zhao Rong stopped bothering to argue with the president. He made an immediate decision. "Since the president insists we fight his 18 Bronze Men, then let's fight."

With that, Zhao Rong told his assistant, Lili, Yu Lan, and Xuelian to get ready. A battle was about to erupt.

However, just as Zhao Rong was about to make a move, the assistant and the three women stopped him. "Brother Zhao Rong, you don't need to handle these 18 Bronze Men. The three of us and the assistant are more than enough."

Hearing this, Zhao Rong said with some concern, "Alright, you go ahead and fight them. I'll watch from the sidelines. After all, I tend to hit too hard. If you can beat them, great. If you can't, I'll jump in immediately."

But before Zhao Rong could finish his sentence, the 18 Bronze Men charged forward.

Facing the oncoming group, the assistant said, "I'll take the six tallest guys among them. The remaining twelve shorter ones are for you three ladies—that's four each."

At his word, the three women divided their targets and engaged the 18 Bronze Men. The assistant found himself fighting six of them alone. Facing a fierce attack from the six tall and imposing men, he just chuckled. "Just bring it on. Watch me take you all down."

The assistant prepared for a tough fight, yet when the six men reached him, their movements seemed to freeze, becoming incredibly slow.

The assistant couldn't help but feel amused. Isn't this just an open invitation for me to thrash them?

With a left punch, a right hammer-fist, and a flurry of kicks, the assistant took down all six Bronze Men in no time.

Not to be outdone, the three women—Lili, Yu Lan, and Xuelian—swung their fists with vigor. To their surprise, the Bronze Men were incredibly easy to defeat, and they were all knocked to the ground in a flash.

When Zhao Rong saw what happened, he was completely stunned. He gasped, thinking to himself, What the hell? Are these really the legendary 18 Bronze Men? They're way too easy. The assistant and the girls took them down before I even had a chance to move.

After defeating the 18 Bronze Men, the assistant, Lili, Yu Lan, and Xuelian rushed over to Zhao Rong. The five of them hugged and high-fived, exclaiming, "Awesome, we won! Looks like we can join the Martial Arts Club for free now!"

Overjoyed, Zhao Rong turned to the nearby president. "Mr. President, we've defeated your 18 Bronze Men. Can we join your Martial Arts Club for free now?"

The president chuckled, seemingly more pleased than not that Zhao Rong's group had beaten his men. As he walked toward the fallen figures, he said to Zhao Rong, "No problem, you don't have to pay the membership fee. But since you injured my 18 Bronze Men, you'll have to cover some medical expenses and damages, right?"

Just then, another student who had joined the club quietly approached them and whispered to Zhao Rong, "You guys are so naive. Everyone who joins the club chooses to lose to the 18 Bronze Men. That way, you just pay a hundred yuan and you're in. But you chose to actually fight them… I have no idea how much this is going to cost you."

Hearing the student's words, Zhao Rong and his group had a sudden, dawning realization.

As they stood there, stunned, the club president walked over. He pointed to one of the men lying on the ground. "This man is over sixty years old! How could you beat him up like this? You'll have to give him something as compensation for his emotional distress."

He then pointed to another man not far away, who was rolling on the ground. "This one was born with epilepsy. Your violent beating just triggered a seizure. The least you can do is give him some money so he can go to the hospital and get treated."

At this moment, a short, stout Bronze Man walked over to the president. "President, what about me? Don't forget about me!"

Hearing him, the president turned back to Zhao Rong. "This man here suffers from impotence. His wife complains about it constantly. He just recently had some treatment at a urology clinic that was starting to help, but your beating just now caused a relapse. You should at least give him enough money to go back to the hospital and get his condition treated, don't you think?"

The man, playing his part, began to cry. "It's true! My wife is always fighting with me over this. She's even threatened to divorce me!"

Seeing this spectacle and hearing their words, Zhao Rong and his group couldn't help but suck in a sharp breath.

The assistant, filled with indignation, stepped forward. "We came here with good intentions to join your Martial Arts Club! How can you stoop to such filthy tricks to extort money from us?"

Lili was even more adamant about not paying. "If you had asked us to donate to the club's activity fund, we might have considered it. But we will not pay a single cent to a group that uses such despicable means to get rich!"

Yu Lan, however, tried a different approach. She looked at the old man on the ground and said, "Sir, were you hired by this president to help him extort money? If you expose him, we can help you."

Xuelian, meanwhile, showed great concern for the impotent man. She walked up to him and asked kindly, "If you have a medical condition, we can help you pay for treatment. But you can't use that as an excuse to blackmail people for money, can you?"

Although the assistant and the three women were unwilling to pay, Zhao Rong felt that despite the president's vile and extortionate behavior, they were still the ones who had knocked the men down. Regardless of the circumstances, he decided he should do the right thing and be an honest person. Sometimes, taking a small loss was for the best, so he resolved to pay their medical expenses.

Going against his friends' advice, Zhao Rong asked the president, "Alright. Since we injured your men, how much do we owe for medical fees? Just name your price."

Hearing that Zhao Rong had agreed to pay, the president said excitedly, "For the old man, one thousand. For the impotent man, five hundred. And for the one on the ground with epilepsy, two hundred."

Hearing President Wu Tao's demands, Zhao Rong thought to himself, All in all, it's only a few thousand yuan. I might as well just give it to them. A sum this small won't make me rich or poor. The important thing is to be an honest, upstanding person.

So, Zhao Rong nodded at the president. "That's not much. Fine, I can compensate you."

Hearing that he was willing to pay for the damages, the president gleefully took out his phone. "Do you want to use WeChat Pay or Alipay?"

Zhao Rong used neither. He simply pulled several thousand yuan in cash from his Magic Ring. "I've got a lot of cash on me lately. I'll just pay you in cash."

Seeing the thick stack of bills in Zhao Rong's hand, the president looked like he wanted to snatch it away. "Cash is even better! Quick, give it to me!"

But just as the president reached for the money, Zhao Rong suddenly pulled a photograph from his pocket. "I'll give you the money, sure. But first, you have to give me some information. Do you recognize the person in this photo?"

The president took the photograph, looked at it, and said in surprise, "Boss, isn't this a picture of me?"

Zhao Rong smiled. "I'm not an idiot. If I already knew this was you, would I still be here asking? I'm asking if you've seen anyone at this school who looks similar to this person."

The president thought for a moment. "I remember a kid who practices Brazilian jiu-jitsu. He looks a bit like this person. Are you looking for him?"

Zhao Rong, recalling the young man he had just fought, said, "I just gave that kid a beating. Think again. Is there anyone else who used to look like this person, but whose face suddenly changed?"

Hearing Zhao Rong's words, the president suddenly remembered someone. "You know, now that you mention it, there was someone like that. When he first joined our club, he looked a lot like the person in your photo. But later, it was as if he suddenly had a completely different face. It really surprised me."

Sensing a lead, Zhao Rong immediately asked, "Can you tell me where he is? I'll go find him right now."

At this, Wu Tao turned and pointed to a man in the distance lifting barbells for leg exercises. "The man you're looking for seems to live in the same dorm as that guy over there. Go ask him."

Hearing this, Zhao Rong and his group immediately went over to question the man exercising his leg muscles.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by lotustale.com