Hey, Mr. Peter, you're about to enter high school, why are you still so down in the dumps?"
Hearing the lively teasing, Peter Parker lifted his head, which was almost buried in his chest, and looked at the source of the voice.
The newcomer was a young girl with golden hair shining brilliantly in the sunlight, complementing her snow-white skin. The girl was smiling brightly, even showing her slightly uneven front teeth, which was quite adorable. Although the girl tried to hide it, Peter still saw worry in her Water-colored eyes.
And he, reflected with a face full of sorrow.
"I'm fine, Gwen." Peter really disliked Gwen's current expression, not that he disliked her, he detested himself in those eyes—weak and timid. "Really… I'm fine."
Peter said he was fine, but his sorrowful face was obvious to everyone.
"Are you really okay? Peter, we're friends, tell me and I can help you." Gwen looked at Peter worriedly, then she seemed to think of something.
"Did those jerks bully you again?" Gwen asked through gritted teeth.
Peter Parker was a prime target for the bad boys at school: skinny, timid, wearing thick glasses, and orphaned. To those jerks, Peter was their ideal victim.
Facing Gwen's question, Peter just lowered his head, adjusted his glasses with his hand, concealing the vexation in his heart.
Peter hated his own weakness; every time he was bullied, Gwen was the one who helped him chase those jerks away. Those jerks would say he was a coward who could only be protected by a girl.
Gwen just looked at Peter; if he nodded, she would rush to those people's homes to get him justice. But Peter remained silent, as if burying his head in the sand like a…
"Ostrich!" A sudden voice broke the silence between the two. Gwen looked at the source of the voice, while Peter buried his head even deeper.
"Larry." Gwen looked at the newcomer with disgust after recognizing him.
The newcomer was dressed in baggy hip-hop clothes, with black skin and dreadlocks, walking with a swagger as if he had stepped on a live wire. Two other black men, similarly dressed, followed behind him.
"Oh, please don't look at me like that, we're classmates after all." Larry walked over and casually put his hand on Peter's shoulder, acting like old buddies, then shifted his weight, putting all his body weight on Peter.
Peter was only about 1.6 meters tall, similar to Gwen, while Larry was 1.78 meters. Coupled with Peter's slender build and Larry's robust one, Peter's face turned red from the pressure.
"Larry, let go of Peter!" Gwen, seeing Peter drenched in sweat, immediately walked up to rescue him.
However, Larry's two cronies consciously stepped forward and blocked Gwen.
"What are you doing!?" Gwen looked at the three of them with shock and anger.
"What are we doing? We're about to separate. You two good students are going to high school soon, while poor little Larry can only go help his family with work. From now on, we can say we're going our separate ways. Can't we old classmates reminisce with the great genius now?"
Larry's tone was sarcastic, winking and grimacing as he spoke, making Gwen want to punch him.
"I said, let go of Peter immediately!" Gwen said sharply.
"Oh! Our top student looks down on poor little Larry, unwilling to even leave us a little warmth." Facing Gwen's warning, Larry made a startled expression, then immediately burst into laughter.
"Alright, alright, Mr. Ostrich, go back to your warm sand pile." With that, Larry moved his hand from Peter's shoulder to his back, then pushed hard. Peter, unprepared, stumbled forward and fell.
"Peter!" Gwen, blocked by the cronies, couldn't catch Peter in time and could only watch him fall to the ground.
Watching Peter on the ground, Larry laughed heartily, and the other two cronies joined in the laughter.
"Ow!"
"Ah!"
Gwen, fueled by anger, raised her right knee and slammed it hard into the crotch of one of the cronies. Before the other could react, she used her bag to hit the other person's face, then, while they were both recovering from the pain, she ran towards Peter.
"Peter, are you okay?" Gwen ran to Peter and helped him up, noticing some scrapes on his face.
Just as Peter, who had been helped up, was about to speak, he saw a foot coming from behind Gwen. Peter pushed hard, and Gwen narrowly avoided the foot, but Peter himself took the hit. The foot kicked him hard in the stomach, making him fall again.
Gwen turned her head and saw that the two cronies had already come up behind them. One hand, whose crotch had been attacked, was still covering it; the kick had come from the person whose face was hit by the bag.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, Miss Gwen, that wasn't funny just now." Although Larry said it wasn't funny, the smile on his face never disappeared.
"Although we are good classmates, and jokes between classmates are acceptable, jokes should have a limit." Larry walked over with one hand in his pocket, swaggering, forming a pincer movement with the two cronies, surrounding Gwen and Peter.
Gwen looked at the three who had surrounded them, her hand slowly reaching into her pocket, wanting to call her Father for help, but she found it empty. She then remembered that her phone was in her backpack, and she had just thrown her backpack out; it was now lying quietly not far behind the two cronies.
"What do you want?" Gwen looked coldly at Larry. Although she appeared brave, her hand hidden in her pocket was actually trembling.
"What do I want? You ask me what I want?" Larry sounded as if he had heard a funny joke. "My friends each got a hit, of course, it has to be returned."
"Fine! Then I'll let you hit me back!" Gwen said loudly, also emboldening herself.
"Oh, Miss Gwen, your Father is a Police, I wouldn't dare hurt You. You two, for my sake, just take it out on Mr. Ostrich." Larry smirked, looking at Peter, who was leaning against the wall, recovering from the pain.
"No, if you have the guts, come at me." Gwen hid Peter behind her, warily watching the two slowly approaching them.
"Cough, cough, help… help!" Behind Gwen, Peter, who had just recovered, yelled loudly for help.
With Peter's shout, Gwen also reacted and quickly started calling for help.
The two cronies looked at Larry in a panic. Larry, however, was not flustered at all and instructed the two: "Hurry up and hit them, then run, and it'll be over. We're all minors, what's there to be afraid of?"
Larry's words seemed to reassure the two. One of them reached out to grab Gwen, wanting to pull her away and then beat Peter.
"Cough, cough! What are you doing?" Just as the person was about to grab Gwen and Gwen was preparing to resist, a questioning voice came from the alley entrance.
'Someone's here.' Gwen's heart rejoiced, and she continued to shout loudly: "Is anyone there! Someone here is trying to attack us!"
"Fk! What a time to interrupt." Larry cursed, then looked at the newcomer.
"What, it's just a Yellow-skinned monkey." Larry saw that the newcomer was just one person, a Yellow person leaning on a stick, and scoffed, signaling the other crony to block the person, then continued.
"Hey! Hey! Yellow cripple, this isn't where you should be, get lost." The crony, receiving the instruction, quickly walked up to the Yellow person and yelled at him.
Yang Le watched the black man gesticulating wildly in front of him. After hearing what he said, he didn't hesitate and raised his stick, striking the man in the crotch.
With a smack, the man immediately clutched his crotch with both hands and fell to the ground, passing out before he could even let out a scream.
All the men present, except Yang Le, instinctively clutched their crotches.
And Yang Le just flicked his stick and said faintly.
"Is the farm tool speaking?"