Chapter 137
Chapter 137
Qin Lan had already guessed it.
From the moment he detected that faint mental fluctuation, he had formed an expectation.
Yin Manqing, the Anomaly Hunter who had come infinitely close to five stars…
Perhaps she hadn’t died as the records claimed.
Instead, she might have used some method to attach the last remnants of her mind and will to this uniform!
Qin Lan didn’t know what she had experienced, but it must have been a moment of utter despair. Otherwise, she would never have gambled everything on such a method to escape death.
“What an astonishing technique. Her entire being was reduced to one remaining trace of consciousness, dependent on a single object, yet she still survived…”
Qin Lan was deeply shocked.
Had his Spirit not been absurdly high, he could never have heard those two whispers.
Moreover, he was completely certain that Yin Manqing was alive.
Only a living target could satisfy the activation conditions for Call the Parents.
Holding the combat uniform, Qin Lan found it impossible to calm down.
“Her mental fluctuations are too weak to detect now… She’s lain dormant for so long, barely clinging to life for over a decade. Maybe her power is already exhausted…”
“What could I use to wake her?”
After a brief moment of thought, one item immediately came to Qin Lan’s mind.
[Pure Heart]
It appeared on the Anomaly Hunter Bureau’s internal exchange list and cost a staggering 1,500 Bureau points, comparable to the corpse of a four-star anomaly.
Pure Heart wasn’t manufactured or extracted. It was a unique resource found only inside an unsolvable instance.
Its effects were simple–strengthening mental power and repairing mental trauma.
“Mental trauma” didn’t mean something like an unhappy childhood. It referred to irreversible damage caused by severe attacks upon the mind.
For example, if Qin Lan had used slightly more strength when interrupting Song Lingyan’s skill, she wouldn’t have regained consciousness after only half a day.
She would have lain in bed like a vegetable, tormented by unending mental agony.
It would be like a scar being torn open again and again, never allowed to heal.
Pure Heart happened to repair such damage, which was why it cost so much.
“Tsk. If only I’d saved a few three-star anomaly corpses.”
Qin Lan felt rather regretful.
During the battle at the rift in Safe Zone 088, Qin Lan had drained every anomaly he killed into a desiccated corpse, wasting not one trace of curse energy. Consequently, he hadn’t earned many Bureau points from them.
If he wanted to buy a Pure Heart, he would have to find another way.
“This is the Central Region, thousands of miles from the Fallen Zone. I can’t reach it anytime soon…”
Qin Lan rubbed his temples, thoroughly troubled.
It seemed he would need a long-term plan.
At that thought, Qin Lan glanced at the combat uniform lying quietly across the bed. “It survived over ten years. Waiting a little longer shouldn’t make a difference, right?”
“Probably…?”
…
In the cafeteria, Qin Lan and Su Xiaoyue sat together eating breakfast like any other couple.
Oddly enough, perhaps because both of them were hopeless beginners at love, they had fallen into a strange state that was awkward without quite being awkward ever since their mouths last communicated directly.
Qin Lan had no idea how couples were supposed to show affection. His conversations with Su Xiaoyue were limited to low-quality exchanges like, “Have you eaten?”
Su Xiaoyue was also thin-skinned. Taking the initiative to establish their relationship last time had already required a rush of blood to the head… No, that was putting it mildly. Her brain must have been on fire to act so impulsively.
Once she calmed down, she felt too embarrassed to behave with such abandon again.
Thus, despite sitting close together, they maintained a bizarre atmosphere.
Anyone passing nearby sensed that strange aura and couldn’t help taking another look.
“Is she still not here?” Qin Lan asked indistinctly around a bite of steamed bun.
Su Xiaoyue checked her phone and looked helpless. “She says she’s almost here… I already told her it was just a misunderstanding and didn’t matter, but she insists on apologizing in person…”
The “she” they spoke of was Su Xiaoyue’s good roommate, Yu Qianqian.
After hearing the entire story from her best friend, Yu Qianqian finally understood–she had been breakdancing across Qin Lan’s minefield the entire time.
The thought that she had badmouthed Qin Lan to his face and even encouraged him to cuckold himself made her vision go dark.
What the hell had she done?!
Especially after Qin Lan casually crushed several experts who enjoyed some fame at the academy.
That only made everything worse for Yu Qianqian. She wondered whether it was too late to kneel and beg.
Fortunately, Qin Lan had plenty to do and couldn’t be bothered arguing with her.
“Qianqian, over here.”
Su Xiaoyue looked up, spotted Yu Qianqian at the cafeteria entrance, and immediately waved.
Yu Qianqian hurried over at once.
“Um, Brother Xue… No, Brother Qin Lan… I want to apologize for everything stupid I did before…”
Yu Qianqian’s small face had gone pale, and even her voice trembled.
“I shouldn’t have said all those awful things. I was being incredibly stupid. Please don’t take any of it to heart…”
“If you want to yell at me, go ahead. You can hit me too, but please don’t hit too hard…”
Yu Qianqian lowered her head, looking ready to cry.
Qin Lan found her shrinking posture amusing, so he deliberately darkened his expression.
“Really? Then can I beat you half-paralyzed?”
“Get ready to spend the rest of your life in a wheelchair!”
Yu Qianqian’s head snapped up in terror.
“Huh???”
Su Xiaoyue poked Qin Lan irritably and reassured her.
“Don’t listen to his nonsense. He’s teasing you.”
Qin Lan cheerfully bit into his bun. “I really was planning to beat you up, but since Xiaoyue asked, I’ll let it go.”
Yu Qianqian finally sighed in relief, her taut nerves relaxing.
She had genuinely feared Qin Lan would beat her.
Considering her frail body, she probably couldn’t survive a three-star Anomaly Hunter’s abuse.
“We’ll be leaving soon,” Su Xiaoyue said with a gentle smile as she checked the time. “We should be back tomorrow.”
“Professor Xu gave me a ticket to the tournament. If you’re interested, you can come watch.”
Yu Qianqian’s eyes lit up.
“Really?!”
“I can watch the Nine Academies Tournament in person?!”
Su Xiaoyue took out the gold-embossed admission ticket and handed it over with a smile. “Of course.”
Yu Qianqian received it as though cradling a bar of gold, unable to contain her excitement.
“That’s the Nine Academies Tournament! Every academy’s freshman geniuses will be there…”
“I heard this year’s prizes are more valuable than ever!”
As she examined the ticket, Yu Qianqian continued chattering.
“I read online that the United Government places great importance on this tournament. They specifically took a lot of valuable things out of storage to reward the winners…”
“Cursed artifacts, top-grade Spirit-Elevation Serum, and even things I’ve never heard of before. Something called Pure Heart…”
Qin Lan froze in the middle of drinking his soy milk.
“What?”
He could hardly believe his ears. “Say that again. What’s among the prizes?”
“Pure Heart???”