Chapter 138
Chapter 138
Qin Lan snatched Su Xiaoyue’s phone.
He flipped back and forth between the item description on the prize list and the exchange list on his communicator. At last, he confirmed it.
It truly was that [Pure Heart].
A treasure worth 1,500 Bureau points, one that only Anomaly Hunters of three stars or higher were authorized to view, was simply being offered as a prize?
Was the United Government really that wealthy?
On second thought, it made sense. If the geniuses of the various academies didn’t join the Anomaly Hunter Bureau, most were recruited by the United Government.
Over the long years, it must have accumulated an enormous force of its own.
Obtaining a few rare items would be no great difficulty.
“I really can’t underestimate the United Government…” Qin Lan sighed.
Su Xiaoyue immediately guessed what he was thinking.
“Why? Do you need that Pure Heart badly? Is it important to you?”
Qin Lan instinctively turned and met Su Xiaoyue’s shining eyes.
She blinked with faint anticipation, like a kitten waiting to be praised.
Only Qin Lan ever saw this side of her.
Faced with those mesmerizing eyes, Qin Lan swiftly shook his head.
“Uh, no. It isn’t actually that important… I’m just surprised to see one here.”
Su Xiaoyue still looked suspicious, so Qin Lan hurriedly emphasized his point.
“It really isn’t that important! Don’t worry about it!”
“I have other ways to get one.”
Qin Lan had good reason to be nervous. Pure Heart was the prize awarded to the contestant who placed fifth.
Given Su Xiaoyue’s strength, both Qin Lan and Xu Minghu believed she could compete for the top three, perhaps even first place.
Qin Lan genuinely worried this girl might suffer a rush of blood to the head and deliberately give up a higher ranking just to obtain a Pure Heart for him.
She truly might do something like that.
The prizes were distributed according to individual rank.
Although participants competed in teams during the Nine Academies Tournament, their individual performance was also carefully recorded.
For example, if several members of your team were deadweight but you were absurdly strong and dragged them all the way to third place overall, your individual score might far exceed those of other competitors.
This system prevented any genius from being buried and allowed everyone to display their full strength.
After all, the Nine Academies Tournament aimed to cultivate prodigies capable of rivaling the Middle Five Halls and Top Three Institutes, not merely determine academy rankings.
“All right…” Su Xiaoyue looked slightly disappointed.
Qin Lan tapped his fingers on the table and sank into thought.
Fifteen hundred Bureau points wasn’t too much. He only needed to find a few three-star instances, kill several anomalies, and bring them back… The problem was that he lacked time.
Once he entered an instance, the time passing outside became unknown. It might be several hours or several days.
There was still no news from Xue Chuan, either. Qin Lan didn’t dare rashly enter the Fallen Zone during this period.
If he missed the appearance of that unsolvable instance’s entrance and lost his only chance to save Xue Chuan, he might regret it for years.
But if he waited too long…
Qin Lan didn’t know how long the tiny fragment of consciousness inside the combat uniform could endure.
According to his senses, “Yin Manqing” had grown even weaker after releasing those two mental fluctuations. They had clearly consumed a great deal of its power.
In other words, Qin Lan had to find some way to obtain the Pure Heart at the Nine Academies Tournament.
“I don’t belong to any of these academies, and changing the participant list at the last minute isn’t realistic… But I don’t want Su Xiaoyue to give up this opportunity to distinguish herself either…”
Qin Lan frowned in thought. “What if I trade with whoever places fifth? Buy the Pure Heart from them? But I don’t own anything valuable enough to exchange…”
Then Qin Lan remembered something he had forgotten in a corner.
[Mistake Notebook]
The four-star cursed artifact he had obtained from the Dead Silence Academy instance.
“This is valuable… but a four-star cursed artifact is worth far more than a Pure Heart, even more than the corpse of a four-star anomaly.”
“If I trade it away… That would really hurt.”
Qin Lan grimaced in pain.
A four-star cursed artifact might not be especially useful to him, but in anyone else’s hands, it would be a priceless treasure.
Its value definitely exceeded 3,000 Bureau points.
Unless he had no other choice, Qin Lan would never accept such a losing trade.
As for trading Su Xiaoyue’s prize?
She might agree, but Qin Lan wouldn’t necessarily accept.
He had too much pride to make such a request.
“Sigh. I’ll look around once we arrive… If there’s truly no other way, I’ll have to trade the Mistake Notebook.”
Qin Lan sighed helplessly.
Soon, the luxury bus bound for the Nine Academies Tournament arrived at the academy gates.
Qin Lan wasn’t a competitor, but in consideration of his role as their “sparring partner,” a seat had been arranged for him.
Interestingly, the instant he boarded and greeted everyone, the entire bus fell silent.
Every face displayed terrified rejection. They had clearly recalled certain despairing, agonizing memories but didn’t dare object aloud.
Object?
Had that monster not abused them badly enough already?
Over the past two days, every person on the bus… Oh, aside from Su Xiaoyue, had suffered repeated beatings from Qin Lan.
Pay attention: repeated.
Seeing Qin Lan’s face was no different from seeing a ghost.
The formerly arrogant tattooed youth, Duan Tianpeng, trembled especially hard. He wanted to shrink into the farthest corner of his seat and pray Qin Lan wouldn’t notice him.
That day, he hadn’t even known how he took off or how he landed.
When he regained consciousness, the first thing he saw was Qin Lan’s terrifying smile.
“You can still keep going, right? How about another round?”
The demon-wolf form he had once taken such pride in was dragged around by Qin Lan like a corgi. It was utterly humiliating.
The others weren’t much better than Duan Tianpeng. Only Li Qing appeared slightly calmer.
Qin Lan couldn’t be bothered with them and walked straight to Su Xiaoyue’s side to sit down.
“We took a bus together into the Fallen Zone for the college entrance exam too.”
Su Xiaoyue looked out the window. Sunlight fell across her face, illuminating half of her nearly perfect profile and her heart-stirring smile.
The half concealed in shadow only made her features seem more dimensional, layered like carefully carved jade.
“That’s right,” Qin Lan answered casually. “You sat in the third row back then. You didn’t say a word the whole way and spent the trip reading that Comprehensive Guide to Low-Level Anomalies…”
“I think you got a little carsick, so you closed the book after a while and rested with your eyes shut.”
Su Xiaoyue paused. A sly gleam flashed through her eyes.
“Oh?”
“You remember very clearly.”
Qin Lan jolted and laughed awkwardly. “Ha ha, well… I have a good memory…”
“I definitely wasn’t secretly watching you… Definitely not…”
It was an extraordinarily feeble explanation.
Like climbing out of bed and humiliatedly saying, “Baby, work exhausted me today. I wasn’t at my best.”
Su Xiaoyue blinked and replied with words not even a dog would believe.
“I see. I believe you.”
Like answering, “It’s all right. You did great.”
Qin Lan coughed and turned away, no longer daring to meet Su Xiaoyue’s eyes.
He truly couldn’t handle her.
The journey wasn’t long. Every academy had filed its applications in advance for the Nine Academies Tournament, so their bus traveled unimpeded.
After roughly half a day, they arrived at the venue.
The bus had barely reached the outside of the stadium when Qin Lan stared in shock at the vast sea of people.
Ever seen the 2010 Shanghai World Expo? It was about that crowded.
Too young to remember?
Fine, here’s another description–imagine classes end at noon. What you’re seeing is the cafeteria serving windows at 12:10, Pro Max edition.
“Are all these people competitors?! This tournament wouldn’t finish in a year!”
Qin Lan shuddered as his social anxiety threatened to flare up.
Su Xiaoyue smiled. “Of course not. They’re only spectators.”
“The stadium is enormous and has multiple broadcast sections, but tickets are still nearly impossible to obtain.”
Li Qing, seated two rows ahead, chimed in.
“After all, these are matches between the young geniuses of every academy. Many people are interested. Plenty of government departments and Anomaly Hunter Bureau leaders also come to scout recruits.”
“It has happened before.”
Qin Lan nodded, relaxing slightly.
At that moment, Xu Minghu, seated in the front row, suddenly pointed out the window.
“See over there?”
“That’s Skyfeather Academy’s bus. The boy in red is Li Fengyun, the overwhelming favorite to win this year.”
“Su Xiaoyue, he’s the opponent you need to watch most carefully.”
“If you get the chance, beat the shit out of him!”
Meanwhile, on another bus a hundred meters away…
The boy by the window suddenly turned his head, his sharp gaze locking precisely onto Su Xiaoyue.
Though a dense crowd separated them, the mutual attraction between two geniuses still drew their eyes together.
“Heh. So that’s Su Xiaoyue?”
Li Fengyun snorted. There was no fear in his eyes, only casual indifference. “She doesn’t look like much. Not as strong as I imagined.”
“Clear Spring Academy’s strength is rather disapp–”
Before he could finish the final word, Li Fengyun’s gaze landed on Qin Lan beside Su Xiaoyue.
His pupils abruptly contracted.
It was like seeing two lights in a forest late at night and approaching in delight, only to discover that they were the glowing eyes of a starving tiger.
Fetid breath washed over him. The mortal warning born of pure animal instinct froze his entire body.
“Fengyun? Fengyun?!”
Only when his accompanying mentor called him did Li Fengyun abruptly return to his senses.
His Curse Core had nearly gone out of control. At some point, cold sweat had soaked his back!
“What… What was that?”
Li Fengyun lost his composure. His lips trembled, unable to believe the sight he had just witnessed.
His Talent gave him an extraordinarily keen instinct for danger.
By observing someone’s aura, gaze, and movements, he could easily determine how great a threat they posed.
During that brief meeting of eyes, Li Fengyun had seen only one word from beginning to end.
“Death death death death death death death death death…”