Chapter 36

Chapter 36

Principal Wu’s eyes widened, and he declared righteously, “What kind of man do you take me for? Those are educational materials!”

“I’m only studying a foreign language! As a principal, I must not only encourage my students to learn, but also constantly improve myself… What’s unreasonable about studying a little Japanese?”

Qin Lan glanced at the computer screen.

“Educational materials…”

“Principal, why are the two teachers in your materials naked and wrestling?”

“And I’ve been listening for a while. Why do they keep repeating the same two phrases?”

Fatty Wu’s smile froze, and he immediately changed the subject.

“The weather is hot. Wearing fewer clothes prevents sweating… Anyway, let’s put these unimportant matters aside.”

“Qin, I called you here because of an extremely urgent matter.”

Qin Lan wanted to focus on that “extremely urgent matter.”

Unfortunately, the audio from the nearby speakers was so suggestive that his gaze kept wandering back to the screen.

Well, that was some high-difficulty gymnastics.

Fatty Wu coughed and became serious.

“Qin, have you heard of the Four-School Joint Examination?”

The examination was an old tradition in Safe Zone 088, held every few years to reevaluate the teaching quality of each school.

A strong result could raise a school’s ranking and earn it more resources from the education authorities.

Qin Lan returned his attention to the conversation and frowned.

“The Four-School Joint Examination? The test that determines the schools’ rankings?”

“I’ve already graduated. What does it have to do with me?”

A crafty look appeared on Fatty Wu’s face. He rubbed his hands together deviously.

“Heh heh. How could it have nothing to do with you…?”

“And who says you graduated?”

Qin Lan froze.

What did that mean?

Fatty Wu looked smug.

“Didn’t expect this, did you? After your score was stolen, I called in a great many favors and arranged for you to take temporary medical leave, preserving your student status.”

“In other words, although your score wasn’t sufficient, you still have an opportunity to repeat the year and take the college entrance exam again!”

Fatty Wu stroked the thinning hair atop his head and continued with insufferable flair.

“I originally thought that if you refused to give up and wanted to try for another year, you might still have a chance to attend university… I never expected it to become useful now.”

“Your registration is still active. You can participate in the Four-School Joint Examination as a repeating student!”

Qin Lan was genuinely surprised.

At the time of the college entrance exam, he had publicly been nothing more than a failing student with an F-rank Talent. He was not an Anomaly Hunter and had nothing else that made him stand out.

Yet Principal Wu had used his connections to preserve Qin Lan’s enrollment.

In an era of scarce resources, repeating a school year required an extremely complicated approval process.

Combined with pressure from the Qian Group, it was difficult to imagine how many connections Principal Wu had used to accomplish it.

And he had done so merely to preserve the slightest measure of fairness for one of his students.

The way Qin Lan looked at him changed.

Fatty Wu might appear thoroughly unreliable, but he genuinely treated the students under his care well.

After Qin Lan’s score was stolen, Principal Wu had even hinted that he could reserve a job for Qin Lan at the school and shield him from pressure by the Qian Group.

Doing so much for a student from the slums with no background made Principal Wu a genuine model of an educator.

His “foreign-language educational materials” did not count.

The wariness left Qin Lan’s eyes.

“You want me to help the school earn a strong result in the Four-School Joint Examination?”

“No problem.”

Fatty Wu froze. A stomachful of inducements remained stuck in his throat before he could use any of them.

“Wait… You agreed just like that?”

Qin Lan teased him.

“Would you rather we haggle first? You can tell me what benefits you’re offering.”

“I’m a 2-Star Anomaly Hunter certified by the Anomaly Hunter Bureau now. Your compensation should at least reflect my status, shouldn’t it?”

“Just pay me a few hundred supply coins as a deposit. The rest can be calculated separately.”

That sum alone equaled several years of income for an ordinary family in the city.

Principal Wu immediately smiled obsequiously.

“Haha, Qin, you certainly love to joke… What kind of relationship do we have? Talking about money would be so vulgar…”

“How could mere supply coins ever measure the deep bond between teacher and student?”

He secretly broke into a cold sweat.

Hiring a 2-Star Anomaly Hunter?

Only a colossus like the Qian Group operated at that level of spending.

Even with all the money he had skimmed over the years, the cost would hurt.

Fatty Wu had never expected Qin Lan to become a 2-Star Anomaly Hunter so quickly.

When Su Xiaoyue told him that Qin Lan had passed the Anomaly Hunter Bureau’s licensing exam, he assumed Qin Lan had simply gotten lucky and barely survived. He had not thought much of it.

But reaching 2-Star now revealed a great deal.

“Could Su Xiaoyue have been telling the truth?”

“Did Qin really save her inside the instance?”

The more Fatty Wu thought about it, the stranger it seemed.

“Could it be… I raised a god? No, that’s an exaggeration. Did I raise a 2-Star Anomaly Hunter?”

“That shouldn’t be possible. With his Talent, how could he accomplish something like this?”

Fatty Wu could not understand it no matter how hard he tried.

But he soon relaxed.

“Heh heh. Who cares? Qin is my student. If there’s a problem, the Anomaly Hunter Bureau and the United Government can worry about it. What does it have to do with me?”
“Besides, the more he accomplishes, the better it makes my teaching look, doesn’t it?”

Fatty Wu shamelessly claimed part of the credit for himself.

Qin Lan could not guess what the man’s sleazy smile meant, but he knew it was nothing good.

He shook his head.

“If there’s nothing else, I’ll be going.”

“Just send me the details of the joint examination later.”

To his surprise, Fatty Wu grabbed him and squeezed an ingratiating smile onto his round face.

“The examination is no concern. With your current abilities, taking part would be pure overkill…”

“Since you’re already here, why not stay at the school for a while? We happen to be holding an orientation lecture. You can appear as a special guest…”

“Having a 2-Star Anomaly Hunter as an alumnus makes me look good too, Qin…”

Qin Lan was speechless. He had not expected Fatty Wu to wring even more value out of him.

But after considering what the man had done for him in the past, Qin Lan sighed and reluctantly nodded.

“Fine… Just don’t expect me to give an impressive speech.”

“I’m terrible at public speaking.”

Fatty Wu’s smile grew brighter.

“Why would I make you worry about something so trivial? I’ll write the speech. You only have to read it…”

Two hours later, Qin Lan appeared in the auditorium of No. 3 High School.

At Fatty Wu’s special request–or rather, his desperate pleading–Qin Lan had gritted his teeth and taken the stage in his Anomaly Hunter uniform.

The enormous auditorium was packed with the new class of students, all staring at him with curious eyes.

“Uh…”

Qin Lan felt nervous. He had always been a marginal figure. When had he ever received this much attention?

He glanced toward a corner backstage. Fatty Wu gave him a thumbs-up, urging him on with his eyes.

Qin Lan lowered his head and skimmed the prepared speech.

The first line nearly broke him.

“Before I begin, I must first thank one man. He gave me a second life, served as the guiding light on my journey, and became the staircase that carried me toward success…”

There was no need to keep reading. Fatty Wu had definitely added that passage himself.

The ink from his handwriting had not even dried.

Qin Lan crumpled the speech into a ball, faced the audience, and released a long breath.

“Students… My name is Qin Lan.”

The speech concluded without incident.

Qin Lan did not say much. He simplified and polished his experiences, then offered a few positive words of encouragement.

He did not believe there was anything worth emulating in his life.

Before his Talent’s second awakening, he had been completely useless. At school, he received nothing but mockery and cold looks. No one ever spared him a second glance.

After his second awakening, he had practically cheated his way forward. Almost no one could reproduce his experiences.

There was very little he could say.

But when he saw the hope in Fatty Wu’s eyes, Qin Lan forced himself to recite a few classic platitudes.

“Your future self will thank you for working so hard today,” and similar canned encouragement.

How should he put it?

It made him slightly nauseous.

“Ah…” Qin Lan sighed wearily. “I’ve become exactly what I used to hate.”

“I always despised lectures like this. They spout empty nonsense, then start selling books…”

“But the students seem to love it.”

Hiding backstage, Qin Lan glanced outside. Every freshman looked motivated, their eyes shining with something called hope.

He wondered how long it would take before that light went out.

But then Qin Lan abruptly noticed something, and his brow furrowed.

It was the trace of death.

After becoming [Backup Reaper], Qin Lan could see the threads symbolizing death, though they were rarely visible inside a Safe Zone.

Yet among this group of students, one person was surrounded by an exceptionally dense tangle of death threads.

Only one description seemed appropriate.

Someone on the verge of death.

“Why are so many traces of death gathering around one person…? Is that student about to die?”

Qin Lan narrowed his eyes and focused.

It was a very small, thin girl.

Her skin was pale and bloodless. Even her already fitted school uniform hung loosely on her body.

Judging by the arms visible at her cuffs, she appeared to have suffered from malnutrition for a long time.

The girl’s features were not striking, but they were delicate. Straight bangs framed her face, and she sat silently in a corner of the crowd.

Qin Lan sensed something and murmured, “The slums…”

Yes. Her eyes contained a color unique to those who lived in the slums.

Indifference, numbness, vigilance… and a trace of ruthlessness.

Those qualities mixed together to form something Qin Lan knew better than anything.

“Old man.” Qin Lan looked at Fatty Wu, who was still beaming. “Can you give me that girl’s records?”

Fatty Wu’s expression changed, and he flew into a rage.

“You brat!”

“You only just came back, and you’re already chasing a girl that young?!”

“These students are minors! Are you even human? I don’t watch anything involving people under eighteen, but you–”

Qin Lan rolled his eyes.

“If you’d like a 2-Star Anomaly Hunter to beat you until you lose control of your bowels in front of all these students who revere you…”

“Then please continue. I’m listening.”

Fatty Wu’s expression changed instantly, replaced by a warm smile.

“Haha, young people are certainly full of energy… And yes, you’re at the right age for a little school romance.”

“You want her records? Of course. No problem at all…”