It was such a shame he hadn't earned those last 10 Primogems.
"Say something already!" Yun Xia glared at Chen Luo irritably.
"But didn't you tell me not to talk to you?" Chen Luo looked at Yun Xia, somewhat aggrieved.
A woman's heart really was as unfathomable as the bottom of the sea.
Herrscher of Knowledge was much easier to understand. Her thoughts were just like those of a bratty kid—once you made her angry, she was easy enough to coax.
"Huh?" Yun Xia's expression twisted slightly.
When had she ever said that?
"During first period, you asked me for help for the first time, but I didn't help. So I asked what I could do to make it up to you. Maybe you thought I was annoying, so you told me, 'What I want is for you to shut up. Don't bother me until I come talk to you.'" Chen Luo recapped what had happened for Yun Xia.
It would have been better if Chen Luo hadn't gone over it. Once he did, Yun Xia's expression became even more twisted.
"You mean because I said that, you didn't say a single word to your deskmate—me—for an entire day? Are you sick or something?" Yun Xia was practically laughing from rage.
Was this guy an idiot?
"I told you, it was compensation."
Ten Primogems per hour, with a cap of ten hours, meant a hundred Primogems. If it really lasted the full ten hours, it would pay the same as accompanying Yun Lian'er while she studied.
Chen Luo suddenly felt that everyone with the surname Yun was practically his lucky star.
Every one of them was like a walking money tree.
High rewards, little work, low difficulty...
He would have to snatch Little Loli's Lollipop twenty times to earn that much.
"Compensation? You're calling this compensation? I've lived this long, and I've never heard of such negative compensation." Yun Xia was furious, and the consequences were severe.
"But if I promise you something, I'll definitely do it." Chen Luo sounded both innocent and serious.
"..." Yun Xia stared hard into Chen Luo's eyes, trying to determine whether he was lying.
"Fine, fine, you win. Honestly..." Yun Xia slumped over her desk in dejection.
Yun Xia was currently caught in an incredibly conflicted quantum entanglement of happiness and anger.
She was angry because Chen Luo hadn't spoken to her all day.
She was happy because Chen Luo hadn't spoken to her all day in order to keep his promise to her.
If I promise you something, I'll definitely do it.
Once words like that were spoken, there was simply no room to resist.
Chen Luo was ridiculous in every possible way.
But then again, wasn't his absurdity exactly why she had transferred to this school?
Originally, she had discovered that a woman who had been taking things from her ever since childhood seemed to have found a toy she cherished most. Since Yun Xia had gained the power to fight back, she had planned to take it away.
But while investigating why that woman had become attached to him, she discovered this man's hypocritical side.
How could there possibly be truly good people in this world?
She had to find proof of his hypocrisy and lay it before that woman, so she could see the pain on her face when she discovered that the toy she treasured most was filled with filthy mud inside.
As for the result...
"Why did I transfer to this school? If I hadn't transferred here, I wouldn't have met you. And if I hadn't met you, I wouldn't have gotten this angry." Yun Xia muttered while glaring at Chen Luo.
"So it's my fault?" Chen Luo looked at Yun Xia innocently.
"My fault, my fault, my fault, okay? Everything is my fault!" Yun Xia said in self-abandonment.
"My dear Miss Yun, don't be like that, okay? How about this—let's play a game like this every day?" Chen Luo suggested.
"What game?" Yun Xia perked up.
Had they played a game today?
"The no-talking challenge."
"...I'll play your grandma's—sorry, I cursed." Yun Xia was so angry that she began swearing, but her good upbringing made her apologize immediately after realizing it.
"It's fine. So, do you want to play?"
"I... won't!" Yun Xia looked at Chen Luo's questioning face, then clutched her stomach and collapsed onto her desk.
Damn it, this was making her liver hurt.
Only an idiot would play that kind of game with him.
With her glorious reputation, armed with fifty-two magic cards and one special magic card, what demon or monster hadn't she cut down? Even if she couldn't win, she could escape, then come back later to settle the score. Yet in the end, she had been defeated by this heartless bastard.
"Sigh, fine." Chen Luo sighed.
It seemed his dream of earning a guaranteed ninety-plus Primogems every day at school was impossible after all.
Going to school every day, doing nothing, and earning a guaranteed ninety Primogems—wasn't that better than collecting daily welfare in Genshin Impact?
"..." Seeing Chen Luo sigh like that made Yun Xia's liver hurt even more.
What the hell did this bastard mean?
Ding! Mission complete.
Only after seeing the ninety Primogems arrive did Chen Luo feel a little better.
"Oh, right, Miss Yun. What are you planning to do over summer vacation?" Since school was about to end, Chen Luo was no longer in the mood to study.
"Emmm, save the world." Yun Xia rolled her eyes at the man who had made her liver hurt from anger.
"Mhm." Chen Luo nodded.
"Wait, you actually believe me?" Seeing Chen Luo's serious expression, Yun Xia was instinctively confused.
Shouldn't this have been the part where he laughed at her?
"As long as you're the one saying it, I believe it."
If someone else said they were going to save the world, Chen Luo would have just laughed it off. But if Yun Xia, an owner of an S-rank Talent, said it, he really wasn't sure whether the world was facing some kind of special crisis.
"..." Yun Xia was temporarily speechless.
What kind of expression was she supposed to use in response to Chen Luo's answer?
"Ring, ring, ring!" The dismissal bell rang.
"Alright, let's head back together. At least I can walk you to the school gate." Chen Luo patted Yun Xia on the shoulder.
"Then I'll grant you that honor." Yun Xia shot Chen Luo a sidelong glance before slowly standing up.
"Chen Luo... Never mind, sir, carry on." A male student had just been about to ask Chen Luo to help with cleaning, but when he saw Chen Luo's sharp gaze turn toward him, he shuddered.
"I feel like you really liked A-Luo today." Sitting in the car and watching Chen Luo ride away on his bicycle, Yun Xia stroked a card in her hand.
At the center of the card's upper edge was engraved the character for wind.
"Could A-Luo possibly awaken a wind-type Talent? That would be wonderful. I've heard that if both parents are Talent Users, their child has a higher chance of becoming one too." Yun Xia softly said as she stroked the Wind Card.
Herrscher of Knowledge: I'll Go Snatch the Heavenly Fire Greatsword for You!
"Hm?" As Chen Luo rode his bicycle home, his brows suddenly furrowed. Something didn't feel right.
Based on Chen Luo's experience of being cut to death more than a thousand times in Herrscher of Knowledge's consciousness space, someone seemed to be watching him.
But when Chen Luo turned around to look, he saw nothing.
"Tch. It's definitely not an illusion, but I'll go home first." Chen Luo clicked his tongue.
Chen Luo trusted his instincts quite a bit. According to Herrscher of Knowledge, a martial arts master's intuition always had a reason behind it and could not be completely ignored.
People who thought something might just be an illusion were either weaklings or simply too thick-skinned.
But Chen Luo wasn't worried. As long as he got home, he would be safe.
Actually, even if he didn't go home, it would be fine. He could open his Zero Bar and dive straight inside to escape completely.
Chen Luo later discovered that Zero Bar could actually change locations at will. After all, if it wandered everywhere in other worlds, he couldn't expect it to remain completely stationary in this one.
After Chen Luo sped up on his way home, a figure slowly emerged from the shadows at a street corner, his streaked blond hair swaying in the wind.
"So you're the one stalking me? You damn Blondie, you broke into my house and attacked me on the first day, and I let you go. Yet you came to ambush me again today? Did a donkey kick you in the head?" Chen Luo took out Hong Tailang's Frying Pan and casually tapped the other man's head with it.
Because the whole situation was just too absurd.
Chen Luo had anxiously notified Herrscher of Knowledge while hurrying home, thinking it was some powerful enemy.
Who would have thought? Once Herrscher of Knowledge captured the stalker and brought him back, it turned out to be someone familiar.
"Why was he stalking me? Didn't you say you'd handled the problem?" Chen Luo asked Herrscher of Knowledge.
"I only got rid of his urge to call the police and made sure he wouldn't harm ordinary students anymore. But you're not an ordinary student. That was your request, so don't blame me now that something's happened." Herrscher of Knowledge took a step back, making it clear she wasn't taking the blame.
"Why are your eyes so black? And there's a little red mixed in too. Wearing colored contacts?" Chen Luo fell silent for a moment, then crouched down and tapped the man's head.
"Alright, A-Luo, stop playing around. Something seems to be wrong with his body. If we're talking purely physical ability, he's a little stronger than you right now," Herrscher of Knowledge reminded him.
"I can see that." Chen Luo nodded, then used the frying pan to smack shut the mouth the man had opened to bite him.
This Blondie was extremely abnormal right now.
Herrscher of Knowledge was right. In terms of physical ability alone, Chen Luo, who had been continuously strengthened after completing so many commissions, was actually weaker than the other man.
"Based on my understanding, this guy is possessed. An evil spirit has attached itself to him. If you observed him with Mind's Eye, you could see the faint black aura around him."
"But I don't have Mind's Eye." Chen Luo said helplessly.
"Then go buy Kenshin. Besides, the perfected version of Kenshin you buy won't be disturbed by the Voice of God."
"But the perfected version of Kenshin is really expensive."
"Tch, you win." Herrscher of Knowledge said helplessly.
"So what exactly is going on here?"
"Who are you asking? You're the one from this world, aren't you?" Herrscher of Knowledge rolled her eyes at Chen Luo.
"But I can't keep him locked in the basement forever. Forensic technology is so advanced these days—if he's missing for too long, someone will definitely notice." Chen Luo had a headache for a moment.
"Ding-dong!"
"Someone's here?" Chen Luo raised his head at the sound of the doorbell.
"Come on, let's go take a look." Chen Luo gestured to Herrscher of Knowledge.
After leaving the basement, entering the living room, and opening the front door, Chen Luo saw who it was.
"Hm, you? Yun Xia's bodyguard?" Chen Luo froze when he saw the man in a suit and sunglasses.
Chen Luo and Yun Xia were quite familiar with each other, so he knew her bodyguard as well.
"Young Master Chen Luo, my young miss said that a serial robber has apparently been active recently, and it isn't safe. So she asked for a protective talisman for you and hopes you will accept it." The bodyguard spoke to Chen Luo with a cold expression.
It wasn't that the bodyguard had a bad attitude toward Chen Luo; Chen Luo had simply never seen him without that cold expression since the day they met.
As for the title Young Master Chen Luo, Chen Luo had corrected him many times, but he never changed it.
"A protective talisman? Please thank your young miss for me." Chen Luo nodded thoughtfully.
If Chen Luo had heard about a protective talisman before, he would have considered it nothing more than superstition. But now, he absolutely wouldn't think so—especially not when it was a talisman given by Yun Xia, an S-rank Talent User.
In any case, accepting it was definitely the right move.
"Here." The bodyguard brought out the hand he had been keeping behind his back, holding what he called a protective talisman.
"Wait, you're calling this one? Isn't this a whole string of them?" Chen Luo stared at the item in the bodyguard's hand in astonishment.
Before you continue