I'm Not Waiting on You Anymore

From a third-party perspective, Su Ming's act of charging straight at her was undoubtedly extremely unwise.

No matter what, Su Ming was only a Warlock. Throwing himself into a brawl with Xu Qianqian, a Hunter—anyone could imagine how that would end.

Yet Su Ming not only rushed in, but quickly gained the upper hand.

The reason was simple.

"Ugh."

Xu Qianqian suddenly let out a pained cry, and the strength behind her struggles weakened considerably.

Seizing the opportunity, Su Ming swiftly subdued Xu Qianqian. Looking into her eyes and feeling her strength, he could not help but speak.

"Just as I thought. Something's wrong with your condition."

As though he had sensed something, Su Ming suddenly reached out and lifted the clothing over Xu Qianqian's abdomen.

There was a huge, shocking wound there.

It was a severe injury that had pierced straight through her abdomen with a sharp weapon.

And it was clearly not Su Ming's doing.

In other words, Xu Qianqian had come here already seriously wounded.

"No wonder you were acting so strangely in that fight."

Su Ming confirmed the source of the odd feeling he had noticed earlier.

He had noticed long ago that something was off about Xu Qianqian.

Leaving everything else aside, Xu Qianqian was one of the top three students in the entire Hunter Department at Demon Hunter Academy, a powerhouse said to rival professional Hunters. Yet the strength she had displayed just now was drastically at odds with the rumors Su Ming had heard.

She had been startled by a little misdirection, failed to see through Su Ming's feints, and had been toyed with by him from start to finish. Calling that comparable to a professional Hunter was simply undeserved.

Not to mention that her emotions before and after had been far too abnormal—or rather, far too impatient and impulsive.

That was nothing like the Xu Qianqian Su Ming knew.

As far as Su Ming knew, Xu Qianqian at the academy was an extremely calm and composed person, even cold and aloof. She would never normally act as she had today, charging at someone without a word as though she had to either kill them or be killed herself. Every movement had radiated impatience and recklessness.

Combined with the strength she had shown, which did not match the rumors, Su Ming had suspected that something was wrong with this rising star of the Hunter Department.

But he had not expected Xu Qianqian to appear here with such a serious injury.

"What exactly happened to you?"

Su Ming frowned tightly.

But Xu Qianqian seemed not to have heard him.

"Let go of me!"

As though fiercely protesting Su Ming's act of lifting her clothes, Xu Qianqian struggled with all her strength despite her severe wounds.

"Hiss!"

Su Ming sucked in a sharp breath.

Xu Qianqian had bitten down on his wrist, actually breaking his skin and drawing blood.

Left with no choice, Su Ming released Xu Qianqian.

With a trace of blood at the corner of her lips, Xu Qianqian struggled to her feet while clutching her abdomen, her face pale as she panted.

Su Ming looked at Xu Qianqian, then glanced at his bleeding wrist.

This crazy woman!

"Since you're so full of fire, miss, then stay here and wait to die." Su Ming said coldly, "I'm done waiting on you."

With that, Su Ming turned around and left.

Xu Qianqian stared at his retreating back, killing intent rising in her eyes again as though she wanted to charge after him.

But unconsciously, Xu Qianqian licked the blood from the corner of her lips and swallowed it.

The moment she swallowed, Xu Qianqian's delicate body trembled slightly, and the killing intent in her eyes receded swiftly like a tide.

"This is...?"

Clarity gradually returned to Xu Qianqian's gaze.

The impatience and impulsiveness within it had vanished, replaced by composure and calm.

More than that, the severe wound in Xu Qianqian's abdomen was healing at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Feeling all of this, Xu Qianqian could not help but raise her head and look in Su Ming's direction.

But by then, Su Ming had long since left. Even his silhouette was nowhere to be seen.

Xu Qianqian's eyes flickered slightly, and no one knew what she was thinking.

Before long, Xu Qianqian turned and looked in another direction.

Boom!

Violent explosions rang out endlessly from that direction, telling everyone that the conflict there had not yet ended.

Xu Qianqian struggled for a while before finally letting out a breath.

"My mission was only to investigate this suspicious group's purpose and origins. I was never told to stop them or come into conflict with them."

Now that she had regained her calm, Xu Qianqian was finally able to make a sensible judgment.

More importantly, Xu Qianqian had been tracking this group for some time. She knew very well that trying to confront a suspicious organization with twenty or thirty Hunters and Warlocks by herself was utterly overestimating her own abilities.

Earlier, because she had been seriously wounded, the brutality of the "blood" within her had been triggered, causing her to impulsively follow them here without regard for anything else.

Now that she had regained her composure, Xu Qianqian naturally would not do something so foolish again.

Besides, she had something even more important to investigate.

"Don't let me find out who deliberately set me up from the shadows."

Xu Qianqian clenched her small white teeth.

Then Xu Qianqian turned around and left the scene.

On the other side.

After leaving the outskirts, Su Ming deliberately took a long detour to disrupt his trail. Only after confirming that he would not be tracked did he remove his combat suit and mask and return to the academy.

By then, dawn was already breaking.

"I'm screwed."

Realizing that he might not have time to catch up on sleep, Su Ming's mood turned terrible.

There was no need to say it—there were classes today.

If he had been on a mission, he could have gotten official leave from the academy. But Su Ming had turned in his mission yesterday, and it had already been recorded. If he skipped class now, the issue with his attendance rate would seriously affect him.

Demon Hunter Academy had extremely strict attendance requirements.

If a student's attendance rate failed to meet the requirements, the academy would assign mandatory missions for them to carry out.

If they refused to carry out those missions, being expelled would be the only outcome.

And if he were expelled, he would not be able to obtain a Warlock license and become a professional Warlock.

That would mean Su Ming could no longer enjoy the various privileges specifically available to Hunters and Warlocks.

For example, he would be unable to purchase Alchemy Potions and Phantom Demon materials or enter official markets and training facilities. That would affect Su Ming's development.

In addition, those with Warlock licenses or Hunter licenses could exercise the legal right to cause property damage and even kill in emergencies.

That was precisely why no one had held Su Ming and the others accountable for the public property damage they caused while dealing with Phantom Demons on the street yesterday. Someone had even taken the initiative to clean up after them, despite the fact that they were only students who had not yet earned official licenses.

Those were the privileges of Warlocks and Hunters.

Humanity needed Warlocks and Hunters to risk their lives against Phantom Demons and resist the invasion of the Spirit Fiend Abyss, so naturally it would grant them as many privileges as possible.

That was why Su Ming valued an official license quite highly.

But what Su Ming valued most was the privilege that the families of professional Hunters and Warlocks received special protection from the Base City authorities. They could live in heavily protected districts in the city center, guarded by numerous professionals and kept as far as possible from the threat of Phantom Demons.

That privilege directly solved Su Ming's worries about his family, his fear that they might be attacked by Phantom Demons at any time.

Therefore, whether for his own future development or his family's safety, even for those enticing privileges alone, Su Ming did not want to be expelled from Demon Hunter Academy.

"Looks like this is the only way today."

Su Ming resigned himself to his fate and trudged toward the dormitory.

When he returned to the dormitory, Lei Hao and Ye Bai were still sleeping soundly, making Su Ming feel a burst of envy and jealousy.

Su Ming could only lie down as quickly as possible and force himself to sleep for however long he could.

But in the end, Su Ming was woken up after less than two hours of sleep.

"Hurry up and get up for morning training, Su Ming, Ye Bai!"

Lei Hao was full of energy early in the morning, shouting loudly enough to make Su Ming and Ye Bai both miserable.

"Have mercy, Lord Lei, Father Lei. Can't you go train by yourself?"

Ye Bai hugged his blanket and pleaded blearily.

"No!" Lei Hao said righteously. "Whether you're a Hunter or a Warlock, you need to train your physical fitness and learn combat techniques. That's academy policy. Do you want to fail the next test?"

"Why?" Ye Bai cried miserably. "Why do Warlocks have to learn both Spiritual Arts and combat techniques, while Hunters only need to learn combat techniques?"

"It's simple." Lei Hao answered bluntly, "Because no matter what we do, we can't use Spiritual Arts. But you Warlocks can use combat techniques."

That was exactly how it was.

A Hunter's combat techniques were, plainly speaking, techniques used in battle.

Whether it was martial arts or weapon techniques, when such combat skills fell into the hands of physically powerful Hunters, their might was no laughing matter.

Warlocks might not possess the same powerful physiques as Hunters, but in critical moments, when their Spiritual Power was insufficient, they could still struggle using their physical strength and martial skills.

After all, anyone could train their body. It only brought benefits and no drawbacks, and it could even save lives at crucial moments. Naturally, Demon Hunter Academy required the Warlocks of the Sorcerer Department to attend as well.

"Anyway, get up already. It's getting lively outside."

Ignoring Ye Bai's utterly lifeless expression, Lei Hao hauled him straight out of bed.

Su Ming also looked dead inside, but he did not resist. He obediently got up.

After all, learning combat techniques was something Su Ming wanted as well.

A Hunter's combat techniques might be nothing more than a way to strengthen the body for other Warlocks, but that was not the case for Su Ming.

His ambition was far greater than anyone could imagine.

The Demon Hunter Academy training field was located right in the center of the campus and covered an enormous area.

At this hour, Hunters and Warlocks alike had already left their dormitories and were jogging there amid the bustle.

Su Ming and Ye Bai yawned nonstop as they mixed into the crowd and jogged slowly, like two snails.

They were not the only ones. Most students from the Sorcerer Department were in the same state.

Clearly, Warlocks found this sort of physical activity terribly tiresome.

In contrast, the Hunters were brimming with energy. They ran incredibly fast while shouting constantly, making the place seem more like military training than a morning run.

Just then, a faint commotion arose on the training field.

Ye Bai gave Su Ming a slap.

"Look over there."

Following the direction Ye Bai pointed, Su Ming's brows immediately rose.

-- "An explanation of why this book did not continue the previous one" --

This is an explanation for some readers who still do not understand the situation.

The reason is actually very simple.

Originally, Ru Qing intended to rewrite the previous book from scratch. But after cutting content according to what most people said—things like "too much explanation," "too much narration," and "too wordy"—Ru Qing discovered that the whole book had fallen apart.

Without so much supporting description, that book had become a complete mess, utterly unrecognizable.

So Ru Qing realized that, under everyone's strong demand for a faster pace, that book had turned into a bad one.

Some worldviews simply require a great deal of writing to be properly conveyed.

And so, this book was born.

Of course, some settings and even characters from the previous book will still appear in this one.

This time, Ru Qing also intends to stop being influenced by others and finish this book according to their own ideas.

No matter how poor its results may be, Ru Qing will give this book a complete ending.

Ru Qing hopes that those who enjoy this book will support it, and that readers who do not enjoy it will not hurt one another.

That is all.