Failed Plea for Help

After finally coaxing Li Cheng back to sleep, taking a shower, and changing the sheets and nightgown, the sky outside was already faintly bright.

Li Wei lay back on the bed, crossing her legs and swinging her fair, pretty, and slender feet back and forth, feeling extremely good.

The exhaustion of the past three days was swept away. Vitality Value 70!

If this were back at No. 5 High School, it would easily be the top rank in the entire school!

Who would have thought that with a golden finger, a few casual taps would let her finish the three-year road that those top-class academic prodigies ran themselves ragged on?

How should she put it?

In a word: awesome!

Recalling the grievances the original body suffered during her three years of high school, Li Wei really wanted to do something right now—have an authoritative institution measure her Vitality, then screenshot the result and fling it into the Senior Three (11) Class chat group.

Pity that Li Cheng's little life came first right now, and she wasn't in the mood for such frivolous games.

"Sigh, thirty million... where on earth am I supposed to get that?" Just as she felt great for barely a few seconds, she wilted again.

The golden finger was great, but it couldn't solve her immediate problem.

It couldn't make her ascend to the skies in a single bound to become a Grandmaster, nor could it magically conjure thirty million in cash out of thin air.

Even as to where Abyss Essence could actually be obtained steadily, she was completely in the dark.

She glanced at the panel again.

Name: Li Wei / Li Wei Realm: Quasi-Martial Artist Vitality: 70 (+) Combat Method: None Mind Method: "National High School Students' Blood-Nurturing Guidance Technique (Ninth Revised Edition)" (Cannot be upgraded) Abyss Essence: 167

Staring at her Vitality Value, an idea suddenly flashed in her mind.

With my Vitality right now, if I throw myself into Anhe Martial University, I'd still count as a top seedling no matter what, right? Wouldn't the school hold me in the palm of their hands and pamper me? Li Wei thought. It's only early July right now, and it'll be close to two months before school starts... I can't wait. I'll go ask at the school tomorrow and see if I can put on a miserable show to apply for some help.

Thinking this, she felt she still needed to add a bit more weight to the chips in her hands.

With a thought, another series of crisp sounds rang out!

Pop, pop, pop...!

Vitality: 75 (+) Abyss Essence: 17

The bones all over her body once again snapped and cracked in a flurry; the pain was real, but the exhilaration was also real.

"Starting from 70, it takes 30 essence points for every single point added?"

Li Wei smacked her lips, feeling that it was not too bad, though she just wondered if this consumption would simply skyrocket later on when she pushed for Minor Perfection and Great Perfection.

She rolled around excitedly on the bed twice, and since she really couldn't fall asleep, she simply fished out that battered old phone.

Opening the memo, her two thumbs tapped alternately:

1. Get 30 million: ① Appeal to the school for help, ② Sell myself 2. Research the essence mechanism: ① Rift entrance, ② Investigation Bureau entrance, ③ Abyss monster viewing park 3. Get stronger! Get stronger! Get stronger!

"Done!"

At seven o'clock in the morning, the area outside the window gradually grew noisy. The urban village awakened from its slumber of the night, and various sounds wove together into a cacophony.

Li Wei got out of bed quietly, awkwardly fastened her bra, pulled a black-bottomed floral slipdress left behind by her mother out of the wardrobe to put on, didn't even comb her hair, and headed out just like that, ready to buy breakfast.

The style of the dress was somewhat old-fashioned, and the size didn't fit right either. The shoulders and waist were a bit wide, yet the chest was a bit narrow.

However, she couldn't help the fact that her foundation right now was too heaven-defying; with her looks and figure right there, she somehow managed to pull off the feel of a retro pictorial.

As a result, the moment she stepped onto the street, she drew frequent, sideways glances from the grandpas and grandmas.

Li Wei's cheeks burned, and she wished she could drill down into a crack in the ground.

If her summer school uniform, washed until it was pale white, hadn't been soaked through last night, would she have been this embarrassed?

In her pitiful wardrobe, only this piece left behind by Li Wei's mother could cover her ankles.

She hurriedly bought breakfast and returned to the attic as if fleeing for her life.

After eating hastily by herself, she woke Li Cheng up and fed him little spoonfuls at a time.

"Today I'm taking a trip to Anhe Martial University, so I won't be taking you along, alright? I'll send you over to Grandma Wang's to stay for the day, okay?" Li Wei softened her voice and negotiated.

"Are you going to seize the opportunities of your past life?" Li Cheng didn't answer directly, instead getting curious about something else.

A "#"-shaped symbol seemed to pop up on Li Wei's forehead. She crooked a finger and flicked him on the forehead. "I told you, I am not some Immortal Emperor reborn! Neither am I the almighty heroine of a revenge novel!! Can you think about something normal in that little head of yours!?"

"Then why are your muscles and bones ringing in harmony? If you had this kind of skill, would you have ended up like that in high school?" Li Cheng looked skeptical.

"My god..." Li Wei massaged her temples, unable to offer a rebuttal.

After a long while, she let out a long breath and stopped dwelling on the topic.

She dressed Li Cheng properly, reached out to test the morning breeze outside the window—it was around twenty degrees Celsius, which was still a bit chilly for him.

She pulled over the small thin quilt from the bed and wrapped him tightly from head to toe, leaving only his little face exposed.

Lugging the military-green canvas crossbody bag left behind by her father, Li Wei held Li Cheng in her arms and went downstairs, knocking on the security door of Grandma Wang's apartment on the second floor.

Footsteps sounded, and the door opened. When Grandma Wang saw the siblings, she hurriedly ushered them inside.

Li Wei also put on a big smile. "Grandma Wang, I have some urgent business to attend to today and need to go out. Would you mind helping me look after Li Cheng for the day, please?"

Through two years of getting along, Grandma Wang had always treated them very well.

Leaving her younger brother here gave Li Wei peace of mind.

"Alright, alright, alright, come on in quickly."

Li Wei gently placed Li Cheng on the bed in the inner room, tucked him in properly, and retreated back to the outer room with the old woman.

Looking at that little person on the bed who was so thin he was nothing but skin and bones, Grandma Wang's eyes turned red the moment she closed the door, and she couldn't help starting to complain:

"You tell me how your parents could be so cruel... Walking away so cleanly themselves, yet leaving two little ones like you two to suffer in this world..."

Hooked by these words, the emotions left behind by the original owner surged up again. Li Wei's nose soured, and her eye sockets grew hot as well.

She found that after turning into a woman, she seemed to have grown a lot more fragile, wanting to cry at the drop of a hat...

This simply wouldn't do; she had to change it!

"Ahem!" She cleared her throat and wiped hard at her nose. "Grandma Wang, I'm heading out first. I'll come pick him up as soon as I'm done with my business this afternoon. I fed him breakfast already, so I'll have to trouble you with lunch."

"Alright, alright, be extremely careful on the road."

Passing the shoe cabinet by the entrance, while Grandma Wang wasn't paying attention, Li Wei swiftly fished a fifty-yuan bill out of her bag and shoved it into the crack of the drawer.

With her agility right now, the old woman had no way of noticing it.

Pity she only had this much money left in her pocket, as she truly couldn't give any more.

"Mister, I really am a freshman at Anhe Martial University. My admission letter is right here, look! Just let me go inside, please, I really have an urgent matter!"

"I said no means no! School hasn't started yet. Whether you're a freshman or a senior, nobody is allowed in! Who would take the blame if something in the school got broken? I can't shoulder that responsibility!"

"Then can you help me make a phone call to the school leaders and ask? This matter of mine is really important, and really urgent!"

"Hey! You little girl! I'm just a gatekeeper, where would I have the face to call the leaders? If I had that kind of ability, would I still be standing here bickering with you?"

"Then do you know how to contact the school leaders? The phone number on the admission letter isn't answered at all!"

"I don't know, I don't know! Get going, get going! Handle your business after school starts! And let me tell you, don't even think about scaling the wall—there's surveillance everywhere! It's no use sneaking in either; it's the holiday, there's nobody in the buildings!"

"..."

At the gates of Anhe Martial University, after bickering for nearly half an hour with the impervious elderly security guard, Li Wei ultimately conceded defeat and left crestfallen.

This school... truly lived up to its reputation as a third-rate martial arts university; this management and this attitude were peerless.

She pulled out her phone, crossed out the "Appeal to the school for help" item on her memo, stared at the words "Sell myself" below it, and sat on the bus heading toward the Abyss Rift in the east of the city, her heart in a chaotic mess.

Even with the golden finger, it takes time to grow, but Li Cheng... he can't wait anymore...

As if having made a certain determination, Li Wei gripped her phone tightly. "No way, I still have to sell myself!"

Only, this resolve was made just a bit too fiercely, and she hadn't reined in her strength.

With a crisp little "crack"...

The casing of the broken phone was deformed slightly, and an extra long crack appeared on the screen that was already pitted and scarred.

Li Wei: "..."

Uh-oh, I forgot I got stronger...

In the seat beside her, a young guy who had been secretly sizing up Li Wei and seemed to want to strike up a conversation witnessed this bare-handed screen-shattering scene. He felt a chill run down the back of his neck and quietly scooted his butt toward the aisle.

He saw it clearly: although that phone was old, the brand was a military-grade tough cookie, and its body strength was beyond dispute...

This girl, looking so soft, gentle, and pretty...

She was untouchable. Absolutely untouchable.

If you like this book, remember to add it to your bookshelf so you won't lose it next time!