Late

"Peak Martial Artist Realm—strength comparable to an Intermediate Martial Master, perhaps even surpassing one."

"Our family has truly produced a dragon!"

"Son, dad is proud of you!" Ye Wendao rambled incoherently, not even noticing that the teacup that had fallen to the floor had shattered.

His son had suddenly undergone such an enormous change. He was astonished, but he did not press for answers.

This was his son's secret. If his son did not want to tell him, then he naturally had his reasons.

He was delighted by his son's change, because his son was changing for the better.

No matter how he changed, he was still his child. As long as that remained unchanged, nothing else mattered.

The couple had discussed this point last night and come to an agreement.

Ye Bingxue's expression suddenly turned grave, and she felt immense pressure in her heart.

Her two fair little hands clenched into fists as she secretly made up her mind that she had to work hard and become stronger.

She wanted to fight shoulder to shoulder with Hua Qiang, rather than stand behind him and watch his back.

Hua Qiang seemed to notice Ye Bingxue's emotional fluctuation and hurriedly comforted her. "Little sis, your brother will lead you forward all the way!"

Thinking of the few bottles of Blood Qi Powder he had obtained from looting corpses earlier, he quickly took them out of his Storage Bag and stuffed them into Ye Bingxue's hands.

"Little sis, there are a few bottles of Blood Qi Powder here. Use them tonight and raise your strength a little more."

"Tomorrow, during the certification, try to achieve a result that'll make everyone green with envy, so your old brother can save some face too."

Ye Bingxue hurriedly waved her hands. "No, Brother, use them yourself. You already gave me a bottle before."

Hua Qiang pretended to be displeased. "Why are you being polite with your brother? Just take what I give you. Besides, this stuff doesn't do much for me. My physique is a little special."

Ye Bingxue looked at Hua Qiang and suddenly cried out in surprise.

"Eh? Brother, you've gotten thinner again. You're a little handsome guy now!"

"Really?"

Hua Qiang twisted his butt and struck a flamboyant pose.

"Wait, your brother was already a big handsome guy. How can a man be called little?"

"Little sis, let me tell you—don't mention the word 'little' again in the future, or your brother will get mad!"

Hehehe!

Hua Qiang's words made Ye Bingxue laugh. At the same time, a blush crept up her fair, pretty face, and she shot him a sideways glance.

Ye Wendao and Liu Li could not help but smile.

Their son had truly changed a great deal over the past two days, and he had become much more cheerful too. They had never seen this side of him before.

But the more Hua Qiang improved, the happier they were.

"Brother, where did this Storage Bag of yours come from? This thing is expensive. The cheapest ones start at a million!"

Ye Bingxue spotted the Storage Bag at Hua Qiang's waist and questioned him again.

"Oh, this? A friend gave it to me!"

"Gave it to you? A friend?"

Ye Bingxue repeated those words, and her gaze immediately turned icy.

"Male or female?"

"Male!"

Seeing Ye Bingxue's face suddenly frost over, Hua Qiang, whose survival instincts were extremely strong, hurriedly shouted his answer.

What a joke. If he answered a moment too late, or gave the wrong answer, he would be subjected to hellish torture again.

"Really?"

Ye Bingxue's wintry face immediately blossomed with the brilliance of summer flowers.

Then her delicate brows furrowed again.

"Who would be so generous as to give you such an expensive gift?"

"Do you have a friend like that out there?"

Faced with Ye Bingxue's doubts, Hua Qiang quickly explained. Naturally, he made up a load of nonsense. He could hardly say he had killed someone and robbed it, could he?

"Strictly speaking, he wasn't really a friend."

"It was just that today, we got into a dispute over snatching an exotic beast, and then we had a wagered duel."

"If I lost, the exotic beast would be his. If he lost, I made him put up his Storage Bag as the stake."

"And that was the result—the Storage Bag came home with your brother."

"Wow, Brother, you're amazing! That's not a bad idea. Another day, I'll go get myself a Storage Bag too."

As if performing a magic trick, Hua Qiang took out another Storage Bag and tossed it to Ye Bingxue.

"Here. Your brother already prepared one for you."

"Eh? Another Storage Bag? Where did this one come from?"

"Ah! Wasn't it that guy who wagered against me? His companion wasn't willing to accept it and wanted to win that guy's Storage Bag back."

"So he fought me too, and afterward, his Storage Bag became your brother's as well."

"Really? Then I won't stand on ceremony!"

She had no psychological burden whatsoever about accepting things Hua Qiang gave her.

They were family to begin with. Wasn't her old brother's stuff her stuff?

Her stuff... was still her stuff!

If it were someone else, she would keep them at arm's length. Outside, she was very aloof.

Holding the Storage Bag and the several bottles of Blood Qi Powder Hua Qiang had given her, Ye Bingxue happily returned to her room to absorb and refine them.

Ye Wendao and Liu Li told Hua Qiang to rest early too, then returned to their room as well.

After washing up simply, Hua Qiang returned to his room.

The room was tiny. Aside from a bed, there was not even space to move around.

It had originally been one room, but it had been partitioned down the middle. One side was where his sister Ye Bingxue slept, while this side was where his fat body cultivated himself and nurtured his nature.

Looking at such an environment, Hua Qiang could only shake his head with a bitter smile.

Fortunately, they would be moving into their new home tomorrow, so they would no longer have to squeeze into this little nook.

Eighth High School, Senior Year Class 18.

The class bell had already rung. A middle-aged woman around forty, with short hair cut to her ears and a pair of black-rimmed glasses, was taking attendance with a gloomy face.

After calling the forty-third name, her brows furrowed.

Because no one answered.

"Hua Qiang, where is Hua Qiang? Why isn't he here yet?"

As the Chinese teacher of this class, Tian Yongmei had always been very dissatisfied with the homeroom teacher, Jiang Linglong, privately accepting a poor student notorious throughout the school.

The class's grades were not very good to begin with. Now that they had taken in another deadweight, wouldn't their average score drop another point or two?

How could someone hoping to receive the college entrance examination performance bonus not complain about that?

Her hopes were about to turn into bubbles again.

At that moment, the students in the class all turned to look at the empty desk in the corner at the very back of the classroom, whispering among themselves.

That fat guy really had some nerve. He even dared to be late for Teacher Tian's class.

Yeah, yeah. That fat guy is in for it today. Teacher Tian isn't someone who's easy to talk to!

Teacher Tian has been picking on us a lot lately. Her menopause probably came early!

Who knows what Teacher Jiang was thinking? Why would she let that school-famous bootlicker, the rotten tail-end student, join our class?

Maybe she thought our class's grades weren't low enough already?

Classmate, you can't say that. Our Teacher Jiang is Eighth High School's campus-beauty teacher—beautiful and kind-hearted. She can't stand seeing certain people being bullied.

According to inside information I have, that fat guy...

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Tian Yongmei slammed the podium several times.

"What are you making such a racket for? Every one of your grades is so terrible, yet you still indulge yourselves like this."

"Instead of wasting time wagging your tongues, wouldn't it be better to read a few more pages, memorize a few more poems, and build up your knowledge?"

"Let's see what kind of results you can produce in this college entrance examination to repay my three years of effort!"

"I, Tian Yongmei, must have had eight lifetimes of bad luck to teach a bunch of disappointing things like you..."

The woman started another indiscriminate barrage of fire.

Just then, a tall boy with a somewhat plump build appeared at the door.

"Report!"

Tian Yongmei was in the middle of scolding them when the sudden voice interrupted her. She turned her head in displeasure.

"Who are you? What are you doing in my Class 18?"

Hua Qiang looked at the middle-aged woman in confusion. Had this woman taken the wrong medicine?