Chuunibyo Street Punk

The punk youth was taken aback and snorted, "I'm here to buy medicine, what business is it of yours which guild I belong to?"

"Just buy medicine, why are you hitting me?" Li Beihai took another step forward, closing in on the punk youth.

At this moment, the young man in the suit next to him spoke up, "President Li, please get this straight. It was your store's security guards who started it. If it were an ordinary customer, they would have been thrown out long ago, right?"

The punk youth also realized what was happening. "Not only did the security guards hit us first, but you also made false claims. You're bullying your customers because you're a big company! Believe me, you'll be on the front page of the news, and then we'll see who still comes to your store to buy medicine!"

"Xu Ling, what was the process like?" Zhang Jing asked.

Xu Ling, her face pale, said, "Manager, they were very aggressive as soon as they came in, demanding that the person in charge come out. I tried to communicate with them, but it didn't work... The security guard came over and asked them to leave, and then... I got beaten up."

The punk youth snorted, "Didn't you guys claim to have Perfect Grade Enhancement Potion? You made quite a fuss, calling yourselves 'young potion masters.' I came all the way to Jinghai City, and you can't even produce them. You even canceled the auction. I'm here to get an explanation. Do you even want to stay in business?"

Li Beihai glared at him. "I think you just need a beating!"

"Wait a minute..." Bai Xiaowen finally understood. This punk youth was causing trouble in the store because his reason was related to him. "Perfect-Tier Enhancement Potion? Who said we don't have them?"

Bai Xiaowen took out three bottles of newly made perfect-grade potions from his Storage Space and handed them to Zhang Jing. Under the lights of the sales hall, the three bottles of potions shone with a pure glow, and even a layman could tell that they were of extraordinary quality.

Zhang Jing and Sun Hecheng were surprised to find that Bai Xiaowen had just returned from the Spirit Realm and hadn't even rested before making three bottles of potion, which immediately gave them confidence.

The punk stared blankly for a second, then looked Bai Xiaowen up and down. "You're that young potion master, Bai Xiaowen?"

"That's right."

"You made all these perfect-grade potions?"

"Nonsense."

Slightly taken aback, the punk youth wasn't angry. He stretched out his hand and said, "Sell me a bottle of the power potion. Name your price."

Bai Xiaowen looked at the punk with a strange expression. "I didn't realize you had such a thick skin."

"So what if I beat up a few security guards? Five thousand each should be enough, right? I was holding back, nothing serious happened," the punk youth said. "Hey, let's be friends. You have several bottles here, sell me one in advance."

"I don't sell my perfect-grade potions individually. If you want one, wait for the auction this weekend." Bai Xiaowen rejected this self-important guy without hesitation.

"Not giving me face?" The punk blew a tuft of green hair off his forehead.

"No."

Do you know which family I belong to? It'll scare you to death if I told you!

Bai Xiaowen glanced at his multicolored hairstyle. "... The Buried Love Clan?"

"You're asking for it!" the punk exclaimed, furious. Strictly speaking, his hairstyle wasn't as cool as the Four Heavenly Kings of the Buried Love Clan from another timeline; it was just a bit more colorful, and the length was still within the normal range, slightly longer than Xiang Hui's bangs.

Bai Xiaowen used Insight, received a notification of a 30 -Psionic Points charge, and then calmly said, "I will not pay."

You can't beat me.

Seeing the crowd of onlookers at the entrance, Zhang Jing tugged at Bai Xiaowen's sleeve, shielding him behind him, and then said to the punk:

"At the auction the day after tomorrow, our shop will be auctioning two bottles of Perfect-Tier Enhancement Potion to make up for the ones we cancelled last week. Young man, why don't you come back the day after tomorrow?"

"No, I want to buy it now! I'll pay double!"

"Young man, are you really going to make a big deal out of this?"

Zhang Jing frowned and said in a gentle tone, "No matter what, you're an Awakened One. You beat up these ordinary guards in our shop. Aren't you afraid of ruining your reputation? I'm just a shop owner, I don't want to make a big deal out of this, and I don't need you to pay me any money. If you're willing, apologize to my guards; if you're not willing to apologize, leave now, and no one will stop you."

The young man with the "emo" style was a bit stunned, unsure of what to say for a moment.

The young man in the suit walked over and said to Bai Xiaowen, "Hello, junior Bai Xiaowen."

"I don't think I know you?" Bai Xiaowen looked at the young man in the suit, confirming that he didn't recognize the name.

The young man in the suit looked mature for his age. He smiled and introduced himself, "My name is Fu Hong, and I graduated from Han Xu Jinghai University in 1995. Junior Han Xu should recognize me; he joined the University Team the year I was a senior."

Han Xu had been relatively unnoticed, nodded and said, "Hello, Senior Fu Hong."

Fu Hong nodded, smiling politely, and then said to Bai Xiaowen, "We're alumni, so it shouldn't be a problem for me to call you 'junior.' Would you be interested in having a meal together?"

He graduated in '95, which means he's only been out of school for a little over a year and is in his early twenties. But looking at Fu Hong's face... well, he looks older than his age.

"Fu Hong?" Before Bai Xiaowen could speak, Sun Hecheng, who was standing next to him, reacted first, "You're the general manager of Titan Potion House, right?"

Bai Xiaowen narrowed her eyes.

Titan Potion House is a pharmacy opened by the Titan Guild in the Chihuo District, located right across from the Super God Potion Shop.

The Titan Guild's actions definitely have a targeted element to them.

Enhancement Potion are not cheap for ordinary people who haven't awakened their powers yet, often costing over a million RMB. Many people are very cautious when buying them. Even regular customers of the Super God Potion Shop will take the time to walk over and check out a larger new potion shop across the street, comparing prices before making a purchase.

Titan Potion House quickly seized market share in the Chihuo District by leveraging the customer traffic that Super God Potion Shop had accumulated over many years, causing Super God Potion Shop to have a backlog of medicines.

However, thanks to the Perfect-Tier Enhancement Potion created by Bai Xiaowen, the Super God Potion Shop launched the "Genius Potion Master" promotional plan, which quickly gained a lot of popularity and sales soared.

Titan Potion House didn't open a branch here to lose money. As the general manager, Fu Hong certainly couldn't tolerate Super God Potion Shop turning things around.

Fortunately, before he could take action, an unexpected incident occurred at the Super God Potion Shop, which canceled the third week's auction, causing resentment among many awakened customers who had come specifically for it.

You should know that those attracted to auctions are basically people who aren't short of money, and some even have quite a background... like this punk rocker in front of me?

Bai Xiaowen secretly speculated that this punk must also come from a wealthy family. Fu Hong came to the Super God Potion Shop with him and instigated him to cause trouble, most likely because he wanted to make the Super God Potion Shop provoke another enemy—often, conflicts start with disputes among the younger generation.

Bai Xiaowen thought about Zhang Jing's words of appeasement earlier. They seemed a bit cowardly, but that's how someone who runs a business should handle things.

Zhang Jing may not have realized the extent of the "Shamate" background at the time, nor did he recognize that the young man in the suit next to him was Fu Hong, the general manager of Titan Potion House. But his words were impeccable, revealing the worldly wisdom of a seasoned veteran.

Fu Hong's act of leveraging his alumni connection to invite Bai Xiaowen to dinner likely had ulterior motives.

Sun Hecheng interrupted Fu Hong and Bai Xiaowen's conversation, revealing Fu Hong's position and identity, which also made Bai Xiaowen wary.

"Thank you for the invitation, Senior Fu Hong, but as the general manager of Titan Potion House, you're a very busy person. Please skip the meal; it wouldn't be good for your work..." Bai Xiaowen declined with a smile.

Fu Hong, however, behaved quite politely, nodding and saying, "Let's talk again sometime..." He looked at Zhang Jing and continued:

"Manager Zhang, I regret this misunderstanding with your store. I wish your store great success."

Chen Guowei exclaimed, "This is called a misunderstanding? It's clearly someone who's here to cause trouble... Ouch..." Before he could finish speaking, Xiang Hui secretly gave him a light kick, and he immediately shut up.

Zhang Jing laughed heartily and said, "Thank you for your kind words. Manager Fu is welcome to attend the auction this weekend."

"This kind of auction is very interesting. Titan Potion House will hold it regularly in the future. Manager Zhang, please don't blame us for imitating it," Fu Hong said.

Sun Hecheng laughed in exasperation, "You'll need to find a master potion maker who's just as good as Little Bai."

"That makes sense. I've taken note of Master Sun's suggestion," Fu Hong nodded. "We'll take our leave now."

No need to see me out.

Before leaving, the punk youth thought for a moment, then turned around and deliberately walked up to Bai Xiaowen: "My name is Qiao Qi, remember my name."

Bai Xiaowen: "... and the story I brought you?"

Hearing such a melodramatic sentence out of the blue, Bai Xiaowen couldn't help but blurt out an awkward, inspirational quote.

"..."

Qiao Qi, the "Shamate" youth, is gone, and his departure was far from peaceful.

Chen Guowei then raised his question, "Old Xiang, why did you kick me just now? It was clearly Fu Hong who came to cause trouble, trying to take advantage of Lao Bai's disappearance to pressure the shop into not having enough perfect-grade potions! If Lao Bai hadn't come back and brought three more bottles of perfect-grade potions, he wouldn't have left so easily. At the very least, they should apologize and admit their mistake, right?"

"Everyone understands this, you don't need to analyze it," Xiang Hui said calmly. "However, if you force the other party to apologize, you'll be playing right into Fu Hong's hands."

"Why?" Xiang Hui asked, puzzled.

"That Qiao Qi must have some connections," Bai Xiaowen said. "Uncle Li, have the Guild Logistics Department investigate him. His background should be stronger than Fu Hong's."

Li Beihai nodded. "I've already sent a message to Cheng Bin. They're investigating."

Not long after, Li Chengbin's reply came through.

Li Beihai glanced at the message, his expression turning serious. "Qiao Qi is a senior at Jinling University. He's from Yanjing... According to unconfirmed rumors, he's connected to a top family in Yanjing."

Yanjing, the political center of China, is a place where hidden talents abound. The top families of Yanjing, if placed in Jinghai, would definitely be considered powerful figures crossing the river. With such backgrounds, they are no less powerful than Fu Hong.

"See? Fu Hong is just hoping things will escalate. He'd prefer the Super God Guild to arrest Qiao Qi without any regard for the facts, thus offending Qiao Qi's family," Xiang Hui said with a disdainful glance at Chen Guowei. "Use your brain more in the future, instead of just making things worse."

"Old Bai was having a good time roasting him, wasn't he...?" Chen Guowei muttered.

"I don't think Qiao Qi is some important member of a top family in Yanjing, otherwise he wouldn't be so reckless..." Bai Xiaowen waved his hand, "As long as we don't go too far and don't endanger his personal safety, it's no big deal to tease him a bit. Of course, it's better to avoid trouble."

Zhang Jing inquired about the condition of the guards who had been beaten. None of them were injured, though they inevitably had some bruises. After offering his condolences, Zhang Jing told them to go to the finance department to collect a subsidy of five thousand yuan each and gave them a week's leave, which could be considered a blessing in disguise.

Seeing that the incident had subsided, Bai Xiaowen and the others took a car back to school.

On the way, Bai Xiaowen said, "Han Xu has been recognized by Fu Hong, this is not good."

Han Xu said, "It's nothing. I'm just a low-level newbie in the Jingwu Guild, far removed from the grudges between guilds. Besides, Senior Fu Hong is a member of the Titan Guild. We're not from the same group..."

"Anyway, be careful. Right now is the perfect time to switch contracts," Bai Xiaowen thought for a moment, then smiled again. "If the Jingwu Guild treats you badly, come join our guild. You met our guild leader today, who is also Shu Yi's father. He seemed quite easy to get along with, right? Small guilds have their advantages too; there aren't as many messy things."

Han Xu seemed somewhat interested, but remained silent.

Back at school, the car pulled up in front of Taoran Residence. Bai Xiaowen thanked the driver Feng Kui, and then went upstairs with Li Shuyi.

Bai Xiaowen opened her Shark Platform account, applied for a featured spot, and then started her live stream. Although Li Shuyi wasn't live streaming, she also entered the Virtual Battle Platform, wanting to test her current skill level.

After being away from Earth World for a month, Bai Xiaowen's Earth Fame has declined somewhat, but it hasn't fallen below C-Tier. Even though his live stream is offline, some fans still pass by, leaving a few comments and asking each other about Bai Xiaowen's current situation.

After starting his broadcast, Bai Xiaowen quickly logged into the Virtual Battle Platform.

"Wow! The streamer has come back to life!"

What holiday is it today?

"Xiao Wen, it's been a long time!"

There were only a few scattered comments, a far cry from the peak when the chat was densely packed and filled the entire live stream.

Bai Xiaowen responded with a smile, then said, "I'm sorry everyone, this trip to the Spirit Realm took a little longer than usual. We'll go straight to ranked matches; our goal this time is to reach Gold rank."

"Up with gold?"

"The streamer is currently Silver Tier Five, right? They're still a long way from Gold Tier."

Even if you win every single game to skip a rank, you'd probably need dozens of consecutive wins.

Bai Xiaowen smiled calmly and directly selected the individual ranking match.

Ding-ling. "You have been matched with an evenly matched opponent. Do you wish to enter the battle map?"