"Lin Feng, you've got some nerve showing your face here!"
Wang Jianguo, the director of the Academic Affairs Office, shot to his feet and slapped the desk. The teacup rattled loudly.
Lin Feng stood in the doorway, both hands clenched tight.
He stared at that greasy face, fury churning in his gut.
"Where's my grant?"
"What grant? There isn't one!"
Wang Jianguo propped his legs on the desk and gave him a sidelong look. "Plenty of people got into a Martial Path Undergraduate program. What makes you think you deserve it?"
What made him think he deserved it?
Lin Feng's head buzzed.
Three days earlier, he'd checked the admissions notice from Martial Dao University.
Out of three hundred thousand candidates across the province, there were only a little over a thousand undergraduate slots.
He was one of them.
That night, his younger sister, Lin Xiaoyu, had hugged the notice and cried for an entire night.
Not from grief, but from excitement.
At long last, the hard days were over for the two siblings.
Ever since their parents died in a car accident, he'd kept the family afloat with odd jobs at a martial arts gym.
Xiao Yu was only sixteen and still in high school. Tuition, living expenses, and rent cut into their savings like knives every month.
But a Martial Path Undergraduate degree was different.
Once he graduated, his prospects would be limitless. A monthly salary of over ten thousand was only the starting point.
To cultivate martial arts talent, the nation had even established a two-hundred-thousand-yuan grant for students from poor families—a fortune that would see him through to graduation and change his fate.
"I've already submitted the application materials." Lin Feng forced down his anger. "The system says my application passed review."
"Passed?" Wang Jianguo sneered and pulled a document from his drawer. "Take a look. This year's slots were decided ages ago."
Lin Feng took the document and scanned the names.
Li Haoran—the son of the city Martial Arts Association president.
Zhang Mingxuan—the nephew of the Education Bureau director.
Every name had "financial hardship" written beside it.
But Lin Feng knew Li Haoran.
That kid drove a luxury car to school, and the Psionic Watch on his wrist was worth five hundred thousand yuan.
"These people..." Lin Feng stared at the list, his hand trembling with rage.
"What? You got a problem?" Wang Jianguo leaned back in his chair and lit a cigarette. "Kid, society isn't as simple as you think. You think getting into a Martial Path Undergraduate program makes you somebody? Without money, you won't even be able to enroll."
Through the swirling smoke, his face looked especially twisted.
Lin Feng's mind flashed to his sister's hopeful, eager face from the night before.
He knew better than anyone that a Martial Path Undergraduate degree was the family's only way out—and his sister's only hope.
"That slot is mine." Lin Feng spoke each word slowly, his voice brimming with unshakable resolve.
"Yours?" Wang Jianguo flicked the ash from his cigarette. "So what? What can you do about it?"
"I'll tell you the truth. Your application never even got submitted. So what if you qualified? All it takes is one word from me, and I can bury your paperwork!"
With that, he pointed at Lin Feng's nose with the hand holding his cigarette.
For several seconds, the air fell silent.
Then Lin Feng moved.
He strode up to the desk, grabbed Wang Jianguo by the collar with his right hand, and smashed his left fist into that face.
"Ah!!!"
He'd endured all he could. There was no reason to endure any longer!
Lin Feng wasn't especially strong—only at the Martial Disciple level—but taking down a director who'd gotten his position through connections was easy enough.
Wang Jianguo screamed as he fell to the floor, blood gushing from his nose.
"Are you insane?"
Lin Feng said nothing. He flipped the desk over, sending papers, teacups, and ashtrays crashing across the floor.
He bent down, grabbed Wang Jianguo by the collar again, and landed another heavy punch.
"My sister's only eighteen!"
Bang!
"The day we buried our parents, she didn't even dare to cry out loud!"
Bang!
"You fat parasite, pocketing the nation's money for yourself—what gives you the nerve to lecture me about society?!"
Bang!
One punch, then another!
The hope that had only just begun to burn in their home was about to be snuffed out by this fat pig?
Lin Feng would never allow it!
His final punch landed. Wang Jianguo's eyes rolled back, and he passed out completely.
Lin Feng let go, his chest heaving violently.
His knuckles ached, streaked with blood that could have been either man's.
Footsteps pounded outside.
Lin Feng turned and walked out of the Academic Affairs Office. The corridor was packed with onlookers.
Their gazes held fear, schadenfreude, and sympathy, but not one of them dared stop him.
Graduates of Martial Arts High School were at least Martial Disciples.
To ordinary people, they were as fragile as paper.
Lin Feng walked out of the school gates, the sunlight stabbing at his eyes.
His phone vibrated.
It was a message from Xiao Yu: "Bro, how did it go with the grant?"
Lin Feng stared at the screen. He typed, deleted, then typed and deleted again. After a long time, he still hadn't replied.
He truly didn't know what to say to his sister.
Two hundred thousand yuan.
Tuition at Martial Dao University was fifty thousand a year. Four years would cost two hundred thousand.
Without the grant, he wouldn't even make it through his first year.
Was he really supposed to give up?
No.
Lin Feng opened his phone, and an announcement popped up:
[Urgent Recruitment: Guards for the Northern Frontier Defense Line. Two years of service, 200,000-yuan grant, tuition waived for Martial Path Undergraduates. Eligibility: At least 18 years old...]
The Northern Territory.
It was the most dangerous place in the entire Dragon Kingdom.
Fifty years ago, spiritual energy had resurged, and spatial Rifts had torn open along the border, pouring out countless Exotic Beasts.
Of every ten guards who went in, six came back on their backs, while the other four returned missing an arm or leg.
Less than one in ten made it back in one piece after their two-year service.
But Lin Feng had no choice.
His finger hovered over the screen. He hesitated for less than three seconds.
Then he tapped the application button.
The instant he submitted it, a flash of blue light suddenly appeared before his eyes.
[Host's will to survive in dire straits detected. System activating...]
[Martial Dao System successfully bound]
[Spirit: 10]
[Realm: Martial Disciple Rank 5 (35/50)]
[Technique: Basic Body Tempering Art (1/10)]
[Martial Technique: None]
[Talent: None]
[Hint: Defeating Exotic Beasts grants Martial Path Points, which can be freely allocated]
Lin Feng froze.
Was this... his cheat?
Lin Feng blinked. The panel was still there.
He tried focusing, and the data immediately enlarged, as clear as if it had been carved onto his retinas.
"Holy crap!" Lin Feng muttered. "This is next-level!"
He'd just signed away his life, and now the system had appeared?
No, this wasn't signing his life away. It was a path to leveling up!
Lin Feng's heart began pounding like crazy.
With the system, what did he have to fear from the Northern Territory? To others, it was a hellscape where nine out of ten died. To him, it was a paradise for grinding monsters and leveling up!
He wouldn't just get the grant—he'd grow stronger at an unprecedented rate!
Strong enough that no one would ever be able to trample him again!
Lin Feng's gaze turned utterly resolute. A confirmation message popped up on his phone: [Please report to the Northern Frontier Seventh Defense Line by tomorrow. Failure to do so will be treated as withdrawal.]
He put away his phone and headed home.
An alarm sounded in the distance. Another Rift was fluctuating.
The world had changed. The weak could only be crushed beneath the strong; only the strong could survive.
And Lin Feng had to grow stronger.
For no other reason than the sister waiting at home for him to come back and eat.
When he got home, Xiao Yu was cooking in the kitchen.
Hearing the door open, she poked her head out, still smiling. "Bro, did they approve the grant?"
Lin Feng looked at her, his throat tight.
"They approved it." He forced a smile. "But I have to go to the border for a while."
The spatula slipped from Xiao Yu's hand and hit the floor.
"The Northern Territory? Bro, are you crazy? People die there!"
"Don't worry. Who do you think your brother is?" Lin Feng walked over and ruffled her hair, just as he had when they were kids. "When I get back, we'll never have to worry about money again. You just focus on your studies and get into an even better university than me."
Xiao Yu's tears burst forth at once.
She threw herself into Lin Feng's arms, her frail body trembling violently.
"I don't want the money. I don't want to go to university. I just want you to stay alive."
After their parents were gone, her brother was her only family, her entire world.
Lin Feng held her tight, unable to say a word.
In his mind, the system panel hung silently, cold and still.
[Host is about to enter a high-risk area: Northern Frontier Defense Line]
[Reminder: Each Exotic Beast killed grants the corresponding Martial Path Points]
Lin Feng slowly closed his eyes.
He had to go to the Northern Territory.
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