Zhou Xing Would Be in for a Treat

His arms felt like they were made of lead, and his lungs burned like fire.

Gao Teng was nearly at his limit, yet the rats before him were still countless, as if they would never stop coming.

He struggled to swing his battered blade, all the while glancing at Zhang Meizhu.

If things got any worse, he would have to steal some cultivation from Zhang Meizhu.

As long as he stole her physical strength, he would be full of energy again and able to keep fighting.

"Sorry for the trouble."

Gao Teng apologized silently. He had no choice.

The two of them were pinned down and could barely move. Their only chance of survival was to keep fighting, fighting, fighting.

However, just as he was about to use his divine power, a powerful aura suddenly burst from Zhang Meizhu.

She charged into the swarm, carving a path through it with sheer force as she locked onto an unremarkable rat.

It was small and looked perfectly ordinary, with nothing to distinguish it from the rest of the swarm.

But the moment Zhang Meizhu ran it through with her blade, the rats panicked and scattered like headless chickens, vanishing in the blink of an eye.

At the sight, Gao Teng was first surprised, then quickly walked over to Zhang Meizhu.

Unfortunately, he was too late.

The rat king was already dead.

Still, he wasn't too disappointed. He had earned plenty of merit points tonight.

"How did you know it was the rat king?"

Gao Teng asked curiously.

When the swarm had surrounded him, he had tried to find the rat king too.

But all he could see were rats. He couldn't tell them apart—there was no way.

Zhang Meizhu said, "Maybe it's because I'm stronger. The swarm put more pressure on me, which let me hear the rat king's sharper squeals.

"I actually spotted it a while ago. I only waited to strike because I wanted it to let its guard down.

"Once it blended into the swarm, it would've been hard to find again."

As she spoke, she patted Gao Teng on the shoulder. "Were you sure you were going to die back there? Were you scared?"

Gao Teng shrugged. How could he have been scared?

As long as he stole cultivation from Zhang Meizhu, he could keep fighting until he wiped out the swarm.

What he had felt just then was mostly guilt. Zhang Meizhu had worked hard to get where she was, and if he stole her cultivation, she would have no chance of getting into a top university.

He really didn't want things to come to that unless it was absolutely necessary.

When he remained silent, Zhang Meizhu tried to reassure him. "It was so dangerous back there. Anyone would've been scared. There's nothing to be ashamed of.

"And don't let being rescued by me hurt your pride or self-esteem."

Gao Teng laughed. "Why would that hurt my pride?

"You did the right thing by turning the tide. Otherwise, you'd be a pretty useless Level Four martial artist."

As he spoke, he patted Zhang Meizhu on the shoulder and praised her. "You did well. You showed the strength a Level Four martial artist should have."

Zhang Meizhu's expression turned strange. She had saved Gao Teng's life, and he hadn't even thanked her. Now he was acting like he was above her and grading her performance?

"This guy..."

Zhang Meizhu shook her head helplessly. There was no getting through to Gao Teng. He was just too unusual.

Gao Teng glanced at the corpses strewn across the ground and sighed. "Good thing someone kept clearing the sewers and hunting mutated creatures after our shift ended.

"If every one of these rats had been strong, we'd have been done for."

Zhang Meizhu looked at him and reminded him, "Most of these rats were below Level One, but there were enough of them together to kill us.

"If I hadn't found the rat king, we'd have lasted maybe ten more minutes before they tore us apart.

"Don't think they were no threat just because we beat them. We were simply lucky tonight."

Gao Teng nodded. Of course he wasn't going to get overconfident.

He wiped the blood from his face and asked, "What do we do now? Can we clock out on the grounds that we're injured?"

Zhang Meizhu laughed. "Of course we're clocking out. What, do you want to keep taking risks?

"If we get surrounded by another swarm, I'll die here."

With that, she turned and headed out, motioning for Gao Teng to follow.

The way to the exit was quiet, and they didn't encounter any more mutated creatures.

When they climbed out of the sewer, Zhang Meizhu couldn't help taking a deep breath.

She had finally escaped that lightless hellhole. It felt wonderful to see daylight again!

"If I weren't broke, I wouldn't come to a place like this."

Zhang Meizhu glanced back, her face full of disgust.

Her clothes were soaked through with blood and clung to her skin, making her so uncomfortable she wanted to go home and scrub them clean right away.

"Let's hurry home. I'll report what happened tonight to the Public Security Bureau. They should give us a bonus."

"Okay."

Gao Teng agreed, and the two of them headed to the Regent Hotel to get their bicycles.

"Oh, right."

As he unlocked his bike, Gao Teng suddenly remembered something.

He asked, puzzled, "Aren't you ranked among the top five students in the whole school?

"And you're in Gold Medal Class. A pharmaceutical company should be sponsoring you, so why are you still working so hard to earn money for medicine?"

Zhang Meizhu looked surprised. "You've known me this long, and you're only asking now?"

Gao Teng answered frankly, "I forgot. I was only thinking about myself."

Zhang Meizhu curled her lip. "A local pharmaceutical company is sponsoring me, but I turned them down.

"I only want medicine from major companies. It's more effective and has fewer side effects, so it won't affect my future cultivation.

"I can't help it. If I want to become a top powerhouse someday, I have to work a little harder."

Gao Teng's eyes flickered, and he couldn't help looking at Zhang Meizhu again. He hadn't expected her to have such a big dream and so much determination.

"You could accept medicine from the local company, sell it on the black market, and then buy medicine from a major company."

Zhang Meizhu couldn't help laughing. She'd known he would come up with a rotten idea like that.

"If the company found out I was taking their medicine and selling it off, they'd cripple me. I'm not stupid enough to try it. My life is precious.

"And I'd advise you not to try to trick a pharmaceutical company either. They..."

As she spoke, Zhang Meizhu stopped herself.

With Gao Teng's grades, he would never get sponsorship from a pharmaceutical company. Her warning was pointless, and she decided not to say anything that might hurt his feelings.

She climbed onto her bicycle and waved at Gao Teng. "Let's drop it. I'm sticky all over and miserable.

"First that monster sprayed me, and then I got drenched in rat blood. What a terrible day."

"Okay. See you."

Gao Teng got onto his bicycle too and rode off in the opposite direction.

On the way, he brought up his status panel and eagerly checked his [Merit Points].

"7276."

Gao Teng let out a long breath. He'd killed a lot of mutated monsters tonight, and with tomorrow's free ten-attempt steal, Zhou Xing would be in for a treat!