Dean's Lounge

Entering the Administration Building, a soft, rhythmic drumming sound reached Zhang Yang's ears.

This signified that the map boss, Dean Beckett of the Heding City Academy, had not yet been slain.

It made sense; a level 43 map boss—how were those level 11 First Ring assault squads supposed to fight that?

No matter how many of them there were, they were just serving themselves up on a platter.

Fortunately, Zhang Yang had plenty of experience in taking down this boss.

After clearing the ground floor, Zhang Yang returned to the decryption station, hoisted the box containing the Control-type Spirit Master Xiao You onto his shoulder, and sprinted up to the fifth floor.

Arriving in the hallway with the box, Zhang Yang manifested Lord M14 in his right hand and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Dean, something's happened!"

At Zhang Yang's cry, movement stirred within the Dean's office immediately.

Soon, Dean Beckett, draped in deep purple robes, strode out holding his martial spirit, his body surging with spirit power.

Stepping into the hallway, Beckett paused upon seeing Lord M14 in Zhang Yang's hand, then glanced at the box at his feet.

"Did you kill someone?"

There was no instant-kill reaction that bosses usually displayed toward operators; facing Zhang Yang and his martial spirit, Beckett's expression was as amiable as it was in reality.

"Dean, this person tried to kill me first," Zhang Yang said, his face full of grievance. "And her teammates—three of them surrounded and attacked me."

"Teammates? Those damn Evil Spirit Masters." Dean Beckett's brows knitted together, his emotions flaring.

"Yes, right at the academy gate," Zhang Yang said. "And the school staff—they even killed the gatekeeper, Old Dong, who was always watching the entrance."

"Old Dong? Damn them." Dean Beckett cursed under his breath.

He was very familiar with the gatekeeper Old Dong, after all, they saw each other every single day.

"Luckily, I reacted quickly and killed all three of them," Zhang Yang said.

"You killed all three of them?" Dean Beckett raised an eyebrow, surprised.

"That's right." Zhang Yang nodded, lifting Lord M14 to give it a shake. "My martial spirit isn't just for show."

Hearing this, Beckett could only sigh, "As expected of the son of Lord Zhang Lingyue; a tiger father has no dog for a son."

Zhang Yang scratched his head at the remark, letting out an embarrassed chuckle.

Dismissing his martial spirit, Beckett walked over quickly and crouched down to open the box containing the Control-type Spirit Master Xiao You.

Zhang Yang stepped back two paces, sensibly giving him space.

"Control-type Spirit Master, martial spirit Fishing Net..."

As he reached out to inspect the box, Dean Beckett's mind was racing, so much so that he didn't notice Zhang Yang, standing just a single step away, looming over him.

"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!"

The 10-round magazine was emptied in 743 milliseconds.

Caught completely off guard, the level 40 Beckett took all 10 rounds to the head; there was no possibility of survival.

"You... you aren't Zhang Yang." Leaving behind this stifled final word, Beckett breathed his last in frustration, his remains transforming into a special black box.

Poor Dean—until the very last moment of his life, he never believed Zhang Yang would backstab him.

Zhang Yang remained unmoved; he had heard that line so many times his ears had grown callouses.

"Head, armor, spirit ring, chest rig—none, backpack, and grab one more pocket."

The Dean's tortoiseshell monocle provided 1 point of vision, the level 3 Dean's Robe replaced his student uniform, and the spirit ring and backpack were stuffed into his own Heaven-Swallowing Bag.

Zhang Yang loved consuming the Dean's spirit rings most of all, as the Dean always provided a total of 6,120 years worth of spirit rings.

That was more than what Zhang Yang got from killing 30 people.

Furthermore, the Dean's backpack occasionally contained a fresh assortment of high-value goods.

When the Dean's backpack was shoved into his own Heaven-Swallowing Bag and his in-game haul jumped to 3.82 million, Zhang Yang knew he had hit the jackpot.

Closing the search interface, a black and gold keycard appeared in Zhang Yang's hand.

"Ding!"

The crisp sound was satisfying to the very marrow of Zhang Yang's bones.

"Simon, Simon, no rice in the pocket..."

Scrambling up from beside the box, Zhang Yang dashed into the Dean's office in two strides, hid in a corner, and opened his backpack, waiting quietly for the item retrieval scan to complete.

[Magnifying Glass scanning...]

"Ding!"

A red glow flashed—the red card "Dean's Lounge" worth 3.34 million.

"Red, Dean's Lounge"

"Value: 34,462,080"

"Durability: 20/20"

"Usage Location: Heding City Academy-Dean's Lounge"

"A key used to open the Dean's Lounge."

Very good.

Zhang Yang tucked the room card into his safe with satisfaction.

Safe and sound in the pocket.

I have to say, this room card for the Dean's Office is incredibly hard to farm; I've killed hundreds of bosses, and this is only the second time it has dropped.

Time to celebrate with a quick loot run.

Zhang Yang happily cleared out the Dean's Office, then raised his hand and swiped open the door to the Dean's Lounge.

Closing the door behind him, Zhang Yang scanned the small room: "Hmm? That... what is that? Am I seeing things?"

"Simon, Simon dou mei mi..."

The little tune for a red-tier item played again. Zhang Yang sprinted forward and reached out to stash the bright red item on the floor into his safe.

"Red, Powerful Vacuum Cleaner"
"Value: 1524978"
"Furniture Item"
"4.8KG, 2*3 slots"
"Smart furniture product, utilizes smart optical detection system to quickly clean stubborn grime, the top choice for any home."
"Red Collection Special Effect: Increases search speed within the match and waives search time for fixed-tier collectibles."

Seeing the special effect of the Powerful Vacuum Cleaner, Zhang Yang felt it was a bit underwhelming.

It's not that it's bad; increased search speed is indeed a great attribute.

But it's not exactly great either; it feels like this attribute doesn't match its 1.52 million price tag.

"Whatever, the stats were basically free anyway, didn't cost me a penny. Better to have it than not."

Closing his backpack, Zhang Yang opened every other container in the Dean's Lounge, ate a "Peace Fruit" (a small red item), and grabbed several small gold items before leaving the manager's office with satisfaction.

Considering that the Mandel Brick had taken up too much time, Zhang Yang didn't bother with a standard extraction. Instead, he finished looting the academy clean and then pulled the lever to evacuate.

As the 4-minute countdown ended, Zhang Yang, hiding by the perimeter wall, saw a brilliant blade of light flash by, cleaving a massive hole through the wall several meters high.

Shortly after, a figure streaked across the sky and vanished without a trace.

Zhang Yang didn't bother trying to figure out who that figure was; he simply scrambled through the gap in the wall and fled the academy.

Then, the animation ended.

"Extraction successful."

After clearing everything from his backpack into the warehouse, Zhang Yang opened the Collection Room and placed the [Powerful Vacuum Cleaner] he had just found inside.

"Powerful Vacuum Cleaner, display stand level 1, attribute: Increases search speed within the match, waives search time for white and green collectibles, displaying them instantly."

Seeing the attribute provided by the [Powerful Vacuum Cleaner] in the Collection Room, Zhang Yang suddenly realized the truth.

So, this is where the true value of this red-tier item lies.

For example, if Zhang Yang opens a box belonging to an enemy Soul Master, there might be 20 items to search, 18 of which are white or green collectibles.

Previously, Zhang Yang would have to crouch by the box, waiting for the magnifying glass to rotate over each item one by one, which was extremely time-consuming and dangerous.

Now, it's much easier.

Out of 20 items, the 18 white and green collectibles are displayed instantly, and the magnifying glass only needs to scan the remaining 2 items.

This alone saves Zhang Yang an immeasurable amount of time.

There is another benefit: now, containers with low drop rates are worth opening too.

Since white and green collectibles are displayed instantly, it won't waste much time.

Thinking about it this way, the [Powerful Vacuum Cleaner] truly lives up to the "Powerful" in its name; this attribute is incredibly potent.

Afterward, Zhang Yang opened the Mandel Brick he had just deciphered and obtained an "M14 Attribute Conversion Card Fragment (Explosive)."

Seeing the name of this fragment, Zhang Yang stomped his feet in frustration: "Damn it, another new fragment."

Five Mandel Bricks, five different fragments; he's practically the "Master of Balancing" of the Douluo Continent.

Fair and square, he treats them all equally.

Moreover, Zhang Yang isn't even sure if five types are the limit, or if the Mandel Bricks will continue to generate new fragments.

This result truly gave Zhang Yang a headache.

"Forget it, stop thinking about it. I'd better hurry up and farm; I'm about to level up."

Zhang Yang sighed, organized his gear, and entered the match once more.