The Dean's Lounge

As Zhang Yang entered the Administration Building, a soft drumbeat sounded in his ears.

That meant the map boss, the academy's dean, Beckett, was still alive.

Which made sense. A level 43 map boss—how were those level 11 assault teams, all at most first-ring, supposed to take him on?

No matter how many of them there were, they'd just be walking into the grinder.

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

After finishing off the one downstairs, Zhang Yang returned to the Decryption Station, hoisted the box containing Xiao You, the control-type Soul Master, onto his shoulder, and hurried up to the fifth floor.

Carrying the box into the hallway, 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 shout, the Dean's Office immediately sprang to life.

Soon, the dean, Beckett, came striding out in a dark purple robe, his Martial Soul in hand and Soul Power swelling around him.

When Beckett reached the hallway and saw Zhang Yang holding Lord M14, he froze for a moment. Then he noticed the box by Zhang Yang's feet.

"You killed someone?"

There was none of the instant killing that bosses inflicted on operators. Faced with Zhang Yang holding a Martial Soul, Beckett wore the same kindly expression as he did in the real world.

"Dean, this person tried to kill me first." Zhang Yang complained, his face full of grievance. "And her teammates, too. The three of them ganged up on me."

"She had teammates? Those damned Evil Soul Masters." Dean Beckett furrowed his brows, visibly worked up.

"Yeah, right outside our academy." Zhang Yang said, "And the janitor—they killed the janitor at the gate, too. Old Dong, the one who was always watching the entrance."

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

Beckett knew the gatekeeper, Old Dong, well. After all, they saw each other every day.

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

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

"That's right." Zhang Yang nodded, lifting the M14 in his hand and giving it a shake. "My Martial Soul isn't just for show."

Beckett could only sigh. "As expected of Lord Zhang Lingyue's son. Like father, like son."

Zhang Yang scratched his head and gave an embarrassed chuckle.

Beckett put away his Martial Soul and hurried forward, crouching down to open the box containing Xiao You, the control-type Soul Master.

Zhang Yang obligingly took two steps back to make room.

"Control-type Soul Master, Martial Soul: fishing net..."

As Dean Beckett examined the box, his mind raced. He didn't even notice that Zhang Yang was only one step away.

"BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG..."

The ten-round magazine emptied in 743 milliseconds.

Caught completely off guard, level 40 Beckett took ten bullets to the head. There was no chance he could survive.

"You... aren't Zhang Yang." After leaving behind those bitter final words, Beckett died in despair, his body turning into a special black box.

Poor dean. Even in the final moment before his death, he couldn't believe Zhang Yang would stab him in the back.

Zhang Yang didn't react at all. He'd heard that line so often, he was sick of it.

"Head, armor, Soul Ring, no chest rig, backpack, and one more pocket to loot."

The dean's tortoiseshell monocle gave him one point of vision. Zhang Yang swapped his student uniform for the dean's level 3 robe, then stuffed the Soul Ring and backpack into his Heaven-Swallowing Bag.

Zhang Yang loved looting the dean's Soul Rings most of all, because every time, the dean gave him a total of 6,120 years' worth of Soul Rings.

That was more than he got from killing thirty people.

The dean's backpack also occasionally refreshed with some good stuff.

When the dean's backpack went into his Heaven-Swallowing Bag and his in-match haul quickly jumped to 3.82 million, Zhang Yang knew he'd hit the jackpot this round.

He closed the search interface, and a black-and-gold keycard appeared in his hand.

"Ding!"

The clear chime felt good right down to Zhang Yang's bones.

"Sei men, sei men dou mei mi..."

Getting up from beside the box, Zhang Yang dashed into the Dean's Office in three quick strides, then hid in a corner, opened his backpack, and quietly waited for the item search to finish.

"[Magnifying glass searching]"

"Ding!"

A flash of red light, and the red-tier card "Dean's Lounge," worth 3.34 million, appeared.

"Red. Dean's Lounge."

"Value: 34462080"

"Durability: 20/20"

"Use location: Heding City Academy—Dean's Office"

"A key used to open the academy dean's lounge."

Excellent.

Zhang Yang happily tucked the keycard into his secure container.

Safe and sound.

He had to admit, the keycard for the Dean's Office was incredibly hard to get. He'd killed several hundred bosses, and this was only the second time it had dropped.

Time to swipe the card and celebrate.

Zhang Yang happily looted the Dean's Office, then raised the card and unlocked the Dean's Lounge.

He shut the door behind him and swept his gaze around the small room. "Huh? Wh-what's that? Am I seeing things?"

"Sei men, sei men dou mei mi..."

The little tune that played whenever something red dropped started up again. Zhang Yang sprinted over and picked up the big red item on the floor, stowing it in his secure container.

"Red. Powerful Vacuum Cleaner."

"Value: 1524978"

"Furniture item"

"4.8 kg, 2×3 slots"

"An intelligent furniture product equipped with a smart optical detection system. Quickly cleans stubborn grime; the top choice for the home."

"Special effect of red-tier collectible: Increases in-match search speed and eliminates search time for collectibles of fixed tiers."

After seeing the Powerful Vacuum Cleaner's special effect, Zhang Yang thought it seemed a bit underwhelming.

On the one hand, faster searches were definitely a great attribute.

On the other hand, the item felt unworthy of its 1.52 million price tag.

"Whatever. I got the attribute for free, anyway. It didn't cost me a cent, and something's better than nothing."

He closed his backpack, then searched every other container in the Dean's Lounge. He also ate a "Peace Fruit," picked up a small red item and several small gold items, and finally left the manager's office satisfied.

Considering how much time stealing the brick had taken, Zhang Yang didn't bother with a normal extraction. Instead, he looted the entire academy, then pulled the lever to extract.

When the four-minute countdown ended, Zhang Yang, hiding beside the wall, saw only a dazzling streak of blade light. A huge hole was cleaved through the wall, several meters high.

Then a figure swept across the sky and disappeared without a trace.

Zhang Yang didn't even try to figure out who it was. He climbed through the opening in the wall and escaped the academy.

Then the animation ended.

"Extraction successful."

After moving everything in his backpack into the warehouse, Zhang Yang opened the Collection Room and placed the [Powerful Vacuum Cleaner] he'd just found inside.

"Powerful Vacuum Cleaner, display level 1. Attribute: Increases in-match search speed; eliminates search time for white- and green-tier collectibles, displaying them directly."

Seeing the attribute the [Powerful Vacuum Cleaner] provided in the Collection Room, Zhang Yang finally understood.

So this was where the red-tier item's real value lay.

For example, if Zhang Yang opened an enemy Soul Master's box now, it might contain twenty items waiting to be searched, eighteen of them white- or green-tier collectibles.

Before, Zhang Yang had to crouch beside the box and wait for the magnifying glass to scan the items one by one. It took a lot of time and was very dangerous.

Now it was much easier.

Of the twenty items waiting to be searched, the eighteen white- and green-tier collectibles would show up immediately. The magnifying glass only had to scan the other two.

That would save Zhang Yang who knew how much time.

There was another benefit, too: now he could open containers with a low drop rate.

After all, the white- and green-tier collectibles would show up directly, so it wouldn't waste much time.

Thinking about it that way, the [Powerful Vacuum Cleaner] really lived up to the word "powerful" in its name. That attribute was ridiculously strong.

Then Zhang Yang opened the Mandel Brick he'd just deciphered and got an "M14 Attribute Conversion Card Fragment (Explosive)."

The moment he saw the fragment's name, Zhang Yang stomped his foot in frustration. "Agh, damn it, another new fragment!"

He'd opened five Mandel Bricks and gotten five different fragments. Douluo Continent was a real "master of doling things out evenly."

Not too much, not too little—just a little for everyone.

And Zhang Yang still wasn't sure if five types of fragments were the limit, or if the Mandel Brick could refresh and produce new ones.

The result really gave him a headache.

"Forget it. No point thinking about that. I'd better hurry up and loot. I'm about to level up."

Zhang Yang sighed, sorted through his gear, and entered another match.