Are You Trying to Assassinate Me?

50 days until the college entrance exam.

Lu Chong spent his morning sweeping the wilderness with the other students, though none of them knew he was already a formal Martial Artist.

In fact, unless Lu Chong actively revealed his aura, even Sister Yu, who followed behind him, could not tell.

In reality, hunting beasts in the wilderness had become entirely devoid of challenge for him.

After all, Exotic Beasts of the second rank were rare near the Fortress.

However, Lu Chong cared deeply about the military merits here; they were his leverage for exchanging resources.

Not to mention, there was still Xue Cheng waiting to deliver military merits to him.

Lu Chong was even more strapped for cash now than before his breakthrough—and not just a little.

Improving his cultivation required high-level nutrients, each costing one hundred thousand, and he consumed one every ten days.

Furthermore, after his Golden Cicada Robe reached Perfection, it evolved into the Earth-tier Golden Bell Shield, which also required more and higher-grade medicinal liquids, costing no less than the nutrients.

Thus, every time Lu Chong opened his eyes, he had to consider how to earn money to support himself.

But even as he became increasingly adept at stealing kills, the military merits he could harvest near the Fortress were limited, totaling only about three hundred points a day—barely more than the second-place Xue Cheng.

This is fine. That kid Xue Cheng hasn't given up yet; I'll just wait until the special training ends and he can pay it all back to me at once.

Lu Chong specifically calculated that by the end of the special training, Xue Cheng should have saved up nearly ten thousand military merit points for him, just enough to sustain him until the college entrance exam.

In the afternoon, Lu Chong still didn't have to train with the students; instead, he was paired with Martial Artists from the military.

It was Li Yibing, the squad leader of the Special Warfare Class who had led him previously.

This squad leader, who had reached the third stage of the Martial Artist realm, admired Lu Chong more and more and was willing to spare no effort in sparring with him, helping him familiarize himself with the combat style of formal Martial Artists.

Although Lu Chong did not reveal his Earth-tier Martial Skills, he could observe various applications of aura from Li Yibing, which benefited him immensely.

Li Yibing, however, was shocked to discover that with his own third-stage cultivation and a Great Success Earth-tier Martial Skill, he could only fight Lu Chong to a draw.

While Lu Chong used Human-tier Martial Skills, he possessed so many of them, and every single one was at the Perfection stage, making his defense impeccable.

What shocked Li Yibing the most was that Lu Chong, who had only recently broken through to the Martial Artist realm, was not the least bit inferior to him in strength, speed, or neural reflexes.

After three days of such sparring, Li Yibing had to call for reinforcements, bringing in other squad leaders to take turns training with Lu Chong.

Lu Chong was not stingy with the soldiers either, setting aside an hour every day to provide pointers on their Martial Skill cultivation.

Eventually, quite a few young soldiers began to take the initiative to address Lu Chong as Instructor Lu.

When this bizarre scene fell into the eyes of Principal Fang, Cheng Dongye, and the other instructors, one could imagine how stunned they were.

Cheng Dongye couldn't help but sigh, "If this kid stayed in the military camp, it wouldn't be long before he became the chief instructor."

It was a pity that Lu Chong's ambitions lay elsewhere.

Under Colonel Huang's instructions, Cheng Dongye had personally spoken to Lu Chong about special recruitment into the military academy, but Lu Chong had politely declined.

It wasn't that Lu Chong looked down on Zhenwu Military Academy, but he was used to his freedom and knew he couldn't stand the military-style management of the academy.

Time flowed like water, and in the blink of an eye, it was the end of April, with only one week left until the end of the special training.

The other students' Martial Skill training had also come to an end, and they began daily afternoon combat practice with soldiers of the same rank in the camp.

Then, they discovered that they still couldn't find a trace of Lu Chong.

Instead, the soldiers who sparred with them couldn't stop praising Lu Chong whenever his name came up, even calling him "Instructor."

Only then did the students realize that Lu Chong's special training was completely different from theirs; he had actually started training the soldiers here in return.

What kind of situation was this?

At this time, Lu Chong was, of course, still getting along famously with the squad leaders.

However, half a month after his breakthrough, Lu Chong was now a second-stage Martial Artist, his strength having increased exponentially, to the point where he could spar with Instructor Cheng Dongye.

A second-stage Martial Artist fighting to a draw with the seventh-stage Cheng Dongye—and without even using Earth-tier Martial Skills—made the group of squad leaders feel ashamed of their own progress.

Consequently, the squad leaders had been trained miserably during this period, though each of them had improved rapidly.

Name: Lu Chong

Level: Martial Artist Second Stage (72%)

Martial Skills—

Human-tier Low-grade: Gale Shadowless Step (Perfection)... Heart-Piercing Kick (Perfection)

Human-tier Mid-grade: Seven-Step Killing Fist (Perfection), Three-Inch Palm (Perfection)

Human-tier Top-grade: Tiger Roar Skill (Perfection)

Earth-tier Low-grade: Wind Blade Leg (Microscopic 16%), Golden Bell Shield (Microscopic 12%), Gale Shadowless Step (Microscopic 16%)

Ending the day's training, Lu Chong looked at his panel again; it was another day of surpassing himself.

He believed that if he truly utilized those three Earth-tier Low-grade Martial Skills, even Cheng Dongye would be no match for him.

After all, his three Earth-tier Martial Skills were all at the Microscopic realm, far exceeding the chief instructor, Cheng Dongye.

That night, the moon was dark and the wind was high.

In a cave over a hundred miles away from the Fortress, two men dressed in night-traveler gear were whispering to each other.

"Big Brother, we've already grasped the kid's activity patterns. Shouldn't we hurry up and make our move?" one of them asked.

The other nodded. "True, it's time."

"Damn it, intercepting and killing a student right under the noses of the regular army is no easy feat."

"If it weren't for that kid being such a show-off, we'd never have found an opening."

The first man in black replied, "Indeed. Even though we are Martial Artists, there are several high-level Martial Artists near that kid."

"Even if we managed to ambush him, we wouldn't have a life left to escape."

The leader snorted. "Once we pull this job off, we can take the money, leave Hedong Province, and go into deep seclusion for a while before coming back out."

"Big Brother is a legend."

"To think you came up with the idea of using the Mother-Child Rat to assassinate that kid."

"Heh heh... the Child Rat died at that kid's hands yesterday. Once dawn breaks, we'll release the Level 2 Mother Rat to lock onto him, and one bite will be enough to kill him instantly."

"Hahaha..."

The muffled sound of two men laughing echoed faintly through the cave.

But at some unknown moment, a young man in a black tracksuit appeared at the entrance of the cave.

Only after the two men inside had finished their discussion did the youth give a light cough and ask gently, "May I ask, are you looking for me?"

"Who's there?!"

A startled cry erupted from the cave, and two black-clad figures lunged out, exposing themselves to the moonlight.

Lu Chong looked at the pair and grinned. "Weren't you just discussing how to assassinate me?"