Qin Qi: City Dwellers Are Truly Too Wicked!

"Yes, it is a bit of a coincidence."

"But Junior Qin, why are you doing this kind of work? You're a Spirit Master!"

Xiao Laoda looked at Qin Qi, who was slaughtering a pig, and frowned. He knew that Qin Qi was a Work-Study Student.

Even so, it shouldn't have come to the point of slaughtering pigs; he was a Spirit Master, after all!

"Working is just working; it has nothing to do with being a Spirit Master."

Qin Qi smiled and spoke nonchalantly.

"Junior, you..."

Xiao Laoda took two steps forward, intending to walk over to Qin Qi, but stopped in his tracks when he saw the scene in the courtyard.

A look of slight disgust appeared on his face. As the son of the city lord, he had been pampered with fine clothes and food since he was a child.

He had never encountered anything like pig slaughtering before.

"Junior, come over here for a moment. I have something to tell you."

Xiao Laoda gestured for Qin Qi to come over and spoke.

"Senior, surely not? You've hunted Spirit Beasts before; you can't be unable to handle a little blood, can you?"

Qin Qi walked over with a smile and said.

"It's not that I can't handle it, it's just that... forget it, let's not talk about that."

"Junior, I wanted to tell you that if you're short on money, I can give you some."

Xiao Laoda looked at the bloody scene, his expression souring as he felt a wave of nausea.

Killing a Spirit Beast and butchering one were two completely different experiences.

"Thank you for your kindness, Senior, but I wouldn't be able to pay you back."

Qin Qi kept an honest, simple smile on his face, the kind that would make anyone think he was a good kid.

"It's not a loan; I'm investing in you. Once you achieve something in the future, you can pay me back then."

Xiao Laoda looked left and right before lowering his voice.

"Hmm..."

Qin Qi looked at Xiao Laoda and, after a moment of thought, understood his intentions.

The position of city lord was not an easy one to hold, and the current city lord might not have only one son.

Everything was peaceful now, but when the city lord grew old and had to abdicate, things would no longer be so calm.

If Xiao Laoda wanted to succeed his father, he needed sufficient strength.

And a promising genius Spirit Master would be a great asset.

"Senior, thank you for your kindness, but I'm from a village, and we village folk don't like to owe people money."

Qin Qi smiled and refused. The city lord belonged to the nobility, and noble factions were all interconnected; pulling one hair would move the whole body.

Getting involved with one side was equivalent to becoming entangled with the entire noble faction, which would lead to many troubles in the future.

It wasn't worth causing himself trouble for a bit of money.

"Junior, listen to me..."

"Hmph!"

Xiao Laoda wanted to say more, but the pig that had been tied up tightly suddenly broke free.

With bloodshot eyes, it began to charge toward the courtyard exit, right where Qin Qi and Xiao Laoda were standing.

"Ah!"

Seeing the pig charging at him, Xiao Laoda instinctively raised his hands to protect himself.

He even forgot to manifest his Martial Soul, defending himself just like an ordinary person.

"Sigh."

Qin Qi shook his head at the sight. In the end, he was just a child. He might perform well in a structured arena match, but when faced with a sudden attack, he was completely unable to react.

"Puchi!"

Qin Qi watched the pig approach. He didn't move until the moment it reached him, at which point he launched his attack.

He activated a semi-finished Instant Strike, gripping his pig-slaughtering knife and attacking as if fired from a gun.

The blade pierced precisely into the pig's body, severing its heart with a single stroke.

"Thud!"

"Splat!"

As the pig's massive body hit the ground with a thud, blood sprayed from the wound.

As luck would have it, it splashed all over Xiao Laoda.

Xiao Laoda felt the warm, damp, and rust-scented pig blood on his body and could hold it in no longer.

"Ah! So disgusting, so disgusting!"

Xiao Laoda was covered in blood from head to toe, his stomach churning violently. After only a moment, he couldn't help but rush to the side to retch.

"Senior, there's no need for that, is there? It's just a bit of blood."

"Alright, alright, stop vomiting. Go take a bath and change your clothes quickly, or you won't be able to host the guests later."

Qin Qi was not stained with blood, and the Pig-Slaughtering Knife in his hand remained clean as well, thanks to the sheer speed of his strikes.

"Junior, I—ugh! I'm going to change my clothes first."

Xiao Laoda truly could not stand the smell on him anymore. He didn't even mention the investment to Qin Qi, turning around and walking away.

After Xiao Laoda left, the other children looked at the pig still spraying blood on the ground, then back at the smiling Qin Qi.

Their eyes clearly betrayed their fear and trepidation; after taking a few steps back, they all ran away.

"Boss, everyone, don't just stand there. Boil the water and pluck the hair; let's get back to work."

Qin Qi looked at the butcher and his helpers and spoke up.

"Oh, oh, right!"

"Move, everyone move!"

"You go boil the water, we'll move the pig over."

Only then did the group snap out of the shock Qin Qi had given them and rush to their tasks.

For safety's sake, the butcher went to check the remaining pigs, which were tied up securely.

He looked again at the rope the previous pig had broken free from; the cut was incredibly smooth, as if it had been sliced through.

That evening, Qin Qi and the others left the City Lord's Mansion, and the boss gave him three Silver Spirit Coins as payment.

It didn't seem like much, but for an ordinary person, it was a significant amount—equivalent to three months' wages for a blacksmith.

Qin Qi didn't decline and accepted it directly; he had been the main force in slaughtering the pigs today, so receiving this bonus was only natural.

"We have to go to other houses to slaughter pigs tomorrow. Are you still coming?" the butcher asked.

"I'm coming. Whose house are we going to tomorrow?" Qin Qi asked.

"A wealthy merchant's home. They're also celebrating their son becoming a Spirit Master," the butcher replied.

"Fine. I'll head to the shop as soon as school lets out."

Qin Qi nodded. It looked like he would have work for the next several days; after all, quite a few seniors were graduating this year.

After chatting with the butcher for a bit, Qin Qi returned to Notting Academy and went back to Dorm Seven.

He scanned the room and noticed Tang San wasn't there.

"Xiao Wu, where is Tang San?" Qin Qi asked as he returned to his bed.

"He went to take care of that teacher of his. He probably won't be back tonight."

"Hmph, Tang San is just too timid. If it were me, I would have let that useless Grandmaster fend for himself long ago."

"Take care of him? I'd be lucky if I didn't kick him to death," Xiao Wu said, her tone clearly displeased.

She still remembered how Grandmaster had threatened to expel them back then; rabbits were very vengeful creatures!

"You're a girl, yet your temper is so explosive."

Qin Qi felt that Xiao Wu didn't seem like a rabbit in human form; she was more like a tigress. Her temper was truly something else.

After chatting for a little while longer, Qin Qi entered his Study Space to continue practicing Instant Strike.