That night, everyone returned to the dormitory and got ready for bed. Classes would officially begin tomorrow.
Qin Qi wasn't bullied that night, but it didn't matter. He'd gotten used to roughing it over the years.
He could sleep soundly even on the floor, and now he could replenish his energy by meditating and practicing the Five Treasures Body Protection Method.
Just as Qin Qi entered a meditative state, he suddenly heard noises nearby. He opened his eyes and saw Wang Sheng and the others quietly surrounding him.
"Old Wang, what are you up to?"
Qin Qi flashed an honest, guileless smile and asked.
"What do you think? We got along all right during the day, but I haven't forgotten how you ambushed me!"
"Let me beat you up now, and we'll call it even!"
Wang Sheng grinned viciously. Eating together during the day was one thing; now it was night.
Time to get even!
"Old Wang, actually, I think you're a pretty good guy. You're generous and dependable—a good person."
Qin Qi spoke with utmost sincerity.
"Y-you really think so?"
Wang Sheng froze. He hadn't expected Qin Qi to praise him like that. He'd thought Qin Qi would call him shameless.
"Really. I heard everyone say that the leader of Dorm Seven is supposed to protect everyone from being bullied."
"Before we came, you were the one protecting them. You took plenty of beatings for it. You're a real man!"
Qin Qi's expression turned solemn as he raised his thumb at Wang Sheng.
"Honestly, it's just what I should do. It's tough enough being a Work-Study Student as it is. If we don't stick together, we won't stand a chance."
Wang Sheng sighed, his guard dropping as he spoke.
"Yeah, Old Wang, you're great in every way. It's just that your brain's not all there."
"What makes you think I'd let you off after you came to sneak up on me in the middle of the night and I caught you?"
Qin Qi's smile never faded. On the floor, where no one could see, a green Bamboo Green Snake had already slithered past their feet.
As Qin Qi finished speaking, the snake suddenly struck, coiling around everyone's ankles.
"You!"
By the time Wang Sheng reacted, it was too late. Qin Qi sprang to his feet and yanked hard, sending everyone tumbling to the floor.
At the same time, Qi Poison seeped into Wang Sheng and the others through contact, leaving them weak all over.
"You think you can sneak up on me? You're still way too green."
Qin Qi climbed down from the bed, walked over to Wang Sheng, and patted his cheek. Then he went to Wang Sheng's bed.
"My snake is poisonous. You've all been poisoned. Take seven steps, and you'll drop dead!"
"So you'd better not move. Just lie still until morning, and I'll give you the antidote then."
Qin Qi was bluffing. The Tang Sect had a poison called Seven-Step Kill, but Qin Qi couldn't afford to buy it.
The poison he'd learned to make wasn't very potent. It couldn't kill anyone outright; at most, it would make them weak all over and leave them paralyzed and unable to move.
Besides, his cultivation wasn't high enough yet. To poison someone to death, he'd have to take a bucket and pour Qi Poison straight into their mouth.
"Ugh! Y-you're despicable!"
Wang Sheng and the others lay helpless on the floor, not daring to gamble on whether Qin Qi was telling the truth.
After all, his personality changed so quickly that there was no way to guess what he was thinking. He was always smiling.
You could never tell if he was joking or serious.
"Ah~~ You think sneaking up on me wasn't despicable? The pot shouldn't call the kettle black. We're all the same."
Qin Qi lay down on Wang Sheng's bed. It had bedding, so it was more comfortable.
"Ah, what a shame you're all broke. Otherwise, I could've made another bit of money. What a pity."
Qin Qi shook his head. He hadn't earned a single cent from teaching them a lesson this time. What a shame.
[First time using Qi Poison in actual combat. Good performance. Reward: 100 study credits, 2 achievement points.]
"Hm, that counts too? Right, learning through actual combat is still learning."
Qin Qi froze when he heard the prompt in his mind, but quickly understood. His smile remained bright.
He'd racked up six achievement points in such a short time. He wasn't far from the hundred needed to summon a new teacher.
The dormitory gradually fell silent. Tang San quietly opened his eyes and looked at Qin Qi.
"This guy... is weird!"
Tang San quietly studied Qin Qi. He couldn't figure out what the boy was thinking. Was he bad? Not exactly.
Was he good? Well, he hadn't done anything good, either.
The strangest thing was that smile. Whenever Tang San saw that guileless, honest smile, a chill ran through him!
It reminded him of the feeling he'd had back in the Tang Sect, facing its top assassins.
"Impossible. He's only six years old. He couldn't kill a person, let alone a chicken."
Tang San shook his head, deciding he was overthinking it. Even in the Tang Sect, top-tier assassins like those were extremely rare.
How could a six-year-old reach that level?
Meanwhile, Xiao Wu thought Tang San was acting a little strange because of what had happened during the day, so she hadn't chosen to sleep with him that night.
She slept alone in a bed, but her sleeping posture was so terrible that she rolled right off it while clutching her quilt.
Even then, she kept snoring away.
Young people sure had healthy bodies. They could drop off the moment they hit the pillow.
While sleeping, Qin Qi spent ten study credits to enter the Study Space again.
He didn't lose energy in the Study Space, so it could take the place of sleep. He continued practicing diligently there.
An hour later.
"Damn it!"
Qin Qi realized he'd been ripped off. The system had said he got one free chance to enter the Study Space each day.
Each session lasted one hour. After that, every additional hour cost ten study credits.
Qin Qi had thought ten study credits meant one hour in the outside world! He'd even thought it was pretty cheap.
One hour in the outside world meant one day in the Study Space. But he'd gotten it wrong: the extra hour was an hour in the Study Space, not the outside world!
"No wonder study credits are so easy to get. Turns out the expenses are even greater!"
Qin Qi felt he'd celebrated way too soon, but he still had to use it.
The time he spent studying in the Study Space was entirely extra. It was like having twenty-five hours in a day.
It didn't seem like much in the short term, but it added up over time.
Talent was important for a genius, but so was accumulating time!
The night passed quickly. The next morning...
"Get up, get up! You guys, the sun's already shining on your butts!"
Xiao Wu had gotten up early. She spotted Wang Sheng and the others sprawled on the floor, went over, and kicked each of them in the butt.
"Sister Xiao Wu, we've been awake for ages, but we don't dare move. We've been poisoned! Seven steps, and we're dead!"
Wang Sheng answered helplessly, then looked toward Qin Qi's spot.
Qin Qi was up by then, too. He saw the reproachful look in Wang Sheng's eyes.
"What Seven-Step Kill? I was messing with you. Come on, get up. We're going to class."
With that, Qin Qi walked out of Dorm Seven. Glorious campus life, glorious achievement points and study credits—I'm coming!