Screw your Blessed Ones

Ye Buyu slowly raised her head, her lips trembling as she cast an accusing look at Zhao Zhe, who had called her brave.

What brave charge? She had stumbled in by mistake! By mistake!

She had nearly died, okay?

"Ugh, so noisy. What's all the fuss about? Aren't we safe now?" Wan Lan, her messy hair sticking up in every direction, propped herself up on her arms and sat up, sleepily patting her face with drooping eyelids.

Ye Buyu still looked as though her soul had left her body. "They're holding a Points Competition, then giving us an overall score."

Wan Lan showed no surprise at all. She fished a candy from her pocket and tossed it into her mouth. "Isn't that good? I don't mind, anyway. So what does this Assessment count as?"

"Just our rotten luck, I guess." Ye Buyu stared blankly.

Kou Ying, who had just woken up, wholeheartedly agreed. He raised a hand weakly. "Can I sit it out?"

His constitution didn't seem suited to this kind of activity. Before he even encountered a Calamity, he could trip over his own feet and leave himself half-dead.

"If I have to participate, can I use a wheelchair?"

Ye Buyu and Wan Lan turned toward him at the same time, excitement sparkling in their eyes. That actually sounded pretty good.

The onlookers' faces darkened. Don't take this in some weird direction! Competing in wheelchairs? Were they hoping to look pitiful enough that the Calamities would spare them?

The others gradually woke up too. After hearing Chen Ze's explanation, their faces fell.

One after another, they stared gloomily at Chen Ze.

"Ugh, adults are so underhanded."

"My rosy view of the Social Security Bureau has shattered. Shattered beyond recognition."

Chen Ze waved a hand earnestly and offered some advice. "You're better off not having a rosy view of the Social Security Bureau. Otherwise, you'll be in for some rotten luck."

Kou Ying gave Chen Ze a sidelong look. "Can it get any worse than my luck already is?"

"No, it can't." Chen Ze was absolutely certain. Kou Ying was the unluckiest person he had ever met, bar none.

His bad luck alone was enough to make him trend online. Among this year's candidates, the most famous were Mu Bingge and Kou Ying.

One was famous for her strength, the other for his terrible luck.

Truth be told, he had even watched a compilation of Kou Ying's misfortunes on the Awakened website. It was incredible. So incredible that...

Every viewing cost him a little karmic merit.

Chen Ze bit his lower lip and turned away, holding back his laughter.

Kou Ying's eyelids drooped listlessly. Whatever. Even he found some of those things hilarious.

Lou Guanshan let out a hearty laugh. "Hahaha! Isn't this great? Everyone's safe, and we get another chance to compete. I couldn't ask for more."

Su Wuwei's smile remained radiant, little flowers blooming all around him as he gave Chen Ze an innocent look. "I see. So will the Social Security Bureau be compensating us?"

"Huh? Compensation?" Lou Guanshan looked at Chen Ze. "We get compensation too?"

The corner of Chen Ze's mouth twitched. "Well... technically, no."

Su Wuwei tidied his hair and said casually, "I see. You used us as bait, and there's no compensation either. Your standards are so strict they're inhumane."

The teachers beside them readily chimed in.

"Exactly, exactly. What an inhumane Social Security Bureau. I wonder if any students will still want to join after they graduate?"

"All right, all right!" Chen Ze raised his hands in surrender and said helplessly, "You'll get compensation. The Emergency Transfer Devices we prepared for you went unused, so I'll put in a request to have them converted into lifesaving devices. Will that do?"

He looked at them irritably. "You can't say you got nothing out of facing an enemy this time, can you? Take some time to reflect on that helplessness. There won't always be someone there to bail you out."

Several of them lowered their eyes in thought. He was right. It wouldn't always be an Assessment, and they wouldn't always be lucky enough to hold out until someone powerful came to rescue them.

Mu Bingge looked down at her palm. If she had reached the fourth tier back then, she would have stood a chance in a fight.

They had been lucky this time. Their opponent hadn't taken them seriously, and Ye Buyu hadn't been taken away. But if something like this happened again, would they still be so lucky?

"I really haven't trained enough." Mu Bingge clenched her fist.

"Huh?!"

Wei Changming and the others abruptly turned toward her, each more speechless than the last. Why did those words grate on their ears so much?

Ye Buyu lowered her head, her white hair falling over her arms and hiding the defiance in her eyes.

If she had possessed a way to kill her opponent back then, if she could have finished him off the instant Yan You knelt down, she wouldn't have been so helpless.

Little Whale, does a healing type really have no way to kill an enemy?

"There are ways. Heal them to death, for example?" Little Whale yawned.

Ye Buyu gritted her teeth. Not that! I mean a way to kill them for good!

Sensing Ye Buyu's intense frustration, Little Whale slowly lowered those fins. She was serious now. This Assessment had made her realize what she lacked. What...

What terrible news.

Little Whale spoke reluctantly. "There is another way. I just don't know whether you'd be willing."

Ye Buyu clenched her hands around her knees. As long as I can get stronger, I'll...

"Then become a Blessed One."

Before Ye Buyu could finish, Little Whale's voice rang out deep in her mind, echoing over and over.

Ye Buyu froze. A what now?!

Little Whale swished that tail and swam through Ye Buyu's consciousness space with a hint of madness.

"Become a Blessed One. A Blessed One of the Calamity [Whale of Wailing]. Then you'll have the power to kill your opponent, just as I killed Yan You. Simple, brutal, clean.

You'll stand above other Calamities, transcend the vast majority of humanity, and become a truly unique existence. What do you think?"

Ye Buyu suddenly raised her head and stood with a resolute gaze. She picked up the pitcher on the table, poured herself a glass of water, and drained it.

Smack!

After slamming the glass down on the table, Ye Buyu swore through gritted teeth.

"Screw your Blessed Ones! I'll knock your head sideways!"

After all that thinking, this is what you came up with?!

Little Whale shrugged and said nothing more.

The entire Temporary Resting Point fell silent.

Everyone stared in confusion at Ye Buyu's sudden outburst, unable to understand why she had flown into a rage.

Sitting at the table, Lan Huaiyu took the glass from beneath Ye Buyu's hand, filled it, and pushed it back toward her. "A stress reaction, huh? Sit down and have a drink."

She looked up at Ye Buyu with a hint of sympathy. Poor child. She had encountered a powerful enemy while still in the first tier. Even though she had advanced to the second tier, she must have been terrified.

She was timid to begin with, and then she had suffered such a terrible shock. It really had been hard on her.

The corner of Lei Yue's mouth twitched. What was with that look in Lan Huaiyu's eyes? He felt as though she were looking at a newly weaned kitten-and a frightened one at that.

Lei Yue shook his head, startled by his own thoughts.

Coming back to her senses, Ye Buyu finally realized that she had been so focused on cursing the whale that she had inadvertently walked over to the big shots' table and even slammed her hand down on it.

Blood rushed to her face. Ye Buyu pulled her hand back, flushed scarlet with embarrassment, and fumbled for an explanation.

"Um... I spaced out. Sorry, teachers. I didn't mean to..."

Chen Ze clapped like a seal. "No wonder Mr. Zhao Zhe praised you. You really are brave."