Name your price

As Yu Sheng left the peaceful village, a trace of reluctance lingered in his eyes, but he soon hid it well and regained his usual calm.

It was as though, once he left the village, he was himself again.

Forever on guard against an ambush that could come at any moment.

"If someone wanted to hurt this village, what would you do?"

Walking ahead, Liu Qingfeng suddenly asked.

Yu Sheng thought for a moment. "I might kill them."

Liu Qingfeng gradually slowed his steps. A gentle smile touched his lips as he teased, "Killing is against the law!"

"Mm."

"Then... I'd help collect their bodies."

Yu Sheng nodded in agreement and chose another approach.

Liu Qingfeng smiled and shook his head without asking anything else. He simply led Yu Sheng along the country dirt road until they stopped at the boarding point to wait for the bus.

As though something had suddenly occurred to him, Liu Qingfeng looked at Yu Sheng. "What if someone wanted to kill me?"

"I don't know..."

This time, Yu Sheng was clearly much more conflicted. Liu Qingfeng's question seemed to agitate him somewhat. He scratched his head before finally giving his answer in earnest.

Liu Qingfeng's cigarette-holding hand trembled slightly.

"I was only joking."

"That day won't come."

Liu Qingfeng instinctively raised his head, wanting to pat Yu Sheng's head, but he had barely raised his hand before lowering it again. He took a deep drag on his cigarette and exhaled a thick cloud of smoke.

Compared with the peaceful Veterans' Camp, the atmosphere at school had begun to grow tense.

In another month, many of them would face their true graduation exam.

The prodigies would enter higher education and continue charging forward with unstoppable momentum.

The talented students with excellent results would join the Reserve Corps, the Guard Bureau, the Demon-Slaughtering Pavilion, or the Dark Pavilion.

Of course, those with particularly outstanding results would also be specially recruited by headquarters. After gaining experience for a few years, they would return to serve in their hometowns and protect the area.

Most would finish their studies here and return to the ranks of ordinary people, settling down to work, earn money, and raise the next generation.

As Liu Qingfeng put it, this... was the only free chance in anyone's life to leap from obscurity to greatness.

Succeed, and the road ahead would be smooth.

Fail, and they would fade into the ordinary world.

It sounded somewhat cruel, but that was reality.

"Boss Yu, why have you been so secretive lately?"

"I heard Yang Wentao from First High School has already awakened. His Awakening Object is a mountain eagle. Flying-type Awakening Objects have an advantage before the sixth awakening, so he'll probably get pretty good results this time."

"And Xu Er from Third High School awakened too. His Awakening Object is a cat, an agility type."

"Anyone who can awaken ahead of the rest at this point is a genius!"

"A genius in the absolute sense... a genius!"

As he spoke, Zhao Zicheng waggled his eyebrows furiously at Yu Sheng. It could no longer even be considered hinting.

Yu Sheng silently raised his head and asked rather perfunctorily, "Oh, have you awakened?"

"I have!"

"Three hours earlier than Yang Wentao!"

At the mention of this, Zhao Zicheng immediately perked up and launched into an endless, eloquent account of his awakening.

In his words:

That day, the sky had been completely cloudless when it suddenly darkened. Lightning flashed, thunder roared, and fierce winds rose as he quietly awakened in the classroom!

The spectacle had stunned countless people.

Until Du Xu quietly added a few words from the side.

"He urgently needed the toilet in class the day before yesterday, but couldn't hold it in and farted first."

"It was really loud."

"It got everyone in class looking at him."

"Then he awakened."

Du Xu held back his laughter the entire time he spoke, his body twitching. His bald head was particularly dazzling in the sunlight.

Zhao Zicheng's face instantly fell.

Du Xu looked at Yu Sheng with an air of mystery. "Do you know what his Awakening Object is?"

"A Sandbag!"

"Hahahaha, it's killing me."

Zhao Zicheng's expression grew darker and darker until he finally snapped in embarrassment, "What's wrong with a Sandbag? I'll get into Spirit Martial High School and be a Tank! Got a problem with that?"

As he spoke, he kicked Du Xu in the backside.

Du Xu rubbed his bald head. "Heh, my Awakening Object is a Tiger. One swipe of its claws could shred your Sandbag."

Zhao Zicheng decisively changed the subject.

"Boss Yu, have you awakened?"

Yu Sheng nodded.

A trace of curiosity appeared on Zhao Zicheng's face. "What did you awaken?"

"A staff... for hitting sandbags," Yu Sheng said after some thought.

Just yesterday, he had suddenly awakened while catching fish in the river, and abundant energy had swept through his entire body.

Yu Sheng's greatest weakness was his thin frame and lack of strength.

But after the energy washed through him, Yu Sheng tested himself. His strength had tripled, and his speed had doubled.

His overall combat ability had increased... at least tenfold, surely.

After all, with his weakness addressed, Yu Sheng had far more options when it came to killing.

It was a qualitative leap.

Especially that staff's ability...

But what intrigued Yu Sheng most was still the scroll in his mind. The gray vapor increased by the day, yet it was only just barely about to cover one-ninth of the Dragon-Patterned Staff.

And yet he had awakened ahead of time.

And it was exactly the same as the one in the scroll.

Perhaps he still needed enough time to explore it.

"A staff..."

"Even that's fucking better than a Sandbag."

Zhao Zicheng felt like crying, but no tears came. For a moment, he even felt that all his former grand ambitions and rosy promises were gradually drifting away on a light breeze.

Over the next few days, students kept awakening unexpectedly.

Perhaps the only rather sad thing was that most of these students came from fairly well-off families. At the very least, they could afford Demon Crystals during this period to shorten the time needed to awaken.

The schools had also begun merging, and students from the other two schools began pouring into Second High School.

Clearly, the three principals wanted to complete the merger before the national exam and strive for a good result for Mobei City. Only then would more resources be allocated in the future, creating a virtuous cycle.

And it was at this very crucial juncture.

The principal once again summoned Yu Sheng to his office.

With the experience of their previous two meetings, the principal kept his words simple, direct, and easy to understand.

"Are you confident you can place in the provincial top ten this time?"

"If you are, name your price!"

Having said that, the principal stared straight at Yu Sheng with expectant eyes.