Teacher Lianke, You Didn't Ask!

The wooden stairs creaked under the strain of hurried footsteps.

Bang!

By the time Carl burst through the third-floor door, sweat had soaked through the lining of her black robe, pressing the fabric against her back like a second skin.

"Only twenty seconds. You're in pretty good shape, kid."

Lianke leaned against the wicker bench, several strands of blond hair caught between the teeth of her wooden comb. "But that's no excuse for disturbing my sleep!"

"I'm very sorry for disturbing your sleep, Ms. Lianke."

Carl wiped the sweat from her forehead, speaking in a sincere tone.

Smack!

Lianke casually tossed the wooden comb onto a cabinet and suddenly leaned forward, her emerald eyes gleaming coldly in the moonlight.

"Go on. What did old Will send you here for?"

Carl froze in place. Lianke had already come up to her and was now kneading her cheeks with great interest.

With one finger above and the other below, she pinched Carl's round little face into all sorts of shapes.

Oh no, she's a pervert!

"To learn Nen Abilities."

Carl took a step back, breaking free of Lianke's clutches.

"What?"

Lianke stepped forward, bent down, and looked straight into the boy's eyes.

The hairs on the back of Carl's neck stood on end.

The scent of irises mixed with formalin on Lianke reminded her of the corpses lying in the courtyard!

Close!

Too close!

At this distance, she wasn't confident she could enter the manor in an instant!

She suppressed the urge to step back. "To systematically study Nen Abilities."

If the woman hadn't shown any hostility, she would have almost fled into the manor.

"Oh?" Lianke's nails were neatly trimmed, and her cool fingertips pinched the soft flesh of the boy's cheek.

"Your name?"

"Carl, Carl Tam."

Carl endured the stinging pain in her face and spoke word by word.

"Pastor Will told me I could come to you to learn."

"I can teach you, but you have to pay the tuition first, don't you?"

Lianke's fingers gently kneaded her cheek, her emerald eyes narrowing to slits.

"One hundred million Jenny per session. For old Will's sake, I'll give you a discount!"

"Fifty million Jenny, and that's non-negotiable."

What an outrageous price!

The Phantom Troupe had spent ages pooling their money before they managed to scrape together thirty thousand Jenny for her ticket.

Fifty million Jenny? Even selling the whole Phantom Troupe off together wouldn't be enough...

The corner of Carl's mouth twitched reflexively, but Lianke promptly stretched it into the shape of a communion wafer.

"Ms. Lianke, I really can't come up with that much Jenny..."

"No Jenny? If you can't pay the tuition, why should I teach you?"

Lianke released Carl's cheek, turned around, and walked a few steps back to the wicker chair. She sat down, a hint of a smile on her jade-white face.

"Didn't old Will tell you I've always charged a lot?"

"Well..."

Carl stood frozen, her tightly clenched hands loosening considerably.

After thinking for a moment, she finally spoke.

"Ms. Lianke, would you be willing to accept special items in place of tuition?"

There was no way she could come up with the Jenny, so all she could do was see if she could use something else to pay!

Lianke was clearly making things difficult for her on purpose by asking for fifty million Jenny. Carl could see that!

But if she went back with her tail between her legs, wouldn't the thirty thousand Jenny she had spent on her ticket have been wasted?

Most importantly, she had no Jenny left to buy a ticket back...

"Tsk, tsk~"

The little brat took the bait, didn't he?

Lianke's eyes lit up as she watched the boy stand there in a daze. "Then pay me for my window first. Hmm, use that thing in your hand to pay for it."

"Huh?"

Carl's mouth twitched. Just as she had expected, this woman really was getting back at her!

The sages were right: "Only women and petty men are difficult to deal with!"

She shouldn't have come straight to the door tonight. She should have rested in the manor for a night and visited afterward!

When Carl still hadn't moved after a while, Lianke's lips curled up. "You'd better hurry before I change my mind!"

"Sigh."

When you're under someone else's roof, you have to bow your head.

For everyone in the Phantom Troupe, Carl decided to swallow the humiliation for now.

"What kind of fruit is this? It's rather pretty, isn't it?"

Lianke took the dark green fruit Carl handed her and rubbed its smooth skin, asking Carl curiously.

"Bomb Pomegranate. Killing radius of six meters."

Carl spoke expressionlessly as she watched Lianke hold the fruit against her face.

"Huh?"

Lianke's emerald pupils abruptly contracted in the moonlight. The cool touch of the Bomb Pomegranate against her cheek sent a chill through her.

"Why didn't you say so earlier?"

"You didn't ask."

Looking at the expressionless boy in front of her, Lianke clenched her teeth, several veins suddenly bulging on her forehead.

She wasn't an Enhancement brute. She didn't have the defenses to withstand a bomb at close range!

In other words, if these two fruits exploded, she might very well meet her end here tonight!

At that thought, she feigned composure and moved the fruit away from her face.

"Don't worry. As long as the little stem on the fruit doesn't break, this thing definitely won't explode!"

Seeing how cautious Lianke was, Carl added another sentence.

The boy's calm addition made her hand tremble, and the fruit nearly rolled onto the floor.

The night wind outside the window suddenly grew noisy.

Lianke unobtrusively placed the fruit at the far end of the cabinet, the wooden comb leaving afterimages as it spun between her fingers. "Next time, you can say that sooner."

"Understood, Ms. Lianke." Carl struggled to hold back a smile and didn't dare look Lianke in the eyes.

As the old saying went, the eyes were the windows to the soul~~

What if this woman noticed and got back at me again?

"So, how many Jenny is one of these fruits worth, Ms. Lianke?"

Carl stared at the dark green legs of the wicker chair and asked softly.

She hadn't forgotten that this woman still wanted her to pay the enormous sum of fifty million Jenny!

"You have more?"

She glanced at the bulging hem of the boy's robe, her expression gradually growing strange.

No wonder this brat had dared to come straight to her door. If it were her, with these bombs on her, where wouldn't she dare go?

Forget her Mist Forest. Even if she went to the Council of Elders and caused a scene, nobody would dare stop her!

"Forget it. No matter how many you have, fifty thousand Jenny apiece! I'll take them all!"

After hesitating for a moment, Lianke looked into the boy's deep eyes and still didn't dare quote too low a price.

She definitely wasn't afraid. She just didn't want to bully a child!

That's right, that has to be it!

"Then I'll pay 1.2 million Jenny first. Once I go back in a few days, I'll make up the rest, Ms. Lianke."

Carl untied her black robe, which landed on the floor with a dull thud.

A while later, she placed twenty-four Bomb Pomegranates on the bench one by one, stacking them into a neat pyramid.

After putting her black robe back on, she gave Lianke a respectful bow. "Your student Carl hopes for your guidance in the days to come, Teacher Lianke!"

"Hmm..."

A word once spoken was like water poured out.

At worst, she could find an excuse to send this brat back later!

Lianke's expression shifted several times. Finally, she pursed her lips and said:

"From now on, you're my second disciple..."

Hearing that, Carl felt a great weight lift from her heart.

It worked!!!

"Whoosh~"

The chilly night wind blew in through the window, making them both shiver.

"It's late. There are a few empty rooms on the second floor. Pick one and get some rest."

"Thank you for your concern, Teacher."

Carl nodded and spoke respectfully.

As she left the room, she faintly heard the muffled thud of something heavy hitting the floor-probably a certain stubborn teacher pounding her unfortunate cushion.