Chapter 2

The residents watching the spectacle were astonished. "She's still chopping!"

"She looks so skinny, but she's really strong!"

"Too bad she's not too bright, hahaha."

As darkness fell, even more people gathered to watch. Everyone chimed in, but none of them thought to lend a hand. Help with what? She was obviously being stupid, so who wanted to be the second big fool?

When He Song arrived at the Heqing Residential Complex, he saw the young girl carrying out a feat worthy of "The Foolish Old Man Removes the Mountains."

He had just returned from the Astral Realm and sensed a mutated plant as he passed the complex, so he had planned to clear it out on his way. Over the past two years, Starlight had spread with increasing intensity, and even in a small place like this, where vital energy was thin, plants and animals were mutating frequently.

He Song spotted the girl wielding an axe and chopping away with all her might at a glance.

There were people watching nearby, and he quickly asked them what was going on.

She had been chopping for four or five hours! Her strength and endurance were both astonishing!

He Song looked at the slender girl. She wore a long-sleeved sweatshirt and loose, baggy pants. She was as skinny as a bamboo pole, and her slender wrists were hardly thicker than the axe handle in her hands. Yet her expression was unexpectedly calm and resolute, utterly unlike her frail appearance.

One could not judge a person by their appearance.

Among the Star Wielders, there was no shortage of warriors who looked frail but could uproot a weeping willow with their bare hands.

The crowd gradually dispersed. They had only come for a bit of entertainment, and after watching for a while, they found it too boring. One by one, they went home to eat, bathe, and sleep.

He Song watched with great interest for a while.

The four-leaf clover had no attack power, but its defense was high. Its overall rating might well have reached second grade. If it was a second-grade mutated plant, even he would need two chops to clear it away.

"Need a hand?" He Song asked with a smile.

Li Yang, who had been completely focused on chopping the four-leaf clover, jumped in fright. She turned her head slightly and saw the stranger beside her.

He looked to be about twenty-four or twenty-five, with refined, handsome features and a tall frame. He was rather thin, though, and his white shirt hung loosely on him, revealing his fair collarbones and a silver chain resting against them.

He's quite good-looking, but please don't meddle.

"No!" Li Yang replied quickly.

He Song visibly froze.

Li Yang said no more and chopped even faster. Her face was as steady as Mount Tai, but inside, she was panicking like crazy.

She had spent four or five hours on this just so she could harvest the plant herself. If someone snatched it from her, she would go mad!

He Song explained, "If you leave it to me, I can do it in one chop..."

"Thank you, but..." Li Yang mustered even more strength. As she chopped, bang, bang, bang, she said fiercely, "I have a blood feud with it!"

He Song: "?"

Li Yang could tell the man before her was no ordinary person. If he really finished it off with one chop, where else was she supposed to find a mutated plant to extend her life?

The key was that she didn't have that much time left to look!

Li Yang could only put on a stern face and spout nonsense in all seriousness. "It grew on my parents' grave. The grudge of destroying their grave cannot be lived under the same sky."

He Song was stunned. "Isn't this the main road through the complex...?"

Li Yang silently apologized to the original owner in her heart and continued spouting nonsense. "It was my parents' dying wish. They were worried about me before they died and wanted to stay with me forever, so they had me bury them here in secret."

He Song: "..."

Li Yang was already utterly exhausted and disheveled. Now she barely had to try; after a moment of gathering herself, she looked at He Song with reddened eyes, appearing as miserable as could be. "I have to avenge this grudge myself, so please don't help, all right?"

He Song fell for it. "O-okay."

Li Yang said no more and went back to chopping wildly with all her strength.

Why hasn't he left yet? He won't make a move on the sly, will he?

The pressure only gave her more motivation.

Li Yang burst forth with astonishing strength. After dozens of clanging chops, there was a sharp crack.

A split had finally appeared in the iron-hard stalk.

Terrified that something else might happen, Li Yang pressed on and chopped wildly several more times, finally felling the enormous four-leaf clover.

He Song swallowed and said, "You've avenged... uh..." The words felt so strange that he could hardly bring himself to say them.

Li Yang said solemnly, "Yes, I've avenged my grudge and wiped away my hatred."

The system chimed and displayed a message: [Lifespan +10 (years).]

Li Yang: "!" That much!

Before she had even finished catching her breath, the system chimed again. "Please note: lifespan has reached its upper limit."

It's only ten years. How has my lifespan already reached its limit?

No longer caring that someone was standing beside her, Li Yang summoned her panel and checked it.

Name: Li Yang

Lifespan: 10 (years)

Physique: 30

Spirit: 30

Note: Lifespan has reached its upper limit. Please increase physical body strength as soon as possible, or lifespan cannot be stored.

Chapter 2

It really had reached the limit.

Is it because my body's foundation is so poor? Only ten years of lifespan?

Li Yang closed the system panel and stopped looking into it for the moment. After all, there was still an unknown person beside her.

Determined to see the act through to the end, Li Yang bowed sorrowfully toward the spot where the four-leaf clover had fallen.

He Song was watching her without blinking. He had still had some doubts, but now he believed her completely.

The girl's palms and wrists were already red and swollen from chopping for so long, and her arms were trembling uncontrollably. When she bent to bow, her black hair covered her face, but her trembling shoulders were proof enough that she was weeping with grief.

The reason she made no sound must have been that she was too stubborn and didn't want anyone to notice.

She was only in her teens and had already lost her parents. Just thinking about it, her life must have been hard.

He Song's parents had also died young.

Both his parents had been Star Wielders, and both had died fighting in the Astral Realm. Although they had left him a large sum in compensation, no amount of money could fill the pain and loneliness of losing his parents.

Looking at the girl before him, He Song felt as though he were seeing his younger self, and his heart filled with even more pity. After a brief hesitation, he said gently, "My name is He Song. I'm an assistant teacher at Zhongdu Military Academy. I happened to be passing by and originally planned to clear out this mutated plant on my way, but I didn't expect you to have taken care of it first."

Li Yang wiped her face with her sleeve. She was actually wiping away sweat, but to He Song, she was undoubtedly wiping away tears.

"Hello, Teacher He," she said softly. "My name is Li Yang."

He Song's heart softened further. He continued, "Here's the thing: the military has bounty missions for mutated creatures. This four-leaf clover... well, the bounty is ten thousand Huaxia Currency."

Ten thousand Huaxia Currency!

According to the original owner's memories, she could barely earn sixty or seventy Huaxia Currency after a hard day of odd jobs.

Was the bounty on a single mutated plant really that high? That was three or four months' wages for an ordinary person!

Li Yang was surprised at first, but she quickly calmed down.

If it was that high, why had nobody come to clear it out for a whole month? It was understandable that no one in the complex had done it. They might not know the authorities had offered a bounty. It was probably meant for a certain kind of person, like He Song, who could clear it out in one chop...

Or did people like He Song, who could take on these missions, simply not care about ten thousand Huaxia Currency and only want to collect it on their way?

Rich people!

Li Yang developed a keen interest in his status as an assistant teacher at Zhongdu Military Academy.

He Song had cash on him. He pulled out two five-thousand-denomination notes and offered them to her.

Li Yang didn't accept them. Looking as though she had just come back to her senses, she appeared bewildered. "I hadn't heard there was a bounty."

He Song explained, "It wasn't made public. It's an internal school mission."

Li Yang had been fishing for information in the first place, and this piqued her interest even more. "The school has bounty missions too? Can only teachers take them?"

"Students can too."

Li Yang murmured, "Zhongdu Military Academy is wonderful..."

How could He Song fail to see what the girl was thinking? Zhongdu Military Academy's reputation was no empty boast; it was one of the top institutions of higher learning in Huaxia today.

Li Yang looked to be only seventeen or eighteen, so she might well be in her final year of high school. If so, she would be all the more likely to dream of attending Zhongdu Military Academy.

Although it was very difficult to get into Zhongdu Military Academy, and attending it was dangerous, military academy students received excellent benefits compared with ordinary people.

He Song had indeed taken out the ten thousand Huaxia Currency partly because he felt sorry for her, but the school really did have all kinds of bounty missions for students. Even if a task like clearing out a low-level plant didn't pay ten thousand Huaxia Currency, it would pay at least seven or eight thousand.

He Song said, "The fact that you managed to clear out this mutated plant shows that your overall aptitude is quite good. You could have your Physique Points tested and see if you meet the requirements to apply to a military academy. Last year... if your Physique Points were above eighty, you could apply to Zhongdu Military Academy."

Li Yang's interest was stirred. She remembered the information on her panel clearly and knew without a test that both her Physique Points and Spirit Points were at thirty. That... was rather far off.

He Song added gravely, "But getting into a military academy also means facing danger head-on. Military academy students don't face things like this four-leaf clover, which has a very high safety rating. So think it through carefully. Don't be impulsive."

With that, he placed the ten thousand in cash in her hand. "Go home and get some rest. It's getting late."

He Song turned to leave, but Li Yang suddenly called out to him. "Teacher He."

"Hmm?"

Li Yang took out one of the five-thousand-denomination Huaxia Currency notes and handed it back to him. "If it weren't for you, Teacher He, I wouldn't have known there was a bounty at all, so..."

He Song felt another pang of sympathy. Children from poor families really did learn to take responsibility early. If this had been those little bastards he taught, they probably would have complained that ten thousand wasn't enough.

He Song pushed the money back to Li Yang. "Keep it. You earned it. I'm only going back to hand in a mission on the way, that's all. But... if you really do get into Zhongdu Military Academy, you can buy me a cup of milk tea as a fee for running the errand."

He winked at her. Li Yang smiled too and said sincerely, "Thank you."

He Song left, and Li Yang dragged her weary body home.

"Zhongdu Military Academy, huh..." Li Yang was very interested.