Chapter 13
Chapter 13: Once You Stop Caring, You’re Unstoppable
“Uh… Grandfather,” Li Shu Yun said carefully, “it’s not them. It’s a first-year freshman named Qian Qi.”
“Qian Qi?” Li Hong Sheng frowned, digging through his memory. “Why haven’t I heard of her?”
He didn’t return to campus often, but he always glanced at the grade reports each semester. He didn’t remember any first-year top student named Qian Qi.
“How is she academically?” he asked. “Has she submitted any planting reports? What’s her character like?”
“Uh… she… actually…”
Li Shu Yun’s throat tightened.
She knew her grandfather’s temper. He hated underachievers. He hated wasted talent even more. If he learned Qian Qi skipped class daily, fought constantly, and was the Magic Plant Department’s infamous problem child…
He’d absolutely march to campus in person and lecture Qian Qi until the sun set about studying hard and contributing to society.
And with Qian Qi’s explosive temper and hair-trigger fists?
Li Shu Yun pictured her elderly grandfather getting flattened so hard he’d forget what day it was.
No. Absolutely not.
She forced a smile and swerved hard. “Grandfather, that’s not the point. The point is she’s willing to sell us the method. You can support me with funding, right?”
“Of course,” Li Hong Sheng said, already slipping into his grand tone. “Fire Qilin Fruit boosts Blazing Hound strength. If we get the method, the Magic Plant Research Institute’s budget can finally breathe. That’s only secondary, though.”
His cloudy eyes flared with sudden light, like someone in a ruined world seeing dawn.
“The important thing,” he said slowly, “is that we might find a new breakthrough in cultivating magic plants from this method.”
He launched into a passionate speech about the institute’s future, humanity’s future, the path forward, the salvation of the world—
Li Shu Yun’s mouth twitched. She’d heard this sermon a hundred times.
She hung up.
That old man. The moment he started talking about “humanity’s future,” he couldn’t stop. How was he still this dramatic at his age?
Still…
Li Shu Yun stared up at the sky and sighed. “If we can’t find a way to quickly raise the strength of awakeners and contract magic beasts… this world really might collapse.”
After all, the dungeons were getting more unstable by the day.
—
The day the Fire Qilin Fruit ripened, Three-Scale Orchid also hit harvest season.
Qian Qi stood before her plot holding two borrowed treasures: a high-power spotlight in one hand and a giant pot lid in the other.
The spotlight came from a helpful dorm supervisor auntie. The pot lid came from a helpful cafeteria auntie.
How did she borrow them?
With her mouth.
“Without a mouth, you can’t survive,” Qian Qi declared, giving a proud thumbs-up and pointing at her own lips. With one unstoppable sweet tongue and an endless supply of “pretty sister,” she’d charmed her way into free gear.
After fooling around with the System for fun, she squatted and raised the pot lid like a shield.
Three-Scale Orchid’s weakness was strong light. Hit it head-on and its serrated leaves would go limp, losing their attack power. But the bud had its own nasty trick: three thick petals that could launch like heavy bullets.
Qian Qi scooted her butt behind the lid, then flicked on the spotlight.
The beam hit the plant.
The whipping leaves drooped instantly, like someone had unplugged them. Sensing danger, the bud snapped toward her and went—
Tut. Tut. Tut.
Like a pea shooter, it spat three petal bullets.
Bang. Bang. Bang.
The petals slammed into the pot lid, leaving three shallow dents. The impact shoved Qian Qi back two steps. She stared at the dents and thought, If that hits my head, I’m dead.
She shut off the light, set the lid aside, and bent to pick up the petals.
They were heavy, thick, shaped vaguely like mangoes. She could probably grind a lot of hemostatic powder out of them. The problem was… they were basically rocks.
How was she supposed to grind this?
She checked online. Small ore grinders existed, sure.
Average price: 40,000+.
She immediately searched secondhand.
“The cheapest used grinder is still 25,000,” she muttered, dead inside.
Eating was already a problem. She had seventeen yuan left, money she’d only managed to save after finally catching Chen Miao Miao, who’d been avoiding her like a plague.
Forget the grinder. The other magic plants needed for the hemostatic magic potion weren’t even ready yet. Once Senior Li Shu Yun sold the Fire Qilin Fruit and paid her, then she’d think about equipment.
For now, she needed food money—especially because in a couple days, some magic plants would need to be fed magic beast meat, and she’d have to pay Su Xing Le to buy it.
So… where did she get money?
She scratched at her messy hair, eyes drifting to the nearby students nursing sickly magic plants. They all wore the same tortured expression: their plants were dying, they didn’t want to give up, and they couldn’t stand the thought of ripping out days of effort.
Qian Qi watched them for a moment, then broke into a smile so bright—and slightly wicked—that it was honestly alarming.
System Panel: [Your expression is kind of scary.]
Qian Qi instantly smoothed her face into something more human.
She’d learned the Magic Plant Department final included a theory test and a planting report. If a student didn’t grow a single magic plant all year, their report failed. Want to stay another year? Pay 4,500 yuan in tuition.
Most of these students came from poor families. 4,500 wasn’t “tuition.” It was a wrecking ball.
In that case…
Qian Qi’s face tried to go feral again, but she held it. Barely. As a kind and righteous person, she obviously had to “help” them.
Also, it was the perfect chance to fix her trash reputation and sculpt a warm, positive image.
Perfect.
She hoisted her hoe, marched over to a miserable-looking student, arranged her features into what she believed was a gentle smile, and patted his shoulder.
“Hey, classmate,” she said warmly. “Need help?”
Our Qian-Qian was a master of facial expressions—no, not a master. An overachiever. A girl with way too many faces.
Unfortunately, most of them looked like she was about to rob you.