Chapter 14

Chapter 14: Senior, you’ve changed. You’re actually in cahoots with Qian Qi

The gloomy classmate turned at the sound, and when he saw the scary grin twisting Qian Qi’s face, his tightly knit brows trembled.

[It’s over, Mom. Qian Qi has set her sights on me! I might not even make it to sophomore year!]

In that instant, Classmate Liu pictured his whole future: once Qian Qi targeted him, every Magiplant he grew would get stomped to mush the moment it sprouted. At every meal he would have to pay extra to buy her food, until he was broke. He would leave Awakener University with a failing planting report, then enter the Dungeon just to survive, hired by Awakeners to find weak points in dangerous Magiplants. In the end he would be used as a human shield and die to a Magibeast or a Magiplant, living a short, poor life.

To think that he, Liu Da Bao, had always been upright and low key, only to end with such a tragic fate!

A tear slid down Classmate Liu’s cheek.

Qian Qi stared at the classmate, scratched her head, and asked: “What’s with him? He looks so hopeless.”

[…Can you please watch your expression.]

Qian Qi touched her face and asked: “What’s wrong with my expression?” She really thought she was smiling warmly.

[…]

System’s silence left Qian Qi confused for a moment, but she soon pushed it aside. She patted Classmate Liu’s back and said: “Classmate, don’t be scared. You looked so down that I came to see if you need help.”

Classmate Liu snapped back to himself, shook his head fast, and said: “No need, really no need. Classmate Qian, you’re busy, don’t worry about me!”

“How could you not need help?” Qian Qi said sincerely: “Look at your Magiplant. It’s almost dying of disease.”

She coaxed him step by step and said: “It must be hard to cultivate it. If you rip it out, you’ll feel unwilling. You want it to grow strong, right? After all, this ties to the final exam. If it doesn’t pass, you’ll have to pay 4500 yuan in tuition next year.”

The moment she mentioned tuition, Classmate Liu’s face went gray as ash, and he muttered: “Yeah… if it doesn’t pass, I’m done…”

“I do have an idea,” Qian Qi said, striking while the iron was hot: “I just don’t know what you think about it.”

Classmate Liu, still not trusting her, asked with a tiny shred of hope: “What idea?”

“I don’t know if you’ve heard,” Qian Qi said, first putting a big win on the table to build trust: “Li Shu Yun’s Fire Qilin Lotus was successfully grown, and not only that, it produced three Fire Qilin Fruits.”

“Huh?” Classmate Liu blinked and said: “Didn’t that happen earlier? And didn’t it grow only one Fire Qilin Fruit?”

Two weeks ago everyone in the Magiplant Department had learned about it. A teacher even mentioned it in class.

“Tsk, see, your info is behind!” Qian Qi lowered her voice and said: “A week ago, Senior Sister Li’s Fire Qilin Lotus got hacked to pieces, and the fruit was picked too. She was heartbroken.”

Classmate Liu glanced at Qian Qi and couldn’t help thinking that the culprit was probably her.

Qian Qi missed his look. She leaned in and said softly: “Then someone appeared and promised to replant the Fire Qilin Lotus within one week. Guess what happened?”

Before Classmate Liu could answer, she spread her hands and said: “It worked. It even produced three Fire Qilin Fruits! If you don’t believe me, ask Senior Sister Li. This is 100 percent true.”

Classmate Liu scratched his cheek. Qian Qi was famous for talking nonsense, so he didn’t believe her at all.

Seeing his doubt, Qian Qi dragged him straight to Li Shu Yun. Luckily, Li Shu Yun was still in the plot working on the Fire Qilin Lotus. Qian Qi called out happily and said: “Senior! Tell him, was this Fire Qilin Lotus grown within the last week?”

Li Shu Yun, head down taking samples, looked back and saw Qian Qi pinching a student by the back of his collar. The student was meek and terrified, clearly “forced” to come along.

Li Shu Yun wasn’t sure why Qian Qi asked that, but she still answered carefully and said: “Yes. It really was grown within the last week.”

Classmate Liu believed Li Shu Yun, and now he had seen it with his own eyes: three bright red Fire Qilin Fruits in the test field. He got excited at once and said: “Senior, who did you ask to grow it? Can I learn from them too?”

Li Shu Yun glanced at Qian Qi, sighed, and said: “Qian Qi, our junior, grew it.”

Classmate Liu: …

Classmate Liu: ???

He turned and stared at Qian Qi. Qian Qi puffed out her chest proudly and said: “That’s right. It was me.”

Classmate Liu looked back at Li Shu Yun with a face that said: Senior, you’ve changed. You’re actually siding with someone like Qian Qi.

Li Shu Yun: …

“Junior, I’m not lying,” Li Shu Yun said. She hadn’t seen the exact process, but she couldn’t deny that this Fire Qilin Lotus was cultivated by Qian Qi. She added: “She broke the one I grew before, and this was her compensation. Thanks to her, I got a lot of new data.”

Hearing how sure Li Shu Yun was, Classmate Liu wavered. She was the Magiplant Department Dean’s granddaughter. She wouldn’t lie like a poor student scared of having her plot ruined.

“See? I didn’t lie,” Qian Qi said, patting his shoulder with a smile: “I’m short on money lately, so I’ve decided to charge for tutoring your planting assignments. Give me 45 yuan and I’ll save your Magiplant.”

Classmate Liu’s confusion flipped to an expression of I knew it. He had known she laid all that groundwork just to ask for money. And if there was a first time, there would be a second and a third.

“I have no money,” he said, as if facing death bravely: “Sorry, Classmate Qian. Please help someone else. I can do it myself.” He turned and ran.

Qian Qi stood stunned. After a while, she turned to Li Shu Yun and asked: “Senior, what kind of person was I before?”

In her memory, the original her often used her roommates’ tissues, shampoo, and laundry powder without asking. Worse, she often fought with boys. But that was in the first half of the semester. In the second half, she didn’t seem to fight much.

Looking at the confused Qian Qi, Li Shu Yun couldn’t tell if she was pretending or not. After a pause, she chose her words and said: “Hmm… I think you’re someone who really hates Magiplants.”

Qian Qi blinked and asked: “I hate Magiplants? Why would you say that?”

“Isn’t it true?” Li Shu Yun glanced toward the Back Mountain and said: “You often ruined the Magiplants that others worked so hard to grow in the test fields. I thought you hated Magiplants.”

Qian Qi: …

Qian Qi: ???

[Wow. So ‘she’ was that much of a jerk!]