Chapter 39
Chapter 39: Shocking! A Stunning Teenage Girl and a D-Rank Contract Beast: Love and War?
When Qian Qi returned to the dorm, she found Classmate Miao Miao sprawled on her bed, arms and legs wrapped in layers of medical bandages.
“Classmate Miao Miao!” Qian Qi yelped and launched herself onto the bed, face full of dramatic heartbreak. “How did you get hurt this badly? Who bullied you? Tell your big sister—I’ll get revenge for you!”
How could someone beat up her backup Little Qian wallet like this?
Now she couldn’t even guilt Miao Miao into treating her to dinner.
Chen Miao Miao’s eyelid twitched as her bruised body got hugged like a stuffed toy. An endless surge of speechless disgust washed over her.
Who bullied her?
Who else?
Wasn’t it this damned Qian Qi?
She’d worked her ass off.
She’d finally managed to sneak into an office and find Qian Qi’s application form for magic plants, thinking she’d uncovered the ingredients for the so-called magic potion.
Instead, the form listed thirty different kinds of magic plants.
Thirty.
She’d asked around afterward and learned the truth: Qian Qi had signed contracts with other classmates. If she helped them cure their magic plants and complete their experiment reports, they would hand over their leftover seed application quotas to her.
And Qian Qi actually pulled it off.
Chen Miao Miao had clung to one last shred of hope, convincing herself those plants were ingredients for hemostatic medicine. For that hope, she’d shamelessly asked everyone for guidance, recording planting and treatment methods like a scholar possessed.
Then the disasters started.
She’d almost been bitten to death by a magic plant.
There were too many plants to care for. Days and nights of tending left her pale and gaunt, dark circles carved under her eyes. She finally went to a hotel once with Senior Chen—and before they even did anything, she fell asleep like a corpse.
In the end, she swallowed her pride and demanded finished products from classmates anyway. Even then, when she tried to mix the medicine in the lab, she nearly blew herself up and got disfigured.
She’d suffered through all of it, and in the end she got nothing—just wounds on her body and bruises on her pride.
And it was all Qian Qi’s fault.
Now she was convinced there was no “formula” at all. The hemostatic medicine was something Qian Qi bought from outside, and all that talk about a recipe was just a smokescreen.
“You… let go of me,” Chen Miao Miao hissed through clenched teeth. “You’re going to rip my wounds open.”
“Oh—oh, sorry!” Qian Qi released her at once, then shook her head with a long, theatrical sigh. “Sigh. I was going to invite you to watch my bet with Senior Chen the day after tomorrow, but with you like this, you probably can’t even get out of bed.”
Chen Miao Miao’s heart slammed. She snapped her gaze to Qian Qi. “You and Senior Chen Tong? What did you bet on?”
Why didn’t she know?
Why would Chen Tong suddenly clash with Qian Qi?
Wasn’t he supposed to stay hidden?
Or… had he actually fallen for her?
Qian Qi rubbed her chin and frowned. “Classmate Miao Miao, I only said ‘Senior Chen.’ I didn’t say ‘Chen Tong.’”
Chen Miao Miao nearly bit her own tongue.
“I—You said the surname Chen, so of course I thought of Chen Tong!” she blurted. “And if you hadn’t fought him before, how would I even know he existed?”
“Oh. That makes sense.” Qian Qi nodded, perfectly satisfied, and patted her shoulder. “Rest up. I won’t bother you.”
Then she turned and went back to her own bed.
Chen Miao Miao stared.
…No. Wait. You can’t just stop there.
Tell me the bet first!
But Qian Qi was already blissfully tapping on her newest-model lightbrain. A few minutes later, she chuckled.
“Senior Chen is really funny,” she murmured. “Why is he so eager to give me money?”
She clicked her tongue, pleased. “I should treat Senior Chen better from now on.”
Then, with a fond little smile, “What a silly little treasure…”
Those vague, sweet words made Chen Miao Miao’s alarm bells shriek.
She snatched up her own lightbrain and messaged Chen Tong immediately, fingers stabbing the screen with fury.
Miao Miao Hustles: Senior! Are you hooking up with Qian Qi?!
Chen Tong: …Are you fucking sick?
Chen Miao Miao blinked.
Why was he calling her sick?
Qian Qi was terrifying when she got fierce, sure, but she wasn’t ugly. And more importantly—she could get her hands on hemostatic potion, the kind of thing people would claw each other apart over.
Chen Miao Miao didn’t believe Chen Tong wasn’t tempted.
If he could hook up with her back then to kill Qian Qi, then he could hook up with Qian Qi now to kill her.
She’d slept with Chen Tong for half a year. She knew exactly what kind of man he was.
His heart wasn’t any cleaner than hers.
If he got blinded by profit, he might team up with Qian Qi to eliminate her first.
Or he might eliminate her first and then eliminate Qian Qi.
Either way, it was bad.
The more she thought, the more she was convinced Qian Qi’s words had hidden meaning. Maybe Chen Tong had already told her everything. Maybe Qian Qi was already tightening the noose around her.
No.
The day after tomorrow, she had to see it with her own eyes.
—
While Chen Miao Miao spiraled, Qian Qi was in an excellent mood.
She opened the Awakeners University forum.
At the top of the page was the hemostatic potion topic that had been fermenting for days. She clicked in and saw students reselling it, the price climbing higher and higher.
“Oh, these students actually have business sense,” she muttered, amused.
But she wasn’t here for that.
She changed her forum nickname and dropped a post like a bomb:
Dong Fang Qian Qi: Shocking! Big Shot Qian Qi has sworn a life-or-death duel with a D-rank contract beast!
The thread exploded immediately.
User1: What the hell?! A life-or-death duel with a D-rank contract beast? Is she trying to die?
User2: That’s D-rank! Even graduating seniors might not win!
User3: I’m going to watch!
Qian Qi smiled to herself and tossed in another hook:
Dong Fang Qian Qi: Word is, this duel is to verify Big Shot Qian Qi’s new medicine—defense fruit!
User4: Wait, what new medicine? Explain!
So she did. She fired off a long, beautiful, highly suspiciously persuasive description of defense fruit, then exited the thread, rolled her shoulders, and flexed her fingers like a pianist about to commit crimes.
Advertising in one hot topic?
Please.
She was going to raid every topic on the forum.
She started with the popular ones:
Under: “#Who’s your campus belle or heartthrob?”
Dong Fang Qian Qi: Breaking news! A stunning teenage girl and a D-rank contract beast—love and war! Want details? Beast-Taming Plaza, 10 a.m. the day after tomorrow!
Under: “#Is the principal bald?”
Dong Fang Qian Qi: The principal got scared bald! A student is about to duel a D-rank contract beast—he’s rushing to Beast-Taming Plaza at 10 a.m. the day after tomorrow to stop tragedy!
Under: “#Which awakening skill combos are strongest?”
Dong Fang Qian Qi: Not gonna sugarcoat it—your combos are trash! If you disagree, come to Beast-Taming Plaza at 10 a.m. the day after tomorrow and debate me! I’ll show you what a real strong one is!
Then she hit the obscure ones too, because chaos was her love language:
Under: “#When will the school give out free hover balance boards?”
Dong Fang Qian Qi: It’s gone viral! The magical item everyone in the world wants will be sold at Beast-Taming Plaza at 10 a.m. the day after tomorrow!
Under: “#Whose feet stink the most on campus?”
Dong Fang Qian Qi: Announcement! At 10 a.m. the day after tomorrow, the best-smelling feet will bet against the worst-smelling feet! Come to Beast-Taming Plaza and find out whose feet stink the most!
By the time she was done, her fingers were sore, her smile was wicked, and the entire forum was one click away from Beast-Taming Plaza.