Chapter 47

Chapter 47: This is bandit behavior, total bandit behavior

The principal had almost believed her nonsense.

If he hadn’t checked Qian Qi’s background information himself, he might really have thought she was so poor she had to eat snow in winter.

Not wanting to keep wrangling with her, he dropped his voice and put on authority: “Speak properly. Stop tossing out useless stories.”

This matter was huge. If Defense Fruits could be produced in large numbers, their impact would be no less than Hemostasis Potion.

He warned her, adding a hint of pressure: “Qian Qi, without permission from the Magiplant Research Institute, Magiplant byproducts that haven’t passed safety inspections are prohibited from circulation. If the Defense Fruit’s source is improper, as principal I have the right to seize the Defense Fruits you just sold, and even forbid you from selling Hemostasis Potion.”

He tapped the threat by asking: “You don’t want to lose the money you just earned, do you?”

Qian Qi heard it and thought, oh, he wants to play hard.

But is she someone who bends to threats?

Absolutely not.

She stared at the principal and sniffed once.

A bad feeling rose in the principal’s heart.

Sure enough, the next second, Qian Qi’s voice broke as if she was near tears. She reached for the microphone, and her small, sad, wronged voice spread across the entire Beast Taming Plaza: “Principal, do you know? Last winter was very cold. Many orphans didn’t have enough food or warm clothes. I gave my bread to my younger brother and sister, and told them I would go up the mountain to hunt for meat.”

She clenched the mic with both hands and continued: “But I didn’t know how to hunt at all. Every day I could only eat snow, and when my stomach felt cold enough that I forgot I was hungry, I went home.”

She lifted her chin and raised the stakes: “Then one day, I happened to eat a Defense Fruit in the snow. I was thrilled. I knew exactly what that meant. With a Defense Fruit, Humans would speed up their conquest of Dungeons by a huge step.”

Her eyes shone as she cried out: “I had only one thought!”

She lifted her tear damp little face, pressed the mic to her lips, and said with brave passion: “I would enter a D grade Dungeon and test it on myself. I would face a D grade Magibeast and find out its defensive limit.”

“For this, I faced the brink of death many times. I almost died in a Dungeon. But I never regretted it, because I am a student of Awakener University, a student of the Magiplant Department. I am willing to give my life to study how Magiplants benefit Humans!”

Her excited, ringing voice filled the plaza, and the students who hadn’t left yet all heard her hot blooded speech: “I am full of passion for knowledge. I have a fearless spirit. I am willing to risk my life to complete the mission in my heart.”

Then she locked eyes with the principal and drove the point home: “If you insist on seizing my Defense Fruits, then I can only resist with all my strength, fear no power, and defend my dignity and passion to the death, leaving a great will behind in this world!”

She bit down hard on the words seize and pressed him with an unblinking stare.

She would never be controlled by threats. If someone tried to control her with threats, she would use his own tricks right back at him.

Maybe a person gets hair in their mouth when they bite a dog, but the dog still hurts.

Sure enough, the principal lunged to snatch the microphone and hissed: “Fine, fine, I won’t seize them. Put the mic down now.”

Qian Qi hugged the mic and shook her head, wearing the hurt look of someone who might never trust again.

The principal tried reason and feelings instead: “You just said Defense Fruits are important for tackling D grade Dungeons. If so, why won’t you say where they came from?”

“I already did,” Qian Qi said, all innocent and serious. “I picked them out of the snow. There were only a dozen or so. I researched them for months and still couldn’t figure out how to grow them. Lately my research funds are tight, so I had to sell some to ease the emergency.”

Then she gave him a scolding look and sighed: “And then someone said they wanted to seize my Defense Fruits. Sigh. A student’s motivation to do research is getting crushed.”

The principal stared at her, speechless.

So now he was the one who didn’t act like a human and did the wrong thing?

He studied her face to judge if she was lying, but her small, weathered face was like an iron wall. He couldn’t read a thing.

At last he said: “Then keep researching. If you manage to grow them, you must come to the principal’s office and notify me.”

She nodded like a pecking chick and declared with righteous energy: “Absolutely. I will fight for the rise of Humans. If I grow them, you will be the first to know!”

Absolutely the first.

With that promise, the principal finally left the Beast Taming Plaza, satisfied.

Walking away with him, Su Ang looked down at the tin box in his palm. He felt like Qian Qi’s words were hiding something.

They had only met twice, but in his impression, Qian Qi wasn’t the type to be so hot blooded or to give in so easily.

Thinking it over, he pinched his chin and said quietly: “Principal, she only said you’d be the first to know, but she didn’t say when she’d tell you after she grows them.”

The principal froze.

Then he blurted in his head: [Oh come on.]

He had fallen into that brat’s trap again.

After the auction, Qian Qi wanted to find Chen Tong to get her clothes reimbursed, but that guy ran so fast. She even went to the Magibeast Department dorm to catch him and still missed him.

“Fine, fine, no rush,” she said as her flip flops slapped the ground.

Then she set her sights on someone else.

At the Beast Taming Department, once students successfully form a Beast Contract, their Contract Beasts are stored in the school’s Magibeast warehouse and only leave for training. Without their Contract Beasts, Beast Tamers are usually weak. Even though a Beast Tamer can merge with their Contract Beast to awaken a new skill, the skill level is one rank lower than the Contract Beast.

Take the Beast Taming senior who fought today. He had a D grade Contract Beast, but the Awakener Skill he gained himself was only E grade.

As for Qian Qi, she was D minus.

She tossed up a big burlap sack she had fished from the school clinic’s trash can, dropped it over that Beast Taming senior’s head, and gave him a sharp kick.

She kicked as she scolded, each line a strike: “That’s for punching me! That’s for trying to kill me! That’s for helping a villain! That’s for failing to kill me, which means now you get beaten up!”

She aimed wherever it hurt and kicked harder there.

Heh. Qian Qi was small minded and held grudges. How could she let go of someone who tried to help Chen Tong get her killed?

It wasn’t that she wouldn’t avenge. It was that the time hadn’t come yet. She cared about her reputation, so of course she would take revenge in the dark.

Today, she would let this punk know that helping bad people do bad things brings retribution!!!

“Who are you? Ah, stop, stop!” the senior screamed. He tried to rip open the sack, but somehow Qian Qi’s footwork was quick and skilled, like she had done this countless times. He had no way to fight back.

By bad luck for him, this Beast Tamer hadn’t inherited his Contract Beast’s earth affinity. He had inherited an E grade Strength skill. Up against Qian Qi’s D grade Strength, he had zero chance. She beat him hard until he passed out.

Qian Qi lifted the sack and dumped the senior out.

Grabbing his bruised arm, she opened his Light Brain, pressed his fingerprint to unlock the password, and transferred money to the black account she had just applied for. Her smooth, natural motions looked like she had rehearsed them a hundred times.

[This is bandit behavior, a bandit,] the System Panel couldn’t help complaining.

Qian Qi let out a cold snort and said: “He should be thankful that in my last life I was limited by the law and by basic morals. Otherwise, he would already be a naked corpse on the street.”

This money was the price he paid to buy back his life.

The System sounded puzzled: [A corpse is a corpse. Why naked?]

Qian Qi said plainly: “Because I’m a pervert.”

System: [???]

She slung the sack over her shoulder and left the scene, then suddenly remembered something and brightened as she said: “Oh, right!”