Chapter 5
Chapter 5: Ow, My Emotional Trauma
After escaping the dorm, Chen Miao Miao hurried into a hidden grove and paced in tight circles, waiting for Chen Tong.
Half an hour later, Chen Tong finally showed up, irritation written all over his face. “What couldn’t you say on the lightbrain? Why drag me out here?”
“I’m scared…”
Chen Miao Miao threw herself at him, clutching him like a lifeline. “Qian Qi didn’t die. And I—I keep feeling like she noticed something. What do we do, Senior?”
At the name, something dark flickered in Chen Tong’s eyes.
Last year, when the freshmen first enrolled, he’d mocked Qian Qi once for being poor.
She’d beaten him twice for it.
He’d become the laughingstock of the Magic Beast Department.
He’d been itching for revenge ever since.
When he heard Li Shu Yun had managed to grow fire qilin fruit, he started laying plans. He bought a burner account, added Qian Qi, hinted he urgently needed fire qilin fruit, and offered ten thousand above market to lure her in.
At the same time, he bribed Chen Miao Miao to keep an eye on her—then arranged for Qian Qi to die to the fire qilin lotus.
Students from the Magic Plant Department dying to magic plants wasn’t rare. With Qian Qi’s filthy reputation and sticky fingers, no one would suspect a setup. They’d just assume she’d died the way she lived: greedy.
“Relax.” Chen Tong patted Chen Miao Miao’s back, perfunctory. “She won’t notice. I’ll think of another way.”
“Then…”
He pushed her gently away, already scanning the area like someone might be watching. “Go back. If anything happens, message me. Meeting on campus is too risky.”
If his girlfriend found out he was sneaking around with a female student, she’d make a scene—and he’d be a joke again.
Chen Miao Miao nodded, but then her expression turned bashful. “Senior… we haven’t… you know… in a while.”
She hadn’t expected she could hook someone like Chen Tong. She’d heard his family had money. If she married him, she’d never worry about money again.
She had to tighten her grip. Get him to dump his girlfriend sooner.
Chen Tong’s gaze slid over her figure. His eyes narrowed.
Finally, he said, “This weekend. Same place.”
—
Li Shu Yun moved fast. That very afternoon, she got a fire qilin lotus seed.
She didn’t dare contact Qian Qi directly, so she asked around for Liang Yu Ting’s lightbrain number and paid her 20 yuan as a delivery fee to pass the seed along.
The moment Qian Qi got it, she used Analysis Technique.
[Name: fire qilin lotus seed
Magic plant: fire qilin lotus
Planting method: water once every 8 hours with 1 kg of water mixed with 0.1% urea. After sprouting in 2 days, feed daily with 1 kg of bloody E-rank magic beast meat, 0.5 kg phosphate-potash fertilizer, and 0.1 kg nitrogen fertilizer. Matures and fruits after 5 days.
Disease prevention: black poison spots, wilt disease, black bug disease
Market price: 1,000 yuan per seed]
The System’s panel was absurdly detailed. Tap fire qilin lotus and you got weaknesses, attack methods, and what each part could be used for. Tap black poison spots and you got treatment methods.
Comprehensive didn’t even begin to cover it.
“Bloody magic beast meat?”
Qian Qi dug out the original owner’s textbooks and flipped through them. The planting method listed there didn’t mention magic beast flesh and blood at all.
She compared the two methods and clicked her tongue.
The textbook method used too many chemicals. For a magic plant like fire qilin lotus—one that needed to draw in fire-element energy from its surroundings—raising it on chemicals was like raising a kid on vitamins alone. No wonder it died so easily.
“Alright.” Qian Qi rubbed her chin. “So first I need bloody magic beast meat.”
And immediately hit a wall.
Where was she supposed to get that?
She couldn’t exactly stroll into an instance and butcher a beast on the spot.
She was, after all, a fragile young lady.
As that thought drifted through her head, her eyes slid toward the wash balcony—toward the designer coat dripping water onto the floor.
Fifteen minutes later, Qian Qi stood at the entrance of the Magic Beast Department boys’ dorm, holding the damp coat like a prop in a scam.
“Classmate—”
She tried to stop a guy passing by.
He saw her and ran like he’d spotted a demon.
Nearby students noticed her too. They scattered. One who’d just stepped outside took one look and immediately turned around and went back in.
Qian Qi stared after them. “…Seriously?”
She glanced at the dorm supervisor—an old man lounging in the sun like a retired king. He flicked his eyes over Qian Qi, then calmly looked away.
Qian Qi: …
Great. She’d infiltrated.
Why did it still feel like she’d lost?
Inside, one of the guys who’d retreated stormed back into his room and complained, “Damn. Today’s cursed. Not a good day to go out.”
Su Xing Le, mid-sip of water, frowned. “What happened?”
“I walked out and saw Qian Qi. That psycho. Instant bad luck.”
His roommate snorted.
Su Xing Le groaned dramatically. “That’s nothing. I went to the cafeteria this morning and she pulled the whole ‘you bumped me’ scam. Then she grabbed my collar and demanded my coat. I swear, when I saw her face, my heart nearly stopped.”
“Oh? So you gave it to her?”
“What else could I do?” Su Xing Le shuddered. “I don’t want to end up like Chen Tong. You know how crazy she gets. Back then, you, me, and Old Li next door had to use everything we had just to pry her off him.”
“My brand-new coat… whatever. Lose money, keep your life. I just hope I don’t dream about her tonight. I’d rather dream about ghosts. I’d rather dream about getting chased by magic beasts. Anything but Qian Qi. She’s terrifying—”
He paused mid-rant. “Why are you coughing?”
His roommate coughed again, eyes flicking behind Su Xing Le in frantic warning.
Su Xing Le turned.
And met Qian Qi’s smiling gaze.
His soul left his body.
“…Sister.”
“Senior Su…” Qian Qi smiled, then abruptly looked wounded, like betrayal had stabbed her in the back. “How could you say that about me? Look how clean I washed your coat. I was afraid you’d misunderstand, so I brought it back right away.”
She lifted the coat slightly, letting it sway like evidence.
“I didn’t think you’d be like everyone else, judging me with prejudice.”
Su Xing Le threw his hands up, panicked. “No! No, that’s not—”
His eyes snagged on the coat.
It really was clean. Cleaner than it had any right to be.
And she’d returned it.
He swallowed, confusion creeping in. Was he wrong about her?
“…Thanks?” he tried, reaching for it.
It didn’t move.
Qian Qi’s hand stayed pressed on the fabric like a paperweight. She acted like she didn’t notice. Instead, she sighed long and slow.
“Ah, poor me. These skinny arms and legs had to haul myself all the way here, climb five floors—five—just to personally deliver your coat.”
Su Xing Le blinked.
“And what do I get?” Qian Qi continued, voice turning mournful. “I hear you say I’m scarier than ghosts and magic beasts.”
She clutched her chest. “My weak little heart… it’s shattered.”
Guilt hit Su Xing Le hard. They’d never had a real grudge. The cafeteria bump had been partly his fault. He’d even been the first to curse.
Meanwhile, she hadn’t sworn at him once. She’d offered to wash the coat. And she’d actually done it.
“Sorry,” he blurted, the apology escaping before he could stop it. “I shouldn’t have said that. I misunderstood you. Don’t be upset.”
“Senior Su,” Qian Qi said, shaking her head with deep tragedy, “my emotional trauma…”
She sighed again. “It won’t heal overnight.”
“So… what do I do?” Su Xing Le looked helplessly at his roommate.
His roommate lowered his head and read a book with the intensity of a monk avoiding worldly suffering.
Qian Qi leaned in, bright-eyed. “Senior Su really wants to make it up to me?”
“Yes!” Su Xing Le nodded fast. “What do you want as compensation?”
Qian Qi grabbed his wrist with both hands. Her joy wiped away her sadness like it had never existed.
“I knew you were a good person!” she chirped. “I just happen to be short ten jin of fresh, bloody magic beast meat. You’ll definitely give it to me—uh, I mean, gift it to me—as compensation, right?”
Su Xing Le stared.
Then stared harder.
“…Wait.”
He had the distinct feeling he’d just been professionally scammed.
—
When fellow victims met fellow victims, their eyes turned watery.
Li Shu Yun said, “You got tricked too?”
Su Xing Le said, “Yeah. She called me a good person.”
Liang Yu Ting said, “Same. She told me I was a good person too.”
Qian Qi beamed. “Haha. Don’t be sad. There’ll be more good people to keep you company in the future~”
All three of them went silent.
The System practically vibrated with glee.
[Someone suddenly got excited, huh!]