Chapter 142: Sang Zhijun
Translator: Cynthia Editor: - -
In the nearly empty training hall, a figure was practicing hard. Sweat poured down from her face like raindrops.
Watching Shi Xueman’s training reminded Yong Zheng of the past, which made him smile subconsciously. Shi Xueman had almost the same characteristics as her father.
She was brave, self-disciplined and responsible, just like her father.
He now somewhat understood why the family spent so much on Xueman. From their perspective, Shi Xueman was definitely the best candidate from her generation to assume responsibility of the family from her father.
Nonetheless, Yong Zheng somehow felt pity for her.
He saw how much his friend had sacrificed to raise the family to what it was now. Shi Xueman was a girl. It would only be more difficult for her to achieve the success her father had once attained.
After an almost desperate training session, Shi Xueman’s frustration was greatly relieved.
Although there was no task, she consoled herself by thinking it was good that she could spend time in the training hall.
“Miss.”
Yong Zheng greeted her. He refrained from telling her what he was thinking. Instead, he simply kept it deep in his heart. People were different. He, himself, was an indolent person, which was why he was living a life like this. Only once had he seen Shi Xueman’s father shedding tears. It was the regret and anguish due to a failure.
The man who regarded success as his life was as unyielding as the hardest stone. The only way to beat him was to totally destroy him, like smashing stones into sand.
“Uncle Yong Zheng.” Shi Xueman forced a smile and could not help asking, “How on earth is Central Pine City now?”
They were really the same kind of person.
Yong Zheng smiled in his heart, but nothing could be seen on his face. He simply replied, “There were accidents some time ago. Fortunately, measures were taken in time. A class of students escaped from the Garden of Life, and they had some basic knowledge of the blood poison, so it prevented disaster. After that, many teachers from Central Pine Academy arranged detailed inspections all over the city to eliminate the hidden dangers. Meanwhile, many earth elementalist teachers reinforced the defense of the city. As for the magistrate court, they assigned more guards for day and night patrols. For Now, there should be no problem.”
Shi Xueman was a bit depressed. At first she thought that the magistrate court and Central Pine Academy were perfunctory, but now she knew that was because everything was fine at this moment.
After being depressed for a few seconds, she cheered up again.
Originally, she was depressed because she was fully prepared to welcome a rough fight, but when she heard what the dean said, she felt she had been fooled. Now, she was happy to know that the city was truly safe, although this would make her look stupid for the mission. Still, it was something to cheer for, since there had been enough people killed in the blood catastrophe.
She could at least relax and do whatever she wanted.
Maybe because she was free from anxiety, Shi Xueman now felt hungry.
She decided to go to eat beef noodles!
She said goodbye to Yong Zheng, took a shower, and went out.
As she walked past the blind battle training halls, she was reminded of their popularity in the past. Due to the blood catastrophe, most of the travel to the Induction Ground was now stopped. Currently, it was impossible to fly between each city like before, and it would remain this way for a short while.
Most of the previous participants of the blind battles were students from other cities. As a result, there were few visitors now.
In addition to the training halls, almost all stores were suffering from poor business too. Seeing the depression, Shi Xueman sincerely hoped that the blood catastrophe would end as soon as possible. It broke out recently, but had shown how destructive it could be.
The only exception was probably the weapon shop because many people liked to buy weapons in times of crisis.
Unexpectedly, Shi Xueman met someone she knew.
It was Sang Zhijun. Except for Shi Xueman, she was the only girl in the team.
“Xueman!” Sang Zhijun was delighted to see Shi Xueman. She waved to her and said, “Come here!”
Shi Xueman was a bit surprised. “What’s up, Zhijun?”
She was not very close with Sang Zhijun. They were not from the same branch academy after all, and they only knew each other because of the mission. As they were the only girls in the team, however, they were quite familiar with each other.
After getting to know her for some time, Shi Xueman thought Sang Zhijun was an easygoing, elegant,l and modest girl. She seldom saw such a delightful expression on Sang Zhijun’s face.
Shi Xueman hurriedly walked to her.
“Can I borrow some money?” Shang Zhijun seemed a bit frustrated. “I thought this was a remote place, so I didn’t bring much money. Now I don’t have enough money.”
“Of course. How much do you want?” Shi Xueman agreed at once, since she had the same experience of forgetting to bring any money to pay the bill before. It was a really awkward and very poignant experience for her.
“Twenty million yuan first.” Sang Zhijun said.
She Xueman was startled, “Twenty million yuan? What are you going to buy?”
The first thought that came to her mind was that Zhijun was being swindled. In this small city, where a bowl of beef noodles cost only one hundred and fifty yuan, what could be priced at twenty million yuan? Zhijun must have been ripped off. Shi Xueman became angry and decided to argue with the merchant.
Sang Zhijun knew what Shi Xueman was thinking when she saw her frowning and said, “Relax, I am not being cheated. I just came across something good.”
In response to Shi Xueman’s suspicious look, Sang Zhijun gave her an arrow and said, “Have a look.”
An arrow?
For twenty million yuan? This was definitely cheating!
Shi Xueman took the arrow suspiciously. Archery was not in her training regimen, but she knew some basic knowledge about it. The arrow seemed fine, but she still could not understand how an arrow could cost twenty million yuan. Yet, she also knew that Sang Zhijun was not a fool, so she asked, “Sorry Zhijun, I don’t really understand. Is this arrow special?”
Sang Zhijun explained, “Yes, its penetrating power is strong. I just tried. Without elemental energy, it can pierce a three-inch plate one thousand steps away, or a five-inch plate five hundred steps away.”
Shi Xueman’s eyes widened. She knew a little about archery, but she knew what the results meant.
Looking around, Sang Zhijun confirmed that no one was near them before she said in a low voice, “I have also tested and found that metal elemental energy can enhance its effect.”
Shi Xueman understood at once. The data Zhijun just told her was the power of the arrow without elemental energy. If infused with elemental energy, it would be more powerful, especially when the attribute of the elemental energy matched it.
Sang Zhijun’s physique was of the metal attribute, so the arrow was just right for her.
It was out of Shi Xueman’s expectation that Central Pine City had such excellent treasures. She had been here many times, but this was the first time that she discovered that the stores here had high-grade goods to sell.
“How many are you going to buy?” she asked, as she realized Zhijun was not just buying one arrow.
Sang Zhijun was exciting and said in a low voice, “We could not have possibly come at a better time. This arrow was just invented today. The price for one arrow is one hundred and fifty thousand yuan. It’s not expensive.”
“One hundred and fifty thousand yuan each? Not expensive indeed.” Shi Xueman said without hesitation, “I have some money. You can take it all.”
The importance of the arrow to an elementalist who practiced archery was beyond doubt. The popularity of archery had raised new demand for arrows, and there were now people who worked as specialized arrow producers.
Nowadays, you could find arrows in almost all weapon shops, but it was still difficult to find good arrows. It was very fortunate to encounter an arrow that suited the user.
Shi Xueman understood what Zhijun was thinking. She would stock up on these arrows now because they were consumables, and she might not be able to get more when hers were used up.
“I have ten million yuan and together with your twenty million yuan, I’ll have thirty million yuan total. If so, I can buy two hundred arrows. It will be enough for me to use for a while.” Sang Zhijun was grateful. “They have just created this arrow and haven’t released it into the market. Besides, they don’t have enough in stock, so I’ll have to wait. two hundred arrows! They will have to work hard for quite a while.”
Sang Zhijun went into the store to negotiate with the shopkeeper while Shi Xueman looked around by herself.
It was unexpected for a store that seemed so ordinary to have such wonderful arrows to sell. Shi Xueman was looking forward to finding some other first-grade goods.
After looking over everything on the shelf, Shi Xuewan was disappointed.
None of the goods could impress her.
Sang Zhijun came out happily with ten arrows in hand. Apparently, the arrows had just been made.
“What’s its name?” Shi Xueman asked casually.
Sang Zhujun answered in a good mood, “The name is weird. It’s called Bunny Hair. I learned about this arrow from the magistrate court. They acquired some before, but theirs are only half as powerful as this one. They bought them at the price of twenty thousand yuan each, and in the market it was sold at thirty thousand yuan. So, I decided to have a look here in the store. Surprisingly, they just invented the new arrow which was more powerful. I’m so lucky.”
Since she would not be willing to use them during daily training, two hundred “Bunny Hair” arrows were enough for her to use for a long time.
“Not expensive indeed.” Shi Xueman said, “It’s not easy to find such a powerful arrow.”
The power was merely doubled, but the price was five times higher. Yet, this was no surprise to Shi Xueman. She knew that after the power reached a certain level, any increase would cost a lot of effort. Therefore, the price would be much higher.
“Xueman, you have to buy me dinner.” Sang Zhijun looked delicate and touching. “I have no money now. I’ll have to depend on you.”
“No problem! I’ll buy you everything.” Shi Xueman smiled. “Let’s go to eat beef noodles. I know an old noodle house here which is very famous.”
Shi Xueman was a cold beauty in the eyes of boys, but to girls, she was like a warm and reliable big sister.
“You seem to be very familiar with this city?” Sang Zhijun followed her and asked curiously. To her, Shi Xueman did not look like the kind of person who would eat beef noodles in the small restaurants.
“Yes,” Shi Xueman replied, “we have a training hall here, and I’ve been here several times.”
The smell of beef made Shi Xueman hungry.
She walked in the noodle house like a regular and called, “Two bowls of beef noodles and a beef dish please.”
The owner of the noodle house answered, “Okay.” When he looked up, he saw two unfamiliar female customers, and the one who was speaking was extraordinarily beautiful. If she had come here before, it would be impossible for him to forget her.
“Please have a seat. The noodles will be served soon.”
Although he felt confused, he still asked them to take a seat.
Sang Zhijun looked around curiously behind Shi Xueman, but soon she was attracted by a weird sound.
“Fatty! How can you eat so much?”
“Two bowls less than you, okay?”
“It is you who owes me money. How can you eat this much? At least four bowls less than me!”
“Ai Hui, don’t you remember that I left the last steamed bun for you that time? You cannot be so ruthless. At least let me have enough noodles.”
“That makes sense. You can continue, and if you can give me five reasons, I’ll let you eat more. Hmmm, yes, go on… yes, you are right… Hmmm, excuse me, I want one more bowl of noodles please!”
“Ai Hui, you are so cunning!”