Chapter 44: Trouble on His Head
More than ten unidentified items were identified, but even after that, the veterans in the field continued discussing things with each other.
Meng Chao kept a low profile. He had been really lucky to be able to run into a Monster Dragon’s Eye, and when he remembered that his memory fragments only worked occasionally for him, he decided he would rather not go on stage to embarra.s.s himself.
But b.l.o.o.d.y Wolf’s Mr. Zhao was really friendly with him. Aside from thanking him, he also asked Meng Chao whether he was interested in forming an alliance with b.l.o.o.d.y Wolf.
Meng Chao said that he had not become a superhuman yet, so it might not be suitable for him to follow a fighting squad of superhumans to enter the depths of the fog and fight.
But Mr. Zhao said that with his abilities, he was basically guaranteed a seat in a famous university, so they would definitely have a chance to work together. They praised each other and exchanged contact numbers. Hence, Meng Chao got himself another connection.
Then, Young Master Nie, who had nearly been harmed by Liao Feijun, came over. In a very domineering manner, he transferred three hundred thousand to Meng Chao.
“The rule in the business states that the appraisal fees for unidentified items is around three to five percent of the fees for the trade of the item. It’s amazing that you managed to identify Monster Dragon’s Eye, so I’ll pay you the maximum amount. Five percent of six million is three hundred thousand.”
Young Master Nie brought out a golden card. “Also, this is my name card. You saved me today, and I, Nie Weihao, do not like owing anyone anything. So you have to keep that card properly with you. If you run into any trouble, you can come to me.”
Once he left, Ning Shewo came to him and whispered, “Keep the card, but unless you absolutely need to, do not approach this ‘Young Master Nie’.”
Meng Chao thought about it. “Is he bad?”
“No, actually. In their circle, Nie Weihao has better morals. At the very least, he’s much better than Liao Feijun. But they’re all good-for-nothing rich men’s children. They live lavish lives and are arrogant. They feel like Dragon City is protected by their fathers and the Other World will be conquered by them. There’s no person or thing in the world they don’t dare to provoke,” Ning Shewo explained.
“Today, Nie Weihao owes you a favor. Tomorrow, if you have something in which you need help, he will definitely say nothing and help you, but the methods these good-for-nothings use always have repercussions, and they might not be things that you can accept.”
Meng Chao got the general gist of it, so he switched to another topic. “Elder Ning, what happens if those two ingredients aren’t useful? I heard that Liao Feijun’s grandfather is your junior brother. He won’t be easy to fight against, right?”
“Old Fire Relayer’s innovations in the Seven Dissection Methods Performed in Reverse already show how extraordinary he is. Besides, he has extensive knowledge of the world. He just casually taught you a few moves, and you already managed to identify Monster Dragon’s Eye. Why should I not believe in him?”
Ning Shewo smiled. “The grudge you formed with Liao Feijun is something that happened because of me and Liao Santong. If it were not for your inscrutable legacy, you would have been humiliated in public. If after this I still refused to stand up for you, how would I ever have the right to meet Old Fire Relayer?
“Let’s not continue this topic. I’ll introduce you to a few of my good friends in the circle. Everyone is very interested in you. After all, you’re a rising star of hope in our field. Hahahaha!”
Ning Shewo’s mood was good, and he had Meng Chao and his granddaughter appear together.
While they chatted with each other happily, Liao Feijun was in a gloomy mood. Young Master Jun’s face was so dark that it was terrifying. His friends did not dare go to him.
“Young Master Jun, you want to hurt the boy? Then you’d best wait for a few days. Wait for me to pay him what I owe him, or else, I’ll make sure that you pay for what I owe him!” Nie Weihao said coldly.
Liao Feijun was livid, but he did not dare to provoke Nie Weihao, whose family was even stronger than his. He could only cast a hateful gaze on the technical director of Prosperous, Gu Ming.
‘d.a.m.n it, it’s this b.a.s.t.a.r.d who said that Meng Chao was just a poor brat who lives in a public renting house. He’s the reason why I made a mistake, even when I had been so confident in this!’
When Gu Ming sensed Liao Feijun’s murderous gaze, he shuddered and nearly wet himself in public.
‘What the heck? Just what sort of monster is Meng Chao? Why is it that whoever provokes him ends up in a tragic state?
‘A few days ago, Shen Rongfa annoyed him, and he was sent into the hospital by Mr. Hu.
‘Today, I just said a few words, and the grandson my teacher loves the most ran into a wall.’
Gu Ming wanted to cry, but had no tears. He regretted his mistake, but it was already too late.
After the trade fair, Meng Chao was silent for a few days.
He didn’t do anything even though his contribution points were increasing so slowly that it was like a seventy-year-old man peeing—it came out so slowly that no one could get any relief. Every day, he only obtained thirty to fifty points. At most, it was seventy to eighty points.
Fortunately, his pockets were full of real cash now. He got a lot of cultivation resources from his cla.s.smates, and through Ning Shewo, he also managed to buy a lot of secret medicine not available on the market.
He felt as if the current him had moved from being a pistol to a machine gun. Every morning and night, he bathed twice in monster blood, and before he went to sleep, he spread an ointment made of a secret formula all over his palms, feet, and Jade Pillow Point behind his head. He also started eating muscle growth hormones, bone cell growth hormones, energy fluids, super-dense protein powder, and all sorts of cultivation resources as if they were common food. His living conditions became better than even those of many rich men’s sons.
He had always been a cultivation maniac, but due to a lack of resources, his body had been drained beyond its limit.
Now, he had powerful support, and his potential was fully unlocked. During the few days, he started training madly, and he fully mastered the entire body of knowledge required for high school. His strength reached a whole new level.
Over the past few days, he suppressed the urge to use his contribution points, and the Skillfulness of Reckless Bull Technique and Ripple Force rose by 1% and 1.5% respectively. Even the progress of his healing increased by 2%.
Meng Chao was so happy that he could fly.
However, during the afternoon, a very strange notification popped up at the upper right corner of his field of vision.
[You saved elite citizen Yan Zhennan. Increased contribution points by 333.]
‘This is...’
Meng Chao was stunned. ‘It didn’t give me a lot of contribution points over the past few days, and when it did, it gave me over three hundred contribution points. I earned a lot this time, but who is this Yan Zhennan?
‘... Oh, I remember now. He’s Ripple Force Princess’ father. But I’m clearly in the cla.s.sroom. How did I end up saving his life?’
At the same time, in the depths of the fog located in the suburbs of Dragon City were three monster hunters covered head to toe in injuries. They were gasping for breath while they lay on the ground like three boneless heaps of meat.
“Wheeze...”
Before them was a pile of torn flesh five times their size. It looked like an amalgamation of a large insect, a huge feline-type monster, and a carnivorous plant. It was very dead, and a foul-smelling liquid flowed all over the ground from its body.
“Big Brother Zhennan, you...”
A bald and built man and a woman with a face full of knife scars looked at each other. They were shocked by what they had seen just a moment ago.
They were supposed to be on a normal hunt.
Their prey might have been a Grade Five superbeast known as Great Tiger-striped Praying Mantis, which was a terrifying existence that could wipe out an entire military squad, but the three of them were people who had five-star supernatural abilities.
Superhumans and superbeasts were both divided into nine ranks, but since humans possessed intelligence and also knew how to use all sorts of weapons and machines, they could usually defeat superbeasts which were a rank higher than them.
The three monster hunters were friends for more than ten years. Their teamwork was impeccable, and they had various strategies they deployed while fighting, so they did not think that fighting against a Grade Five superbeast would be difficult. After all, they were going three against one.
But to their surprise, after the Great Tiger-striped Praying Mantis was severely injured, it suddenly mutated in an unidentified direction. Its head burst open, and a lot of sticky sharp teeth resembling those of a saw and tentacles gushed out of its body. A huge man-eating flower popped out from its body.
After the sudden transformation, the Great Tiger-striped Praying Mantis’ speed and power increased several times, and it also gained poisonous and corrosive attributes. It even gained other fearsome characteristics like mind interference. In an instant, it turned from a prey to a hunter.
“Unidentified mutation! An evolution while the target is at the last of its life!”
The three monster hunters sank into despair.
While the bald man and the woman with the scarred face ran out of strength and fell to the ground twitching, the desperate Yan Zhennan suddenly changed his fighting style.
In the face of death, he came to understand the principles of a brand new martial art. His breathing and force execution method completely changed, and he executed a series of smooth and beautiful killing moves, which allowed him to miraculously turn the tides!
The group managed to survive a disaster. The bald man and scarred-faced woman were naturally happy, but they were also puzzled. Why did Yan Zhennan’s fighting style suddenly improve by a whole level? His fighting strength had increased by at least ten percent just then.
If he had such a powerful martial art, why didn’t he use it from the start?
Yan Zhennan panted for three minutes before he slowly sat up.
As he watched the carca.s.s of the savage mutated superbeast, the puzzlement and confusion on his face was even stronger than those of the bald man and the scarred-faced woman.
He thought about it carefully for some time. Suddenly, his pupils shrank, and he started shaking uncontrollably.
“Big Brother Zhennan, what’s wrong? You’ve already killed that mutated superbeast!” The two monster hunters quickly came forward to support him.
But they could sense that gooseb.u.mps had broken out on Yan Zhennan’s skin.
Regardless of how fearsome the superbeast was and even if they faced death just now, they had never seen such great and unhidden terror on Yan Zhennan’s face.
“I-I think I offended someone.”
Yan Zhennan looked as lost as a child, and his deep voice was quivering.
The bald man and scarred-faced woman looked at each other. They could not understand it. “Who did you offend? Could he be even more terrifying than this mutated superbeast? Is the Yan family unable to fend against him?”
“That’s right. He’s ten times more terrifying than a mutated superbeast.” Yan Zhennan spoke in a daze. “I offended an old and unfathomable monster. The Yan family is going to face a great disaster!”
Yan Feirou opened the door to the chamber at the top of Swallow Building. When she did so, she heard cracking sounds coming from within. It sounded like someone was making stir-fried bamboo shoots with meat.
She walked in, and she saw something she would not forget her whole life.
Her father, a mighty man who was as built as a mountain, whose presence was as great as tidal waves, and who had killed countless fierce beasts in the fog, was kneeling on the floor like a child who had done something wrong.
And her grandfather, Yan Hengbo, the master of the Yan family, the martial arts grandmaster who had created Ripple Force, was jumping about in rage like an old monkey.
Her grandfather kicked her father around like a ball with his mechanical legs. He even lifted a cane and struck him mercilessly.
While he caned him, he yelled at him. “You couldn’t have offended those beneath us? Why did you have to go and offend those above us?! Did you actually think that this Old Fire Relayer is someone you can provoke?!”
Yan Feirou felt that her views of life, the world, and her morals instantly shattered into pieces.
In fact, she even wondered whether she was hallucinating. Was she dreaming?
She used her fingers to pinch her palm. No, it was not a hallucination, and neither was it a dream. Her grandfather was still caning and yelling at her father.
“Old Fire Relayer saw that your daughter had potential, so he kindly gave her a martial art to research. He even said that he’s not after fame and profit, and he just wants to contribute to society, yet what did you do? With your petty heart, you tried to decipher the heart of a great man!
“How could you suspect that he has ulterior motives? Did you think that the Demonically Modified Ripple Force was fake?! If it’s a fake, then what is our Ripple Force v2? It’s trash! Before this Demonically Modified Ripple Force, Ripple Force v2 is just trash! Trash!”
Yan Feirou was dumbfounded.