Chapter 17

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

“He rejected me… He said he’s different from me.” Feeling down and distracted, Yang Zhou headed home while carrying his schoolbag.

Yang Zhou’s home was located in residential area No. 82 in the south.

This was the lowliest residential area.

Although it was a residential area, it resembled more a maze surrounded by rows of three-story or four-story low-rise houses.

The old and shabby walls were full of graffiti.

A faint stench of urine was also coming from the corners of the walls.

Around the corner was a woman wearing revealing attire and bright red lipstick.

Next to her was a small store.

A small pink lamp was shining through the white curtains.

“Xiaozhou, come here, come here. Sister will give you some candy.” The woman tilted her head and strands of loose, curly hair landed on her snow-white arm.

Under the light, her figure looked curvaceous and voluptuous. She exuded the charm of a mature lady.

She was also wearing black fishnet stockings and high-heeled shoes.

Yang Zhou raised his head and glanced at the woman expressionlessly.

He then lowered his head and continued to walk ahead.

Glancing at Yang Zhou’s back, the woman couldn’t help but giggle.

Everyone in this residential area knew that Yang Zhou would definitely move out of this place in the future.

This was because Yang Zhou was the only student in this residential area who had gotten into the No. 1 Junior High School based on his own ability, unlike other people like them, who had to slum it in this area.

He would certainly have a better future than them.

Suddenly, the woman felt somewhat emotional and wanted to smoke a cigarette.

She took a cigarette out of her cigarette pack.

As the woman was looking for a lighter in her pocket, she suddenly heard a voice from her left. “Did you just say you wanted to give me candy?”

It was not known when Yang Zhou had returned, but he was staring straight at the woman.

The woman, who was wearing heavy makeup, was stunned for a moment. She turned around and saw Yang Zhou.

She could not stifle her laughter. She tapped Yang Zhou’s forehead with her left manicured hand, which was still holding onto the cigarette. “Boy, what are you thinking about? Here, take it.” The woman took a piece of mint candy out of her pocket and threw it to Yang Zhou.

“Thank you.” Yang Zhou looked down and glanced at the mint candy in his hand.

He then turned around and left silently.

The woman turned her head and shrugged. “What a strange guy,” she uttered in a low voice.

…

Yang Zhou returned to his house.

The empty place was very quiet.

Yang Zhou sat on the sofa in the living room alone.

A rustling sound was heard under the sofa.

He lowered his head to the floor, lifted the sofa cover that stretched down, and fished out a spider from beneath the sofa.

The spider resembled a disc. It had feet and eyes all around the perimeter of the disc.

It also walked and rotated on the spot simultaneously.

Typically, very few people would keep spiders as pets. In fact, more people would rear centipedes. Although centipedes were also multi-limbed animals, their sturdy armor covered their entire body. On the other hand, spiders were hairy and had barbs and fluff all over their legs.

Yang Zhou picked up the spider, which was the size of a face basin, and gently rubbed the spider’s barbs with both hands.

His palm started bleeding when the barbs pierced it, but he closed his eyes and continued lying on the sofa. His lips couldn’t help but tremble. Then, a pained yet contented moan came from his throat.

“Whoo… Ah… ”

The spider stopped suddenly.

The 36 eyes on its body rolled nimbly and looked toward the entrance of the house at the same time.

A key was turned in the lock.

Then, the door opened.

A tall man wearing a raincoat and a face mask walked into the room.

When he saw that Yang Zhou was immersed in the illusion of the Little Phantom Spider, a trace of disdain flashed in the man’s eyes.

“How’s the mission assigned by the higher-ups coming along?”

Yang Zhou was still lying on the sofa and feeling ecstatic in his own world. He didn’t answer him.

The man frowned.

The raincoat he was wearing suddenly bulged up, and a palm-sized beetle with colorful wings and a black head protruded from the underside of his ear.

The beetle’s mouth opened.

Bang!

Yang Zhou, who was lying on the sofa, suddenly shuddered.

His entire body fell off the sofa, and the sofa in the living room was also torn apart.

“If you ignore my words again, this won’t be the end.”

Upon seeing its master get attacked, the Little Phantom Spider was enraged.

A massive amount of spider silk shot out from all over its body, and it spat out a cloud of white mist at the same time.

Inside the house, the white mist gradually rose in the air.

“Xiaohuan, [1. Xiaohuan means ‘little phantom’ in Chinese and is the nickname of the tamed beast] retract the mist.” Yang Zhou’s hoarse voice came from behind it.

The mist gradually dissipated.

The Little Phantom Spider protected its master warily.

Yang Zhou struggled to stand up. He was touching his chest and clenching his teeth in pain. “You’re really harsh.”

“I’m asking you again. How’s the mission assigned by the higher-ups coming along?”

“I found five people, but only one of them was on the same wavelength as me,” Yang Zhou said.

“You can’t afford to bear the consequences of not completing this mission, but that’s not important. The organization has already specified a time.”

“When?”

“The day after tomorrow,” the man said coldly.

“The day after tomorrow!?” Yang Zhou was surprised. “That’s the day of my middle school entrance examination.”

“Yes, the organization is ready to launch an attack that day. You need to cooperate and be on standby too.” After speaking, the man turned and left, leaving a package behind. “These are the tools and instructions given to you by the organization. Remember to burn them after reading them.”

The man was sensitive enough to close the door.

After the man walked away, Yang Zhou slammed the sofa a few times to vent his frustration. “Damn! Damn! Damn!”

Why did they have to choose the day that his middle school entrance examination would be held?!

…

“Beginner Wind Blade Skill Book… Boss, the Beginner Wind Blade Skill Book costs 50,000 yuan, but it’s about the most basic Wind Blade skill.” Bai Ye squatted on the ground, staring at a copy of the Wind Blade Skill Book that was on display in the glass cabinet.

“Handsome Boy, I’m in a difficult position too. This is already the lowest price on the market. Look, it says on the side that I’ll give you a standard wind crystal for free,” the boss said helplessly.

“This is the minimum price stipulated by the Obsidian Federation. You can visit any store to take a look. No one will dare charge anything lower than 50,000 yuan for beginner skill books. At most, they’ll give you some freebies.”

“The standard wind crystal costs only 2,000 yuan. Your price is not fair or honest. Also, I may not necessarily need a wind crystal, right? You’re including a non-essential item and charging me a high price. Isn’t this considered a bundle sale? Even so, the respective price for the skill book is 48,000 yuan. This is not fair or honest.”

“The price can’t be any cheaper. 50,000 yuan is the cheapest price on the market. If I sell it below this price and I’m exposed, my shop will be finished. At most, I’ll give you an extra piece of crystal with another attribute,” the boss said.

“Boss, let’s not haggle too much over this. Why don’t we do this?” Bai Ye glanced at his surroundings. Only he and the boss were in the shop.

He leaned forward and said in a low voice, “I’ll give you 20,000 yuan. I don’t want the skill book. Boss, can you just let me borrow the book to read it for a while? I’ll get my tamed beast to study it. How about that?”

The boss waved his hand. “No, this is taking advantage of a loophole. I can’t take your money. Why don’t you buy more stuff from my shop? I’ll let you read this skill book for free then. You won’t buy this skill book from me. I’ll be lending it to you.”

“That’s definitely not a problem. I will consider it a loan.” A smile formed on Bai Ye’s face.

“Young man, you can only do this when you buy a common skill like the Wind Blade. This won’t work on advanced skills.” The boss nagged. He then bent over to open the glass cabinet and told Bai Ye to sit next to him. “You can take notes on some of the key points, but you can’t copy them directly or take photos.”

Upon seeing Bai Ye diligently memorizing the contents of the Wind Blade Skill Book, the boss felt somewhat envious. ‘How great would it be if that son of mine was so hardworking?’

After about half an hour, Bai Ye stepped out of the store feeling satisfied.

The Wind Blade Skill Book had a total of seven pages, and each page had a relatively large font. The entire content consisted of about 5,000 to 6,000 words.

All of it was in written vernacular Chinese. [1. Written vernacular Chinese, also known as Baihua, is the form of written Chinese based on the varieties of Chinese spoken throughout China.]

It was not necessary to remember all the words exactly, but their meaning could not be too far off.

The book’s entire content was about how to train tamed beasts to master the Wind Blade and how to help different kinds of beasts master the skill. When training the tamed beast, one needed to be calm and encouraging.

The training method would vary depending on the personality of the tamed beast.

Furthermore, some tamed beasts could master the technique more easily under certain special circumstances.

Mastering the Wind Blade involved many more things.

“Boss, do you have those one-time skill books that teach one the skill in one shot?”

“Are you referring to the secret skill books?!” The boss knew what Bai Ye was talking about. “How could my humble shop get hold of such a valuable thing?”

He was holding onto a small packet.

There were five basic element attributes: gold, wood, water, fire, and earth. There were also five rare attributes: light, darkness, wind, thunder, ice, rock, and so on.

In addition, time was the king and space was the ultimate factor. There were also extremely rare attributes, such as destiny, cause and effect, stars, and so on.

Although the wind attribute was rare, it was only slightly rarer than the five element attributes.

The Beginner Wind Technique Skill Book was not extremely common, but it was also not difficult to get a hold of it.

As he thought about the fact that Xiaodiao had not mastered a commonly-used wind attack skill, Bai Ye found a beast merchandise store with poor business on his way home.

Sure enough, he found the Wind Blade Skill Book.

When he got home…

Bai Ye first took out the 20 wind crystals one by one and put them away in a metal box.

He then picked up a wind crystal.

He summoned Xiaowei and got it to summon Xiaodiao.

Compared to when it had been born a few days ago, Xiaodiao had grown quite a fair bit.

Its entire body was full of fluffy hair, and its bluish-gray hair made it look like a lion.