HCB Ch. 123 - Ah, I Miss the Taste of Ice Rabbit Lord...
Ch. 123 - Ah, I Miss the Taste of Ice Rabbit Lord...
The Slime's massive size made it impossible to effectively dodge attacks, but at the same time, it greatly expanded its own attack range.Contract spirits without decent speed had absolutely no way to avoid its charge.
Meow!
The Fierce Light Lion let out a pitiful wail—sounding exactly like a terrified kitten—before being sent flying backwards, crashing down off the arena stage.
Chen Shu felt a surge of joy inside. Another High-Grade Beast Orb in the bag!
But on the surface, his expression remained grave as he rushed over to the Slime's side with deep concern.
The Slime spat out another mouthful of colorless liquid, its big eyes squinting shut, looking utterly weak and pitiful.
"No more! No more fights!"
Chen Shu immediately spoke up. "My Slime's been gravely injured! If I lose, that's ten High-Grade Beast Orbs—a full 1.12 million yuan! I can't afford to lose!"
He deliberately emphasized "1.12 million" with extra stress. In an instant, the remaining students' hearts burned with greed.
"No way! Since you're the one who set these rules, how can you go back on them?!"
The chubby Sun Ziyang stepped forward again, his face full of excitement as he summoned his Golden Claw Beast.
Chen Shu was laughing maniacally inside. I can't believe they're taking the bait so easily. You guys are WAY too young...
But on his face, he wore an expression of utmost difficulty, looking completely trapped between a rock and a hard place. Finally, he nodded with visible reluctance.
Off to the side, Shen Wushuang's mouth twitched, a line of black lines appearing on his forehead.
Isn't your Slime tired of spitting so much saliva?
He looked at the excited students and couldn't help but shake his head. They really were too naive.
This was literally free money.
Sure enough, the Golden Claw Beast howled as it was sent flying off the arena stage.
The Slime's injuries seemed to have worsened even further. It panted heavily.
Although some people saw through the trick, the problem was that this bastard Chen Shu kept manipulating their hearts, constantly emphasizing the value of ten High-Grade Beast Orbs—as if getting them would guarantee admission to Huaxia Academy.
More people stepped up to challenge, wanting to defeat the "teetering on the brink" Slime.
But ideals are plump; reality is bony.[1]
Out of the twenty-four students in the class, seventeen ultimately fell beneath the Slime's charge.
"Ah, my Slime can't go on! It needs treatment right away!"
Chen Shu wore a pained expression, his eyeballs sweeping over those below.
But the remaining students were completely unmoved, simply watching his performance in silence.
Chen Shu raised an eyebrow. "Xiaoyu, don't you want to try? 1.2 million yuan!"
"No thanks!"
Xu Xiaoyu flatly refused. Only people who knew him understood that this guy was really good at acting.
She'd bet anything that the Slime right now was still preserving most of its strength.
"Committee Member Xia, won't you give it a shot?"
Chen Shu turned his gaze to his former study committee member Xia Bing, but she also refused to take the bait.
"Loan King, you don't want to try? Your sister's about to awaken her Beast Taming talent—you need money, right?"
Wang Qinghan didn't even bother responding to him. YOU'RE the Loan King!
"Alas! What a shame, what a shame!"
Chen Shu sighed. With his skills' overwhelming advantages, combined with the system's enhancements and potion buffs, plus his Level 8 contract spirit's suppression, he'd actually managed to beat everyone in the class.
"Hey! Xie Sunan, what the hell are you standing up for?! Sit down!"
Chen Shu's peripheral vision caught a glimpse of movement. His body jolted, and he suddenly barked out a command.
You're playing dirty! Once I find a way to counter "Love is a Ray of Light," I'm DEFINITELY dealing with that damn caterpillar of yours!
"Since that's the case, today's matches end here..."
Chen Shu wrapped up the competition feeling absolutely delighted, then said to Shen Wushuang: "Teacher, just give me eighteen High-Grade Beast Orbs for this month."
A full seventeen Beast Orbs—worth a total of 2.04 million yuan. Wasn't this faster than robbery?
Unfortunately, he couldn't hold this event every month. The class would definitely be on guard now. At least until they improved their strength, they wouldn't fight Chen Shu again.
"Everyone, continue practicing your skills..."
Chen Shu waved his hand and returned to the six-person squad.
---
At that moment, the school infirmary was packed to capacity, all with students from the Special Training Class.
"Line up! Everyone line up!"
The school doctor's brow furrowed. He hadn't expected so many contract spirits to be injured today.
The doctor sighed and asked, "Who on earth did this? They struck so ruthlessly! I remember the last time something like this happened was three years ago with Fang Si, wasn't it?"
"Doctor, it was Chen Shu—the one who used to follow Fang Si around back then..."
An old-timer from Nanjiang Second High explained.
Back when Fang Si was around, Chen Shu and Zhang Dali had thrown the entire middle school division into chaos.
Everyone thought things would calm down after Fang Si left, but it turned out Chen Shu had just grown up on his own.
"Chen Shu?" The doctor's eyes flickered as if remembering something. "Looks like it's their tradition then..."
Three years ago, Fang Si had similarly beaten up everyone in her class—except hers had been a bloody group beatdown battle.
---
That evening, Chen Shu came to his black market shop.
Sure enough, the massive 5,000 yuan price reduction had sold out all five bottles of High-Grade Strength Potion.
Although the profit was only 50,000 yuan, that would still be 1.5 million a month.
Chen Shu wasn't in a hurry. Even after entering university, he could still have Wang Tianbao and the others help manage the shop.
"Help me purchase these ingredients: Enlightenment Fruit, Green Leaf Flower, and Jumping Fruit."
The potions Chen Shu could currently brew were: Strength Potion, Body-Type Potion, Defense Potion, Burst Speed Potion, Intelligence Potion, and Jump Potion.
Among these, the first three had already been fed to the Slime at maximum capacity. Only the latter three had basically never been brewed.
The Burst Speed Potion had been learned while running shoulder-to-shoulder with the thief Li Hua. The Intelligence Potion was obtained before final exams (Author's note: This scene wasn't written—just know it happened). The Jump Potion was learned when Shen Wushuang buried him alive.
In truth, Intelligence Potion and Burst Speed Potion didn't have much effect on the Slime—especially the former...
But Chen Shu could brew them himself, and since the cost wasn't high, he'd just feed everything to the Slime anyway. There was no downside.
The Jump Potion, however, could increase the height of Violent Sitting Kill, indirectly boosting both air time and skill damage.
"Keep the shop's income with you all. Use it mainly to help me purchase ingredients."
Chen Shu didn't take the shop's money. He trusted Wang Tianbao completely.
Don't use those you doubt; don't doubt those you use.
"By the way, your monthly salary is 10,000 yuan each. Brother Tianbao, you're the manager, so yours is 20,000 a month."
Chen Shu left the shop. He'd let Wang Tianbao handle the specific work arrangements.
All he needed to do was brew Strength Potions at school every two days. He didn't need to personally handle anything else about the shop.
---
Peaceful days passed by slowly.
Chen Shu's daily routine consisted of bullying people, brewing potions, disciplining troublemakers in the class, and oh right—occasionally studying...
Three weeks flew by in a flash.
The Special Training Class students gradually grew more and more excited.
Shen Wushuang had promised that in October, he'd take them to an Alternate Dimension for adventure.
Chen Shu's heart also held some anticipation. Bullying a bunch of weaklings every day was getting boring.
Man, I really miss the taste of that Ice Rabbit Lord...
[1] "Ideals are plump; reality is bony" (理想是丰满的，现实是骨感的): A popular Chinese internet saying (circa 2009) using body imagery as metaphor—ideals are "full-figured" and attractive, while reality is "skeletal" and bare. Used for self-deprecating humor about unmet expectations. Here, the students expect an easy win against the "injured" Slime, but reality crushes them instead.