Huang Quan’s spot-on answer left Lei Aoxue completely stunned. “You… how did you know that?”
This was exactly the kind of question designed to stump someone, yet Huang Quan had answered it directly!
That was the most unbelievable part!
“You’re the one—why don’t you know something like this? Sure, it’s old news, but keeping it in mind doesn’t hurt anything!” Huang Quan said, not forgetting to glance at Lei Aoxue with a hint of suspicion in his eyes.
As if to say—is this person really reborn?
Why doesn’t she seem like it?
“So… how many points do you think you’ll score this time?” Huang Quan had already let go of any expectations.
“…” Leng Xue answered with silence. These old matters—she genuinely hadn’t kept them in mind.
“Then what am I supposed to do?” Huang Quan rubbed his brow hard. Was his only option to focus on the martial exam aspect?
Leng Xue hesitated for a few breaths before saying, “For the martial exam, I’ll have Kuang Tian step in. Getting first place shouldn’t be a problem.”
Huang Quan waved his hands repeatedly. “First place—big sis, please, absolutely not. Getting first place at best earns you a pile of useless abyss equipment, but it’ll make you a thorn in countless people’s sides. Getting fifth—no, tenth—that’s about right!”
Leng Xue knew his temperament and didn’t argue, only saying, “I already told you—your calamity doesn’t come from the abyss, nor from these small fry causing trouble. It comes from your family.”
Huang Quan froze on the spot, staring directly at Leng Xue, as if trying to find a trace of deceit in her eyes.
“So you don’t need to keep a low profile…” Just as Leng Xue finished speaking, a pleasant female voice sounded beside them.
“Excuse me, are Huang Quan and Lei Aoxue close?” Lin Mu stood with her hands clasped behind her back, tilting her head slightly, her innocent eyes sweeping back and forth between the two of them.
Huang Quan looked at the newcomer and felt his head about to explode.
“I don’t have much of a relationship with him—at most, we’re acquaintances.” The person speaking through Huang Quan’s body was clearly Shengnan now.
Huang Quan had grown used to these instant personality switches by now.
“Is that so? I thought Huang Quan and Lei Aoxue seemed quite close—I even wondered if you two were dating.” Lin Mu asked directly.
Shengnan waved her hand dismissively. “Who’d date him? As far as I can tell, there’s probably something seriously wrong with his head.”
Huang Quan rolled his eyes. Something wrong with his head?
A person with split personality disorder had the nerve to say he was the one with problems!
“That’s great then! Since you two aren’t dating, Huang Quan, would you go out with me after school?”
At those words, Shengnan’s eyes lit up. Today at school she’d hit on quite a few girls, but most of them had flatly rejected her after hearing Huang Quan’s name.
Sure, Huang Quan was decent-looking, but his reputation as a useless burden was far too well-known.
Not having awakened a companion artifact by eighteen—that put him in a league of his own at Tianlan Academy.
“Of course, no problem!” Shengnan agreed without a second thought.
Lin Mu smiled at him, clasped her hands behind her back, and walked away with a cheerful stride.
But the moment she left, Huang Quan went berserk—he even wanted to strangle Shengnan on the spot.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” Shengnan looked innocent. So she’d hit on a girl—was that really such a big deal?
Huang Quan covered his face and said, “Hit on other girls all you want, but why did you have to talk to her?!”
At that, Shengnan’s eyes sparkled. “Don’t tell me there’s some untold story between you two?”
“Story my ass—I’ve never even exchanged half a sentence with her before.”
Huang Quan covered his face and explained, “Do you know about the skinning case in the wealthy district that caused such an uproar half a month ago?”
“I did hear something about that. Why bring it up now?” Shengnan nodded.
The crime scene wasn’t far from her home. The method was too cruel—the victim’s skin had been peeled off completely, and apparently the person was still alive when it happened.
The whole thing had been talked about everywhere.
In the end, it was hastily wrapped up as the work of an abyss-infected perpetrator.
“She did it.” Huang Quan looked in the direction Lin Mu had left, his expression grim.
Shengnan: ???
Leng Xue: !!!
“Hey, you’re joking, right? She doesn’t have any abyss aura, no infected characteristics…” Shengnan found it hard to believe she’d misjudged someone. That woman looked so well-behaved, yet inside she was that terrifying?
“She’s not infected—just a pure psycho!”
Huang Quan rubbed his brow and said, “I found out by accident. That day I was going to drop puppets into the abyss crack like usual, and when I passed through a deserted area, I happened to catch her peeling someone’s skin.
Blood had dyed her face red, and I could vaguely see the madness in her eyes…”
At this point Huang Quan seemed to think of something and sighed deeply. “It looks like she noticed me too. Good thing I ran fast back then—otherwise I’d have been in big trouble.”
“Is she strong?” By now the personality in control had clearly switched to Leng Xue. Faced with this kind of situation, Shengnan had completely chickened out.
Huang Quan shook his head. “Her companion artifact is unknown, but her awakening level is at least tier three.”
“Then why did you run?!” Leng Xue felt speechless. A fourth-tier companion artifact user running from a third-tier one—how did that make any sense?
It was an indisputable fact that a fourth-tier awakener could take on a dozen third-tier awakeners.
“Who knows if she’s hiding her strength, or if she has abyss equipment? Picking a fight recklessly would only put me at a disadvantage.” Huang Quan replied with a heavy expression.
Leng Xue rubbed her brow. “So how do we handle her now? Shengnan already provoked her—should we have her turn her down?”
“Better not. Let me tell you something else you don’t know. Back when school just started, I was passing through the woods and happened to overhear Lin Mu inviting a guy out.
He refused flatly, using studying as an excuse. The next day he mysteriously disappeared… I saw him outside the city, his corpse being gnawed on by infected wild beasts.
He was unrecognizable, but I recognized him at a glance—he was the guy Lin Mu had talked to. At the time, he was already a second-tier awakener.”
“I see!” Leng Xue’s expression turned serious. “Our class really is a den of hidden dragons and crouching tigers. I’ve been reborn several times and never noticed you bunch of monsters.”
“Of course you wouldn’t notice—normally, aside from talking to Chu Xiaomeng, you give off a completely keep-away vibe. Plus with your background, who’d dare approach you?” Huang Quan said irritably.
At that, Leng Xue suddenly thought of something. “What were you doing going into the school woods and outside the city?”
The woods were a place where couples met privately—she couldn’t imagine Huang Quan going to a place like that.
