Chapter 142

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!”