Ch. 174 - Nobody's Going to Reimburse Your Medical Bills
It's Perfectly Normal for my Slime to beat up a Dragon, Right?This chapter is broken. Please report this on discord.
This chapter is broken. Please report this on discord.
The group buzzed with discussion about the upcoming matches.
Chen Shu, meanwhile, had his eyes closed and was conserving his energy. Xie Sunan and Xu Xingxing couldn't participate.
So the fighters would mostly be Xu Xiaoyu and the others.
Besides students from their own school, they could technically invite students from other schools in Nanjiang as well.
Back in the day, Wang Teng had been dying to recruit Xu Xiaoyu.
Unfortunately, the students from other schools were equally useless in a fight.
Chen Shu let out a sigh. "Guess I'll just have to do my best."
That afternoon.
The group arrived in Daxing City.
Shen Wushuang was the first one off the bus.
In that instant, his feet froze mid-step, eyes going wide with a mixture of shock and utter confusion.
A crowd of people stood waiting, all holding black umbrellas, dressed in black suits, and wearing sunglasses. They looked cold as ice.
As the students filed off the bus one by one--
The men in black bowed in perfect unison, bellowing in chorus: "Greetings, Boss!"
The corner of Chen Shu's mouth twitched. He immediately spotted the chubby little ringleader at the front.
He was about to slip away unnoticed, but Ouyang Bao had already locked onto him.
"Teacher Chen!"
Ouyang Bao came bounding over, beaming with excitement.
Everyone else's jaws hit the floor. T-T-Teacher?!
Someone gulped and muttered, "Is Daxing City a bandit's nest or something?"
The formation of black-suited men was no small affair, and with Chen Shu being called "Teacher," the dots connected themselves instantly.
Chen Shu was probably the leader of some bandit organization, regularly lecturing his underlings and indoctrinating them.
"Are you out of your goddamn mind? What the hell is all this?"
Chen Shu rubbed his forehead. If he'd known this would happen, he never would've told Ouyang Bao he was coming.
With the kid's family background, tracking down their drop-off location would've been child's play.
Passersby on all sides had stopped to stare. Some were pulling out cameras to snap photos, and others were already dialing the police...
Ouyang Bao scratched his head and said:
"Teacher, I just wanted people to think you had a mysterious past..."
"..."
Chen Shu stared at him, utterly lost for words. "Thanks for that. Not only have you given me a mysterious past, I'm pretty sure you've also given me a future behind bars."
Seeing that Chen Shu wasn't pleased, Ouyang Bao quickly waved his hand.
"Alright, scatter! Everyone scatter! Back to work!"
Turns out they were all employees from his family's company, called in to put on a show...
Chen Shu asked bluntly, "Seriously, what are you actually doing here?"
Ouyang Bao said, "Teacher, aren't you guys competing at the Spirit Fighting Arena? I wanna watch and learn."
He didn't have much going on right now anyway. School resources weren't doing much for him.
"Fine, tag along when the time comes."
Chen Shu nodded and shooed Ouyang Bao away for now.
"'Teacher Chen'?"
Shen Wushuang clapped a hand on Chen Shu's shoulder, smiling warmly.
"Shen... Teacher Shen..."
Chen Shu's expression went rigid. He turned around slowly.
"Listen up. If you dare start trouble in Daxing City, I will bury you again. Do you hear me!"
Shen Wushuang leaned in close and whispered, "Also -- no goddamn bombs inside the city!"
At this point, he was genuinely a little afraid of Chen Shu, and his standards had been lowered again and again.
"Roger that!"
Chen Shu agreed without hesitation. Setting off Explosion Potions inside a city? That was genuinely asking for death.
The group arrived at their pre-booked hotel and checked in.
Early the next morning.
Shen Wushuang assembled everyone and headed to the nearby Spirit Fighting Arena.
Ouyang Bao, determined to spectate, had also stayed at the hotel and tagged along with the group.
Shen Wushuang didn't bother objecting. Nanjiang Second High hadn't booked the whole place -- anyone could stay wherever they wanted.
The Spirit Fighting Arena was a massive circular structure, grand and imposing. Even on a weekday, it drew a sizable crowd.
Matches were scheduled practically every day.
Especially now in January -- besides Nanjiang Second High, other high schools had their Special Training Classes coming in as well.
"I'm Shen Wushuang. Please arrange opponents for my students."
Shen Wushuang spoke to the staff at the front desk.
Then he led everyone to their reserved box seats, which overlooked the arena floor below.
The Spirit Fighting Arena was built like an ancient Roman colosseum. The vast competition platform sat at the very bottom, surrounded by spectator seating on all sides, while individual box seats hung suspended in midair.
Ten minutes later, a staff member came to the box.
"Is student Chen Shu ready?"
Chen Shu blinked in surprise. He hadn't expected to be first up.
Shen Wushuang must have submitted the roster in class ranking order.
"Actually, could I ask you a favor?"
Chen Shu spoke up. "I've noticed you guys always have the announcer introduce both fighters. Think you could make my intro a bit more... badass?"
The staff member's mouth twitched.
Not much strength to speak of, but sure loved the pageantry...
"I prepared it myself. Just have the announcer read it."
With that, Chen Shu produced a sheet of A4 paper and handed it over.
"That's it?"
The staff member glanced at it -- barely twenty-some characters. He patted his chest and agreed on the spot.
But the rest of the Special Training Class students were swallowing hard.
Shen Wushuang couldn't help but speak up. "You're... holding it upside down..."
The staff member froze. He flipped the paper over.
His hands immediately began to tremble, and he nearly dropped it.
The entire back was covered in dense, tiny characters, packed edge to edge. A rough estimate put it at over three thousand words.
"Why don't you just write a goddamn novel?!"
The staff member's mouth twitched as the words escaped him.
So it was five minutes of fighting and two hours of introduction, was that it...
"Sorry, sorry."
Shen Wushuang snatched the paper away and skimmed through it.
Every single word was self-praise, and not a single descriptor was repeated.
The most heavily praised aspect was his personality -- humble and approachable, always eager to help, kind and honest...
Shen Wushuang felt like the sheer absurdity might actually kill him...
He barked, "Get your ass in there and fight! Lose once and I bury you once!"
Chen Shu let out a sigh and trudged out of the box.
Inside the arena.
The announcer held a microphone. "Next up is a battle between Level 9 Beast Tamers!"
"On one side -- Xu Yang, a Beast Tamer from the Blue Sky Beast Taming Corps!"
"On the other -- Chen Shu, a Beast Tamer from Nanjiang Second High School!"
"Let's give them a round of applause!"
The audience around the arena offered a round of perfunctory clapping, eyes glinting with anticipation.
Spectators came to the arena mainly for one of two things: to see something exciting or to study combat techniques.
Following the staff member's directions, Chen Shu made his way to a small elevated platform suspended above the competition floor.
A hundred meters apart, both fighters summoned their contract spirits.
"A student? Didn't see that coming."
Xu Yang smirked, contempt flickering in his eyes.
They were both Level 9, sure, but he was absolutely certain of victory.
A wolf with blazing red fur materialized on the arena floor, howling skyward over and over, radiating sheer ferocity.
A C-rank Fire Wolf!
Chen Shu summoned his Golden Slime as well. The Slime was still snoring away, completely ignoring the Fire Wolf's roaring.
"How's this even a fight? One's C-rank and the other's F-rank -- that's a three-tier bloodline gap."
"I wouldn't be so sure. The announcer said he's from Nanjiang Second High. An F-rank contract spirit in a Special Training Class? You don't think that's suspicious?"
"Good point. Maybe it's some kind of mutant Slime?"
Chen Shu stood on his platform, gazing down at the battlefield below.
Then, nice and easy, he rummaged through his backpack and pulled out a megaphone. He hit play on a pre-recorded message.
"Attention, all Beast Tamers!"
"The Nanjiang Bandit has entered the ring! I hope you all have some self-awareness -- surrender immediately! Do not put up a pointless resistance!"
"Nobody's going to reimburse your medical bills!"