Chapter 15 : Chapter 15
Chapter 15: Zhao Xuan: How Dare He Leave the City!
Although Wan Feipeng looked unreliable, he was refreshingly straightforward when it came to giving rewards.
Once Ye Ze had taken his reward, he was allowed to leave immediately, without any extra trouble at all.
By then, it was already 7:30 in the evening.
Ye Ze was home alone, using the trading platform app to buy food.
“Bamboo for Panda, pine nuts for the squirrel...”
He would be heading to the “Contaminated Land” outside the city early the next morning, so he needed to stock up on some food.
Although summoned beasts could absorb energy inside the summoning space, they still liked eating things in daily life.
It was just like in cultivation novels—no matter how much a person had transcended the need for food, they would still want to taste something delicious when they saw it.
Suddenly, a text message popped up:
【1,000,000 has been transferred into your savings card. Transfer source: War Academy Outstanding Student Reward.】
【Current balance: 5,194,750.】
It was the academy reward Vice Dean Zhou Wei had promised. Another million had arrived!
That said, it actually made Ye Ze feel it was a bit stingy.
Perhaps it was because he had just received an Outstanding-grade piece of equipment from the City Lord.
“Forget it. Free money is still free money...”
After that, he spent 60,000 and bought quite a lot of bamboo and pine nuts.
He was just about to buy some equipment to feed to Panda when he discovered:
“What the hell? Even the cheapest Rare-grade equipment starts at seven or eight hundred thousand?”
“Why not just rob people outright?”
He had originally thought that, with more than five million to his name, he was already fairly wealthy.
Who would have guessed that he was still poor!
After hesitating for a long time, he still spent the money and bought a full five Rare-grade weapons!
After all, tomorrow’s trip to the Contaminated Land was something he absolutely had to prepare thoroughly for, or his life really would be in danger.
That left only a cold and lonely little over one million in his card.
But as long as his strength increased, the money he had lost would come back sooner or later!
Not long after, a Rogue knocked on the door of his house and handed him a package. “Delivery from your trading platform order...”
“Thank you.”
Since he wanted to increase Panda’s monster-killing efficiency, everything he had bought was a weapon.
With that kind of weight, an ordinary person probably would not even have been able to deliver it.
“Open wide. Ahh~~”
“Roar—”
Ye Ze stuffed the five weapons into Panda’s mouth.
He had to admit that although spending the money had hurt, the stat gains were wonderfully satisfying:
【You Are What You Eat! — After consuming ‘Giant Spirit Hammer *2’, obtained: Strength +8!】
【After consuming ‘Windstride Sword’, obtained: Strength +2, Agility +2!】
【After consuming ‘Warrior Twin Blades’...】
At only level 4, Kung Fu Panda’s stats were already terrifying:
Kung Fu Panda Attributes: Strength 103, Constitution 67, Agility 82, Spirit 54.
They were even higher than those of a level 10 Warrior Class User in full gear.
Now, he had far more confidence in tomorrow’s land-clearing mission in the Contaminated Land.
Satisfied, Ye Ze went to bed.
...
At the same time, in the Zhao Guild, the Guildmaster of the Zhao Guild, Zhao Tian, had already furiously cursed out his son Zhao Xuan and the female secretary Chen Qian.
The first talent in the entire country to clear Hell-grade, yet those two had taken turns offending him. How was he supposed to recruit Ye Ze now?
And yet at this moment, the gloom on Zhao Xuan’s face gradually gave way to confidence...
“Dad, don’t be angry! Ye Ze is actually nothing to worry about!”
“He’s a poor Summoner. The more summoned beasts he has, the less he’ll be able to afford raising them! His future achievements will only get smaller and smaller!”
“Even if he was the first to clear the dungeon, I can still make him work for me!”
“Oh?”
The fury in Guildmaster Zhao Tian’s eyes diminished somewhat, and he gestured for him to continue.
Zhao Xuan said, “A Hell-difficulty dungeon requires Crystal Stones worth three million just for the entry ticket.”
“If Ye Ze wants to level up, he can only do it by entering dungeons!”
“But he doesn’t have money!”
“And I can pay for his dungeon tickets. If he refuses to take me with him... hehe! Then he won’t have any chance to level up at all!”
As Zhao Xuan spoke, his smile grew more and more arrogant.
“That way, he can only become a workhorse who clears dungeons for me, while I sit back and enjoy the experience from Hell difficulty and level up rapidly!”
He did not say the rest aloud, but Zhao Tian understood.
Once their levels rose, Ye Ze—who had no money and no power—would lack equipment, lack skills, and lack summoned beasts.
How could he possibly remain Zhao Xuan’s match in the future?
“By the time of the college entrance exam, once we’ve reached the first class tier, the gap between him and me will be the difference between heaven and earth!”
“Good!”
Zhao Tian’s eyes lit up as he listened, full of praise. “As expected of my son! You’ve got brains!”
“Tomorrow morning, go to the dungeon entrance early and find a way to get Ye Ze to form a team with you!”
Zhao Xuan looked thoroughly pleased with himself.
“Don’t worry, Dad! Ye Ze has no other choice!”
Zhao Tian reminded him, “Right. I heard the City Lord thinks highly of him...”
“Until you’ve surpassed him, make sure you keep up appearances!”
“Understood!”
Early the next morning, Zhao Xuan waited at the entrance to the Novice Dungeon, but no matter how hard he looked, he could not find Ye Ze anywhere.
Then he waited for a full five or six hours...
The confident smile on his face gradually twisted into something savage once again.
“Damn it! Where the hell is Ye Ze?!”
It was only when an ordinary-class student mentioned that he seemed to have seen Ye Ze leave the city...
that Zhao Xuan finally realized Ye Ze had never intended to level up in the dungeon at all!
He had already planned to leave the city from the start!
All the while, Zhao Xuan had foolishly imagined that he could use dungeon tickets to make Ye Ze power-level him.
Not only had he failed, he had also wasted five or six hours of his own leveling time...
Zhao Xuan instantly let out a furious roar:
“Damn it! How dare he leave the city?!”
“Damn it all—!”
...
Ye Ze knew nothing of Zhao Xuan’s clownish behavior.
Wearing the Spirit Pact Cloak, he arrived alone at the south gate of Linyuan City.
The towering city walls separated the thriving prosperity inside the city from the dangers lurking everywhere outside.
In theory, the southern part of Linyuan City was the human habitation zone closest to the Abyss.
Here, weapon shops, blacksmith shops, potion stores, and more were all neatly spread along both sides of the streets.
Ye Ze entered a potion shop and bought several bottles of healing potions and antidote potions.
Once he left the city, there would be no more safe dungeon zones.
Instead, what awaited him was the “Contaminated Land,” filled with endless unknowns and terrifying Fiends!
As soon as he reached the city gate, four Demon Suppression Army guards immediately stopped him.
“High school students may not leave the city alone!”
“You can go find your parents, or have your teacher come take you...”
Fortunately, Ye Ze had prepared in advance. He took out the identification his teacher had approved:
【Abyss Investigation Division — Special Investigation Specialist — Ye Ze】.
“I’m on assignment.”
The expressions of the four guards immediately turned solemn.
They respectfully gave Ye Ze a military salute.
“Understood!”
“We hope you return safely!”
Two of the guards saluted him, while the other two opened the southern gate of Linyuan City for him.
Ye Ze let out a light breath and stepped beyond the city gates.
Then he headed for the agreed gathering point of the scout camp...