Chapter 35 – Favor from the Academy Beauty

Longyao City, Central Station.

Within this station located in the heart of Longyao City, there existed a dedicated passage for Professionals.

As the name suggested, this passage was reserved for the use of Professionals.

This special passage didn’t just lead to ordinary platforms—it also connected to a unique platform activated only during emergencies, designed to transport Hunters and Sorcerers to crisis locations with maximum speed when necessary.

On this day, that platform was activated.

Countless Professionals, either carrying weapons or moving in groups, streamed continuously through the dedicated passage under the guidance of staff arranged by the Base City authorities, eventually gathering on this platform while waiting for the stationed train to depart.

Indeed.

For the Huaming District campaign, the Base City had arranged special trains for Professionals from various regions.

Any Professional holding a valid Professional Certificate who responded to the Base City’s call to deploy to Huaming District could board using their license—not only for free, but every seat offered services surpassing first-class on regular trains. All food and drinks were complimentary, ensuring a more comfortable journey than anyone else could experience.

The students of Demon Hunter Academy also enjoyed treatment identical to Professionals on this day, using their student IDs.

Thus, the group of students who had been extremely nervous before departure had now all boarded the train, beginning excited conversations.

This included Su Ming’s group of six.

“This is my first time using the Professional passage and boarding from the special platform.”

“Who isn’t?”

Lei Hao and Ye Bai placed their luggage aside and chatted with visible excitement.

“Can we really eat anything here for free?”

“Everything’s complimentary?”

“Let’s order something then!”

An Zijin, Yao Beibei, and Jiang Wanyu—three girls at the perfect age for fun—were chattering among themselves while holding the train’s menu, their faces brimming with delight.

Amid this atmosphere, only Su Ming appeared somewhat listless.

“Yawn(__)(-.-)(~O~)……(-.-)”

Su Ming let out an enormous yawn, looking utterly drowsy.

“Are you sleepy, Brother Su Ming?” An Zijin’s attention seemed perpetually fixed on Su Ming. Noticing his condition, she immediately expressed concern: “Did you not rest well last night?”

Before Su Ming could respond to An Zijin, Lei Hao and Ye Bai seized the opportunity to complain.

“Don’t ask, Junior An,” Lei Hao said irritably. “This guy suddenly started laughing hysterically in the middle of the night for some unknown reason—scared us all half to death.”

“Right,” Ye Bai chimed in, never missing a chance to damage Su Ming’s image. “He was already in bed, then suddenly started laughing and flailing around. Later he even ran to the bathroom—no idea what he was doing—keeping us all from sleeping.”

Hearing this, Yao Beibei and Jiang Wanyu immediately became intrigued.

“Really, Senior Su Ming?” Jiang Wanyu teased mischievously. “Do you have sleepwalking disorder or something?””You really should get proper rest.” Yao Beibei also whispered softly: “There are many things we need to do later. If our senior lacks energy, it wouldn’t matter if he holds us back, but it wouldn’t be good if he holds back little Zijin.”

This statement was practically dripping with malice.

“Brother Su Ming doesn’t sleepwalk, and he won’t hold us back either.”

An Zijin expressed her dissatisfaction with this.

However, the other four people present clearly harbored various unspoken ill intentions toward Su Ming. Seeing An Zijin defending him, they immediately began conspiring together.

“That’s not necessarily true, junior sister.”

“Sometimes when we wake up in the middle of the night, this guy Su Ming would mysteriously disappear from his bed, no one knows where he went.”

“See? That’s sleepwalking disorder.”

“Little Zijin, you still don’t understand Senior Su Ming.”

Lei Hao, Ye Bai, Yao Beibei, and Jiang Wanyu—all four of them took turns adding insult to injury, seemingly determined to cement Su Ming’s disgraceful reputation.

Unfortunately, this breakup expert quartet clearly underestimated An Zijin’s combat capabilities.

“How could I not understand Brother Su Ming? Brother Su Ming definitely doesn’t have sleepwalking disorder!” An Zijin said angrily, puffing her cheeks: “We’ve always slept together before, so I can confirm that Brother Su Ming doesn’t sleepwalk. He even holds me when sleeping at night, it’s really nice!”

As these words fell, complete silence enveloped the room.

The breakup expert quartet fell silent in unison, then along with others who had been subtly paying attention to their conversation, they all directed murderous glares toward Su Ming.

“Urk…”

Su Ming, who had just been yawning with sleepy eyes, suddenly felt a chill run down his spine. Everywhere he looked, people were staring at him expressionlessly.

This made his eyelids twitch several times, instantly waking him up completely.

“Ahaha… ahahaha…” Su Ming forced out a dry laugh, then attempted to explain: “That was all from when we were children, yeah, from when we were very, very young.”

However, this explanation didn’t earn him any forgiveness from others.

“So he really did sleep with Academy Beauty An?”

“He used his dirty hands to hold my goddess in the middle of the night?”

“Let’s kill him…”

“I agree…”

Such whispered conversations faintly drifted through the air.

“We… we’re not jealous at all! We’ve slept with little Zijin too! (〃＞皿＜)

“That’s right!” Who would be jealous of you! Stinky senior! [○･｀Д´･○]”

Yao Beibei and Jiang Wanyu acted as if they had lost some competition, one with tearful eyes and the other gritting her teeth in frustration.

As for Lei Hao and Ye Bai, they said nothing—one simply grabbed Su Ming by the neck while the other attempted to twist his head off.

“Hey! Stop! I barely slept all night! And you’re still messing with me…!?”

Su Ming was too exhausted to struggle.

Fortunately, An Zijin came to his rescue.

“Seniors, could you please stop bullying my Brother Su Ming?” An Zijin still looked furious as she stood up from her seat and approached Lei Hao and Ye Bai: “Seniors, please move to the back seats. I’ll sit with Brother Su Ming.”

Saying this, An Zijin chased both Lei Hao and Ye Bai away from Su Ming’s side, successfully rescuing him.

Naturally, Lei Hao and Ye Bai didn’t dare oppose An Zijin, so they obediently went to the back seats and sat in the positions behind Su Ming.

“Li… little Zijin!””Don’t sit next to that bad senior!”

Yao Beibei and Jiang Wanyu stood up, intending as usual to prevent An Zijin from clinging to Su Ming.

But An Zijin had already swiftly taken a seat beside Su Ming, wrapping her arms around his arm with no intention of letting go.

“I want to sit next to Brother Su Ming!”

An Zijin pouted angrily while happily resting her head against Su Ming.

Seeing this, Jiang Wanyu gritted her teeth even more fiercely, while Yao Beibei’s eyes welled up with tears as if she had been abandoned.

Meanwhile, Lei Hao, Ye Bai, and everyone around them cast even colder glances at Su Ming.

“What a curse…”

Realizing he had attracted more animosity again, Su Ming could only cover his face with his free hand.

Heaven knows, he had just spent the whole night opening packages and, unable to contain his excitement, went out in the middle of the night to test the newly acquired Spirit Art and evaluate his current strength, which left him somewhat sleep-deprived. Why did trouble still find him?

Did I say anything? Did I do anything?

No, right?

I didn’t do anything—just yawned. Why does even yawning lead to this kind of hatred-attracting development?

“Could it be that I’m being targeted by the World Will?”

Su Ming began to doubt his life.

Little did Su Ming know that the commotion was just beginning.

“Hey! Look over there!”

“Isn’t that…?”

“Why… why is she here?”

Suddenly, the people in this carriage grew restless.

Because, from the front carriage, a young girl emerged without any warning and entered this one.

“That’s…”

Yao Beibei and Jiang Wanyu were stunned.

“Senior!”

Lei Hao, sitting in the back row, abruptly stood up in excitement.

“……”

The smile vanished from An Zijin’s face.

“Why is she here?”

Su Ming was taken aback at first, then a sense of foreboding surged within him.

The girl who had come from the front carriage was none other than another Academy Beauty of the Demon Hunter Academy, Xu Qianqian.

“Is this seat taken?”

Under everyone’s gaze, Xu Qianqian approached Su Ming, her expressive eyes fixed on him as she pointed to the seat beside him and asked softly.

“————”

The entire carriage fell into silence.

Everyone watched as the unexpected Xu Qianqian stood beside Su Ming, pointing at the seat next to him and asking her question, leaving them all speechless.

“I have a seat here!”

Lei Hao’s excited voice broke the silence briefly, but no one paid him any attention.

Xu Qianqian merely stared at Su Ming, her gaze making it clear who she had come for.

Su Ming could distinctly feel the chill directed at him intensifying.

Even An Zijin, who was holding his arm, tightened her grip in silence. Though Su Ming’s hand was blissfully buried in a soft place, it also made a “squish-squish” sound, as if the bones inside were cracking.

“Isn’t the carriage for top students supposed to be at the front?”

Su Ming’s lips twitched uncontrollably.

But Xu Qianqian’s reply made his twitching even more pronounced.

“It’s boring there,” Xu Qianqian said nonchalantly. “It’s more comfortable being with you.”Without a doubt, the destructive power of these words was on par with An Zijin’s “sleep-hug declaration,” if not even greater.

Thus, the chill enveloping Su Ming completely transformed into murderous intent.

Thus, the arm being hugged by An Zijin completely lost all sensation.

Lei Hao had already fallen silent, with only Ye Bai’s panicked shouts coming from the back seat, as if preparing for some emergency rescue.

Even Yao Beibei and Jiang Wanyu had gone quiet, their gazes toward Su Ming filled with the utmost complexity.

“Heh.”

Su Ming revealed the most strained smile he had ever mustered.

He had given up resisting.

(End of Chapter)