Chapter 49 – Su Ming: There's a Mosquito on Your Door

Night fell silently.

Most students who had been busy all day had returned to the Academy District by this time. Except for a few carrying out missions that could only be performed at night, everyone else had concluded their daily work.

At this hour, the cafeteria was undoubtedly the liveliest place.

After a long day of exhausting work, most students only wanted a hearty meal. Their famished appearances resembled laborers who had toiled outdoors all day.

Of course, what these students did wasn’t much different from hard labor.

Rather, any job requiring the involvement of Professionals basically had no room for carelessness or ease.

Thus, whether they had taken on relatively safe missions or riskier ones, students were generally drained of energy by this time.

Su Ming and his group were no exception.

So, blending into the crowd, they chatted with each other while entering the dormitory cafeteria to reward their hungry stomachs.

It must be said that the Academy’s arrangements for daily life were truly impeccable and of exceptionally high quality. Not only were the accommodation conditions top-tier, but even the provided meals were beyond reproach.

Could you imagine a cafeteria with mountains of abalone and lobster?

Could you imagine master chefs from five-star hotels being invited to cook for a group of students in the Academy cafeteria?

Well, here it was!

Only at times like these did even Su Ming have to admit that becoming a Professional—despite its dangers—was absolutely worth it.

Only those Professionals who played crucial roles in humanity’s survival received such significant attention from the Base City, enjoying privileges and benefits during their student days that ordinary people could hardly experience.

The price, however, was that Professionals had to serve the Base City and all of humanity, risking their lives for survival.

“So, no matter which world you’re in, there’s no such thing as a free lunch.”

Su Ming had lamented this more than once.

But when it was time to enjoy, he certainly wouldn’t refuse such good fortune.

Even An Zijin, Yao Beibei, and Jiang Wanyu—those adorable underclassmen—after a brief moment of restraint, began eating heartily.

Clearly, a day of missions had left these three both physically and mentally exhausted and ravenously hungry, as if they could devour the table itself.

During this time, many people came over to greet these three underclassmen.

Especially around An Zijin, senior female students would frequently come to pat her head or nuzzle her face, almost carrying her away, which frightened An Zijin into covering her head.

In contrast, Su Ming, Lei Hao, and Ye Bai also received greetings.

However, the people greeting them were slightly… affectionate.

“Is it awesome teaming up with the Academy Beauty and her pretty roommates?”

“How come you guys haven’t kicked the bucket yet?”

“Honestly, I think the fortune you’re enjoying now isn’t even worth fifty years of your lifespan.”

“In other words, it’s about time you dropped dead.”

Yes, the greetings Su Ming and the other two received were just that affectionate—so much so that they felt like punching someone.

Among them, Su Ming felt this impulse the most.

There was no helping it—after all, these jerks were basically saying all this right to his face.Among the three, the one who attracted the most animosity was undoubtedly him.

If not for the possibility of being chased down later, Su Ming would have considered adding something to the meals of those who passed by and gave him “friendly greetings” (he was tightly gripping a bottle of chili oil in his hand).

In Su Ming’s group of six, the treatment between the boys and girls was like heaven and earth, making it extremely psychologically unbalanced.

Fortunately, Su Ming wasn’t without ways to retaliate.

“Brother Su Ming, this is really delicious, try it!”

“Do you want shrimp? Let me peel them for you!”

“Brother Su Ming, eat this.”

“Brother Su Ming…”

An Zijin once again unabashedly displayed her caring, girl-next-door skills, continuously serving Su Ming food and even feeding him, all while looking utterly delighted. This made everyone watching grit their teeth in frustration.

Seeing them so displeased made Su Ming very satisfied.

Well, the only problem was that the animosity was spreading a bit too widely.

“Senior…”

“Senior…”

Yao Beibei and Jiang Wanyu looked at Su Ming with a hint of resentment in their eyes.

“The world is going downhill…”

Lei Hao kept sighing.

“……”

Ye Bai remained silent but picked up the chili oil.

Su Ming quickly started shoveling rice into his mouth, fending off Ye Bai’s chili oil attacks while enjoying An Zijin’s attentive service—a mix of pain and pleasure.

In the end, the meal turned out to be quite lively and enjoyable.

After finishing the meal, Su Ming and his group of six returned to their rooms, each washing up in the attached bathrooms to cleanse themselves of the day’s dust and bloodshed.

If nothing unexpected happened, the next step would be to go to bed and call it a day.

However, Su Ming did not.

After careful consideration, he eventually left his room.

……

“Little Zijin, are you there?”

Outside An Zijin’s door, Su Ming knocked softly and called out in a hushed voice.

He had no choice—if Jiang Wanyu, Yao Beibei, or even Ye Bai heard the commotion and found out he had come to see An Zijin in the middle of the night, it would surely cause another uproar.

Su Ming had some serious matters to discuss and didn’t want to be disturbed by them.

But who would have thought…

“Click…”

“Click…”

“Click…”

Accompanied by three faint sounds of doors opening, An Zijin’s door remained shut, but the doors of the other rooms simultaneously cracked open.

Jiang Wanyu, Yao Beibei, and Ye Bai hid behind their doors, peeking through the cracks with sharp, intense stares fixed on Su Ming.

Su Ming: “……”

Are these three out of their minds?

Su Ming really felt like hitting someone.

Just then, An Zijin’s door opened as well.

“Brother Su Ming.”

Inside the room, An Zijin stood timidly, dressed in cute pajamas, her beautiful large eyes showing a trace of delight as she looked at Su Ming outside the door.

“Did you come to play with me, Brother Su Ming?”

An Zijin’s voice was filled with excitement, making the three pairs of eyes fixed on Su Ming even sharper.

“…I came to discuss something with you.”

Su Ming’s lips twitched, and he spoke helplessly.”Is that so?” An Zijin didn’t seem disappointed, instead quickly opening the door wider and saying, “Then come in, Brother Su Ming.”

In an instant, the gazes fixed on Su Ming seemed to materialize, pricking his back until it actually hurt.

This gave Su Ming the feeling that what lay ahead was Hell, and that if he stepped inside, his life would immediately be over.

“What’s wrong? Brother Su Ming?”

An Zijin looked at Su Ming standing motionless outside the door, her face full of confusion.

“…It’s nothing.”

Su Ming remained silent for a long while, then forced a rather strained smile and lifted his heavy footsteps to enter An Zijin’s room.

“Hehe.(#^.^#)”

An Zijin seemed very happy. As soon as Su Ming entered her room, she immediately closed the door.

“Bang!”

Almost simultaneously, three doors were violently pushed open, and three figures shot out, rushing over with lightning speed.

The three figures wordlessly pressed their ears against the door in perfect harmony.

“Boom!”

At that moment, the door suddenly exploded with a loud noise, as if something heavy had slammed against it, shaking violently.

“Ah!”

“Yikes!”

“Damn!”

The three who had their faces pressed against the door immediately met with tragedy, falling to the ground one after another, clutching their ears and faces in pain as they rolled around.

“Heh.”

Inside An Zijin’s room, Su Ming pressed a fist against the door, a cold smile appearing on his face that told everyone exactly where the earlier commotion had come from.

“Bro… Brother Su Ming?”

An Zijin was rather startled.

“It’s nothing, nothing.” Su Ming quickly withdrew his fist and said to An Zijin as if it were nothing, “There was a mosquito on your door. I was just swatting it for you.”

“A mosquito?” A big question mark appeared over An Zijin’s small head.

But Su Ming didn’t elaborate further. Instead, he took An Zijin’s hand and led her toward her bed.

Seeing this, An Zijin stopped dwelling on it, her heartbeat quickening.

Various imaginative scenarios involuntarily surfaced in her mind.

“What does Brother Su Ming want to do?”

“Is this appropriate, suddenly like this in the middle of the night?”

“Could it be that I’m going to step onto the staircase of adulthood tonight?”

“Isn’t this too fast?”

“No no no, Brother Su Ming and I have known each other for ten years. If it were any other couple, they could have had who knows how many children in ten years. How could we be considered fast?”

“But… but isn’t this place inappropriate? Everyone is still under the same roof!”

“Should I… find a towel to bite on?”

Thinking this, An Zijin began looking around, seemingly searching for a towel.

Fortunately, Su Ming couldn’t read minds, otherwise he would definitely be thunderstruck right now.

“Little Jin.” Su Ming sat down with An Zijin and looked at her, asking, “Let me ask you, how many Spirit Arts have you learned?”

“Huh?” An Zijin was slightly taken aback, the little scenarios in her mind coming to an abrupt halt, making her reply honestly, “Right now I’ve only learned three Spirit Arts.”

“Three?” Su Ming nodded and continued asking, “Which three are they?”

Hearing this, although An Zijin was somewhat puzzled, she still obediently prepared to answer.”I have learned three Spirit Arts: [Flying Arrow], [Roaring Blast], and [Scorching Sparrow Song].”

An Zijin’s response made Su Ming raise an eyebrow in surprise.

“Well now, so you’ve been holding back.”

Su Ming’s gaze toward An Zijin shifted slightly once more.

The first two Spirit Arts needed no explanation—one was the First Form, the other the Thirteenth Form. The former was the most basic Spell Formula every Sorcerer learned upon entering the Academy, while the latter was something Su Ming had already seen An Zijin use, so it came as no surprise.

But [Scorching Sparrow Song] truly caught Su Ming off guard once again.

The reason was simple.

This particular Spell Formula ranked thirtieth in the sequence of the Hundred Forms of Spirit Arts.

It was the most powerful technique among the low-level Spirit Arts.

(End of Chapter)