CHAPTER 34: CHAPTER 33: GRADUATION EXAM (PART 2)

Twenty minutes before the exam ends, a large group of students who have completed the assessment have already gathered at the meeting point, waiting for the teacher to lead them away.

Tang Dou is sitting under a big tree, leisurely eating an apple offered by his underling, surrounded by a group of followers.

The one most familiar with Tang Dou, Little Sparrow, Ma Le, finally mustered up the courage under everyone’s coaxing gazes, to make a request on behalf of the group.

"Brother Tang, could you tell us what kind of Star Beast you hunted this time? What level is it?"

Tang Dou isn’t chubby anymore, all his fat has turned into muscle, with broad shoulders, long legs, bushy eyebrows, and big eyes, full of vigor. He’s just in the voice-changing period, his tone rough and husky.

Seeing everyone around staring eagerly at him, Tang Dou tossed the apple core away, boastfully saying, "What, trying to gauge my background?"

"Brother Tang, what are you talking about! Everyone knows you’re the top dog in our Martial Arts Department, who here can compare to you? Everyone just wants to get a peek before the results are announced. Brother Tang, how about you show us the Star Beast you hunted, just to enlighten us?"

This flattery hit the spot, and any more pretension would be fake. Tang Dou took out the space button and tossed it to Ma Le. "Be careful, if you break it, you can’t afford to pay."

"Got it—!"

Ma Le carefully opened the space button, tossed it onto the open ground in front of him, with a "thud" sound, a large white mantis corpse appeared before everyone’s eyes.

"Six, six-winged mantis!"

"My god, a level-four Star Beast!"

"The peak of low-level Star Beasts, Brother Tang, you’re awesome!"

"Amazing, amazing!"

Amidst the cries of surprise and admiration, Tang Dou displayed a wildly arrogant, charming, yet actually sleazy and greasy smile. He had practiced this expression in front of the mirror for a long time, just for the day when he could use it in front of everyone’s attention, and today he finally got his wish fulfilled, greatly satisfying his vanity.

Maintaining this self-proclaimed perfect expression, Tang Dou was ready to recount his battle with the six-winged mantis, when suddenly the crowd opened up a path, and a slender figure, hands clasped leisurely walked through the crowd, approaching.

"Sister Xing!"

"Hello, Sister Xing!"

"Good afternoon, Sister Xing!"

...

The chorus of greetings was louder than a herd of forest bullfrogs.

Tang Dou’s face twitched, unable to maintain the charming smile, he cursed inwardly, a bunch of sycophants!

Earlier, Ma Le had been sycophantically grinning at Tang Dou, but upon seeing Li Xing, he immediately ran over like a lapdog, holding out a delicate snack box with both hands:

"Sister Xing, are you tired? Here’s Wesley’s signature cake especially prepared for you, limited to ten per day, quite hard to come by. I queued early in the morning to grab one, please have a bite."

Tang Dou: ...(.-＿-.)

He gets an apple, Li Xing gets a limited-edition cake.

Ma Le, you are truly a bane to me!

"Thanks." Li Xing casually took the cake and started eating it, the sweets on Qianyuan Continent are truly exceptional, no matter how many times she eats them, they never get old.

The giant mantis on the ground was hard for Li Xing to ignore, especially with Tang Dou standing right beside it, the expression on his face was truly indescribable.

"Dou Er, did you hunt this?"

Tang Dou finally gave up, no one was paying attention to his meticulously practiced expression, which made him quite annoyed, his eyebrows frowned like a giant victim, he turned away in a sulk. But Li Xing felt that this is the true Tang Dou, the previous expression was too edgy.

The scene momentarily turned awkward, Ma Le chuckled twice, trying to ease the tension:

"Isn’t that right! Apart from Brother Tang... and Sister Xing, who among us has the ability to hunt a level-four Star Beast!"

Six-winged mantis has a strong offensive capability, its pair of scythe claws are extremely sharp, with high speed, a breed with rather high combat power among level-four Star Beasts, not easy to hunt, with this, Tang Dou’s application to a prestigious school is a sure thing.

Li Xing finished the cake in a few bites, pointing to the fierce beast on the ground, said:

"Appreciation is enough, put it away, don’t attract other Star Beasts."

This six-winged mantis had a fatal injury to its head, half its head was smashed, the Crystal Stone chipped, brain matter scattered all over.

Star Beast’s flesh and blood are useful to humans, and a great nutrient to other Star Beasts, if a Star Beast is drawn by the scent and comes injuring fellow classmates, it wouldn’t be good.

What was a very normal sentence was interpreted by Tang Dou as mockery, thinking Li Xing was poking fun at him for smashing the six-winged mantis’s head, ruining its appearance.

"Pfft, looks like this six-winged mantis disgusts someone’s eyes huh. I admit I hit hard, smashed the mantis’s head, but so what? Even without a head, it’s still level-four!" Teenage kids, sensitive and obsessed, most prone to stubborn ideas.

"Dou Er, I don’t mean that. We are currently outside the perimeter of the forest area, inherently risky. Though the teachers have driven away mid-level and above Star Beasts, no one knows when they might return. The exam isn’t over yet, teachers are busy rescuing trapped students who forfeited, and can only take care of us last. Before the teachers arrive, our safety can only be self-assured, we cannot be negligent."

Other students felt that Li Xing spoke reasonably, but unfortunately, Tang Dou was always obstinate and relentless, so none dared openly support Li Xing in front of him. Only Ma Le moved his mouth, but hadn’t spoken before being pushed aside by Tang Dou.

"Get out of the way!"

"Li Xing, don’t put pressure with principles, I think you’re just jealous I caught a six-winged mantis! Dare to bring out your Star Beast so everyone can see whose is more impressive!"

Li Xing sighed, feeling that the current Tang Dou is really not as cute as he was when young. Are teenagers in their edgy phase all so infuriating?

Having been archenemies for so many years, Li Xing knows too well Tang Dou’s nature of not stopping until his goals are met, continuing to argue would be a waste of time.

"Will you put it away after seeing mine?"

"Yes!"

"Alright then."

Li Xing took out her space button, casually tossed it on the ground, and a fluffy Star Beast corpse appeared at their feet, startling Ma Le.

"S-s-snake..." Ma Le felt as though his mouth was on fire, stuttering for a while, before blurting out: "Snake-tailed Tiger Beast—!"

Around them came breaths of surprise.

"Oh my god, a level-five Star Beast! That’s already an intermediate-level Star Beast!"

"No, according to the latest standard issued this year, Snake-tailed Tiger Beast now counts as level-four, just like Brother Tang’s six-winged mantis."

"What? How is that possible, hasn’t Snake-tailed Tiger Beast always been level-five?"

"It used to be, but experts concluded that the snake tail and tiger beast are parasitic rather than symbiotic, thus downgraded. But so far, the grade of Snake-tailed Tiger Beast remains unsettled, with parasitic and symbiotic factions each holding their view, arguing nonstop online."

"So theoretically, it’s at least level 4.5?"

"Uh... what you said makes sense."

"Does that mean Sister Xing won?"

"It goes without saying! Even if Snake-tailed Tiger Beast is downgraded to level-four, in terms of appearance it’s still Sister Xing who won."

"Shh—! Can’t you see Brother Tang’s expression, better not get beaten!"

"..."

Listening to the discussions around him, Tang Dou wished he could cross time and space and go back five minutes ago to shut his troublesome mouth.

Li Xing, is she sent by heaven to restrain him, can even catch such a rare Star Beast, truly bizarre!

"Tsk tsk tsk, Sister Xing, how did you manage to kill it without injuring its exterior?" Ma Le, being the closest, saw it most clearly, the Snake-tailed Tiger Beast’s fur was pristine, if sold to a museum, surely would fetch a good price.

"Maybe... strength surpasses miracles."

Li Xing must admit Tang Dou was her guiding star, without that headbutt back in the day, she wouldn’t have this current obsession with strength.

The principle of diminishing ten skills with one power was brought to perfection by her, her life creed is:

In the face of absolute power, all conspiracy and tricks are paper tigers.