CHAPTER 181: CHAPTER 155: SILENTLY MURMURING, FOLLOWING CLOSELY, WRITING AT THE DESK

"Bao Wei, Lin Li makes me want to defend myself."

Zhou Baowei had just come in from the hallway when he heard Bai Bufan say something explosive to him.

Opening, act, critical, hit.

"Don’t bother, I’m grilling." As soon as Zhou Baowei finished speaking, he slapped himself: "To hell with grilling, disgusting!"

Zhou Baowei currently hates grilling the most.

After slapping himself, he eagerly stepped forward, using his broad body to shield one side of the table. "Go ahead, I’ll block everything for you."

"It’s not what you think..."

Then, after hearing Lin Li’s explanation about suicide and self-defense, Zhou Baowei was greatly shocked, gaining new useful knowledge.

"Utterly dull." But realizing he couldn’t see the explosive scenes, Zhou Baowei sighed, "I was hoping to ride the wave."

Bai Bufan: "?"

"Bao Wei, don’t be like this, I’m really scared living in the same dorm with you." Bai Bufan scooted closer to Lin Li.

"Misunderstood, this wave riding was in the literal sense for eating," Zhou Baowei said, "My dad said if my grades improve significantly in the monthly exam, he’d give me a budget of five thousand to eat whatever I want, so if I can eat everyone ranked above me, my ranking will improve."

Lin Li: "..."

"Too many punchlines, can’t be bothered to roast." Lin Li said.

But it really fits Bao Wei’s eating outlook.

"What’s the punchline? The way to the top is to devour people, fiercely devour people." Bai Bufan said in a deep voice, sounding like Brother Xun.

As for enduring hardships, that’s serving those on top.

Lin Li pushed Bai Bufan away: "I don’t know you, today is indeed suitable for missing people on the Autumn Festival, but you can’t miss them like this, you’ll eventually eat a purple egg."

Who placed Bai Bufan at the same desk position as himself?

The evening study session bell rang, and everyone gradually took their seats.

"But thanks to you, Lin Li, I actually finished my holiday homework at home, so now I don’t have to catch up on work, and my dad was so happy seeing me study, like Bao Wei’s dad, he promised that if I improve significantly in the next exam, he’ll get me a new phone, a blessing in disguise."

Bai Bufan spread open his workbook, speaking with a hint of excitement.

"Getting a new phone? What about the old one?" Lin Li asked.

"I put the old phone up for recycling on the used goods site, it’s fast on-site, high valuation, quick payment, for selling idle digital products, I use Tantan!" Bai Bufan responded, reciting the ad slogan with great familiarity.

"Tantan is good, Tantan you can learn."

...

About ten minutes after the evening study session started, Xue Jian carried his briefcase and slowly walked into the classroom, seating himself in the front.

"Back from the autumn trip, everyone should gather their wits."

"The first monthly exam has been scheduled, for next Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, from the 25th to the 27th, giving a day off on Saturday, to allow grading as soon as possible, and review the papers with you all on Sunday and Monday, so you can peacefully enjoy the National Day." Xue Jian said slowly after sitting down.

Since ten subjects need to be tested, three days are needed if exams are not arranged in the evening.

"Teacher, can you not grade them? I think that way we can have a better National Day." Right Guardian Wang Ze sincerely voiced everyone’s thoughts.

Then he fell silent under Xue Jian’s deadly gaze.

"By then, everything on your desks and the boxes in the walkway need to be cleared, since it’s the monthly exam the drawers don’t need to be cleared, but after the seating chart is issued, everyone’s desks need to be moved, Yu Ying, you organize it then."

"Okay, teacher."

"Remember, everyone, don’t treat the monthly exam as trivial, although it’s a small test, many times the results are useful."

Xue Jian continued.

Nansang Middle School awards and honors each semester and major exams including the monthly exams within the term are all linked, not only within the school, some universities that have independent admissions also look at students’ usual grades, although the proportion of a first-year high school monthly exam is undoubtedly very small, but you never know if it might cause your elimination for that bit of mosquito meat.

It starts next Wednesday.

Today is only Tuesday, which means I have an entire week of time to strive, more than ten hours of Strong Memory can be used.

Lin Li thought so, and once the time was set, a sense of urgency immediately emerged.

"To strive!" Lin Li cheered himself on.

"So are you going to do stand-up at the tavern?" Bai Bufan asked.

"That’s right." Lin Li immediately immersed himself in study, bending over to write.

Bai Bufan watched Lin Li focus on studying and muttered "Damn," then followed suit, bending over to write.

Zhou Baowei watched Lin Li and Bai Bufan focus on studying and muttered "Trash," then followed suit, bending over to write.

Chen Tianming watched Lin Li, Bai Bufan, and Zhou Baowei focus on studying and muttered, "It’s like dominoes, one falling after another, so funny, if Qiaoqiao could see, she’d definitely laugh, oh remembering Qiaoqiao’s smile, so cute."

It’s okay, I’ll remember and tell Qiaoqiao on the weekend.

So he followed suit, bending over to write.

The densest evening study session in Class 4 of Year 1.

Looking at the two key focus students at the back row and one super invincible key focus student, Xue Jian nodded with some satisfaction.

Although Lin Li definitely has issues, maybe this time it won’t be too bad after all.

...

When the evening study session ended, Lin Li dragged Bai Bufan, forcing him to watch as he put textbooks and workbooks into his backpack one by one.

Torturing Bai Bufan was one of the few pleasures left after Lin Li became engrossed in studying.

The results were also impressive, Bai Bufan even carried a bag back to the dormitory.

Tonight, he could only walk home, and when passing by the snack street, he initially wanted to buy some stewed dishes for supper, but after noticing the slightly unfriendly gaze from the owner, he opted for another stall.

"Young man, do you have any dietary restrictions?" The owner asked after lighting the fire.

"I’m allergic to duckling." Lin Li said.

Boss: "..."

He walked out to look at his shop sign and then stared at Lin Li: "Young man, you’re allergic to ducks and still ordered a tea tree mushroom duck pot?"

"No, boss, you’ve got it wrong. I’m only allergic to ducklings. As long as the duck is bigger, I’m not allergic," Lin Li explained.

Boss: "..."

You gotta be kidding me.

"... I see, I’ll make sure to pick a big one for you." The boss hesitated, clearly showing that what he said wasn’t really what he wanted to express.

"By the way, boss, do you have fresh duck blood here? The kind that’s high quality." Lin Li asked afterward.

Lin Li hadn’t forgotten the conditions for using the "Emotion-Containing and Desire-Absorbing Bottle," but he was reluctant to use his own blood each time, plus he didn’t know how much it would require. So he planned to test if the blood of real-world animals could be considered spirit beast blood.

"Sure, how much do you need? Should I add it directly to the pot?" the boss nodded and asked.

"No need, just put it in a separate basin, two portions will be fine." Lin Li nodded.

"Eight bucks."

"Done."

"Here you go, young man." The boss took a box of duck blood from under the stall, skillfully slitting the plastic wrap on top with a small knife, poured it into a container, and then covered it, handing it to Lin Li.

Lin Li looked at the discarded plastic box of duck blood and fell into silence.

If he remembered correctly, a box sells for two fifty at the supermarket.

How do you describe exploitation without using explicit words?

——This damned old cheapskate in front of him.

"Boss, didn’t you say fresh duck blood?" Looking at the reddish-brown duck blood in the box, Lin Li weakly said.

"I just took it out of the packaging, isn’t this freshly prepared?" the boss argued back.

Lin Li: "..."

Lin Li still had his pride.

If the boss hadn’t refunded three bucks, Lin Li would definitely have been angry.

Looking at the duck blood in his hand, Lin Li sighed,

It’s okay, the "Emotion-Containing and Desire-Absorbing Bottle" was even willing to absorb nosebleeds, a bit of duck blood with additives shouldn’t bother it.

...

At the doorstep.

"Goodbye, old friend, hope we meet again,"

Lin Li said softly to the stone he had been kicking along the way.

Lin Li felt lucky he hadn’t missed a kick, because if a boy missed a stone while kicking it while walking, he usually wouldn’t turn back to retrieve it, but there would be a slight sense of regret in his heart.

Upstairs, home, after finishing the duck pot, Lin Li materialized the "Emotion-Containing and Desire-Absorbing Bottle" in the dining room.

"Do you need it cut into octopus shapes for you?"

Taking out the duck blood and the kitchen knife, Lin Li added a bit of drama to himself, speaking in a deep voice.

He cut off a thin piece with the knife and pressed the duck blood against the bottle.

The situation was as Lin Li expected, the "Emotion-Containing and Desire-Absorbing Bottle" indeed accepted anything that came its way.

Although not very fast, the duck blood on the bottle was visibly shrinking.

He guessed that if it were liquid and purer, it could be absorbed faster.

Unfortunately, this blood separated from the organism, its proteins had already been denatured. Even if heated, it would only smell better, but wouldn’t revert to liquid blood.

Lin Li simply poured all the duck blood into the "Emotion-Containing and Desire-Absorbing Bottle," and then took out his textbooks to start studying.

Before he knew it, it was nearly midnight.

Lin Li picked up the bottle, finding it much lighter than before, tilted it on the table, and after quite some patting, only some gelatinous material and liquid came out.

Probably additives.

This bottle, you could say it’s picky but it’s not, yet it still seems to have its own picky eating.

Twelve o’clock arrived.

[Low-Grade Spirit Stone]

[Ability Amplifier (+1)]

[450 (1150)]

The "Ability Amplifier" Lin Li got but didn’t enhance any ability. Since it was a limited purchase item, storing some in advance couldn’t be a bad move.

It’s just a pity it was another low-grade spirit stone. Damn system, are you inflating probabilities just to comply with legal standards? With more places requiring spiritual qi, I’m really, really going to be upset with you. Next time if you don’t play nice, I’m going to beg you to be more considerate the time after.

Sigh, it’s all because there’s no spiritual qi in reality; it really makes things tough. If there were spiritual qi, there wouldn’t be this much frustration to endure.

With the spirit stone in hand, Lin Li continued refining the "Emotion-Containing and Desire-Absorbing Bottle."

The refining from yesterday afternoon already left only a thin barrier between the two. As the spirit stone gradually hollowed out, Lin Li took a deep breath, a hint of joy on his expression.

Initial refining successful.

[Over two weeks in the Cultivation Realm and finally succeeded in refining the first magic artifact of my own, though it was developed by an Evil Cultivator, a magic artifact knows not of morality. In righteous hands, even evil can shine bright.]

[The artifact needs further integration, but rather than keeping it hidden, why not seize this chance to benefit mankind.]

[Task Triggered!]

[Task Four: Use the "Emotion-Containing and Desire-Absorbing Bottle" to absorb other cultivators’ negative emotions and desires.]

[Reward: Physical Improvement: Charisma Increase by 10%; Holy Dragon Blood*1; System Currency*100.]