36: Escorted onto the stage

The threads wrapped around the Young Moon Beast's ankles linked together rhythmically, binding it in a tortoise-shell-like pattern.

With its front two legs bent and its belly exposed, how could it possibly still fight?

The Young Moon Beast's already red eyes grew even redder and started to well up, but remembering its master's teachings, it held back its tears, looking as if it had suffered a great injustice, which made Qingyan feel a little embarrassed.

"I surrender."

Chu Kai immediately recalled the Young Moon Beast to his side and began to comfort it.

Li Wen watched this scene, unsure what to do. Qingyan seemed to have gone a bit too far this time, but the main reason wasn't its fault; the power of the Thought Imprint was simply too great. What was wrong with wanting to win?

"Lu Chen, I admit you're strong, but I'll remember this and get my revenge."

Leaving that remark, Chu Kai departed, as if he had made some sort of resolution.

Li Wen: How did this guy mistake me for Lu Chen? But this is fine; let Lu Chen deal with whatever comes up.

As he was leaving, he was surrounded by Chen Ping leading a group of junior students.

"Senior, why haven't we seen you at school before?"

"Uh... I'm Lu Chen. I usually stay in the lab, so you generally won't see me around school."

Chen Ping: ?

Just as he was about to ask what was wrong with him, he saw Li Wen frantically winking at him, so he temporarily suppressed his curiosity.

He endured the junior students' inquiries, which were like an NPC's interrogation, such as:

How is Senior's pet beast so strong?

Are there any secrets to raising pet beasts?

Does Senior have a girlfriend? (Something strange seems to have intruded here?)

Li Wen's unified answer was: "You need to have a heart that loves pet beasts, diligently research how to raise them, and become a Breeder!"

Li Wen couldn't help but exclaim that he was simply too clever; these were exactly the words Lu Chen himself would say.

At this moment, Lu Chen, far away in the lab conducting experiments, sneezed.

"That's strange. I never kick off my covers when I sleep, and I don't have a cold, so why am I sneezing?"

...After the crowd's enthusiasm dissipated, Chen Ping seemed to have sniffed out something amiss.

"What's going on?"

"Why did you pretend to be Lu Chen?"

"While enjoying the honor, one must also bear certain risks." Li Wen didn't say it directly but kept him in suspense.

"Fifty, no more. I want to know the truth."

"Deal. It's mainly because of our brotherhood; I couldn't bear for you not to know the truth. It's definitely not for that fifty."

After a few days of interaction, Chen Ping had completely figured out Li Wen's art of speaking. The latter part was definitely the main objective; the former part didn't need to be heard.

"I don't know what happened, but that Chu Kai seemed to be living in his own world, completely ignoring the screen information and not hearing me speak."

"He inexplicably took me for Lu Chen, so I just went with the flow and pretended to be Lu Chen to help this kid make a name for himself."

Chen Ping thought about it carefully; it really seemed to be the case. When he talked to Chu Kai, he had to repeat his name several times before Chu Kai remembered it.

It seemed everyone had a little something wrong with them except for himself. Lu Chen's extreme low emotional intelligence, Li Wen's extreme greed for money, Chu Kai's extreme self-centeredness, and there was one more person... a girl, with extreme unrequited love. When he was in the same class as her, someone in the class once tried to grill her about who she liked, and she just shyly fainted.

Her name seemed to be... Li Muyun.

He was still the most normal one. (So he thought)

How could a warlike person ever think that being warlike was a flaw?

"Then why don't... I also help promote it at school?" Chen Ping was also curious what kind of chemical reaction it would cause.

"An excellent plan!" Li Wen agreed.

The two looked at each other, and an interesting plan began to be executed.

"Achoo~"

"Damn it, why am I sneezing again? It seems I really need a good rest."

...Five days later, the introductory courses at school had ended, and some students' pet beasts had successfully entered the entry-level. The rest would all enter within another week.

So the homeroom teacher called Li Wen, informing him to return to school for normal classes tomorrow, but Li Wen really didn't want to give up his free time.

Now he could only meditate diligently to try and break through to a Level Three Beastmaster, and then complete the Entry-level Advanced assessment. This way, he could maintain his freedom by using the excuse of preparing for his pet beast's evolution.

However, Li Wen, this scoundrel Beastmaster's level of effort, was completely inferior to the two little ones, and he was still unable to break through.

The two little ones had already upgraded from prop training to sparring.

The 'Birdcage Breakout Battle' of "Donquixote Doflamingo vs. Dracule Mihawk."

To avoid damaging the precious house, the two little ones' sparring area had been moved to the yard.

Initially, Qingyan could even gain the upper hand, even though Yabao was stronger than Qingyan in both physique and Energy Value.

However, due to the incredibly tough Insect Silk infused with insect-type energy, Yabao could only cut it one strand at a time.

Naturally, its speed wasn't as fast as Qingyan's speed in mending the "Birdcage," but with Li Wen's "effortful" stat allocation, after Yabao broke through to Entry-level Intermediate with 500 Energy Value, the offense and defense reversed.

With Qingyan's physique, Yabao only needed one hit to instantly kill it. So, after Yabao's cutting speed surpassed Qingyan's mending speed...

All Qingyan could do was wait for death or develop other weaving methods.

So now the competition was no longer about whether to overcome, but whether the defeat time was prolonged or shortened.

The effect was still very significant; both little ones gained considerable improvements, but this did not help Li Wen's pursuit of freedom.

However, a call from Lin Yan gave Li Wen new hope. "Li Wen, registration for the Beginner Breeder assessment is open today."

"Let Lu Chen take you tomorrow morning; after all, he's taken it once and has experience."

"If you pass the retest, I'll take you to Guifeng Village then, for a trip... uh, no, for an inspection. As for school, I'll help you get leave."

After hanging up the phone, Li Wen immediately started to register. "This is great; this call came just in time."

"Long live freedom ≧ ▽ ≦."

"Ying~"

"The Beastmaster has gone mad, what do we do?"

"Ya~"

"It's not a one or two-day thing; ignore him, let's continue."

Qingyan: Help me, I actually wanted to rest for a bit ( ๑ ŏ ﹏ ŏ ๑ )

Another call came in on Li Wen's phone. He thought the teacher had something else to tell him and quickly answered, but it was Lu Chen's voice on the other end.

"Recently, there have been many posts on the school forum about me defeating the strongest from Second High. The only one stronger than me at school is you. Do you know something?"

Li Wen secretly thought: "Oh no, I forgot about this. I won't be dragged onto the stage tomorrow, will I?"