108: Chapter 108 My family doesn't eat human flesh either?

"Click!" The first group photo of the two of them, generated!

"Su Ming!" Shen Qingci realized what happened. Both shy and angry, she reached out to snatch it. This guy had actually tricked her!

Su Ming had anticipated this. With a lightweight sliding step using [Inertial Drift], he slid half a meter away, dodging easily.

Right in front of Shen Qingci, he tapped on the screen, then flashed the phone screen in front of her. That freshly minted group photo had brazenly become his lock screen wallpaper.

"Done!" He snapped his fingers with satisfaction, as if admiring his own masterpiece.

Seeing her own dazed expression on the phone screen, Shen Qingci's ears turned beet red instantly. "Delete it!" she gritted her teeth.

"Tsk, Senior, look how well-matched we are." Su Ming turned the screen toward her, his tone full of smugness, having gained an advantage yet still acting coy. "This composition, this lighting, this atmosphere... Tsk tsk, from now on, this will be my family heirloom."

"You're still talking!" Shen Qingci was both shy and angry. She reached out to pinch his arm, but it felt like she was pinching alloy—it didn't budge at all. Instead, her fingers hurt a little.

"Let's go, let's go, I'll take you to eat something good!" Su Ming laughed twice and put away his phone.

"Who needs you to take me!" Shen Qingci said toughly, yet she followed half a step behind him.

The sunlight was just right, the breeze was gentle. The two walked side-by-side on the tree-lined path leading to the school gate.

The Dark Star battle armor on Su Ming's body accentuated his perfect Physique and rugged lines to the extreme. The matte black nano-material absorbed most of the light, reflecting cold, hard metallic luster only at the edges of the shoulder armor and joints.

That restrained, sharp soldier-like aura, combined with his excessively handsome face, made him practically a walking hormone bomb.

Along the way, he drew side-glances and whispered exclamations from countless junior girls, and also harvested countless envious gazes from junior boys.

"Is... is that Senior Su Ming?" "Damn, when did he get so handsome? And he's wearing battle armor!"

Just as they reached the school gate, the dense crowd instantly noticed him. "He's here, he's here! The King of Pretending is out!" "Holy crap! It's really him! He's even more handsome than in the video!" "This battle armor... Damn, he's a little handsome!" "It's alright... about the same as me." "You shameless..."

Countless phone cameras aimed at him in unison. Su Ming looked at this spectacle, was stunned for a moment, then immediately entered the zone. He put on a standard celebrity-style smile, waved at the crowd, and adopted the demeanor of a leader saying, "Everyone has worked hard."

"Hello, fellow students!" The scene quieted for a second, then a louder uproar erupted. "Hello, King of Pretending!"

Su Ming's smile became even brighter. He turned his head and whispered to Shen Qingci, who was wishing she could crawl into a crack in the ground, "Look, how enthusiastic the masses are!"

Shen Qingci rolled her eyes and shoved his back hard. "Let's go!"

Su Ming staggered forward half a step from the push. As he walked, he muttered in a tone full of regret: "Tsk, why are they only shouting slogans... No one is giving flowers or asking for autographs? This generation of fans is really lacking."

Shen Qingci almost choked on her breath and reached out to punch his shoulder again. "Are you here to take the exam or to hold a fan meeting?! Hurry up!"

Just as the two were about to squeeze out of the crowd, a rough and familiar voice rang out. "Brother Su! Over here!"

At the edge of the crowd, a burly, bald man wearing a combat uniform squeezed in. It was none other than the captain of the Thunder Mercenary Group, Wang Hubao. He had a smile on his face, and several fellow mercenaries in similar attire followed behind him.

Su Ming's eyes lit up. "Captain Wang?"

"I finally waited for you!" Without another word, he pulled a black card from his bosom and shoved it into Su Ming's hand. "Brother Su, this is the first payment from the video revenue share! The password is six eights!"

Wang Hubao's voice was very low, but his excitement was palpable. "Your video went viral! The whole internet is looking for you! I was thinking, Brother, if you don't mind, we can open an account using your persona, and our team will handle the operations. We'll join forces—a strong alliance—and split the money 50/50. What do you think?"

Su Ming looked down at the anonymous Federal Bank savings card in his hand, his heart filled with wild joy. He was already seeing returns? The collaboration had come so suddenly that it caught him off guard.

"Thank you for your kind intentions, Captain Wang, but let's not rush into this." Su Ming calmly pocketed the card, patted Wang Hubao's shoulder, and said earnestly, "We'll talk in detail later. Right now, the college entrance exam is what matters."

Su Ming nodded at him, called out to Shen Qingci, and squeezed out of the crowd amidst the awe and curiosity of the onlookers.

Wang Hubao stood in place, watching Su Ming's receding figure, his mouth twitching violently. You're not rushing... then give me back the card...

However, the scene of him talking to Su Ming just now had already been filmed by countless people. Wang Hubao's mind raced, and he immediately cleared his throat, his loud voice spreading: "Everyone! I am Wang Hubao, captain of the Thunder Mercenary Group! And also the good big brother of... cough, Brother Su Ming! Want to know more behind-the-scenes stories about Brother Su? Want to see exclusive scoops? Please follow our official Thunder Mercenary Group account. Click follow so you won't get lost, folks!"

Behind the school street, there was a narrow alley packed with snack stalls. Fried chicken, skewers, jianbing guozi, milk tea... The aroma of deep-frying mixed with the smoky scent of charcoal fire lingered in the air. This was the cheap yet tempting taste that belonged exclusively to youth.

Su Ming looked at the snack stalls like a hungry wolf. The shock of famous school mentors, the heated discussions about the King of Pretending on the internet, Zhao Kuo's life-and-death challenge... at this moment, all of it was thrown to the back of his mind.

"Boss! Give me two servings of the 'Family Feast' grilled cold noodles, add spicy chicken noodles! Add double portions of bursting cheese! And deep-fry two flowering starch sausages! Yes, the kind with pure starch—the less meat, the better!!!"

"Coming right up! Young man, you've got a good appetite!" Shen Qingci stood by the stall, watching Su Ming sitting on a small stool, his long legs having nowhere to rest, yet his expression was exceptionally excited, like an elementary school student about to go on a spring outing. Her temple throbbed.

She walked over and sat down on the equally greasy little plastic stool opposite him. Before long, the boss finished making it and served it up. Shen Qingci looked at this "pure additive, zero natural" carb bomb and frowned slightly. "Are you sure you want to eat yourself into a carb-face before the afternoon martial exam?" Her tone carried a hint of disdain, but she still took the disposable chopsticks handed over by the boss.

"This is called pre-battle replenishment! Scientifically balanced!" Su Ming said righteously. After biting off half a starch sausage, he said indistinctly, "Carbs for energy, vegetables for dietary fiber, eggs and ham for protein—perfect!"

"Mmm—!" Su Ming narrowed his eyes and let out a sigh of satisfaction, his cheeks bulging. "Carbs make me happy!"

With his current Physique, his metabolic rate was comparable to a nuclear reactor. This little bit of calories, with a slight activation of [Mass Concealment], would be consumed just by burping. Obesity had long been insulated from him.

While eating, he took out the bank card Wang Hubao had given him and swiped it against his terminal wristband. [Ding! 100,000 Federal Credits have been credited to your account ending in 7788.]

One hundred thousand! This guy really was willing to spend! In his past life, he died from overwork, and in this life, he started as an orphan. Added up across both lifetimes, he had never seen so much money. Although it was nothing compared to those Source Beast transactions that easily reached hundreds of millions, for a poor kid who came out of low-rent housing, this was a wonderful start.

"My luck is slowly getting better." Seven days ago, the System activated. He went to work as a temp at the Spark Scrap Yard, took a head-on hit from a berserk panshi robot, and by some twist of fate, ousted Lu Beichen to become Shen Qingci's temporary partner. He subdued Big Yellow, killed the Wolf King, and smashed an Iron-Spine Rhinoceros with a hundred-meter falling star hammer... In just seven days, he went from Tier 1 Black Iron all the way to Tier 4 Gold. His strength had skyrocketed like a rocket, and now he could see the dawn of his economic problems. Isn't this just like a power fantasy novel? It's damn well like a dream!

He looked up at the opposite side. Shen Qingci was also eating, her movements much more refined than his, but not slow either. She carefully used a bamboo skewer to pick up a piece of less oily cold noodles and was eating it in small bites, her cheeks slightly bulging like a feeding hamster.

Sunlight slanted down from the gaps in the nearby buildings, falling just right on her lowered eyelashes and fair profile. The greasy, smoke-filled hole-in-the-wall eatery, the noisy hawking of vendors, and a peerless beauty sitting on a small stool elegantly eating grilled cold noodles. Su Ming stared, a bit dazed.

"Is it good?" he asked impulsively.

"Not bad." Shen Qingci swallowed the food in her mouth, nodded, and gave a fair assessment.

Su Ming grinned cheekily, leaned forward slightly, and put on a feigned shy expression. "Um... when the New Year comes this year, can I appear on your family's dinner table?"

Shen Qingci stopped chewing. She looked up, her cold eyes full of confusion. "Why?"

"What do you mean, why?" Su Ming looked innocent.

Shen Qingci stared at him and asked in a tone of academic discussion: "Is your meat delicious?"

"..." The smile on Su Ming's face froze. What the hell?

"My family doesn't eat human flesh either."

"$?!#¥~%*!!"

Shouldn't a normal girl hear this kind of cheesy pickup line, shyly lower her head, and then coyly say "Hate you"? Why does the style change into a horror movie when it comes to you?

"I... I don't eat human flesh either." Su Ming felt powerless to complain. This conversation was dead. He seriously suspected that this woman was taking the opportunity to get revenge for the group photo earlier.

"Fine, you don't eat human flesh, right?" Su Ming decided to try a different approach. "Then can I be buried in your family's ancestral grave?" Surely this must be a pure romance script now, right?

"My family's ancestral grave is in the Imperial Capital's S-rank restricted zone, guarded by two Tier 7 Peak Soul-Eater Beasts..."

"¥#!@*&^??"

Su Ming was defeated. On the battlefield of cheesy pickup lines, he had encountered an unprecedented Waterloo. This woman was a cheesy pickup line crusher!