109: Chapter 109 You really are a childish idiot!

The atmosphere became both strange and awkward.

Watching Su Ming's frustrated expression, a hint of a smile flashed deep in Shen Qingci's eyes, though she quickly returned to her cold, aloof appearance.

"Ring-a-ding-ding—"

Inside the campus of Jiangcheng No. 1 High School, the crisp bell signaling the end of the Literary Exam rang out.

Su Ming stuffed the last bite of roasted cold noodles into his mouth and narrowed his eyes in satisfaction.

The happiness of carbohydrates and grease really could wash away all pain.

Including the pain of the soul.

"I'm full." He patted his stomach and stood up.

The portion in front of Shen Qingci was only half-eaten; she carefully wiped the corners of her mouth with a napkin, her movements so elegant that they were completely out of place in this greasy alley.

"Let's go. It's time to head to the staging area."

The afternoon sun was a bit blinding; students poured out of the exam venue like a tide, their faces showing a variety of expressions.

There was the relief of finishing the exam, the frustration of performing poorly, and the anticipation and nervousness for the Martial Exam in the afternoon.

"Hey, senior," Su Ming said, hands in his pockets, tilting his head to look at Shen Qingci beside him, "Can you cover up your peerless beauty a little bit?"

Upon hearing this, Shen Qingci cast him an inquiring look.

"Look," Su Ming gestured with his chin, "that guy riding the shared bike just crashed into the green belt."

"We're in the middle of nowhere, so don't test everyone's heart and willpower."

Su Ming spoke nonsense with a straight face, "Appreciating a great beauty of your level requires payment; they don't deserve to look."

Shen Qingci: "..."

Could this guy ever say anything normal?

As the number one on the Southern United Academy's campus beauty list, she had long since become desensitized to such gazes.

She shot a quick glance at Su Ming.

No matter how naked or brazen other people's gazes were, they couldn't compare to yours, right?

The way this guy looked at her, he seemed to want to measure her from head to toe with a ruler and then swallow her whole.

He was practically drooling, yet he had the nerve to talk about others?!

Is this that pathetic possessiveness of men?

Oh... he did pour quite a bit of vinegar when eating the roasted cold noodles earlier.

But... why didn't she feel annoyed when he looked at her?

Shen Qingci's mind wandered, but her hands didn't stop; she pulled a black mask and a black baseball cap from her pocket and put them on neatly.

Instantly, that breathtaking beauty was mostly hidden, leaving only a pair of clear, cold eyes and a graceful swan-like neck.

Although her temperament remained ethereal, at least it wouldn't cause any more traffic jams.

Just as the two turned a noisy street corner, the flow of people ahead suddenly became congested, and the sound of discussion grew louder.

"Hey, isn't that Zhao Kuo?"

"A Tier S Genius, right? Looks like he did well on the Literary Exam?"

"That's Liu Ruyan beside him, tsk, so clingy..."

"Look, look, isn't that... the King of Pretension, Su Ming?! Holy crap, they actually ran into each other?"

The crowd automatically parted to create a path.

At the end of the path was Su Ming's old acquaintance, Zhao Kuo.

He was wearing a brand-new, custom-made Tier S Fire-type Source Energy battle armor; the armor was dark red, with lava-like patterns slowly flowing across it, and it looked expensive at a glance.

At this moment, his face was as gloomy as water, and he was followed by a group of similarly well-dressed lackeys.

Beside him, a girl wearing a white dress and exquisite makeup was clinging tightly to him, almost hanging half her body on his arm; it was Liu Ruyan.

Their eyes met.

The spotlight of the morning's Literary Exam had been completely stolen by the "waste" Su Ming's feat of tearing up his exam paper in public.

The internet was flooded with topics about "The King of Pretension Su Ming," while he, a Tier S Genius, was ignored.

Zhao Kuo was holding in a belly full of evil fire with nowhere to vent.

When Liu Ruyan saw Su Ming, she was stunned again.

You're not even a girl, why are you so changeable?!

The youth before her had already taken off that shabby school uniform; replacing it was a set of black battle armor with cold, hard lines and excellent texture.

The armor's design was restrained, exuding a sense of low-key luxury and lethal danger everywhere, which was countless grades higher than the flashy flame battle armor of Zhao Kuo beside her.

Under the sunlight, Su Ming's figure was as straight as a pine, his features as sharp as a knife, and his eyes, which had been dull in the exam room, were now as bright as two cold stars.

A feeling of looking up that she had never experienced before rose from the bottom of Liu Ruyan's heart.

This man seemed... to have become like he was when they first met.

But Zhao Kuo's gaze immediately locked onto the tall figure beside Su Ming, wearing a mask and a baseball cap.

Although he couldn't see her face, that figure... those legs... that proportion! F***, f***, f***!

Zhao Kuo's gaze seemed to be pulled by a magnet, sliding down from the waistline outlined by Shen Qingci's tight-fitting short shirt, landing on her straight, slender legs wrapped in dark gray cargo pants, and then up to her round, pert hip line.

Her combat boots stepped on the ground, cool and edgy; a top-tier woman with nine-head body proportions! Just a side profile radiated a lethal temptation.

How the hell did this waste Su Ming get so lucky to know a beauty of this level?

Zhao Kuo suppressed the heat in his heart and withdrew his gaze.

He swept his gaze over the dark, lusterless black battle armor on Su Ming, paused for a moment, and then forced a sneer.

"Yo, isn't this our Literary Exam zero-score, Su the great scholar?"

He deliberately raised his voice so everyone around could hear clearly, "Hmph, you changed into a valuable dog skin and thought you could cover up that stench of poverty on you?"

The fellow students who had just poured out of the school gate were immediately attracted by the commotion, stopped, and instantly formed a circle.

"It's Zhao Kuo and Su Ming!"

"Holy crap, there's a good show to watch!"

"Can he really beat Zhao Kuo? I heard Zhao Kuo has a Tier S talent and is already Tier 2!"

Many people were secretly shaking their heads.

Although tearing up the exam paper in the morning was an epic act of pretension, it was ultimately hollow.

In the face of absolute Realm suppression, and the reality of his first love being openly held in the arms of his mortal enemy and humiliated in public, Su Ming was still that pathetic, penniless ant from the bottom of society.

"His girlfriend was stolen, how pitiful."

"Can't help it, who told him to be a Tier F? Liu Ruyan's choice is very realistic."

The wind of the scene was almost one-sidedly leaning towards Zhao Kuo.

Feeling the sympathetic and mocking gazes around him, the look of triumph on Zhao Kuo's face grew thicker.

He reached out and pulled Liu Ruyan's slender waist tighter, as if showing off the trophy he had just won, and looked at Su Ming provocatively with the posture of a victor.

"Su Ming, do you remember the agreement from a month ago?"

"If you have the guts, let's sign a life-and-death contract for the Martial Exam arena this afternoon!"

Zhao Kuo's voice raised once again, carrying a hint of madness and resentment.

"I will use the power that Ruyan has fed back to me to burn your pathetic bones into ash, one by one, in front of all of Jiangcheng and the entire Federation!"

Facing this point-blank, aggressive outburst from Zhao Kuo that was almost like a declaration, Su Ming's reaction left everyone stunned.

He still had his hands in his pockets, and his posture hadn't changed at all.

He just tilted his head slightly, watching the jumping Zhao Kuo as if he were watching a monkey performing hard.

He wasn't Life Qi, he just found it a bit funny.

You pathetic carbon-based crawler, I'm a hundred-ton silicon-based organism now! My body is flowing with noble liquid metal blood! Who the f*** are you posturing for here?

"Childish."

Simple, sharp! Su Ming's voice wasn't loud, but these two words clearly reached everyone's ears.

Zhao Kuo's full-force provocation was like a punch into cotton; there was no anger, no shouting match, only this condescending indifference.

This made him crazier than any mockery!

"F*** your mother!" Zhao Kuo was extremely embarrassed and angry, his internal Source Energy became unstable for a moment, and the flame patterns on his crimson battle armor flickered.

He subconsciously wanted to step forward and push Su Ming.

Just then, in the crowd, a middle-aged instructor wearing the logistics uniform of the Imperial Martial Academy pointed at the battle armor on Su Ming and gasped.

"This... is this the latest Dark Star-IV battle armor?!"

His voice trembled, "It really is! Polar deep-sea heavy titanium alloy!... Only Tier A military-grade research sets have this kind of texture structure!"

Once these words were spoken, the whole audience was shocked.

"What? Military-grade research version?"

"Isn't that equipment only seen on officers?"

Knowledgeable students widened their eyes and began to explain, "Although Zhao Kuo's set is also Tier S custom, it's just a civilian luxury brand, flashy but useless! The set on Su Ming is a true weapon of murder! Priceless and unavailable! If we really talk about value, Zhao Kuo's set doesn't even deserve to carry the other's shoes! At least a ten-fold price difference!"

"More than ten times! This is something that can only be obtained through internal military channels!"

Boom! The crowd exploded.

The voices that just felt that Zhao Kuo had the financial advantage and Su Ming was shabby disappeared; even the gazes towards Zhao Kuo turned into sympathy, mockery, and playfulness...

The triumph and Killing Intent on Zhao Kuo's face were instantly frozen.

The "symbol of wealth" he was proud of and used to crush Su Ming was vulnerable in front of this plain but ridiculously expensive battle armor of the other party.

He was like a clown wearing fake designer brands showing off in front of an authentic luxury counter.

His self-esteem was trampled underfoot in public, and Zhao Kuo completely broke down!

He decided to force a way to regain face from the most vicious and low-class angle.

He shifted his resentful gaze to Shen Qingci, who had been standing quietly beside Su Ming from beginning to end, wearing a baseball cap and a mask.

"Yo, you even brought someone?"

"Renting battle armor is one thing, but you even have to rent a girl?!"

Zhao Kuo's tone became extremely obscene and vulgar, his eyes scanning Shen Qingci unscrupulously.

"Su Ming, you are really pathetic. Hiding your head and showing your tail, what? Is this dame disfigured, or does she have some shameful hidden disease?"

He sneered, deliberately drawing out his tone, every word stabbing into the heart, "You don't even dare to show your face in broad daylight... I guess her face is too ugly to look at, and you only dare to do things in the dark, right? Tsk tsk, to act tough in front of me, you'd even settle for this kind of trash, you waste Su Ming, you really are a desperate, perverted freak!"

(Kneeling all the way to ask for good reviews, asking for more updates, asking to add to the bookshelf orz ... orz ... orz ...)