11: Chapter 11 The Enemy of the Whole Class

The morning sun pierced through the thin mist, shining on the gates of Jianghai No. 3 Middle School.

Lin Fan walked with steady steps, hands in his pockets.

Beside him, the fatty Zhang Hao walked with an arrogant, swaggering gait.

This guy had intentionally rolled his oversized school uniform sleeves up to his armpits, revealing two grayish-black arms. After a night of settling, that rock-like stratum corneum had become even more solid, glinting with a metallic, cold hardness under the sun.

He looked like an upstart who had just returned from coal mining.

“Brother Fan, look at that guy over there, his eyes are bulging.” The fatty proudly flexed his pectoral muscles; his flab was now as hard as an iron plate. “Before, these grandsons looked at me like I was a pig; now they look at me like I'm their father.”

Lin Fan ignored the fatty's boasting, his gaze sweeping over the students pointing and whispering at the school gate.

Last night's events at the night market had fermented faster than expected.

Although most people were still observing or convinced it was a scam, the fatty's arm was the best live advertisement.

The two of them walked one after another into the classroom of Grade 12 Class 2.

The classroom, which had been as noisy as a wet market, seemed to have its mute button pressed the moment Lin Fan stepped over the threshold.

Dozens of eyes shot toward them in unison.

There was disdain, curiosity, jealousy, and mostly a playful sense of watching a show.

This dead silence lasted for only two seconds.

Immediately after, whispers exploded like a swarm of flies.

“Look, that's Lin Fan. I heard he was setting up a stall at the night market last night to scam people, and he even dared to provoke Young Master Wang.”

“That fatty... what's up with his arm? It looks quite terrifying.”

“It's fake, right? Some kind of special effects skin? How could a C-Rank Talent be awakened so easily? If it were real, he wouldn't have been at the bottom all this time.”

“Shh, keep it down, Young Master Wang is looking over.”

In the back row of the classroom, Wang Teng sat on his “throne” by the window.

His look today was quite unique.

There was a large band-aid on his left cheek, from where he had tripped and scraped it yesterday in his anger. To hide the swelling, he had even intentionally combed his bangs down, but this instead made him look like a gloomy, non-mainstream emo.

Seeing Lin Fan enter, Wang Teng slammed the carbon pen in his hand onto the desk.

Slap.

The sound was crisp, and the whole class went silent again.

“Yo, isn't this our big boss Lin?”

Wang Teng spoke sarcastically, his voice tinged with a sour, foul stench.

“What, setting up a stall last night wasn't satisfying enough, you had to come to school to make a fool of yourself? If I were you, having earned that bit of dirty, ill-gotten money, I would have dropped out and hidden in the sewers long ago. This is a classroom, not a wet market; the smell of poverty on you is stinking up the place.”

Several lackeys around him immediately burst into laughter.

“Exactly, it smells like fish.”

“Does someone like this even deserve to breathe in the same classroom as us?”

Vicious words shot forward like arrows.

The smile on the fatty's face vanished instantly, veins popped on his neck, and his fists cracked as he clenched them. That grayish-black rock skin turned slightly red due to the rush of blood.

“Wang Teng, did you freaking eat shit?” The fatty was about to rush forward.

A hand pressed down on his shoulder.

Lin Fan expressionlessly pushed the fatty back into his seat and then pulled out his own chair to sit down.

From beginning to end, he didn't even lift an eyelid, let alone spare a glance for Wang Teng.

He pulled a book titled “Basics of Exotic Beast Anatomy” from his bag, opened it, and lowered his head to read.

His movements were smooth and natural, as if Wang Teng were just a mass of invisible air.

Ignored.

Completely and utterly ignored.

This attitude was more hurtful than being pointed at and cursed.

The sneer on Wang Teng's face froze. He had prepared a bellyful of insults, expecting to enjoy Lin Fan's exasperated or ashamed expression, but instead, his punch landed on cotton.

That feeling of humiliation from being treated as transparent made the blood vessels in his brain throb.

“Lin Fan! I'm talking to you!”

Wang Teng stood up abruptly, his knees banging against the desk with a loud boom.

Lin Fan still didn't move.

He was reading?

Lin Fan turned a page, his fingers lightly stroking the paper.

Arguing with such an idiot was a waste of time.

Just as Wang Teng was about to lose it and rush over to pick a fight.

The light at the classroom door suddenly dimmed.

A cold aura flooded into the sweltering classroom, as if the central air conditioning had suddenly been turned down to sixteen degrees.

The gazes of all the boys in the class instantly shifted away from Lin Fan, turning toward the door in unison like sunflowers chasing the sun.

Su Qingxue.

Jianghai No. 3 Middle School's campus beauty, the eldest daughter of the Su Family, a favored daughter of heaven who had awakened an A-rank Ice-type Talent.

She wore her school uniform skirt an inch shorter, revealing a pair of straight, slender legs, with her waterfall-like long hair cascading over her shoulders. On that exquisite face, which was beyond reproach, hung a cold indifference that kept people thousands of miles away.

As soon as she entered, the boys who had been jeering earlier immediately sat up straight and adjusted their hair, trying to show their most handsome smiles.

Wang Teng also quickly adjusted his expression, pulling back his ferocity and replacing it with what he thought was a soulful look.

“Qing Xue, morning. Today's Vitality Test...”

Wang Teng hadn't finished his sentence.

Su Qingxue walked right past him.

She didn't even pause, as if he were a utility pole blocking the way.

Wang Teng's hand, extended in mid-air, froze, and the smile on his face cracked inch by inch.

Su Qingxue's objective was clear.

She walked through the aisle and stopped at the corner of the very last row.

She stopped in front of Lin Fan's desk.

The whole class was dead silent.

Everyone's eyes widened, looking at the scene in disbelief. The aloof "Su, the Campus Beauty", the ice mountain goddess who never spoke more than a word to any boy, was actually taking the initiative to find that F-rank loser?

Lin Fan felt the light being blocked and had to pull himself away from the system panel.

He looked up.

What met his eyes was a cold and stunningly beautiful face, less than half a meter away from him. He could even smell the faint, cold fragrance on her, like a lotus on a snow-capped mountain.

“Something the matter?”

Lin Fan closed the book, his tone as flat as if he were asking a random passerby.

A collective gasp echoed around them.

Is this kid crazy?

The campus beauty took the initiative to talk to him, and even if he didn't fawn over her, he actually looked impatient?

Su Qingxue frowned slightly.

She wasn't used to being treated like this, especially by an F-rank boy. But the news her family had sent last night forced her to lower her status.

“That blind box.”

Su Qingxue's voice was cold and direct, “Was it really your doing?”

As one of the four major families in Jianghai City, the Su Family's intelligence network was naturally not weak. Although many people dismissed the appearance of a C-Rank Talent blind box at the night market as a rumor, the Su Family had keenly sensed something unusual.

“Yes,” Lin Fan admitted frankly.

It was business, after all; there was no point in hiding it. Since the eldest Miss Su had come to him, she was a potential VIP client.

“Are there any more?”

A hint of inquiry flashed in Su Qingxue's eyes. “I want to buy some. Name your price.”

She wasn't short on money.

What she lacked was the kind of opportunity that could break conventions and perhaps even allow an A-rank Talent to go a step further. Although logic told her it was absurd, her intuition made her want to try.

“None left.”

Lin Fan spread his hands, a hint of a Shrewd Merchant's regret appearing on his face. “Sold out last night. The next batch is still... well, still being sourced.”

The so-called sourcing was, of course, going out to hunt exotic beasts.

“When will you have stock?” Su Qingxue pressed.

“Depends on luck, and also on my mood.” Lin Fan leaned back against his chair. “However, if it's School Beauty Su who wants it, I can save a VIP channel for you. Of course, it'll cost extra.”

“Fine.”

Su Qingxue nodded, crisp and decisive. “I want the best. As long as the goods are real, money is not an issue.”

The conversation between the two was brief and efficient, filled with the scent of money.

But in the eyes of others, this was simply blatant flirting!

VIP channel? Extra cost?

Was this still the Su Qingxue who ignored everyone?

Snap.

A crisp sound.

The carbon pen in Wang Teng's hand was snapped in two by sheer force, and black ink splattered all over his hand.

He had pursued Su Qingxue for three years and hadn't even added her on WeChat. Why did this stall-setting loser Lin Fan get the goddess to take the initiative to ask for prices and even talk so heatedly?

Jealousy.

Wild jealousy gnawed at Wang Teng's heart like a venomous snake. He felt as if his head were turning green, even though he and Su Qingxue had no relationship at all.

Just then.

The fatty beside them suddenly had a stroke of inspiration, or perhaps he felt the scene wasn't chaotic enough.

He slammed the table, winking at Su Qingxue, his loud voice making the ceiling shake:

“Brother Fan! Awesome! You've already started talking business? Sister-in-law, don't worry, the goods Brother Fan gives you will definitely be top-tier! We don't cheat our own people!”

Sister-in-law.

As soon as those three words came out, the entire classroom exploded.

“Holy crap! What did the fatty call her?”

“Sister-in-law? School Beauty Su is Lin Fan's girlfriend? What kind of shocking gossip is this!”

“My goddess! I don't want to live anymore!”

Su Qingxue's eternally unchanging ice mountain face turned visibly red.

Not from shyness, but from anger.

That flush spread from her earlobes to her cheeks, adding a touch of earthly life to her originally cold temperament, making her breathtakingly beautiful.

“Shut up!”

Su Qingxue glared at the fatty, her gaze cold enough to drop ice chips. “Call me that again, and I'll rip your mouth off.”

After saying that, she gave Lin Fan a deep look, as if waiting for him to explain.

Lin Fan shrugged, looking innocent: “Childish nonsense. But Student Su, the reservation fee still needs to be paid. Five thousand, no credit.”

Su Qingxue took a deep breath, her chest heaving slightly. She took out her phone and scanned the QR code on Lin Fan's desk.

[WeChat payment received: five thousand yuan.]

“Notify me when you have stock.”

Leaving those words behind, Su Qingxue turned and returned to her seat, her back still proud, though her steps were slightly flurried.

The hearts of all the boys in the class shattered.

She really transferred the money!

How else could this be explained? This is solid proof!