25: Chapter 25 A melodramatic love triangle, none of my business.

Facing such an absurd request, Lu Wu was so angry he laughed.

"Qinger is Qinger. She isn't an item for trade, nor is she anyone's servant. By what right do you get to decide for her? What are you to her!"

"You..." Lu Xuan was speechless, feeling as though he had been stabbed in the heart once more.

"You're still the same as before, laughably naive!" Lu Wu said coldly.

Lu Xuan's eyes bulged with anger. It had been like this since he was a child; in the eyes of his elders, he was always that stupid child who only spoke childish nonsense.

This was also what made him the angriest, because his family didn't truly treat him as a person, making him feel like he had no human rights.

Consequently, Lu Xuan became extremely rebellious, engaging in brawls, bullying classmates, forcing young girls, and so on... attempting to attract his family's attention in this manner.

Unfortunately, the Lu Family's influence was vast. A single word could protect him, and those troubles could be resolved without his family even needing to show their Faces.

"If you want to fight, then fight. Enough with the nonsense. Do you really think I'm afraid of you just because you're an A-rank?" Lu Wu said coldly.

"That's right, come at us if you have the guts!" Zhou Chen grinned.

Then, his expression froze, and his eyes widened. "Holy crap, he's an A-rank? Wait, brother, why didn't you say so just now!"

Lu Wu's lip twitched. His gaze was firm, sounding righteous yet somewhat comical: "I forgot!"

"...Sigh!" Li Tan remained silent.

"Good heavens!" Zhou Chen gasped.

Lu Xuan, this childish younger brother and troublemaking scum, was actually more powerful than his older brother—he had an A-rank ability!

One must know that a B-rank was already a dragon or phoenix among men, while an A-rank was a Genius among geniuses, an expert among experts.

An A-rank would likely manifest a Companion Item during their Awakening, like Qin Feng, whose Companion Item was a small crimson-black tower.

The group finally understood why Lu Xuan kept calling his own brother a waste; it was because an A-rank looked down on a B-rank. No wonder Lu Wu said the other should be the one to inherit the family business.

"I'll give Qinger Face and let you off today!" Lu Xuan snorted coldly.

"What?" Xia Qinger was dumbfounded. *Am I really that close to you? Who asked for your Face?*

"However, I have one condition!" Lu Xuan's eyes narrowed.

The group looked at each other, finding it strange.

"What brilliant idea do you have?" Li Tan spoke up.

"I want to travel with you!" Lu Xuan said solemnly.

"What?" Everyone was stunned.

Lu Wu couldn't help but say, "I don't have time to play house with you."

Lu Xuan said seriously, "With your meager strength, how can you possibly protect Qinger? We won't interfere with your actions, so rest easy."

At this moment, his teammates grew anxious. "Young Master Lu, this isn't right. Isn't that just acting as someone's bodyguards?"

"After we get out, ten thousand Star Coins for each person." With one sentence, Lu Xuan shut the nine people up.

Why did they come to the Hunting Zone to risk their lives against Yao Beasts? It was simply to make money!

As long as there was money to be made, everything was negotiable.

"Hold on, who gave you the right to make arbitrary decisions?" Lu Wu spoke up, unappreciative.

"My Face isn't for you. It's not your place to refuse," Lu Xuan retorted.

The four paused briefly, exchanged glances, and then Li Tan pulled them into the cave to talk.

"Brother Li, are you really going to agree to him?" Lu Wu's expression was odd.

"Sigh, it's not really up to me, but rather Miss Xia." Li Tan scratched his head.

"However, we'll soon be heading into deeper regions where Divine Sea Realm Yao Beasts will become more frequent. It's very unsafe. My thought is that one more person means one more chance of survival."

"Exactly, the guy attached himself to us; it's not like we begged him. Why not make use of him? Anyway, you two brothers have such a bad relationship, you wouldn't feel bad for him, right?" Zhou Chen scratched his head.

Lu Wu didn't speak, contemplating for a moment.

Finally, he looked at Chen Xing, who hadn't gone out, and asked, "What do you think?"

Chen Xing remained expressionless and said calmly, "It doesn't matter. I only need to complete my objective. Whatever you do has nothing to do with me."

Anyway, Teacher Ye hadn't set any time limit for this task, which meant he didn't have to submit it until the Exchange Competition at the end of the year began.

During this time, he only needed to focus on fighting and Cultivating.

"But speaking of which, these two brothers are quite interesting. The younger brother looks down on the older one, yet the girl the younger brother likes likes the older one. It's quite melodramatic," Chen Xing thought.

"Heh... Little brother, you're really bold. What if we run into several Divine Sea Realm Yao Beasts? As far as I know, the Thunder-Horned Rhinos you want are pack animals," Zhou Chen said.

"Then we'll kill the whole pack." Chen Xing's lips curled up. Currently, as long as he didn't encounter an expert at the sixth or seventh level of the Divine Sea Realm, he basically had a high chance of winning.

Simply because after activating his Innate Divine Ability, his cultivation would rise to the Divine Sea Realm. This was his greatest source of confidence.

"Look at you... doing it again." Zhou Chen was speechless.

"I think we should focus on the big picture. Brother Lu wants the core of a Fire-Melt Beast, I want Thunder Falcon feathers—though Thunder Tiger skins would also work—Old Zhou needs Yao Beast essence blood to enhance his Blood Lion's strength, and Brother Chen... Brother Chen is here to restock. Everyone is just getting what they need," Li Tan said.

Lu Wu and the other two began a detailed discussion.

Standing aside, Chen Xing asked in a low voice, "Little Xia, what are you here for? What Yao Beast do you need? You haven't said anything these past few days."

Xia Qinger pursed her lips and lowered her head. "I don't really need anything. I just... just came out to gain some experience and broaden my horizons."

Chen Xing glanced at Lu Wu. "Truly?"

"Could it be fake? After my parents died, my life was left with nothing but poverty. I had to struggle just to make a living..." Xia Qinger said.

"On the day of my Awakening, I was so happy. I actually didn't have the lowest-grade ability, which meant I was qualified to go to the academy. From that day on, I finally escaped my status as a commoner."

"Since I finally got a chance to come out, it's good to see the world, isn't it?" Xia Qinger looked up, forcing a smile.

"Mhm..." Chen Xing didn't expose her, instead speaking in a teasing tone.

"Then you are indeed lucky. Seeing me is seeing the world."

"Big Chen, have you always been this shameless?"

"What use is Face? Look at that stupid younger brother down there. Does he care about Face? He's still living just fine."

"So I should learn from you?"

"Sure. 'When one is shameless, one is invincible.' The reason your Light System is so soft and lacks combat power is because you're too gentle; you don't want to hurt others."

"But, I want to protect people!" Xia Qinger grew spirited, seemingly forgetting the previous topic.

Chen Xing went with the flow and continued the conversation. "These two things aren't mutually exclusive, you know?"