High School Student with Immortal Race System

Cao Wei pulled open the dilapidated door and headed down. Ahead was another thick, iron door.

There was no need to knock. A crack two fingers wide opened in the iron door, revealing a pair of sizing eyes.

Cao Wei stated coolly, "Cao Wei, of Yang’s Disciples."

Then she pointed to the badge on her shoulder.

It was the symbol of Yang’s Disciples, and moreover, the "Golden Circle Gourd Red Characters" of a True Disciple.

At Jiangti today, it was a symbol everyone knew.

It could practically be used as a VIP pass—the kind that let you skip the line for the bathroom.

The crack closed, but the door quickly swung open, revealing a peculiar scene inside.

The place had everything: a bar, students gathered in twos and threes, private rooms for clandestine meetings, and even some stalls selling Nightwalker consumables.

It was even rumored that there was a tunnel in the back that led directly off campus...

The Night Owl Club, the gathering place for Jiangti’s Nightwalkers.

When Cao Wei heard her master say that such a place existed on campus, she had found it incredible.

She even had an insufficient understanding of how Jianghuai Night was a different world entirely.

But she knew her master was never wrong.

Jiangti’s highest goal was to cultivate Martial Arts Practitioners, and Martial Arts practice was inseparable from real combat experience. Even if the school’s "ranked challenge system" was intensely competitive, it could never be called true live combat.

Yang Shen had once suspected that this place was also under Jiangti’s control, but he didn’t know the specific methods used or how they prevented chaos from breaking out.

But he had a vague sense that it had something to do with the Martial Arts Families.

Of course, that didn’t necessarily mean it was powerful, only that it was special.

In terms of actual influence and strength, the Nightwalker Club couldn’t even compare to Yang’s Disciples. After all, its structure was very loose. It looked crowded, but the members were not united.

Many people instinctively assume that anything "hidden" must be powerful.

But in the end, might makes right, and in the undergraduate scene at Jiangti...

Yang Shen’s fist was pretty much the biggest.

With Yang Shen’s current prestige, there was no point in him coming to this little pond. It would be too easy to expose his identity and, by extension, his purpose.

But... as a training ground for his people, it was pretty good.

And so, that led to Cao Wei’s visit today.

In Yang Shen’s plan, the pursuit of the Rebel Species would shift from a "hunt" to an "investigation."

They could no longer do what they did during the summer break: use Long Jiu’s familiarity with the Rebel Species’ communication protocols to lure them out and then slaughter them indiscriminately.

The communication protocols Long Jiu knew were useless now. The Rebel Species throughout Jianghuai had probably been completely reshuffled.

But the one thing Yang Shen was sure of was that the Rebel Species would never give up on rebuilding the Jianghuai Sub-temple.

From now on, the goal wasn’t to kill the bedbugs, but to track them. This would be a long-term operation, one that would even require deep involvement in the ecosystem of Jianghuai Night to establish the Yang Family’s intelligence network.

He didn’t have the time, and Long Jiu couldn’t act alone. The large-scale figurine’s power had already reached Late-stage Innate, on par with Yang Shen, but her mind... was still mostly just cute and clueless.

Besides, the Yang Family was long past the stage where the Patriarch needed to handle everything personally...

Cao Wei walked to the bar. Behind it stood a bartender who looked to be at least a fourth-year. She could tell by his eyes that he was the one who had opened the door for her.

"I want to register a Nightwalker team."

The bartender glanced up at Cao Wei. "No need to register. You can just form a team and make your own arrangements. No one keeps official records..."

"Besides, this is just a student club. We only provide a gathering place. We’re not responsible for anything else, nor do we care what you do."

Cao Wei frowned slightly. She hadn’t expected to get things wrong right from the start, but she wasn’t annoyed. "Then where can my team and I accept missions, or contact a middleman?"

The bartender pointed to a separate room deeper inside. "There are some odd jobs over there. There’s a middleman inside who also moonlights as an information broker."

Cao Wei nodded and walked in that direction.

Just then, the bartender suddenly answered a phone call and called out to Cao Wei.

"’Night Owl’ Xiang Flame Fist sends his regards. If a member of Yang’s Disciples has any problems, you can head upstairs."

The bartender pointed upstairs. "There are more professional people up there."

Cao Wei turned back. "Not for now."

She had her own pace.

Cao Wei followed the winding path inside. When she first entered, it looked to be only one or two hundred square meters, but in reality, it was a maze of deep corridors and scattered rooms.

The actual area was much larger than she had imagined.

「A moment later」

She arrived at a door in the far corner. Pushing it open, she saw only a single desk inside.

A female upperclassman, who looked like a third or fourth-year, sat behind the desk, scrolling through her phone with her beautiful legs crossed.

"Huh? A customer? Please, sit down. Something to drink?"

As she spoke, she produced a bottle of mineral water with the words "Not for Sale" printed on it.

The upperclassman was very enthusiastic. She seemed less like a mysterious information broker and more like... a counter clerk.

Cao Wei sat down, her expression cold. "Do you have any missions?"

Wan Mengjie smiled. "I do, but I’ve never seen you before, so I’m not sure what kind of mission would suit you."

Although this was Cao Wei’s first time here, as a True Disciple of the Yang Clan who had just advanced to the Innate realm, she still hoped to grow as quickly as possible.

’I need to complete Master’s growth assignment as soon as I can.’

"Something more difficult."

"Of course, of course. Take a look at this."

Wan Mengjie rummaged through her drawer for a moment and took out a piece of paper.

Cao Wei studied it for a moment.

Mission: Han Lifei, a third-year student at the School of Life Sciences, is suspected of cheating on his partner... Collect evidence of the affair... Reward: 2000.

"Do you have anything else?"

Wan Mengjie took out another sheet. "How about this one?"

Mission: Lv He, a second-year student at the Martial Arts Theory School, is suspected of secretly learning a school Cultivation Technique without authorization. He’s trying to pass it off as a coincidence. A competitor is offering money to collect evidence and report him... Reward: 3000.

Cao Wei frowned slightly...

’This isn’t what I imagined at all.’

It was all just petty campus drama.

’And this stolen Cultivation Technique business... why not just beat him up? Why go through the trouble of reporting him?’

She began to doubt the upperclassman.

"Are these the only kinds of missions you have?"

Wan Mengjie said confidently, "Don’t worry, I’m a professional."

Cao Wei scanned the small room...

There was a restroom in the corner, and the faint, accumulated smell of a toilet wafted out.

On the other side, was that a sleeping bag on the floor? ’Does this person live here?’

In another corner was a mountain of "flyers" that looked like they hadn’t been distributed... They even had her master’s picture on them, for Yuan Tutoring Education.

And hanging from the basement’s only ventilation opening were several pairs of washed stockings...

’Aren’t stockings supposed to be disposable? Why wash them?’

Cao Wei’s frown deepened...

"I think I’ll check somewhere else."

Wan Mengjie panicked, jumping up and grabbing Cao Wei’s sleeve. "Don’t go! I really am a professional! I’m the only information broker here!"

’If this customer leaves, she won’t even be able to pay the electricity bill for the exhaust fan! She’ll suffocate from the stench of this ancient toilet!’

Two months ago, after a series of failed missions, her debt had started to snowball.

She had originally planned to make money as a Nightwalker to pay off her loans.

Instead, she just fell deeper and deeper into debt!

The most heartbreaking incident was when she had completed a mission, only for the middleman, Mr. Fatty, to die!

There were no guarantees in this line of work. If someone died, there was truly nowhere to collect your money.

Her two teammates completely lost heart and disbanded on the spot. Wan Mengjie couldn’t cover her loans with other part-time jobs.

So, struck by a flash of inspiration, she came up with a genius startup idea!

’Since middlemen and information brokers had exploited them so much before, I’ll become a middleman and information broker myself!’

’I’m sure to make a killing!’

She called in every favor she had to get an unwanted, remote room in the Night Owl Club, thinking she could make money just by setting up a desk. To cut costs, she even gave up her dorm room...

But it had to be said, some business opportunities seem open for a reason.

It’s probably because they aren’t business opportunities at all...

The Night Owl Club had indeed never had a resident "information broker" or "middleman" before. It seemed like a blue ocean, but in reality, it was because Nightwalker missions all came from the outside world!

What information broker or middleman wasn’t a well-connected figure in both the legitimate and underworld societies? Both intel and missions required casting a wide net outside and making deals.

Squatting on campus, what sources of intelligence could she possibly have?

Wan Mengjie had thought that after messing around as a Nightwalker for a few years, she’d have some channels. But when she actually tried, she discovered her "intel" was just hearsay and gossip...

On top of that, everyone at the Nightwalker Club was well aware of her previous skill level. They didn’t trust this old rookie, so she had no business and no resources.

It’s a common failing of many entrepreneurs: their ambition exceeds their ability.

They only see others making money, but when it’s their turn, all they can do is stare blankly.

In the end, her "information broker" gig became a "nosy parker" service, and her "middleman" role devolved into being a "despised gofer." She scraped together some garbage missions, most of which she had to complete herself...

Her most stable source of income... was probably her former teammate who came to buy her used stockings... Others earned money with their hands; she earned it with her feet.

To have fallen this far without resorting to giving leg massages on the athletic field, one could say Wan Mengjie still had some integrity.

But not much.

Now, she was shamelessly tugging on Cao Wei’s arm. "Just tell me what kind of mission you want! I’ll figure something out! My commission is very low!"

Cao Wei had already advanced to the Innate realm, while Wan Mengjie was still dawdling at Late-stage Marrow Refining. She couldn’t hold Cao Wei back at all and was just dragged behind her like a dead dog.

Cao Wei took a few deep breaths, repeatedly reminding herself: ’This is a mission from my master... I can’t screw it up...’

"Rebel Species. I need a mission related to the Rebel Species. Any kind will do."

Wan Mengjie froze. She had been knocking around Jianghuai Night for some time now, so of course she had heard those two words.

But... those were extremely dangerous missions. They involved a bunch of scum who would devour you whole. It was not something Jiangti students would ever touch. A single mistake could be fatal.

It wasn’t a matter of strength, but that the Rebel Species had no bottom line. They were far more vicious.

Constrained by Jiangti’s authority, the various middlemen and information brokers wouldn’t release missions like that either...

But in order to make next month’s loan payment, Wan Mengjie finally gritted her teeth. "I’ll go search around for you. I’m sure there’s something!"

It dawned on Cao Wei that something was off. "Your missions are all secondhand?"

Wan Mengjie bit her lip.

"How can you call it secondhand... The mission just... got passed around a bit..."