Chapter 29 - 22: Application
Senior Year, Class 1 classroom.
Even though the school bell had already rung.
The students in the class were still reeling from the shock Lin Yi had delivered earlier, buzzing with discussion like a pot boiling over.
"Lin Yi actually hit 10.0 already! How on earth did he do it? That rate of improvement is terrifying!"
"Is there even a need to guess? He must have signed with a corporation! A corporation is definitely bankrolling him with massive resources!!"
"I said it all along! With Lin Yi’s talent, as long as he has the resources, he’s guaranteed to skyrocket! See? I was right!!"
"I admit Lin Yi is the most talented person in our school, but... but his Qi and Blood value rose by almost 1.0 in just two days! Even the biggest corporation in our Yang City couldn’t possibly provide such an absurd amount of resources for one person, right? That doesn’t make sense!"
"The corporations in our Yang City don’t have that kind of financial power!"
"Could it be that Lin Yi didn’t sign with a local corporation? Could it be... a multinational-level corporation from North City or Demon City signed him?"
"Hiss... Lin Yi’s really hit the big time! Getting a giant from North City to come all this way to sign him? That’s fucking awesome!!"
The classroom buzzed, the excited discussions swirling into a larger and larger vortex. Every face was etched with excitement and longing.
Just as this boiling clamor was about to tear the roof off—
"What are you all doing crowded around here, making a racket?! Aren’t you supposed to be in class?!" A voice, both dignified and angry, exploded from the classroom doorway.
The uproar came to a sudden halt.
The entire class flinched, their heads snapping around in unison to look.
Their homeroom teacher, Lu Donghai, was standing at the door with a stern face and a deep frown.
Normally, a single intimidating shout from Lu Donghai would have scared the class into a dead silence, not daring to even breathe too loudly.
But today was different.
After a brief moment of quiet, an even greater wave of noise instantly drowned him.
"Teacher! Lin Yi! Lin Yi’s Qi and Blood value tested at 10.0!"
"Teacher Lu! It’s true! Lin Yi has broken through the Martial Disciple limit!"
"Our school! Our school is about to produce a Martial Artist! Teacher!"
’Lin Yi?’ The reprimand on the tip of Lu Donghai’s tongue was instantly blown away by this bombshell news.
The anger on his face froze, replaced by utter shock and disbelief. His voice rose a few pitches, laced with a barely perceptible tremor:
"Lin Yi’s Qi and Blood... reached the Martial Disciple limit?! Did you see it with your own eyes?"
"Absolutely, Teacher! We all saw the detector go off the charts with our own eyes!" A student immediately shouted back, his face red with excitement.
Lu Donghai’s gaze swept anxiously across the classroom, scanning over the familiar faces, but he couldn’t find the one person he was looking for.
His heart tightened, his voice laced with urgency. "Where is Lin Yi? Where is he?"
"He went to train with Liu Yang, Teacher!" Luo Qian spoke up.
The very instant Luo Qian’s words fell, Lu Donghai spun around without a shred of hesitation.
Class, discipline—all of it was thrown to the wind.
He hurried off, almost breaking into a run, his figure quickly disappearing down the end of the hall.
He couldn’t wait to find that rising star of the Martial Dao.
...
’Class started?’
Lin Yi listened to the bell echoing across the empty campus, then glanced down at the unconscious Liu Yang on the floor.
Right now, "miserable" wasn’t a strong enough word to describe Liu Yang.
There was hardly a patch of unbroken skin left on his entire body. It was densely covered with pinprick-sized red dots, making him look just like a moldy sesame ball.
Anyone with trypophobia who saw him would probably feel their scalp crawl and be plagued by nightmares.
Not only that, but every bite had swelled up into an angry red lump, making him look like an over-steamed, puffy, fermented bun.
Looking at Liu Yang’s ravaged skin,
there was no more room for the Mosquito Avatar to bite.
Lin Yi stopped.
’Forget it, I’ll head to class first,’ he thought. ’Applying for the Bone Tempering Skill is more important. I’ll come back and grind proficiency with Liu Yang when I have more time.’
With a flicker of his thoughts, he called up the system panel:
[Paralysis]: LV4 (278/400).
Lin Yi was fairly satisfied with this data.
Grinding proficiency on Liu Yang for half an hour had yielded touching results.
The Paralysis Skill had skyrocketed from LV2 all the way to LV4, and the threshold for LV5 was not far off.
Lin Yi crouched down, flexed his wrist, and then swung his arm without a hint of politeness.
"SLAP! SLAP!"
Two crisp, loud slaps landed squarely on Liu Yang’s swollen cheeks.
"Ugh..." Liu Yang saw stars from the impact. He groggily opened his eyes, his vision focusing on the figure before him. "Lin Yi..."
Just as he was about to demand an explanation, Lin Yi cut him off rudely. "Still sleeping? Look at the time! The bell already rang! You’re late, you know that?!"
Just then—
"AHHH!!!" A bloodcurdling scream of agony suddenly erupted from Liu Yang’s throat.
The effects of the paralysis toxin had finally worn off completely!
Anyone who’s been bitten by a mosquito knows it doesn’t hurt at the moment of the bite, but shortly after, it becomes both painful and itchy!
In that instant, the thousands upon thousands of mosquito bites seemed to simultaneously ignite his nerve endings. A tsunami of excruciating pain mixed with a bone-deep itch swept over his entire body!
Like a live fish thrown into boiling oil, Liu Yang screamed and thrashed wildly on the ground. His hands uncontrollably clawed at his body, his nails carving bloody streaks into his swollen skin.
"Lin Yi! You... you fucking stabbed me with needles! You pervert! I won’t let you get away with this! This isn’t over!" he roared, his voice filled with pain and fury.
Though he was still shouting defiantly, deep in his heart, terror was spreading like wildfire.
When he lost the bet and agreed to be a sparring partner for a day, he had expected Lin Yi to rough him up. He had accepted that he would suffer some physical pain and was prepared for a beating.
But he never would have dreamed that Lin Yi’s methods would be so bizarre, so torturous!
’He actually used needles on me!’
’What kind of twisted fetish is this?!’
But Lin Yi acted as if he hadn’t heard a thing, calmly raising his left hand to glance at the screen of his wrist communicator.
"Liu Yang, let’s call it a day for now. You still owe me..." He paused, as if calculating the exact time. "Hmm, 23 hours, 32 minutes, and 18 seconds of sparring time! Remember to make it up next time!"
Liu Yang’s howls came to an abrupt stop. He froze as if struck by lightning.
He couldn’t believe his ears!
Wha... What?!
’That so-called "one day" of sparring has only lasted... less than half an hour?’
’You motherfucker are actually timing it with a stopwatch?!’
A bone-chilling fear instantly seized him, making him shudder uncontrollably.
’Only half an hour... and Lin Yi has already tortured me to the point where I look neither human nor ghost, a state worse than death... If he really tortures me for a full day... will I even be left breathing?’
Liu Yang didn’t dare to think about it any further.
Just as Liu Yang’s mind was gripped by immense fear—
"CLICK!"
The lock on the study room door turned.
The homeroom teacher, Lu Donghai, pushed the door open and walked in.
The bizarre contrast between the standing Lin Yi and the wretched Liu Yang, writhing in agony on the floor, clearly made Lu Donghai pause for a moment.
"Teacher! Teacher Lu!!" Liu Yang scrambled over as if he’d seen his savior, snot and tears streaming down his face as he pointed an accusing finger at Lin Yi. "Teacher, look! Lin Yi stabbed me with needles! He did this to me! You have to stand up for me!"
Lu Donghai’s gaze quickly swept over Liu Yang’s swollen, broken-skinned, lump-covered body. He certainly looked miserable, but they were all superficial injuries, with no damage to his bones or muscles.
He frowned slightly and responded quickly, "Alright, Liu Yang, go to the infirmary and get those wounds treated. Put some medicine on them."
After casually dismissing Liu Yang’s complaint without so much as a second glance, Lu Donghai strode towards Lin Yi in a few quick steps. The sternness on his face had long been washed away by a tide of incredulous ecstasy and urgency. His voice carried an irrepressible tremor as he sought confirmation:
"Lin Yi! The students in class said... said your Qi and Blood test came back at 10.0?! Is that true?"
Meeting his homeroom teacher’s eager gaze, Lin Yi nodded calmly.
"Yes, Teacher Lu! My Qi and Blood value has reached 10.0, the limit for a Martial Disciple! I was just about to apply to the school for the Bone Tempering Skill and begin my push for the Martial Artist Realm."
"Good! Good! Good!"
Lu Donghai repeated the word three times, each one louder than the last. The smile on his face was like an exploding firework, filled with unparalleled relief and excitement.
He didn’t wait for Lin Yi to say another word. He grabbed Lin Yi’s wrist with astonishing strength and impatiently began pulling him out the door.
"Let’s go! Right now! We’re going to tell the principal this amazing news immediately! Go, go, go!"
His voice was strained with excitement, and his pace was so fast he practically created a breeze.
The two of them rushed past Liu Yang, who was still slumped on the floor in a miserable heap.
Lu Donghai was so excited he didn’t even spare half a comforting glance for the boy on the floor. All of his attention was focused on Lin Yi.
Watching their retreating figures,
Liu Yang was completely stunned.
He sat there dazedly on the floor, the excruciating pain and itching still ravaging every inch of his body.
The slap marks on his face burned, and a tide of indignation from being ignored washed over him.
’I’ve been tortured into this state, looking neither human nor ghost...’
’Not only is the teacher not going after that pervert Lin Yi... he’s even singing his praises?!’
’Talk about playing favorites, huh?’
’Where’s the compassion?!’