landbeastnovel Chapter 70 Manipulating the Fingers! Why can't you be number 1?
Chapter 70 Manipulating the Fingers! Why can't you be number 1?
Chapter 71 Manipulating the Fingers! Why Can't You Be Number One?
Guard post.
What are you doing here?
Zhang Yan straightened up, her eyes wide: "Wow! I practically offered you this treasure, and this is your attitude?"
What kind of attitude do you want?
"Hmm..." Zhang Yan tilted her head, pointed a finger at her calf, and smiled.
"Give this young lady a leg massage, be a little more attentive. I came all this way up the mountain to your house, my legs are sore!"
Su Chen didn't even lift her eyelids: "Heh! 'Young lady,' my foot! I wouldn't even hire you as a maid."
"you!!!"
Zhang Yan grinned, put her hands on her hips, and took a step forward.
Her face, which looked like that of a minor, was filled with anger, but given that she only reached Su Chen's chin, she seemed much shorter in terms of presence.
However, this time she didn't go all the way. She snorted, flicked her ponytail, and changed the subject herself.
"By the way, how long did your endurance test take today?"
Su Chen crossed his arms and leaned back against the stone bench: "You go first."
张妍鄙夷地斜了他一眼：「我1小时08分34秒，大概前20吧，有可能年级前15。」
Su Chen raised an eyebrow: "That amazing? Your speed is clearly terrible."
"Tch~ This is an endurance test! How can it be the same as speed?" Zhang Yan raised her chin, her tone full of pride. "I've been digesting the Overlord Fruit for a week now. I'm incredibly strong! A mere fifty kilograms is practically nothing to me."
After she finished speaking, she turned her attention back to Su Chen, took a half-step forward, and looked up at him, saying, "What was your score? Now that the exams are over, you can estimate your results."
Su Chen touched his nose, his confidence slightly lacking: "1 hour, 26 minutes, and 45 seconds, I feel like I'm around 300th or 400th."
"Wow!" Zhang Yan's eyes lit up. This reaction was completely different from what Su Chen had expected. "Not bad! I was looking at the group chat on my way here. I heard from other people that there were about two hundred people who didn't finish the run in two hours."
4
She counted on her fingers for a moment, then asked, "By the way, what was your score on the endurance test in the ten-school joint exam?"
25.
""
"What!?" Zhang Yan's voice rose half a tone, "Only this much??? Then you've improved by at least ten points this time!"
""
Su Chen waved her hand, not as excited as her: "The main problem is that the standards are set too low now. The standards for the college entrance exam are much more exaggerated! For strength, like punching power, the maximum score is set at 4,000 kilograms. The endurance test is even more bizarre! They don't even know what it will test. All the other subjects are not easy. The only relatively easy one is speed!"
Zhang Yan didn't refute his words. She leaned against the wooden railing next to the stone pier, pushed herself up with her hands, and swung her dangling legs.
"There's still more than half a year until the college entrance exam. Let's see who's ranked similarly within the school! By the way, have you estimated your score yet?"
""
"No, why bother estimating that? The results will be out soon anyway."
"Wow!"
Zhang Yan suddenly turned her head and looked Su Chen up and down, as if to confirm whether the person in front of her was possessed by some evil spirit.
"You took the joint exam with ten schools last week, and you estimated your scores a long time ago! How come you're so calm after doing so well this time?"
Su Chen's lips curled slightly, and he said casually, "It's just the confidence of a master."
"hehe!"
Zhang Yan rolled her eyes dramatically and turned her face away.
Looking at her like this, Su Chen suddenly felt a bit like teasing her.
He leaned forward and asked, "Have you estimated your score? What do you think you'll get?"
Zhang Yan tossed her chin up, crossed her arms, and said haughtily, "If you won't tell, I won't tell either!"
Su Chen chuckled.
He flipped his right hand, and a milky-white pill appeared out of thin air in his palm—the Bone Shaping Pill produced by the system.
Under the sunlight, the elixir gleamed with a jade-like luster, and the bone-like texture on its surface was faintly visible.
"Now that you've said that, this is yours."
"???"
Zhang Yan's gaze fell on the Bone-Sculpting Pill, and the arrogant expression on her face instantly froze.
Bone-Sculpting Pill!
Each one is priced at 500 points, which is equivalent to 100,000 Federal Credits in the market!
She remembered the premium Qi-nourishing pill that Su Chen had given her that morning.
She originally thought it was just an ordinary Qi-nourishing pill.
Who knew that after taking it after the endurance test, the medicinal power was as gentle as a thin hot spring, more than three or four times stronger than the Peiyuan Pill I had taken before, and the digestion speed was extremely fast!
Now Su Chen is holding a Bone-Shaping Pill that is clearly of top quality...
She unconsciously swallowed, looked up into Su Chen's eyes, and asked tentatively with a hint of disbelief, "Really? This is a top-grade Bone-Shaping Pill, isn't it?"
"Yes! Of course!" Su Chen nodded, his expression serious.
"However, besides grades, there is another condition."
Zhang Yan's expression instantly switched from surprise to vigilance.
She rolled her eyes and said, "Tch! There's no such thing as a free lunch!"
Even though she said that, her gaze still couldn't help but drift towards the Bone-Shaping Pill.
No matter the conditions, it's all worth it for this Bone-Shaping Pill!
She took a deep breath: "What are the conditions?"
"Within a week, the punching power will reach 1,000 kilograms."
"What!?"
Zhang Yan stared wide-eyed at Su Chen: "How much punching power do you have now? At most, five hundred, right? How can I double that? Even a god couldn't save you!"
Su Chen:
'
""
He opened his mouth, as if to say something.
Did this guy think he was going to double his punching power?
But then Su Chen thought about it again and realized that from Zhang Yan's perspective, that was indeed the right way to understand it.
If you offer the pills and set conditions, those conditions should naturally be what the other party does for you.
Who would have thought that the condition would be for you to become stronger?
"What I mean is, helping you increase your punching power to one thousand kilograms."
"Oh, um?? Help me??"
"Yes!"
Zhang Yan was stunned. After a moment, she reached out and pressed her hand directly against Su Chen's forehead.
Su Chen instinctively dodged backward, but her forehead was still touched by her fingertips.
Zhang Yan withdrew her hand, frowned, and said seriously, "You're not sick!"
Su Chen was completely speechless.
"I'm serious," he took a deep breath, holding the pill in front of Zhang Yan, "this is my condition!"
Zhang Yan did not accept the pill.
She looked at Su Chen with an extremely strange expression.
Then she jerked back, hugging herself tightly, and asked warily, "What do you want?"
Su Chen's face immediately darkened.
He was about to retort when he suddenly stopped himself from speaking.
Zhang Yan's favorability rating panel is flashing.
The lv8 icon flickers in and out at the edge of the field of view.
Su Chen's heart skipped a beat.
Iv9?
No way? It's already heading towards Iv9?
Not only will the speed of energy acquisition increase!
The key point is that the contract period will be extended from 8 days to 9 days, which will make the window for completing Task 2 wider.
If he doesn't clarify things at this point and maintains an ambiguous, unspoken stance... his favorability rating might actually surge.
But the thought only lasted for less than half a second.
Too scum!
Su Chen has a bottom line when it comes to being a person.
The question is, how do we explain it?
Su Chen quickly went through several lines of dialogue in his mind, and suddenly a flash of inspiration struck him.
"Look at our group of four: Wang Yichuan, Lin Xiyue, you, and me. Right now, you're the furthest from the top nine universities."
"Have you no shame?" She took a step forward, her finger almost poking Su Chen's nose. "How could you say such a thing??? Don't you know who's at the bottom? You've made great progress, so you're starting to get arrogant, aren't you?"
"Besides, I've eaten a mythical spiritual fruit! Maybe in a few days I'll cross that hurdle and take off!"
Su Chen didn't retort, but said seriously, "To be honest, I understand my own situation, and I'm quite confident right now. But for you... your chances are really slim."
He paused for a moment, his gaze falling on Zhang Yan's face, which was filled with defiance.
"Don't you want to get into one of the top nine universities?"
Zhang Yan's expression changed.
There was a few seconds of silence.
Then she took a deep breath and said in an unprecedentedly serious tone, "How about I go back and call Sister Xiyue over? I can't cure your illness."
Su Chen's face darkened again.
I raised my hand and rubbed my temples, feeling my blood pressure visibly rising.
"Alright!" He changed his approach. "Let's put it another way. You three—Wang Yichuan, Lin Xiyue, and you—are currently the furthest from the nine top universities. Right?"
Zhang Yan pursed her lips, unusually not refuting, "Hmm! What's wrong?"
"I'm just asking you if you want to pass the exam."
"Of course I want to! Of course I want to!" Zhang Yan answered without hesitation. "Who wouldn't want to get into one of the top nine universities?"
"Alright!"
Su Chen lowered his hand and looked directly into Zhang Yan's eyes: "My most immediate thought right now is to help you both pass the exam as much as possible. Then we can form a team."
He was taken aback for a moment after saying that.
He suddenly realized that this was not a spur-of-the-moment remark.
When Zhang Yan pressed him for an explanation, the thought of forming a team surfaced from the depths of his mind the instant his favorability rating flashed.
His contract has a limited term.
Each contract renewal requires a cooling-off period and an improvement in performance.
The high-quality resources he can contract with are, frankly speaking, just these three people: Wang Yichuan, Lin Xiyue, and Zhang Yan.
Once all three of them have formed contracts, who should he form a contract with during the subsequent cooldown period?
Moreover, the number of humanoid pets will be increased later, allowing for multiple contracts at once. To maintain a continuous supply of high-quality humanoid pets, dozens of geniuses with sufficient affinity will be needed.
But geniuses are not so easy to conquer!
So far, he only has a handful of people he can be considered worthy of respect.
Yang Fan is level 8, but his actual strength is far inferior. The other top students in the grade haven't even had their favorability ratings light up!
He needs a team!
His father, Su Guoliang, taught him this from a young age: make more friends.
However, he used to be the weaker one, and making friends meant clinging to powerful figures.
It's different now.
He has a system, beast taming, and a whole treasure trove of resources!
He can use his resources to give a push to those around him who are already outstanding, enabling them to go further and faster.
This isn't charity, it's an investment! It's building your own team.
He snapped out of his thoughts and found Zhang Yan looking at him with an indescribable expression.
She tilted her head, her gaze sweeping over Su Chen's face and then over the bone-shaping pill in his hand.
Then she took a deep breath and asked a question that was completely different from what she had asked before.
"Do you want to be a bandit leader? Or go to Southeast Asia and become a local tyrant?"
Su Chen felt like she was about to faint.
He opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but then realized that the two paths Zhang Yan mentioned... didn't seem entirely impossible.
Nonsence!
He mentally slapped himself. Being a bandit leader in the China Federation wouldn't be enough even with ten lives.
He had witnessed firsthand just how powerful the Imperial Spirit Army was!
But going to Southeast Asia to become a local tyrant... in theory, this is not without its feasibility.
Those countries are numerous and their order is much looser than that of the Federation. At his current rate of growth, in a few years, he could simply sit on the border of a small Southeast Asian country and raise an army.
stop!
Su Chen pinched his palm hard, almost twisting it!
"Can we not get off topic?" He sighed, his tone filled with a resigned helplessness. "Forget it. Talking about helping the three of you improve your skills and get all four of you into the same top university is really a pipe dream."
"You knew that too!" Zhang Yan crossed her arms. "I thought you'd lost your mind!"
Su Chen was too lazy to argue with her.
He steered the conversation back to the basics, presenting the pills to her, his tone becoming serious again: "My first thought right now is to increase your punching power to 1,000 kilograms within a week. Any problems?"
"Yes! And there are big problems!"
Zhang Yan held up two fingers and counted them off one by one: "Do you know who got first place in the single subject of strength in the ten-school joint exam at our No. 1 High School?"
"Wu Chen? Of course I know."
"Yeah, Wu Chen!" Zhang Yan exclaimed, hands on her hips, her voice rising a half-octave. "He's a strength monster too! The strongest of the three with 700 points! If I could reach 1000 kilograms, wouldn't I surpass him and become number one in the grade?"
Su Chen looked at her but didn't reply immediately.
He waited a few seconds until Zhang Yan had fully projected an air of "Is your request reasonable?" before speaking, his voice neither hurried nor slow.
"Yeah! Why can't you be number one in the grade?"
Zhang Yan was stunned.
"Since you're only good at one subject," Su Chen took half a step forward, the sunlight falling on her face, which had forgotten its arrogance because of her dazed expression, "can't you just push yourself to the limit in this one subject? Don't you know how many more points you could get if you consistently ranked first in your grade for a single subject?!"
Zhang Yan's lips parted slightly, as if she wanted to refute, but felt she couldn't.
Yup!
Why not?
Why can't she be number one in the grade?
She has always been a top performer in strength.
A student in the ten-school joint exam weighed 680 kilograms and ranked among the top ten in their grade for a single subject.
After eating the "King Fruit," his weight skyrocketed to 837 kilograms! He's now a match for Jiang Wei—Qian Youliang is amazing!!!
As long as they don't fuse with power-type spirit orbs, my current ranking should be second in the grade!
Even she herself felt that this improvement was already quite exaggerated, and she never thought that she would strive to go even higher.
But why stop here?
Seeing Zhang Yan's expression, Su Chen chuckled inwardly: Tch! Little brat! Isn't she just a puppet I can manipulate?
Shout! Shout all you want, it won't do you any good!