Ch. 284 - Then I'll Just Change My Bottom Line

Chen Shu hailed a taxi and headed straight for the hotel where Xia Bing and her mother were staying.

He wasn't about to pass up a free plane ticket.

Half an hour later.

Chen Shu got out of the taxi and prepared to make another call.

The moment he stepped into the hotel, he heard an angry voice.

"Xia Bing, do not test my bottom line!"

Chen Shu frowned and made his way to the hotel banquet hall, where a crowd of people had gathered.

A middle-aged man's voice rang out:

"Xiao Bing, today is your little brother's top-scorer celebration banquet. We just happened to run into each other — wouldn't it be rude not to join?"

"I was just passing through."

Xia Bing's expression was cold. She wanted to take her mother and leave, but was surrounded by a group of people and couldn't get free at the moment.

Chen Shu immediately spotted Xia Yan in the crowd.

Looked like a coincidence — the hotel Xia Bing was staying at happened to be the same place Xia Yan was holding his banquet today.

In an instant, options appeared before Chen Shu's eyes.

[Option 1: Strike directly. Show them the Bandit way! Reward: Skill "Sustained Assault" +1]

[Option 2: Shout "Stop!" in a mighty voice, then grease your soles and flee, leaving the crowd with a dashing silhouette. Reward: Skill "Charge" +1]

[Option 3: Grab Xia Bing and her mother and run! Reward: 1 bottle of Black Iron-grade Burst Speed Potion]

Chen Shu's expression remained calm as he silently opened his backpack.

And pulled out the long-unseen urea bag...

Sustained Assault was the Elemental Beast's second core skill — it was the highest priority, no question.

Besides, there was no way he was just going to ignore this!

The crowd was still jammed together — some were Xia Bing's relatives, some belonged to Xia Yan's stepmother's side of the family.

Chen Shu moved quietly, silently drawing closer to Xia Yan.

"Hm?"

Xia Yan's body shuddered. An inexplicable chill washed over him.

In the blink of an eye, darkness descended.

"Th-this... this is..."

Xia Yan's pupils contracted. The long-dormant terror resurfaced in his heart.

"It's me..."

Chen Shu spoke flatly, leaning in close and whispering into Xia Yan's ear.

The nightmare had come true.

Xia Yan couldn't muster any resistance whatsoever — the urea bag engulfed him directly.

Inhaling the bag's intimately familiar scent, despair rose in his heart.

"S... someone help..."

Chen Shu remained completely unruffled. He clamped a hand over Xia Yan's mouth and dragged him out of the crowd.

Bang!

He threw a punch, leaving Xia Yan dizzy and disoriented, stars swirling in his vision.

Now that he'd reached Black Iron rank, his physical capabilities had received a massive boost. Dealing with Xia Yan was child's play.

The crowd continued their clamoring, not even noticing Xia Yan had vanished.

"I know that my departure back then left you mother and son with resentment."

Xia Bing's father, Xia Jing, spoke with a face full of self-reproach.

"But today is your little brother's top-scorer banquet. I hope you'll attend."

"Yes, Xiao Bing. Now that your little brother's been accepted into Huaxia Academy, you should just apologize properly. Family harmony is what matters most."

Relatives chimed in one after another, all acting as if Xia Bing was the one being unreasonable.

Xia Bing's expression was icy. She swept her gaze across the relatives surrounding her, her fury visibly mounting.

"Hm?"

Suddenly, her expression shifted. She'd spotted a moving urea bag.

A smile tugged at the corner of her lips, but she maintained her silence.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Chen Shu controlled his force — enough to inflict searing pain, but not enough to constitute even a minor injury in the medical sense.

Several minutes later.

Xia Jing was still going on, earnest and long-winded.

"Xiao Yan, come persuade your sister."

Xia Jing turned his head — and went blank. "Where's my son?!"

Only then did everyone react, frantically scanning their surroundings.

"Who the hell are you?!"

Xia Jing roared, his eyes landing on Chen Shu and, simultaneously, on Xia Yan — who was still trapped inside a urea bag.

Seeing the crowd about to surge forward, Chen Shu sent Xia Yan flying with a single kick.

"Xia Bing, let's go."

Dusting off his hands, Chen Shu collected his system reward and prepared to lead Xia Bing and her mother out.

Xia Bing had a smile on her face. She nodded and promptly fell in behind Chen Shu.

The three of them started to leave.

"Stop right there! You hurt my son, and you think you're just walking away?!"

Xia Jing's eyes blazed with overwhelming fury. His fists clenched tight as he snarled:

"You've crossed the Wu family — don't think you're leaving Daxing City alive!"

Chen Shu turned back, a mocking glint in his eye. "The Wu family? I thought your surname was Xia."

"You—!"

Xia Jing's face went iron-green. The words were dripping with humiliation — implying... no, outright stating that he relied on a woman to prop him up.

"Dad, let him go. Just drop it!"

Xia Yan had finally pulled the urea bag off his head. He was grimacing from ear to ear — his face was in what you might call a little bit of pain.

Fury raged in his heart, but the shadows of the past had risen once more.

Chen Shu was Black Iron now, and he had a Dragon Guard for a sister. The Wu family truly couldn't afford to provoke him.

He'd never imagined Chen Shu would actually show up here.

Had he known, he absolutely wouldn't have dared to force Xia Bing to stay.

Xia Jing, however, had been completely consumed by rage. He bellowed, "Leave?! This is Daxing City!"

"Oh?"

Chen Shu raised an eyebrow and casually pulled out his phone.

Clatter!

A gold card "accidentally" slipped and fell to the floor.

"Oh, how clumsy of me. Dropped my card, I dropped my card..."

He picked up the gold card. The gleaming "Tianhua Beast Taming Group" lettering sent a jolt through everyone present!

"A Tianhua VIP?!"

Xia Jing felt as though a bucket of ice water had been dumped over his head — sobering him up instantly.

"Looks like I'll have to give Old Brother Ouyang a call."

Chen Shu sighed and began dialing on his phone.

"Young Friend Chen Shu, wait!"

A voice rang out. A man with a commanding presence strode over — it was none other than Wu Tianchen, the one who had come to apologize before.

At this moment, Wu Tianchen was boiling with rage inside. He'd explicitly ordered the Wu family never to provoke Chen Shu.

Yet here they were, in trouble again.

Especially now that Chen Shu had the Ouyang family backing him!

The Wu family was a major power within Daxing City, but before the Ouyang family, they were barely worth mentioning.

Wu Tianchen's fists tightened. He wanted nothing more than to give Xia Yan and his father a thorough beating.

But Xia Yan had been admitted to Huaxia Academy — his status was different now. In the end, Wu Tianchen held back.

Seeing the look on Wu Tianchen's face, Xia Yan could only swallow his bitterness.

He truly hadn't expected that this incident would end up provoking Chen Shu.

"Xiao Yan. Xia Jing. Apologize to Young Friend Chen Shu!"

Wu Tianchen barked, his eyes filled with helplessness.

"Sorry, Brother Chen!"

Xia Yan didn't hesitate. He'd been beaten one too many times.

Especially now that Chen Shu was Black Iron rank — beating him up was practically a leisure activity.

"Xia Jing!"

Wu Tianchen's brow furrowed as he shouted.

Xia Yan's father, his face ashen, stepped forward and bowed. "My apologies!"

"Mm. That's more like it."

Chen Shu nodded. Even in the face of the Wu family, he showed not the slightest trace of fear.

In the past, he'd had no backing. But now that he'd been admitted to Huaxia Academy, that was a different story.

Just that status alone was enough to intimidate the vast majority of people in the entire country.

"Oh, right. Xiao Yan, when I walked in, I heard you saying something about not testing your bottom line."

Chen Shu rubbed his chin and turned to Xia Yan.

"Now that I've tested your bottom line... what are you going to do about it?"

Xia Yan swallowed hard, his heart frozen with terror.

If Chen Shu really held a grudge over this, his college years would be a waking nightmare.

Carefully, cautiously, he answered:

"Then I'll just... change my bottom line..."

[1] 状元宴 (zhuàngyuán yàn): "Top-scorer celebration banquet." A traditional banquet held to celebrate someone placing first in the imperial examinations. In the modern context, it's adapted for gaokao top scorers. Xia Yan, having ranked first in Daxing City, is holding such a banquet — the irony, of course, is that Chen Shu scored even higher but received zero endorsements or celebrations (as revealed in Ch285).

[2] "不小心" gold card drop: Chen Shu's "accidentally" dropping the Tianhua VIP gold card is a classic face-slap comedy moment — the deliberate pretense of clumsiness to casually reveal his elite status. The Ouyang family's Tianhua Beast Taming Group is a centuries-old national mega-corp; Wu Tianchen immediately recognizes that crossing someone with their backing would be catastrophic.