Ch. 286 - Chen Shu's Social Skills

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"No money. Now I've gotta feed two contract spirits all at once."

Chen Shu wore a deeply troubled expression. He had to buy lord materials for the Dumb Husky, purchase potions, plus all sorts of other expenses — it was enough to make anyone's head spin.

"High-rank beast tamers are all like that. Just think about Gold rank... or even King rank..."

Fang Si nodded in full sympathy.

The sedan cruised along until the two of them arrived at Huaxia Academy.

After an entire year, Chen Shu had returned to the nation's most elite beast taming academy!

And at long last, he was about to become a part of it.

"Hello? Professor?"

Fang Si's phone rang. Seemed like something was up.

"Chen Pi, my advisor needs me for a bit. You've been here before — go look around on your own."

Fang Si said as she stepped away, then turned back to add:

"Absolutely no causing trouble!"

"I sweah[1], I won't cause any trouble!"

Chen Shu raised four fingers to the sky, looking utterly sincere.

"There are King-rank beast tamers on campus. Weigh that carefully!"

Fang Si shook her head and left.

"I'm not even scared of Legend-rank beast tamers!!"

Utterly fearless, Chen Shu puffed out his chest and began strolling around Huaxia Academy.

"Oh?"

His gaze shifted — and landed on the sports field, where three people were doing endless push-ups under the blazing sun.

"This hardworking?"

Chen Shu raised an eyebrow. The key thing was, beast tamers didn't even need to work out.

Just as he was about to leave, options appeared before his eyes.

[Option 1: Blend right in. Demonstrate the Bandit's social skills. Reward: Disguise Potion ×2]

[Option 2: Leave the sports field and wander elsewhere! Reward: Strength Potion proficiency increase]

[Option 3: Randomly select a lucky winner and greet them with a urea bag! Reward: Elemental Beast's "Fireball Barrage" +1]

Chen Shu grinned and quietly pulled out a urea bag.

He looked left and right, picking out today's lucky winner...

An old man in a tank top walked past, eyeing Chen Shu up and down. Something about this guy really didn't seem like a good person.

VROOM!

Just then, a black sports car roared across campus, weaving recklessly and brazenly — impossible to miss.

"You little punk — you're speeding!"

The old man's brow furrowed. With a flicker of movement, he appeared directly in front of the sports car!

"Holy crap, is this old guy that brave?"

Chen Shu's eyes widened in shock, his attention seized by the sudden scene unfolding before him.

He focused intently, ready to release the Golden Slime to block the car's advance.

But then — something absolutely stunning happened!

The tank-top-wearing old man extended his right hand and physically, forcefully stopped the sports car dead in its tracks!

Vroooom!

In the end, the sports car sputtered powerlessly to a halt.

"You little brat — get out!"

A male student in a dress shirt, his hair dyed fiery red, climbed out of the car.

"Old Wang... my bad..."

"Ling Chen, you little punk — just 'cause you've graduated, you think you can do whatever you want?"

The old man snorted coldly. In a flash, he was in front of the young man, throwing a casual punch.

Bang!

The young man rocketed backward a good ten meters, slamming solidly into a tree.

"I was wrong! Old Wang, I really was wrong!"

The tree trunk showed signs of splitting, yet the young man was completely unharmed. He stood right back up, perfectly straight.

"Get lost! If I catch you speeding again, I'm revoking your diploma!"

"You got it!"

The young man's sports car now had a massive dent in the front hood. All he could do was turn around and drive it away.

Gulp...

Chen Shu swallowed with some difficulty. The scene before him looked like something out of a movie.

"Physical conditioning can get that strong?"

It was the first time he'd ever witnessed high-rank beast tamers in physical combat. It was more than a little staggering.

"Kid, not bad! Looked to me like you were about to save this old man just now?"

The old man turned around and spoke.

"Uh... I was overthinking it..."

Chen Shu forced a dry laugh. The other party was at least a Gold-rank beast tamer, and that Huaxia Academy graduate was probably Silver-rank himself.

Old Wang turned to look at him. "You a freshman?"

"You seem to have decent character. If you ever want to switch advisors, you could consider this old-timer!"

Chen Shu nodded. "Thanks, big shot... uh... professor..."

Old Wang's gaze settled on him. "By the way, what's with the urea bag?"

"For shade... for shade..."

Chen Shu lifted the urea bag over his head and took off running.

"What a weird kid!"

Old Wang shook his head and walked off, chuckling.

"Damn. Why does it feel like Huaxia Academy is just crawling with powerhouses?!"

Chen Shu let out a relieved breath. He'd originally figured that since the guy was older, he'd give him the urea bag treatment.

Good thing he'd hesitated...

Ambushing a Gold-rank beast tamer — that would've provided prime material for his own epitaph.

After witnessing those two go at it, Chen Shu's mind became remarkably clear. He muttered to himself:

"Actually, when you think about it... Disguise Potions aren't bad at all!"

He mumbled the words to himself and quietly put the urea bag away.

...

Chen Shu's eyes darted around. He made a beeline for the sports field.

The three people were still doing textbook-standard push-ups. Even under the scorching sun, they showed no signs of fatigue — clearly Black Iron-rank beast tamers.

"Li Shan, have you figured out how to answer Professor Liu yet?"

"Nope. If I can't give him a satisfactory answer, we're in for more suffering!"

"Ugh, why did we have to pick this advisor..."

Chen Shu silently made his way over beside them and started doing push-ups. Calmly, he chimed in:

"Yeah. I seriously regret it. I didn't want to pick him back then either."

The four of them launched into completely seamless, barrier-free conversation.

Until half an hour later... a man with a buzz cut slowly approached.

The three seemed to sense an oppressive pressure.

They immediately realized what was happening. They stopped doing push-ups at once and sprang to their feet, standing ramrod straight!

"Stop! Professor Liu's here! Get up, quick!"

Li Shan nudged the Chen Shu beside him, warning him.

Acquired: Disguise Potion ×2.

Chen Shu pocketed the two bottles of potion and rose to his feet with perfect composure.

"What the — who the hell are you?!"

Li Shan caught a glimpse from the corner of his eye. Something felt... unfamiliar.

He turned his head directly and stared at Chen Shu's face, utterly dumbfounded.

"Just passing through. Chat next time..."

Chen Shu was completely unruffled as he turned to leave.

"Oh my god!"

The three exchanged looks. They had just spent half an hour chatting with a total stranger — and the conversation had been so harmonious...

Where in the hell had this Social Brazenness Disorder[2] patient come from?!

"Forget about that — the professor's here!"

Liu Feng walked over, but his gaze wasn't on his three students — it was fixed on Chen Shu.

He recognized the kid instantly. This was the freshman he'd given a perfect score.

Liu Feng barked: "Chen Shu! Stop right there!"

Chen Shu's footsteps came to a dead halt. His thoughts spun wildly — he'd actually been recognized.

Could this guy have a grudge against him?!

He pondered for a split second, then spun around in an instant, pointed into the distance, and shouted at the top of his lungs:

"Look! A dumbass!"

Liu Feng and the others paused, momentarily stunned — and actually turned to look.

Chen Shu launched off both legs, swung his hips, and bolted — running at an absolutely blistering speed.

[1] 我发四 (wǒ fā sì): "I sweah." A visual pun — Chen Shu raises four fingers (四, sì) while saying "我发誓" (wǒ fā shì, "I swear"), deliberately swapping 誓 (shì, "oath") for 四 (sì, "four"). The joke is both in the finger-count visual and the verbal slippage. Rendered as "I sweah" to capture the same sloppy/mispronounced energy. This is the Urea Bag oath: Chen Shu making promises he has zero intention of keeping.

[2] 社交牛逼症 (shèjiāo niúbī zhèng): "Social Brazenness Disorder." Internet slang — a humorous pseudo-medical term spun off from 社交恐惧症 ("social anxiety disorder"). Describes someone with absolutely zero social inhibitions who can seamlessly insert themselves into any group or conversation with zero shame. The students' baffled reaction at discovering they'd been chatting with a complete stranger for half an hour perfectly illustrates the concept.