Ch. 312 - You Should Be Surnamed Wang, Right?[1]

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"That... actually makes a lot of sense..."

The four of them turned to look at him, and for a moment, no one could think of a rebuttal.

As the five of them joked around, the other patrons in the fast-food restaurant glanced over from time to time.

Fang Si and the other three weren't just prodigiously talented — their looks were equally outstanding.

No matter where they went, they drew people's eyes.

Just then, a discordant voice rang out.

"I was hoping to get acquainted with you ladies... would I have that honor?"

A young man in a white dress shirt, with quite a refined appearance, walked over. Every move he made radiated the scent of someone trying way too hard to look cool.

Fang Si and the others were about to respond, but Chen Shu immediately stood up.

"Of course! You've gotta make new friends when you're out and about!"

He grabbed the man's hand in a firm handshake, his expression so warm and eager that they looked like long-lost best friends.

Yu Chen frowned, a flicker of displeasure in his eyes.

The hell was this dude butting in for?

But then he figured — the five of them clearly knew each other, so winning over one first wouldn't hurt.

"I'm Yu Chen of the Yu family from Qing City! May I ask how to address you, brother?"

"Daxing City — Xia Yan!"

Chen Shu grinned wide and introduced himself with total confidence.

Qiao Yue and the other two's mouths fell open as they all stared at him.

Wasn't your acting a little too natural? You're seriously out here just being Xia Yan now?

"Come, Brother Yu, take a seat!"

Chen Shu waved him over with a beaming smile, looking every bit the approachable everyman.

Yu Chen's heart suddenly lurched with a vague sense of foreboding.

This guy in front of him... didn't seem like a good person...

Just then, a voice came from outside the shop.

"Chen Pi, trying to scam someone again?"

"Huh? Some blind bastard's here to ruin my good time?"

Chen Shu's brow furrowed, irritation on his face.

"Clearly you have no idea why flowers are—"[2]

He didn't finish the sentence. Fang Si and the other three immediately rushed forward and clamped his mouth shut with their hands.

"Mmph mmph mmph~"

Chen Shu shook his head and finally broke free.

"I mean — Seniors, what the hell?!"

Just then, a hand landed on his shoulder.

Chen Shu froze for a second, then whipped his head around.

A man with a buzz cut had approached, an inexplicable smile curling at the corner of his mouth — but no matter how you looked at it, there was something faintly menacing about it.

"Pr-Professor Liu...?"

Chen Shu placed the face. It was Professor Liu Feng of Huaxia Academy.

"You little brat!"

Liu Feng grinned. Chen Shu's personality had always been like this — nothing surprising about it.

"Professor Liu, what brings you here?"

Fang Si and the other three all looked rather cautious. After all, Liu Feng's explosive temper was famous across the entire academy.

"Something happened in the Living Wood Swamp. I came to take a look."

Liu Feng shrugged, but the moment the words left his mouth, his own expression froze.

"You... just came out of there?"

His gaze locked dead onto Chen Shu. In an instant, he had already guessed who the true culprit behind the Living Wood Swamp's upheaval was.

"Nope!"

Chen Shu's expression remained perfectly calm. "I came to meet my good buddy — Wang Chen!"

"Big bro... my name is Yu Chen..."

Yu Chen spoke up quietly, instantly freezing the atmosphere solid.

"You should be surnamed Wang, right?"[1]

Chen Shu's expression was flat as he turned to look at him, shedding his earlier friendly demeanor in an instant.

Yu Chen's heart seized. He actually felt a pressure bearing down on him.

"I... maybe I am surnamed Wang?"

Yu Chen answered carefully.

Before he could even finish speaking, he caught sight of Liu Feng's ferocious expression.

Liu Feng spoke coolly: "You sure you're surnamed Wang?"

"..."

Yu Chen swallowed hard. These two had completely thrown him off balance in an instant.

All he'd wanted was to chat up some girls. What exactly had he done wrong?

He scrambled to his feet and blurted out, "I think I might've forgotten... I need to go home and ask my dad... bye, big bro, big sisters..."

The pressure Liu Feng and Chen Shu put on him was overwhelming. Even without actively radiating any aura, they still made his skin crawl like he had needles pricking his back.

Watching Yu Chen flee in utter disarray, Chen Shu spoke up:

"Professor Liu, you scared him off. This meal's on you."

"??"

Liu Feng's eyes bulged. "You little punk, you're trying to shake me down?"

"Paying the bill is no problem, but first answer my question — did you just leave the Living Wood Swamp?"

"Alright, I admit it. We just got out."

Chen Shu sighed. "But everything that happened in there was caused by the space fusion — it had absolutely nothing to do with us!"

"Space fusion?"

Liu Feng raised an eyebrow. "You sure about that?"

Qiao Yue spoke up: "Yes, Professor Liu. It really was space fusion."

As for the little matter of the five of them pilfering the Silver King's True Treasure — they kept their mouths completely shut on that.

"But the intel I received said a horde of fierce beasts was preparing to attack the Spirit Suppression Army outpost!"

Liu Feng rubbed his chin, pondering.

"Logically speaking, a space fusion should spark a war between the beasts of the two dimensions — nothing to do with humans."

"I feel like something's fishy. Someone might have been pulling strings behind the scenes. What do you think, Chen Shu?"

"..."

Chen Shu's mouth twitched. The suspicion in Liu Feng's eyes was as obvious as could be — why didn't you just read my ID number out loud?

"I think... oh right, Professor Liu, aren't you a university professor? You get involved in stuff like this?"

Chen Shu changed the subject with all the subtlety of a brick through a window.

Liu Feng looked Chen Shu up and down, and ultimately didn't press further.

"Professors need money too, you know. Picking up some side work — nothing shameful about it!"

He slowly rose to his feet, grabbed two burgers, and muttered as he walked:

"Looks like there might be a shot at slaughtering a King-rank beast."

The probability of a space fusion was exceedingly low. For humanity, the biggest upside was the possibility of hunting a King.

A dimensional war meant King-rank beasts would definitely be present.

Besides Liu Feng, two other Gold-rank Beast Tamers had also arrived at the Living Wood Swamp.

Add in Commander Wang Zhenlong — four Gold-ranks working together — and they were confident they could take down a Silver King.

"Holy crap — you were supposed to pay the bill?!"

Chen Shu saw the man was about to bolt and immediately called out a reminder.

Liu Feng flashed away and was out of the restaurant in an instant, moving at impossible speed — and with practiced, fluid ease.

"Sis Fang Si, are you sure he's a professor at Huaxia Academy?!"

Chen Shu's eyes went wide as he asked.

"Probably... maybe... seems like it..."

Fang Si and the others suddenly weren't so sure either. Liu Feng wasn't their academic advisor, after all.

Chen Shu sighed, pulled out a notebook, and silently jotted down:

"Revival Era Year 981. Liu Feng, Huaxia Academy professor, owes me two million..."

"..."

Fang Si and the other three's eyes widened as they stared straight at him.

You really were utterly fearless! You actually dared to keep a tab on Liu Feng?!

"Alright, can't collect now — but once I get stronger, I'll collect every single debt one by one!"

A savage grin curled at the corner of Chen Shu's mouth as he muttered to himself: "I'm gonna make the whole world owe me!"

At that very moment, Liu Feng was whistling merrily as he walked away.

He had absolutely no idea that the burgers in his hands cost a million yuan each...

[1] 你应该姓王吧 (You should be surnamed Wang, right?): This carries a double meaning — it's straightforward intimidation forcing someone to doubt their own identity, but it also invokes the "Old Wang Next Door" (隔壁老王) internet meme, which implies cuckoldry (i.e., "your real father was the neighbor surnamed Wang"). Chen Shu and Liu Feng's combined pressure is so intense that Yu Chen briefly questions his own surname. The title also puns on the fact that "王" (Wang) is one of the most common Chinese surnames, making the demand simultaneously absurd and menacing.

[2] Why flowers are so red (花儿为什么这样红): Originally a romantic folk song from the 1963 film Visitors on the Icy Mountain. On the Chinese internet, it was darkly repurposed into a threat: "Let me show you why flowers are so red" means "Let me beat you until you bleed." Chen Shu nearly deploys this line against an unknown arrival — who turns out to be his professor.