Nine Star Burden

Chapter 235: Bring the Knife!

“Little toxic healer, Little toxic healer, hurry and come wish us all a happy Lunar New Year,” said the live-stream host sitting in front of Jiang Xiao. She turned around with her mobile phone as soon as Jiang Xiao placed his backpack on the table.

Gee, I haven’t seen Su Rou for a few days, and she has gotten prettier again. I can tell at first glance that she permed her hair. However, she has to tie her hair up into a ponytail because of school. What a change.

“Which date is it? The Lunar New Year is already over. What should I greet you for? Belated Lunar New Year? Happy belated Lunar New Year everyone…”

“Cough cough.” Su Rou coughed twice pretentiously.

Jiang Xiao looked down to see that the girl actually handed him a red packet?

He hurriedly clenched his fists and wished: “May you have a prosperous New Year, may you have a prosperous New Year…”

Plenty of pop-up messages appeared on the screen.

“Hey, it’s really Pipi.”

“Where? Where? Where’s my brother-in-law? I miss him so much, hurry and let me take a look.”

“The host actually wasn’t lying, are you really a student of the elite class?”

“Is this the king of healing who’s famous in Beijiang?”

“Hush, newbies. When my Pork Bun was panting in the hands of the toxic healer, you guys were still…”

Jiang Xiao opened the red packet merrily to see that there were two banknotes in there. There was a total of two yuan.

Jiang Xiao remained silent.

What’s wrong with Beijiang Province this year?

Red packets usually contain a few hundred or thousands of yuan. Why am I getting two or three yuan this year?

Is it because of me?

Is it because I don’t deserve it? I…

Jiang Xiao’s smile was bitter, and his eyes seemed hollow. Feeling dejected, he slowly took a seat on the chair and dropped his school bag onto the ground.

Seeing that Jiang Xiao was extremely dejected, Su Rou hurriedly fumbled about in her pocket, pulled out another two yuan, and then tossed them onto Jiang Xiao’s table.

“Keep acting! Continue acting!”

“I didn’t expect you to be like this, buzz-cut boy.”

“Sexy toxic healer is now a beggar.”

“Boss, give me a show that’s worth two yuan…”

Ever since the Beijiang Provincial High School League, Jiang Xiao shot to fame. To be precise, his entire team became famous.

Although it was the provincial league, it was, after all, a proper competition where everyone was competing for a place in the National League. It was being reported on all major news and media platforms.

Even the way Jiang Xiao killed the Gold Quality Ape Ghoul King during the preliminary round was thoroughly enjoyable for them.

The way he did it was a little frivolous and cheap, but it was not achievable by most people. After all, not everyone had Silver Quality Blessing. Hence, more and more people slowly got to know about Jiang Xiao as a toxic healer.

Jiang Xiao’s follower count on Weibo had also exceeded 50,000.

His most recent post on Weibo was a photo of him and his team holding up the championship trophy in the snowfield where they won the league.

There were more than 8,000 likes and nearly a thousand comments on that Weibo post.

He was far inferior to the online influencers who had millions of fans, but most of Jiang Xiao’s fans were real people and actual fans. He did not have the energy or money to buy himself some fans.

It could be said that Jiang Xiao was rather famous at this juncture. Hence, the first thing that Su Rou did when she went to school was to start interacting enthusiastically with him.

Jiang Xiao felt like he was the non-player character of a game. He clearly had nothing to say and didn’t know what else to say. If he were to speak again, he would have to repeat his words over and over again. However, the main character of the game, Su Rou, still interacted madly with him.

The point was, Su Ruo was extremely hot and gorgeous, and there were plenty of people watching the live-stream. It would be inappropriate for Jiang Xiao to flare up. How infuriating~

Jiang Xiao had no choice but to do the usual. He gave Su Rou several Blessings in a row.

Ah, she was comfortable!

Everyone was comfortable!

Su Rou’s eyes became glassed over and her body turned soft.

Everyone looked in shock and began salivating.

Jiang Xiao finally found peace. He quickly picked up a set of math papers and began immersing himself in studying.

The exciting life of studying had begun again, and there was nothing much to describe about the arduous life of studying.

From six in the morning to ten at night, all of the high school students would study hard, except Jiang Xiao and the rest had to take part in practical classes too.

However, compared to practical classes, Jiang Xiao felt that cultural lessons were much more difficult.

Star Study was especially difficult and Jiang Xiao felt that it was beyond the limits of humans.

He carried Han Jiangxue and began researching about the future combination of her star slots.

To Jiang Xiao, Han Jiangxue was already more than qualified to be a Rules Awakened since she had output, control, and defensive Star Techniques. However, if he were to look closer, he would realize that Han Jiangxue’s weaknesses were obvious too.

There was room for improvement for her control Star Techniques since Barren Wind was not that oppressive and may not be used for dealing with the opponents during the National High School League.

Her defensive Star Technique was Sky Smasher, not the conventional ones like magical shields or defensive shields.

Han Jiangxue’s output method was varied, but she did not have any instantaneous output Star Techniques. That was the most lethal for the entire team.

Among those three aspects, which one might give the most help to the team? Jiang Xiao personally felt that it was the instantaneous Star Technique. Han Jiangxue shared the same thoughts as him. They didn’t know whether their idea was correct or not, but they decided to follow their hearts.

In terms of instantaneous Star Techniques, the thunder-series ones were definitely the best. Of course, the ice-series Star Techniques were not bad either. If Han Jiangxue could acquire the Ice Roar Star Technique, Jiang Xiao may be happier.

Think about it, imagine if my Little Jiangxue has ice in her left hand and fire in her right!

Tsk tsk, the thought alone is so thrilling.

Since they had decided on an instantaneous Star Technique, they had to make use of their advantage. Jiang Xiao easily managed to find out about the workplace of the “Victors Legion Central Street Team No. 3”. Although it was a team with special functions, they still had a workstation.

It didn’t matter even though Jiang Xiao couldn’t enter. He could write a letter.

Jiang Xiao had thick skin. Although his intentions for doing good was not to earn himself praises, he felt that he deserved to be praised for doing a good deed!

I do deserve to be punished. Uh, no, how does that saying go… Anyway, I deserve to be commended.

For several days in a row, Jiang Xiao wrote several letters and sent them personally to the sentry box of the Victors Legion. He took good care of his brothers fighting alongside him on the day of Lunar New Year and also expressed his desire for instantaneous Star Techniques…

What Jiang Xiao did not expect was that the Victors Legion had really gone to their school to present him with an award! They were not the only ones. Some personnel from the government sector claiming to be from the Social Security Comprehensive Management department also went. Anyway, the name of the department was rather long.

Principal Yan of Jiangbin High School was overjoyed and he hurriedly asked all teachers and students to cooperate, taking the opportunity to advertise and promote the school.

It was a sunny and warm winter morning, and it was supposed to be time for the exercises that took place between classes. However, it was changed to a commendation ceremony.

It was the result of a negotiation between the school and the Victors Legion, which was formed after some compromise. According to the school’s intentions, the ceremony would have to take place for an entire morning and they wanted the leaders to speak more and have more photos of the students taken. They also wanted to increase the exposure of the teachers. Hence, they insisted that the ceremony be held in the hall.

However, the Victors Legion seemed reluctant to engage in such fancy formalities. Besides, there were only three people from the Victors Legion, including Wei Zhi from the Central Street Team No. 3, Yan Zebin whom Jiang Xiao saved, and a female soldier of the Victors Legion whom Jiang Xiao had never met. He reckoned that she was there to publicize for the Victors Legion.

After a long speech by the people of the Comprehensive Management Department, Jiang Xiao, Han Jiangxue, and Xia Yan were called onstage respectively to receive the certificates of honor and medals.

The medal was extremely exquisite and beautiful. There was the national emblem on the front and there was a concise message on the certificate of honor, which read “Comrade Jiang Xiao has promoted social ethics by actively cooperating with the Victors Legion and assisting them in protecting the nation. He helped to defend the lives and property of the people and made outstanding contributions. This certificate is issued with the purpose of giving him encouragement”.

The certificates of honor and medals were paid for by the Comprehensive Management Department, but the Star Beads were given by the Victors Legion.

When Jiang Xiao was feeling a strong urge to touch the Star Beads given out by the female soldier, he was filled with complicated emotions.

The truth proved that Wei Zhi had probably already read Jiang Xiao’s letter and had reflected to his superiors.

The Star Bead that he was awarded was not a Spatial Star Bead. After all, those were too rare and Jiang Xiao would probably be awarded them only if he were to save the world by himself.

However, the Star Bead that he was given was not inferior either. It was the one that he had mentioned in the letter that he wrote to them—the Lightning Soul Star Bead.

It originated from the “Golden Triangle” in the South and was difficult for civilians like Jiang Xiao to purchase. The Star Technique that it contained was also one of the most powerful ones High School students could have.

Jiang Xiao was given the Star Bead that he mentioned in the letter. That was probably not a coincidence.

Jiang Xiao did not find it to be a pity. After all, it was good enough to have that Star Bead as a reward. There seemed to be some hope for Han Jiangxue’s last Star Technique. The three of them were given a Lightning Soul Star Bead each. Was there a need to mention anything? Wouldn’t they all go to Han Jiangxue?

On the rostrum, the female soldier from the Victors Legion continued to speak and reminded all students with a sullen expression, “Once you encounter such a crisis, do not act rashly for the sake of rewards. Strictly abide by the laws and regulations of our nation. Obey all orders and listen to the commands! Don’t act for the sake of stealing the limelight…”

Jiang Xiao was speechless.

Can you let me receive the award in peace?

I haven’t enjoyed my award yet and you’ve already started to lecture me?

After Jiang Xiao and the others took the awards and stepped down, Hai Tianqing said a few words which made Jiang Xiao completely dumbfounded.

“Beijing Province stipulates that workers of provincial-level labor models and advanced workers who have won the title of ‘Courageous citizen who stepped up to help’ will all enjoy preferential policies.”

Jiang Xiao looked at his own certificate of honor and medal, to see that he was labeled as a “Courageous citizen who stepped up to help”.

“What policies are there?” Xia Yan asked curiously.

Hai Tianqing answered smilingly, “You’re a student, so the title gives you ten bonus points for the college entrance examination. The title of a Brave Warrior will earn you 15 bonus points, while the title of a Hero will give you 20 bonus points.”

I’m awarded ten bonus points just like that?

We slogged our guts out and fought hard in the contest to emerge as champions of the province, and we only got 10 points!

What kind of a damned competition is that?

I should bring my team out to patrol every day… and once we win six to seven hundred bonus points, we won’t have to sit for the written part of the college entrance examination anymore.

Jiang Xiao blinked and asked, “Why were we only given the citizen title? I think I should be titled as a hero.”

Hai Tianqing said smilingly, “That must be approved by the provincial government, and you must have done a socially significant act. Besides, your limbs are still intact, so it’s hard for you to be given the title of a hero.”

Jiang Xiao scratched his head and said weakly, “Breaking my leg would be easy… I can break it right now. I’d like to ask you. If I receive the title of a hero, will I be able to reconnect the broken leg?”

Hai Tianqing was at a loss for words.

Jiang Xiao stomped his teeth and yelled at Han Jiangxue, “I deserve to be the brave and courageous hero of Beijiang Province Dongcheng District!”

Han Jiangxue was bewildered.

What’s all this mess?

Jiang Xiao lifted his leg and exclaimed, “Bring me the sword!”