Chapter 37: Chapter 37: Excuse Me, Who Are You?

’Hardworking and diligent... my ass...’

Zhou Shengfa smiled placidly. "But of course."

Yan Shouzheng nodded, his interest piqued as he took out his phone.

"Oh, that’s right. This week’s training attendance hasn’t been approved yet! Let’s see just how much extra training Su Zhi has been doing to achieve this kind of progress."

’Crap!’ Zhou Shengfa’s eyes widened.

But it was too late. The vice-principal had already pulled up Su Zhi’s training attendance record—

May 1: 0%

May 2: 0%

...

May 14: 0%

Total for the last month: 0%

"..."

"..."

"Can you take me to see this Su Zhi?" Yan Shouzheng asked, slowly raising his head after a long moment of silence.

Zhou Shengfa buried his face in his hands.

·

The training grounds—

"SQUEAK SQUEAK!" (The heavens created you for my nourishment!)

"QAQ WOOF!" (You’re scary!)

Wanzi stuck close to Yu Bao’s tail, chasing it relentlessly.

Yu Bao maintained its Earth Force Field, creating undulations in the terrain to slow the Cyan Cloud Group’s pursuit while actively using Desert Concealment to dodge.

This time, Desert Concealment was effective enough.

After its Skill Level reached Tier Two, Desert Concealment could execute feints and reversals to a certain degree.

Yu Bao mixed charges, feints, and reversals, escaping by the skin of its teeth several times just as Wanzi was about to catch it. It was quite a display.

Of course, using Skills required Energy, and no Pet Beast could use Skills forever.

Finally—

"SQUEAK SQUEAK!" (Wanzi squashed Yu Bao!)

"Woof—"

Unable to use Desert Concealment any longer, Yu Bao was caught and pinned down by Wanzi, unable to get back up.

"Holy shit, that’s awesome!"

Liu Junpo slapped his thigh. "Yu Bao’s Desert Concealment is already at Tier Two? Did you guys eat Du Gang or something?"

’Who the heck is Du Gang anyway?’ Su Zhi blinked and sighed. "A pity. The outcome is still the same. Desert Concealment has a limited number of uses. Once it’s out, it gets caught."

"The duration of Hardening is also limited."

Liu Junpo twisted open his sports drink and took a long swig. "Look at it another way. If Yu Bao can just stall until Wanzi can’t maintain Hardening, wouldn’t it win?"

"That’s also true."

Su Zhi chuckled softly and bent down to pet Yu Bao.

"Let’s both keep working hard!"

*Sniff sniff.*

Yu Bao wagged its tail, its button-like eyes darting around as it stared intently at Su Zhi’s pocket.

"Alright, I get it."

Su Zhi gave a helpless smile and took out the three-pack of small sausages Shao Ya had given him.

One for Yu Bao, one for Su Zhi, and one for Senior Brother Piao.

As a Cyan Cloud Group, Wanzi couldn’t eat ham sausages, so it could only watch from the side, drooling.

So Yu Bao, holding its sausage, cheekily sidled up to enjoy the sight of Wanzi’s frustrated expression of wanting to eat but being unable to...

Yan Shouzheng, who had just arrived, happened to see this exact scene, and his face darkened.

"Teacher Zhou, if I recall correctly... is that student named Liu Junpiao?"

"It’s Liu Junpo..." Zhou Shengfa quietly corrected.

"He’s a textbook case of a bad influence, ignorant and lazy! How dare he come back and lead other students astray!?"

Yan Shouzheng was so furious it looked like he might sprout hair. "Look at him! He’s even encouraging his junior to slack off!"

"Vice-Principal, calm down! Liu Junpiao is a bit of a special case, but he did get into Shanyou University in the end! That’s a key provincial university!"

Zhou Shengfa’s mouth ran a mile a minute, not even noticing that he had also used the wrong name in his haste.

"Besides, Su Zhi has always been like this! He never liked following the test-prep curriculum; he always does his own—"

Yan Shouzheng interrupted indignantly, "Aha! So he’s cut from the same cloth as Peng Kai and Liu Junpiao!"

Zhou Shengfa: "..."

’I’m so done. Let the world burn.’

"Teacher Zhou, you don’t need to say another word. I will personally persuade this child to see the error of his ways."

With that, Yan Shouzheng ignored Zhou Shengfa’s attempts to stop him and walked straight forward.

"Young man! Stop right there!"

"Huh?"

Seeing an old man in plain clothes walking toward him with Old Ban, Su Zhi turned his head in confusion.

Yan Shouzheng cleared his throat. "It’s the evening self-study period. You should be diligently training your Pet Beast according to the curriculum, not loitering here and wasting time! This is not the proper conduct for a student of our school!"

’Oh, crap...’ Liu Junpo broke out in a cold sweat, having clearly recognized the vice-principal.

However—

Su Zhi and Yu Bao looked at each other for a moment, then tilted their heads in unison.

"Um, and you are?"

Yan Shouzheng proudly held his head high. "I am just a simple gardener."

He was the vice-principal and rarely appeared in public, so most students didn’t recognize him.

That being the case, he was happy to use this honorable profession as his cover.

"A gardener? Then you should go water some flowers."

Yan Shouzheng: "..."

"Su Zhi! What kind of way is that to talk?" Zhou Shengfa quickly tried to signal with his eyes. "This is our school’s Vice... Vice... Head Gardener!"

"Then what’s he doing suddenly coming over to lecture us about our training?"

Su Zhi said, puzzled, "According to him, I’m bringing shame to the school just because I’m not following the test-prep curriculum? How bizarre."

"..." Zhou Shengfa wore an expression of someone who had lost all will to live and dejectedly backed away.

’Now I’m the bad guy to both of them.’

Liu Junpo... played dead.

"How about this, young man? Let’s have a Pet Beast spar."

Yan Shouzheng said in a deep voice, "If you win, I’ll leave you alone. If you lose, you’ll train properly."

"You’re on," Su Zhi agreed without hesitation.

It wasn’t that he really wanted to pick a fight with the old man; the main reason was to farm some Points...

Even if he lost, he had nothing to lose.

The old man told him to train properly, but he never said he had to train properly *according to the test-prep curriculum*.

The two of them stepped back, creating distance. Immediately after, a faint purple Light Array lit up in front of Yan Shouzheng.

Su Zhi, who had been nonchalant until now, saw this and his eyes flew wide open.

’A Tier Six Beast Taming Space... This old man is a Master Level Beast Tamer?!’

’There are barely enough Master Level Beast Tamers in all of Huai City to count on one hand!’

"No need to be nervous. To keep things fair, I’ll send out my newly contracted third pet."

As Yan Shouzheng murmured in a low voice, a small, all-gray tiger slowly materialized within the Light Array—

[Pet Beast: Yinzangsi (Valley Tiger Hunter)]

[Attribute: Ghost Element, Fighting Element]

[Race: Middle Elite Race]

[Real-time Energy Suppression Value: 436]

’Fair, my ass! This Grandpa Gardener’s Sub-Pet is better than the Main Pet of most first-year high school students...’

’No, he’s probably not some Grandpa Gardener at all... He must be another person Old Ban found to test me.’ 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

Su Zhi sized up the Little Brain Axe opposite him, his mind racing to come up with a counter-strategy.

At the same time, after performing a routine scan on Yu Bao, Yan Shouzheng’s powerful frame trembled.

’The Species Value of this Little Yu Dian Dog is actually on par with his Giant Tiger of the Valley?’

’Could it be that Su Zhi really has some skill?’

After a moment of chaotic thoughts, Yan Shouzheng quickly calmed himself.

As an old teacher with over forty years of experience, the story he’d seen play out most often was that of wasted potential. For a Pet Beast with such talent to be ruined by his foolishness was an even greater travesty.

As the vice-principal, it was up to him to help this misguided student see the light!

"Yinzangsi, take it out with Ghost Claw. Be careful not to hurt the little guy."

"AWOO!" (As you command!)

The little tiger swiftly pounced on Yu Bao, its claws leaving faint gray afterimages in the air.

In Yan Shouzheng’s mind, the outcome of the battle was already decided.

·

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