Chapter 87: Interrupting a Peaceful Meal [BONUS - ]

Sitting right there in Ethan’s account balance was 1 million Crest Credits!

For several seconds, Ethan simply stared at the screen, completely frozen as his brain struggled to process the ridiculous number displayed right in front of him. There was no way he could have possibly accumulated that much money without knowing about it, and yet the number was sitting there in plain sight, refusing to disappear no matter how many times he blinked or rubbed his eyes.

For a second, Ethan genuinely wondered whether he was seeing things, but the collective gasps from Lara and Jake, who had both had their eyes glued to the screen to witness exactly what Ethan was witnessing, immediately told him that he was not the only one seeing it.

It was real.

There was actually 1,000,000 Crest Credits sitting in his account.

But where the hell had that huge amount of money come from?

Ethan’s mind immediately began running through every possibility he could think of, but before he could come up with even one reasonable explanation, an impatient voice from behind him snapped him out of his thoughts.

"Is he frozen? Why is he taking up so much time to order?"

Another voice quickly followed, sounding even more irritated.

"Okay, boy, if you have no intention of ordering anything, then it’ll be nice for you to leave and let those who actually want to order and have the capacity to pay order their food."

"They let any rank in here these days. It’s disturbing and annoying."

The increasingly impatient voices finally dragged Ethan back to reality, and Jake immediately sprang into action before the situation could become even more embarrassing. He quickly removed Ethan’s card from the scanner, grabbed the food Ethan had already ordered, then ordered his own meal and Lara’s before immediately leading them away from the line.

The moment they reached their table and sat down, Jake turned his attention straight back to Ethan, who was still looking completely clueless about the absurd situation that had just occurred.

"Ethan, you..." Jake began, only to pause as though he was trying to find the right words. His curiosity, however, was written all over his face. "Wait, I get that you’re from a prominent family, and even I am, but I haven’t ever been given an amount as huge as that. If I have been involved in tiny amounts of gossip, then I accurately remember that your family also cut you off, so how do you have such an amount of money?"

Ethan lowered his gaze toward his plate and absentmindedly poked his meat with his fork, his mind still trying to figure out the same question.

"I also don’t know, too. The only money that was in that card was the academy’s allowance, and it was so little and about to finish! Or did the academy give it to me?"

The moment those words left Ethan’s mouth, Jake immediately burst out laughing, shaking his head as though Ethan had just suggested the most ridiculous thing imaginable.

"Are you nuts? This academy? Even the highest ranks don’t get this privileged, neither do they get that kind of huge amount as an allowance, so that possibility is absolutely ruled out."

Ethan’s brows furrowed even further.

That was exactly what made the situation so strange. Where exactly had that money come from?

Before Ethan could continue thinking, Lara suddenly leaned forward, her eyes gleaming with a mischievous expression. "Or, Ethan, have you secretly taken assassination jobs, only got paid now, and are just pretending to us? Because as far as I know, assassination jobs are the only thing I can think of that pays this much!"

Ethan’s eyes widened.

"What? No! Look at me! Do I have the build of a person who can take someone down?"

Lara, however, did not seem particularly convinced by his outrage. She calmly took another sip of juice through her straw while looking Ethan up and down, apparently conducting a serious assessment of whether he possessed the physical capabilities of an assassin.

After a moment, she nodded. "Well, I guess that’s true."

Ethan stared at her speechlessly.

While Jake nearly choked on his food holding back his laughter.

He eventually rubbed his hands together and frowned, deciding that there was absolutely no point in continuing to guess when he himself had no idea where the money had come from. Whatever the explanation was, he could simply ask the academy and find out. There was no reason for him to sit there worrying about something he could investigate later.

"Let’s forget it for now. I’ll ask the principal or visit the finance department later to know where the money came from, and I’ll definitely update you guys on the feedback."

The duo nodded, seemingly satisfied with that decision, and just like that, the tense atmosphere surrounding Ethan’s mysterious million Crest Credits gradually disappeared.

Soon enough, the three of them returned to their lively conversation, chatting about different topics while eating their food. Ethan finally allowed himself to relax as he enjoyed the meal.

The food was good, his friends were entertaining, and the strange mystery of his suddenly enormous account balance could wait until later.

Unfortunately, that peaceful atmosphere did not last long.

Because the next moment, their food was suddenly thrown off the table by a certain group of people!

Plates crashed against the floor, utensils scattered across the tiles, and the food Ethan had been happily enjoying only moments ago was sent flying before landing in an absolute mess.

The lively conversation at their table came to an abrupt stop.

He had been really enjoying his peaceful meal, only for it to be ruined by—

He slowly raised his head, his expression darkening as he looked toward the group responsible for what had just happened.

And when his eyes landed on Leon, every ounce of restraint he had been holding onto instantly vanished.

Without giving himself even a second to think, Ethan rushed straight toward him.