Ch. 235 - His SAN Value Was Plummeting [1]

Wang Qing shook his head and said:

"Are you sure your contract spirit is really a Slime? We've already discussed this — a Slime can't possibly be this large!"

The previous night, the major figures of Nancang City had convened a meeting, which included no shortage of Slime research experts.

In the end, they reached a conclusion: it absolutely could not be a Slime! At the very least, not an F-rank one!

Just as Chen Shu was about to speak, options appeared before his eyes.

[Option 1: Come clean and reveal the System. Completion reward: One high-quality wood coffin]

[Option 2: Falsely claim your contract spirit is not a Slime. Completion reward: Three Basic Beast Pearls]

[Option 3: Play to your strengths — start bullshitting! Completion reward: Combustion Potion]

Chen Shu's mouth twitched as his eyes skipped straight past the first option.

The System was absolutely something he couldn't talk about — and honestly, the reward itself already told him exactly where that road led.

The potion in the third option, however, piqued his interest.

Chen Shu cleared his throat and spoke:

"It is a Slime. It's just... a little special."

"Every night, Little Yellow absorbs the essence of the sun and moon, fusing it into its body. With each absorption, it gets a little bigger, and well — here we are."

"Hold on!"

Wang Qing's eyes bulged. What the hell was this kid talking about?!

A contract spirit, absorbing the essence of the sun and moon?!

This wasn't some mythical beast — with a contract spirit's intelligence, how could it actively cultivate?!

Chen Shu said with complete deadpan seriousness, "Really. It practices the Invincible Sleeping Technique."

"Stop! Stop!"

Wang Qing's mouth twitched. "The what technique?!"

"Invincible Sleeping Technique!"

"You taught it?"

"It comprehended it on its own."

"Then how do you know the name?"

"I translated it."

---

"Normally, Little Yellow also reads and writes. On weekends, I even signed it up for a dance class, specifically cultivating its artistic germs."

"Over winter break, Little Yellow started teaching itself programming..."

"Minister, don't go! I wasn't finished talking..."

Their conversation ended abruptly — Wang Qing was the one who walked away.

If he'd stayed any longer, he was genuinely afraid his mind would short-circuit and he'd develop an actual medical condition.

Every individual word Chen Shu said was recognizable, but strung together... it was anti-human.

To put it simply: Wang Qing's SAN value just kept plummeting.

---

Chen Shu returned to the rest area, still wanting more, and began waiting for the matches to start.

Today was Nancang First High versus Jiujiang City.

Chen Shu hadn't paid much attention at first — until Nancang First High summoned three S-rank contract spirits. Then he started paying very close attention.

Three S-ranks was absolutely the most luxurious lineup imaginable. No wonder they'd held the championship for multiple years running.

Even the current Slime couldn't beat three S-ranks — and their coordination was flawless on top of that.

Today's battle had no fancy tricks or flashy moves.

Just a stomp. A complete and utter stomp.

The gap between S-rank and A-rank was simply too massive!

The first round lasted a full sixteen days, with each team putting their strength on display.

The other five high schools in Nancang City also had S-rank contract spirits.

For other cities, producing even one S-rank contract spirit was an extreme rarity — but Nancang City alone had ten of them.

Of course, they weren't all Nancang natives.

Some had likely also come from small cities and were only recruited by Nancang's schools because their talent was too exceptional.

"The first round has concluded perfectly! Next up, sixteen teams will battle for a spot in the top eight — stay tuned!"

"All teams, please come on stage to draw lots and determine your opponents!"

The host took the stage and read out the names of all sixteen advancing teams.

The upcoming draw was purely random.

With bad luck, even Nancang First High could end up matched against Nancang Second High.

Back in the day, Fang Si had drawn a team with two S-ranks because of terrible luck, and ultimately failed to make the top eight.

"I'm going to use twenty years off the lifespans of every competitor from other cities as the price — let me draw a garbage team..."

Chen Shu stepped up onto the stage, muttering nonstop.

The key issue was that this guy's muttering wasn't quiet at all — every other team heard it loud and clear, and they all stared at him with bewildered expressions.

You really were asking for a beating, weren't you?

And could you maybe keep it down? Were you worried we couldn't hear you?

Xu Xiaoyu and Xia Bing looked equally speechless. The Nanjiang Bandit's aggro-drawing skills were absolutely maxed out.

Chen Shu carefully drew a slip of paper, marked with an ×.

The Nanqian City team looked over, their expressions grim — they were clearly going to be facing Chen Shu's team.

"Holy crap, that actually worked?!"

Chen Shu grinned. Nanqian City's team was all three A-rank contract spirits — he could handle them solo.

The moment those words left his mouth, every single contestant shot him a resentful glare.

So all of us just lost twenty years of lifespan for no reason, huh...

Especially the three from Nanqian City — not only had they lost lifespan, but they'd been officially designated a "garbage team."

The match lineup was now set, with battles beginning the next day.

On the way back, Xu Xiaoyu asked:

"Chen Shu, should Xia Bing and I fight tomorrow?"

He'd eliminated Daxing City all by himself — Nanqian City was obviously doable too.

"Yeah, go for it. Think of it as practice!"

Chen Shu nodded. Even though their strength didn't match his, they could at least contribute a little.

If they somehow made it into the top four and drew one of Nancang's teams, they'd need to go all out.

With three people who had zero coordination, the risk of capsizing was real.

---

Early the next morning.

Chen Shu and the others arrived at the Spirit Fighting Arena. According to the schedule, their match was on the second day.

Day one was Nancang First High versus Nancang Sixth High — an inner-city civil war!

Though both were Nancang City schools, First High had three S-ranks while Sixth High only had one. The gap between them was enormous.

First High instantly wiped out the other side's two A-rank contract spirits, then surrounded the last one. There was never any suspense in the match.

"They really are incredible!"

The live audience couldn't help but marvel. Just looking at that lineup was enough to make you despair.

"Oh right — Nanjiang City's team fights tomorrow, don't they?"

"I'm honestly kind of looking forward to the Poop Monster's appearance now. Why is watching a Slime beat the crap out of all kinds of powerful contract spirits so satisfying?"

The crowd buzzed with chatter.

Thanks to that one absurdly powerful Slime, the audience's interest in Nanjiang City was sky-high.

Early the next morning.

Chen Shu and the two girls arrived at the Spirit Fighting Arena.

Whether it was the energy of the live crowd or the viewership numbers on the livestream, everything exceeded the previous day.

"Nanjiang Bandit, invincible! Go crush them!"

"Tear them apart!"

Countless voices roared, the earth-shaking chants echoing endlessly, enough to rattle anyone's nerves.

"Just how big a water army did you hire?"

Xu Xiaoyu looked completely dumbfounded. This scale was way too insane!

She was genuinely worried the school would go bankrupt from being unable to afford the water army fees.

[1] SAN值 (SAN Value): From the tabletop RPG "Call of Cthulhu," where SAN (Sanity Points) represents a character's mental stability — encountering cosmic horrors causes SAN loss, and zero SAN means permanent insanity. In Chinese internet culture, "san值狂掉" (SAN dropping crazily) became a widespread expression for any situation so absurd or mind-breaking that it metaphorically damages one's sanity. Roughly equivalent to "losing brain cells" or a "sanity check failed" in English internet slang.