Ch. 242 - Striking at Evil Forces — I, Chen Shu, Won't Shirk This Duty

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Chen Shu was speechless. His explanations had grown pale and powerless.

Just then, his phone rang.

Shen Wushuang glanced at it and spotted the caller ID: Fang Si.

"See? Even your sister's telling you to turn yourself in!"

Chen Shu answered the call. Before he could say a word, Fang Si's excited voice came rushing through:

"Bro, was Nancang City Center your doing? WELL DONE!"

"???"

Shen Wushuang stared over, his face filling with question marks. What the fuck was going on?

Fang Si, you were a Dragon Guard!

How could those words even leave your mouth?

"That's what any model citizen ought to do. Cracking down on evil forces — I, Chen Shu, won't shirk this duty!"[1]

Chen Shu grinned. Fang Si had clearly gotten word about the Dark Night Organization.

Without the fire he'd set, how could a single cell have been wiped out so easily?

Even if the Dragon Guard had investigated Dingsheng Tower, the Dark Night Organization could have covered their tracks. Unfortunately for them, no one could have imagined someone so reckless as to torch a building in the city center outright.

That was textbook criminal behavior — something the government's Dragon Guard would never do. The Dark Night Organization had exploited that very blind spot to nest right in the city center.

"Be careful, though. Dark Night might come looking for revenge."

Before this, Chen Shu and Dark Night had no grudge. Now things were different.

He'd destroyed an entire cell and cost them one Gold-rank, three Silver-rank operatives. That grudge ran deep.

Chen Shu nodded. "Don't worry. If the Dragon Guard couldn't trace it, neither will Dark Night."

"Oh, by the way — heard you're in the Beast Taming Competition's Final Four? Make your sister proud!"

They chatted for a while longer, then hung up.

Chen Shu asked, puzzled, "Teacher, why are you sitting so far away?"

"Was it Fang Si who put you up to this?"

Shen Wushuang was already picturing himself arresting his two finest students.

"All right, Teacher Shen, don't overthink it. I'm busy with the competition."

Chen Shu didn't want to say any more. He headed straight upstairs and returned to his room.

He had the nagging feeling he'd forgotten something.

Shen Wushuang furrowed his brow. Suddenly, he slapped his thigh and yelled:

"CHEN PI! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN BY BLOCKING ME?!"

"My phone was possessed..."

......

Time flew by, and the third round soon concluded.

By now it was late April. The Hundred-Day Oath Ceremony had already passed.[2]

All across the nation, senior-year students had launched into their final sprint for the college entrance exam. Except, of course, for certain individuals...

"Huff... huff..."

Chen Shu was fast asleep in his hotel room, alone. As for the college entrance exam — it didn't even cross his mind.

In the Spirit Fighting Arena's rest area, only four teams remained.

But most of the eliminated competitors hadn't left. They'd stayed to watch — specifically, to watch Chen Shu get beaten senseless...

This guy had provoked universal hatred and maxed out his aggro.

Shen Wushuang frowned. "Xiaoyu, Xia Bing — where's Chen Pi?"

He hadn't returned to school. With only a month until the college entrance exam, the special training class students were largely self-studying.

Xu Xiaoyu said, "Probably... sleeping..."

"SLEEPING?!"

Shen Wushuang's eyes bulged. How could someone his age possibly be sleeping right now?!

And what the hell — the match was about to start!

Shen Wushuang rushed out of the Spirit Fighting Arena. Half an hour later, he'd physically dragged Chen Shu out of the hotel.

By now, the host was introducing the two teams.

The Beast Taming Competition had reached the semifinals, and viewership had multiplied several times over. Even regular people wanted to see who this year's championship team would be.

Most of the attention was on Nanjiang City — a small-city team had somehow snuck into the Final Four!

And they didn't have a single S-rank contract spirit among them. Instead, they had one F-rank Slime and one Level 8 Ice Wolf.

Going by the lineup alone, they were a total bush league team. A single S-rank could crush them.

But Chen Shu's Slime was too absurd to judge by normal standards.

"Nanjiang Bandit, INVINCIBLE! CHARGE!"

"Nanjiang Bandit, INVINCIBLE! CHARGE!"

The chanting had already erupted through the Spirit Fighting Arena.

Shen Wushuang paused, surprised. He hadn't expected Chen Shu to have this much popularity.

"Chen Pi, not bad! You're actually popular!"

Chen Shu waved a hand, the very picture of modesty.

To salvage his image, he'd shamelessly bought another massive wave of paid commenters.

The other three teams were all local Nancang City squads. What if an out-of-town team like his didn't have enough support? Even if he lost, he had to bring the style!

Xu Xiaoyu and Xia Bing exchanged a look. After a moment of silence, they said:

"Teacher... you should tell the school to prepare some more money. There might be... additional expenses."

With that, the three of them left the rest area and headed to the competitor positions.

The first semifinal match of the day: Nanjiang City versus Nancang Second High!

Chen Shu's luck had been extraordinarily good — he'd never faced the strongest Nancang First High. Or perhaps... the wish had come true, and some competitors had unknowingly lost years off their lifespans...

"We'll defeat you!"

The Nancang Second High team consisted of two boys and one girl. All three sets of eyes locked onto Chen Shu — they clearly knew who their biggest obstacle was.

"Your Slime is strong, but it can't withstand our combined assault!"

Yu Ke, the Nancang Second High captain, spoke with confidence in his eyes. They'd meticulously studied every one of Chen Shu's matches.

They'd assessed the Slime's combat strength at roughly 1.5 S-rank contract spirits.

A Slime this terrifying had already broken Huaxia's historical records! Contract spirit experts had tacitly assigned it an S-rank potential rating — and a top-tier S-rank at that.

Name: Poop Monster!

The two teams took their positions, and the semifinal curtain rose!

Yu Ke and his two teammates immediately summoned their contract spirits.

A golden giant ape appeared, roaring skyward with a terrifying aura — the S-rank Golden Armored Violent Ape.

On the ape's shoulder perched a purple butterfly, barely palm-sized, utterly inconspicuous. Yet not a single spectator overlooked it.

This was the master-controller S-rank, the Purple-Winged Illusion Butterfly!

Those two S-rank contract spirits alone, working in tandem, could sweep most teams.

Behind them stood a three-meter-tall green sapling, its body covered in slender, gently swaying branches.

A rare plant-type contract spirit!

Contract spirits came in countless varieties, though animal types made up the majority — hence the title "Beast Tamer."

"A healing-type contract spirit..."

Chen Shu remained outwardly composed, but inwardly he treated this with extreme caution. Despite the Slime's skyrocketing power, he didn't relax one bit.

Even a lion uses all its strength to catch a rabbit — and these opponents were far from rabbits.

BOOM!

The massive Slime appeared. Despite its dopey-cute looks, its terrifying presence still overwhelmed the Golden Ape.

"Hold on! How did this thing get BIGGER?! Are you even playing fair?!"

"Holy crap, I think so too — is it almost forty meters now?!"

Audience members rose to their feet, mouths hanging open, utterly dumbfounded.

At this growth rate, who the hell was supposed to be your opponent?!

"Just bigger, not stronger. Not stronger..."

The three from Nancang Second High kept reassuring themselves.

Their overnight research and analysis of the Slime looked like a joke now.

So while they'd been studying, its strength just kept rising the whole time?!

Then what the hell was the point of studying?!

"This isn't scientific!"

Shen Wushuang rubbed his chin.

In under two months, the thing's power had kept climbing. How was that possible?

Chen Shu was already a Level 9 Beast Tamer — his rank couldn't go any higher. And given the wealth he'd accumulated, his potions should all be maxed out.

Scientifically speaking, the Slime's attributes should be capped by now!

A thought surfaced in Shen Wushuang's mind:

"Don't tell me... every time you commit an act of destruction, the Slime gets a power boost?"

Of course, he dismissed the theory immediately.

Only someone with brain damage would believe that.

[1] 当仁不让 (Dāng Rén Bù Ràng): From the Analects of Confucius — "When faced with benevolence, do not yield even to your teacher." A classical chengyu describing the moral imperative to personally shoulder righteous duties. Chen Shu, a self-confessed arsonist, deploying this noble phrase is peak mock-heroic irony. He pairs it with "三好市民" (Model Citizen), parodying the Communist Youth League's "Three-Good Student" award (good morals, good studies, good health).

[2] 百日宣誓 (Hundred-Day Oath Ceremony): A near-universal Chinese high school tradition. One hundred days before the gaokao (college entrance exam), senior-year students gather to take a collective oath swearing to give everything they have to their studies. It is emotionally charged, roughly comparable in cultural weight to a senior prom — except entirely about exam scores.