Xie Litang was living a thoroughly fulfilling life.
She woke up before dawn, and as soon as she was up, she stacked Steel.
After stacking Steel, she went home to eat, and after eating, she went back to stacking Steel.
Going back and forth between the same spots, her routine was more disciplined than any wage slave's.
Besides, in this world, an academic diploma had never been the only stepping stone to success.
As long as you had the power and skill, the merchant guilds, hunting squads, and martial arts dojos across the city would throw their doors wide open for you, so Xie Litang stacked Steel with utter joy.
However, time was also pressing.
She calculated that before the online loan repayment date arrived, she would have to make a trip out of the city to hunt demon beasts and plug the debt hole first.
As Xie Litang swatted flies off a sticky trap, she calculated aloud:
“There are still seven days until repayment day, so within the next four days, I must raise my Vitality to at least four hundred or more.
“By then, swatting a single fly will grant more than one point of Vitality, and I can farm several thousand a day.”
【CLANG, CLANG, CLANG...】
Vitality +0.52.
Vitality +0.52.
Vitality +0.53.
Xie Litang felt an itch of impatience deep inside.
Hunting down bugs one by one like this—how long would that take until the cows came home? While the underground district looked dilapidated enough, even the foulest, filthiest mob-farming spots couldn't withstand her relentless scourging.
The idea of setting up a mosquito breeding farm grew stronger and stronger in her mind.
Build a breeding pool, raise a whole vat of mosquitoes, and she could just stand by the edge swatting with her eyes closed.
When that time came, breaking ten thousand or even tens of thousands in Vitality would be child's play.
Scratching an itch on her leg, Xie Litang muttered with mounting impatience, “No, I can't keep going like this.
“Efficiency, efficiency, efficiency! Important things must be said three times!”
Just as she stood amidst the sea of insect corpses, feeling thoroughly annoyed...
...a group of Jianghai High School students noisily surrounded her.
At their head was a dark-skinned boy who stepped forward and said, “You're Xie Litang?”
A student beside him was holding up a smartphone for livestreaming, thrusting it almost directly into Xie Litang's face.
On the screen, bullet comments scrolled up one after another:
【Go get her, Senior! Beat the crap out of her!】
【Ye Chengwu, didn't you have a crush on Li Ruoxi? She said as long as you avenge her, she'll grant you the qualification to pursue her—just a chance, though!】
【Is Xie Litang really walking the streets? Back in school, I always thought she was the biggest slut. Anyone got the address?】
【An E-Grade piece of trash shouldn't be making a fool of herself in front of Senior.】
【Jianghai High School shall not be disgraced...】
A surge of anger flared within Xie Litang. “Get lost,” she said.
With that, she turned to leave.
Feeling humiliated, Ye Chengwu immediately bristled, his tone turning stern. “Did I say you could leave?”
Utterly annoyed, Xie Litang said, “Final warning. Get lost.”
The boy straightened his posture, speaking with arrogance. “I'm Ye Chengwu, a member of the school's Martial Arts Club. You beat up Li Ruoxi. Today, I'm going to avenge her—I challenge you!”
In the livestream, bullet comments flooded the screen at once, every viewer eagerly awaiting a good show.
Xie Litang raised an eyebrow and immediately denied it. “You can eat whatever you want, but you can't just spew nonsense. Which eye saw me hit her? Your cockeye? Or Li Ruoxi's asshole?”
Ye Chengwu's face flushed crimson with rage. “Y-You... Hit me or curse at me, I can take it, but of all things, you should never have insulted Li Ruoxi! You truly deserve to die!”
Xie Litang didn't even bother acknowledging him and moved to walk around him.
Choked into speechlessness by her rebuke, Ye Chengwu simply let out a furious roar. His frame expanded drastically, his skin turning an earthy yellow, resembling a small rock giant.
Even the surrounding air seemed to grow heavier.
Ye Chengwu hurled a punch toward Xie Litang, bellowing, “I said, Classmate Li Ruoxi shall not be insulted! Did you hear me?!”
BOOM!
Dust billowed into the air as several paving stones shattered beneath the blow.
Xie Litang sidestepped to evade it.
Having learned Wind-Style Swordsmanship, her affinity with the wind was extraordinarily high.
The gust stirred up by that plummeting fist had been sensed by her well in advance.
Before the fist could arrive, the wind arrived first. She had already shifted her footing, dodging cleanly and effortlessly.
Drawing her wooden sword, she slashed down at the mini rock giant Ye Chengwu had transformed into.
Crack.
A tiny hairline fracture instantly surfaced along the wooden sword.
The strike felt like hacking into solid rock, the impact jarring her hand until the webbing of her thumb went numb.
Xie Litang realized that with her current physical strength, she couldn't even break through this mini rock giant's defense.
Yet soon, a smirk curved upon her lips. “If my base damage isn't enough, Heartsteel will make up the difference.”
Throughout the entire day, Xie Litang had barely stopped doing anything besides eating.
Her Vitality had already reached a whopping 226.
With every Steel proc...
...she could deal 6.78 true damage.
Whether you were rock or solid diamond, you would have to take every bit of it full-on.
At first, Ye Chengwu hadn't cared in the slightest. A broken wooden sword held by a frail girl—how could she possibly hurt him?
Yet as the number of Xie Litang's strikes accumulated, he gradually felt a throbbing agony welling up wherever her blade had landed.
The sensation was like being stung by hornets—stab after stab of piercing, bone-deep pain.
【CLANG】
Vitality +0.68.
Ye Chengwu shrieked in agony, “Ah! It hurts...!”
Driven to the brink of madness, his eyes suddenly turned blood-red, and he bellowed once more, “I'll kill you!”
The watching Jianghai High School students shrieked, all assuming Ye Chengwu had lost control.
In the livestream, the comments exploded into complete mayhem:
【Oh crap, Ye Chengwu lost his temper! He's completely lost his mind!】
【Her waist isn't even as thick as my arm, is Ye Chengwu being a sore loser or what?】
【Haven't you guys noticed? From the start of the fight until now, Ye Chengwu hasn't landed a single hit on her.】
【Isn't that obvious nonsense? Wild, wide swings are the inherent flaw of the Rock Giant ability—you can't have your cake and eat it too. Besides, you expect the girl to just stand there and take hits?】
【Wait, this doesn't make sense. I remember Xie Litang's practical combat scores were totally mediocre. When did her footwork get this good?】
【Ye Chengwu's gone berserk! She's in danger!】
Xie Litang merely sneered. “Incompetent rage. And you still think you can kill me?”
The twelfth strike slashed outward.
Even in his berserk fury, Ye Chengwu wailed in agony once more.
She loved dealing with big lugs like this—huge target, slow movements, and riddled with openings from head to toe.
Ye Chengwu threw several more punches, sending clouds of dust billowing and cracking the stone pavers, yet every single punch hit only empty air.
Toward the end, Xie Litang even closed her eyes, beginning to truly savor the combat.
The massive fists of the mini rock giant grazed past her ears; though it seemed perilously close, she effortlessly danced out of harm's way every time.
Relying on the flow of the wind, Xie Litang cleanly evaded each of Ye Chengwu's strikes.
The wind was her eyes.
The thirteenth strike.
【CLANG】
Vitality +0.71.
Ye Chengwu let out a shrill scream and collapsed onto the ground.
One more strike, and he would be dead.
Xie Litang stepped forward, patted his cheek with her wooden sword, and said with utter disdain, “I gave you a chance, but you were completely useless. Tell me, if you don't have the strength, why act so tough?
“Did you think being a simp was that easy?
“Simps never end well.
“You get that now?”
Xie Litang lowered her voice, crouching down to whisper, “If killing wasn't forbidden inside the city, you'd already be a corpse.”
Xie Litang extended her thumb.
Then, letting out a soft chuckle...
...she dragged it across her throat in a slitting motion.
Rate on N.U.
