Chapter 438: Make Arrangements! Xia Lan, the Little Fan!

The betting pools on the forum all started today.

The duration of each bet varies, but most last over a month.

Just on the first day, there are already over five million points wagered; by the end, the number of bettors will surely keep growing.

Xia Lan added softly.

The Thunder Martial Arts Academy's prodigy training camp has only three hundred students, but the other two training camps combined have a full thirty thousand!

They all use points as their universal currency; this accumulated five million point wager is merely the beginning.

"True enough." Xu Jingming nodded. "What's the odds ratio for win or loss?"

"There are too many bets; the overall ratio isn't clear."

Xia Lan hesitated slightly. "But the largest bet has odds of about 1:3 on whether we'll complete the mission or not."

That bet has accumulated nearly four million points so far.

"One to three? That ratio still feels too low." Xu Jingming rubbed his chin.

The higher the ratio, the greater the payout if you win—would be great if we could raise it somehow.

"Got it!"

Xu Jingming's eyes lit up. "For now, you can start posting some messages on the forum."

Say that as soon as we arrived in Myanmar, we were attacked, everyone injured, and the investigation hit a dead end.

"Aren't people supporting us good? Why spread such a message?"

Lin Hui looked puzzled, but beside him, Xia Lan had already figured it out:

"Captain, you want to bet against yourself—then make a huge profit after completing the mission!"

"But isn't that too risky? That mastermind, the branch chief Miao Pu, probably won't be easy to handle..."

Of the six psychics who attacked the academy branch, five were sixth-rank.

With Xu Jingming's strength, capturing them wouldn't be a problem.

Only the vice-chairman of the Black Lion Guild, Miao Pu, is a seventh-rank lower-tier psychic with an A-class enhancement ability.

And since he killed the seventh-rank branch chief, his strength within his rank is clearly not weak.

Such a seventh-rank master is far beyond what Xu Jingming can currently handle.

"Of course I can't handle him now, but later? Who knows."

Xu Jingming grinned. "I'm heading to the Kanda Wilderness Zone. When the timing's right, I'll come back and deal with him."

To be honest,

he'd never fought a seventh-rank master before and didn't know his own limits.

At best, he might hold his own against a B-class seventh-rank lower-tier master.

Defeating one would be extremely difficult, let alone an A-class seventh-rank master.

After all, a seventh-rank psychic's strength is more than ten times greater than a peak sixth-rank psychic's!

Before capturing Miao Pu, he needs to boost his strength further—it's the safest approach.

"To the wilderness zone..."

Lin Hui and the others exchanged glances; the tone made it sound like returning from the wilderness would make him strong enough to beat Miao Pu.

Though life-or-death crises do help psychics break through, it can't be this extreme, right?

"Miao Pu's group is hiding deep and scattered across different locations; even capturing them would be troublesome."

If we stay inactive for a while, it'll let them lower their guard.

While I'm gone, you all just monitor the locations of Miao Pu's people based on this intel—don't act on your own."

Xu Jingming quickly made his arrangements, then turned to Xia Lan:

"By the way, how long until that bet closes?"

This trip to the Kanda Wilderness Zone will take at least a month, conservatively.

If we place the bet but fail to complete the mission due to excessive delay and get marked as a loss, that'd be a problem.

So we must confirm this clearly first.

"There's only one week to place bets—after that, the pool closes—but the total duration is long: two months."

If we complete or abandon the mission during that time, the bet ends early."

Xia Lan spoke quickly.

Honestly, she owed it to two fellow sisters who passed her the info—otherwise she wouldn't know this in detail.

"Two months? That's enough."

Xu Jingming nodded. "Alright, that's it for today. Let's find a hotel and check in.

I'll head to the Kanda Wilderness Zone first thing tomorrow—you all follow the plan."

"Yes!" Though Lin Hui found Xu Jingming's plan a bit dubious, he was still the captain.

So he said nothing, nodding respectfully along with the others.

For psychics, learning a foreign language is simple.

Xu Jingming's group had already mastered Burmese and quickly booked five rooms nearby.

These five rooms weren't luxurious enough to include training rooms, but they were much larger than standard rooms.

"I'm going in first—you all rest early too."

"Bye."

"Goodnight, Captain."

Xu Jingming's room was the first; after he entered, Lin Hui and the others continued down the hallway.

"So? Are you guys betting with the Captain?"

In the corridor, Lin Hui spoke up to ask.

"Of course." Xia Lan replied without the slightest hesitation.

"How much are you planning to bet? I'm just looking for a reference."

"I still have 21,000 points on me, so I'll wager 20,000. The remaining thousand I'll keep as backup."

"How much? Twenty thousand?"

Lin Hui's eyes went wide, wondering if he'd misheard. "If I remember right, you only entered the Prodigy Training Camp half a year ago, right?

It took a lot of effort to save up those twenty thousand, and you're just going to throw it all in like that? Aren't you afraid you'll end up losing every last bit of it?"

Points in the Prodigy Training Camp weren't easy to come by, and Xia Lan was only a fourth-rank upper-stage ability user — her level wasn't exactly that high.

Those twenty-plus thousand points had required half a year of constantly taking on missions, and barely spending any of them, to accumulate.

"I'm not afraid. I have a lot of confidence in Xu Jingming."

In Xia Lan's beautiful eyes, like sapphires, a faint unusual glint flickered.

"Goodness!

I always thought our training camp already had plenty of little fans of Xu Jingming, but I never expected you to be one of them too!"

Lin Hui couldn't help exclaiming in shock.

Although he himself had no interest in Xia Lan, there were plenty of trainees in the elite training camp who did.

Some of those trainees were not only extremely powerful, but also had terrifying backgrounds.

Yet without exception, none of them had managed to catch Xia Lan's eye.

Who would have thought she would single out Xu Jingming for such special treatment.

"But then again, a twenty-year-old fifth-rank, with an SS-grade ability, and that handsome to boot.

If I were a girl his age, I'd probably fall for him too."

Thinking of Xu Jingming's conditions, Lin Hui felt relieved.

Although Xia Lan was proud by nature, as long as her orientation was normal, she would inevitably show some girlish qualities.

Being drawn to Xu Jingming, dazzling like a new star, was perfectly normal.

As for the label of "little fan," Xia Lan gave a charming smile and didn't argue.

Perhaps it was because Instructor Rei Kesi was always using Xu Jingming's near-incredible experiences at Magic University as an example for her.

Or perhaps it was Xu Jingming's terrifying suppressive power during the assessment matches.

In any case,

the current her had a kind of inexplicable confidence in Xu Jingming.

As if even if Xu Jingming claimed he could defeat an eighth-rank Grandmaster after returning from the wilderness zone, she would still choose to believe him without hesitation.

Given the situation, calling her a little fan didn't seem excessive at all...