Chapter 70: Second-Rank Upper-Tier? Yang Zhentian

Source Water Supply Base, top-floor VIP room.

Xu Jingming, on the sofa, looked at the space ring inside the box with surprise.

Those who wield spatial abilities are already rare; attaching spatial ability to a ring requires an intricate, multi-step process.

The larger the internal space, the higher the cost.

A space ring with a capacity of one cubic meter costs at least fifty million Daya currency on official sale!

Wang Chuang’s willingness to offer this ring as compensation clearly demonstrates his sincerity.

“Since Director Wang is so thoughtful, I’ll accept it.”

Xu Jingming smiled slightly, didn’t refuse, and took both the black gold card and the space ring.

Seeing this, Wang Chuang sighed in relief.

At this point, the trouble Zhao Chunlin had caused had been perfectly resolved.

Although he had given away a valuable space ring, gaining Xu Jingming’s approval was worth it.

As for Zhao Chunlin and his group—eliminating them was no great loss.

Many others are eyeing the sixth-floor supervisor position; just pick another to replace him.

“No wonder you’re Professor Yang’s student—your style is truly generous!”

“By the way, I know your senior brother, Liu Ming.”

Wang Chuang laughed heartily, deliberately changing the subject.

“Oh? Really?” Xu Jingming raised an eyebrow.

That was something he hadn’t expected.

“Yes, Senior Brother Liu Ming once trained here at the Source Water Supply Base...”

As the base’s chief supervisor, Wang Chuang’s emotional intelligence was certainly high.

He brought up Senior Brother Liu Ming as a topic and started chatting freely.

Although only two people were in the room, the conversation never stalled.

Thus, Wang Chuang chattered on for over half an hour.

Had Xu Jingming not initiated leaving, the man might have talked all day without stopping!

“Student Xu, if you ever run into trouble again, just contact me directly.”

“In Metropolis, I might not amount to much, but here in Source Water City, my word still carries weight.”

Before leaving, Wang Chuang warmly gave Xu Jingming his personal contact information.

He said that in Source Water City, any problem could be handled directly by him.

This made Xu Jingming silently reflect.

This was the power of background.

If a regular second-rank upper-tier genius had been in his place, they would never have received such treatment...

Leaving the top-floor VIP reception room.

Xu Jingming rented a room on the 18th floor of the supply base.

Originally, as usual, he intended to book a standard room.

But the receptionist, upon seeing the black gold card in his hand,

nervously upgraded his room to a luxury suite on her own initiative.

Thus, Xu Jingming received one of the best-equipped rooms in the entire Source Water Supply Base.

The entire room was over two hundred square meters, complete with bedroom, bathroom, and entertainment area.

The decor was luxurious, with exquisitely crafted furnishings throughout.

Yet the most stunning feature of the entire suite was the expansive floor-to-ceiling window in the living room.

Through this window, one could overlook the outer zones of the Source Water Wasteland.

Xu Jingming stood by the window and looked down; if one ignored the ferocious beasts rampaging in the wasteland, the view below was quite pleasant.

But compared to the view outside, he had more important matters to attend to.

Xu Jingming turned his gaze away and sat down on the living room sofa.

He then eagerly pulled out the space ring Wang Chuang had gifted him and examined it closely.

Externally, the space ring looked no different from an ordinary ring.

Yet Xu Jingming sensed the same spatial energy he had detected earlier in the combat technique library of Metropolis Ability University.

Using the space ring was simple: just imprint your spiritual force onto it.

Xu Jingming’s spiritual force reached 972 Hz, far exceeding the 600–700 Hz typical of ordinary second-rank upper-tier ability users.

This was also why he had detected the Tiger Shark Team trailing him.

So Xu Jingming quickly imprinted his spiritual signature onto the space ring.

The instant he did, a cubic space of approximately one cubic meter appeared in his perception.

“This is the interior space of the space ring.”

Xu Jingming’s eyes gleamed slightly—he now possessed one of those magical items from fantasy novels.

Next, he tested the storage function of the space ring.

Anything he touched, except living beings, could be stored inside.

But if he tried to store an object larger than one cubic meter, the storage would fail.

Space rings are the kind of item that feels amazing before you get them, but loses its novelty once you do.

After playing with the storage and retrieval functions for a short while, Xu Jingming quickly lost interest.

After placing his most important items—pills, fresh water, energy bars, iron pot, and seasonings—inside the space ring,

he took out his phone and dialed Professor Yang Zhentian.

“You’ve left the Wasteland?”

Professor Yang Zhentian’s familiar voice came through the phone.

“Yes, I just got out today. Also, I want to tell you something...”

Xu Jingming had received such a valuable compensation from Wang Chuang primarily because of Professor Yang’s influence.

So it was necessary to explain the situation to his teacher.

He briefly recounted how he encountered Zhao Chunlin, what happened in between, and how Wang Chuang ultimately handled it.

Upon hearing that Zhao Chunlin had dispatched a second-rank upper-tier elite ability team to assassinate him,

a crackling surge of thunderous electricity erupted from the phone, destabilizing the signal.

Xu Jingming quickly added that the elite team had abandoned their mission, and Professor Yang’s fury subsided slightly.

Only after Xu Jingming finished describing the entire outcome did a cold snort come through:

“Hmph! How dare they send someone to assassinate you! A space ring as compensation is too lenient!”

“If anything had happened to you, I’d level the entire supply base!”

If Xu Jingming had died to a beast, Yang Zhentian would have accepted it without complaint.

But if someone behind the scenes had stabbed him in the back, Yang Zhentian would spare no one connected to it!

“By the way, you said that second-rank upper-tier elite team trailed you to the alley—why did they ultimately abandon their mission?”

On the other end, Yang Zhentian was both relieved and puzzled.

He had once frequently entered the Wasteland himself and knew some ability teams would do any dirty job for money.

Once a task was accepted, they wouldn’t abandon it unless faced with overwhelming difficulty.

“Maybe they realized I’m also second-rank upper-tier,” Xu Jingming rubbed his nose.

“Huh?”

It was clear Yang Zhentian had paused in shock, but quickly recovered and asked:

“You’ve reached second-rank upper-tier?!”

“Yeah, I just advanced a few days ago.”

There was a moment of silence on the other end, then Yang Zhentian’s excited, joyful voice rang out:

“Good! Good! Good! No wonder you’re my student Yang Zhentian’s! Your progress is even faster than mine back then!

When you return to school, I’ll host a celebration for you myself!”

“Got it.”

Xu Jingming smiled slightly.

After that, he chatted with his teacher a bit longer before hanging up.

Meanwhile, in Professor Yang Zhentian’s villa at Metropolis Ability University, Yang Zhentian stared in astonishment.

Having taught at Metropolis Ability University for decades, what geniuses hadn’t he seen?

But he’d never encountered a student who advanced from first-rank upper-tier to second-rank upper-tier in just one month!

“They say life-or-death crises are catalysts for strength—but in my disciple,

this isn’t even a catalyst—it’s outright cheating!”