Chapter 197: I Have Grown Up

"Yo!"

Chen Banxia looked at her younger brother who had returned home and raised an eyebrow: "Isn't this my dear brother? You've been out for two days, and even your hairstyle has changed?"

"How is it?" Chen Shu smoothed his hair and asked proudly, "Is it explosively handsome?"

"It's quite spirited."

"Haha!"

"How come you suddenly thought of changing your hairstyle?"

"Summer is here, after all!"

"Alright, alright..." Chen Banxia paused, her expression turning mischievous again as she leaned in close to him, "Where have you been these past two days? How did you spend them?"

"I went to the arena and pulled two all-nighters."

"I don't believe a word of it!"

"Then why do you keep asking?"

"I'm curious!"

"Why are you so troublesome?" Wei Lvshi chimed in from the side, "Making a racket all day long..."

"??"

Chen Banxia was completely bewildered; she turned her head to look at Wei Lvshi but pointed at Chen Shu: "Your son has been missing for two whole days, not coming home at night, and you don't discipline him! I only said two words, and you say I'm making a racket??"

"If you have the ability, you can go missing for two days too."

"I... I..."

Chen Banxia puffed up with anger and turned her head away.

Catching a glimpse of her brother grinning at the side, she couldn't help but grab a cushion and throw it at him, but the cushion didn't hit him; instead, it was bounced back by an invisible force and hit her own face.

"!"

Chen Banxia was even angrier, her chest heaving violently.

After calming down for a while, she asked huffily: "When are you going back to Yujing?"

"Whenever."

"When does school start?"

"The twenty-second."

"That's only a few days away! Why are you still so unhurried? Why not buy tickets in advance?"

"I'll just take the high-speed rail."

"I want to buy a car," Chen Banxia said. "I've obtained the qualification for a Yujing license plate, and I'm wondering whether to buy it in Bai City and drive it over, or buy it once I'm there."

"You obtained the qualification for a Yujing plate?"

"Yeah, you didn't know?" Chen Banxia said. "Students who graduate from schools like Yujing, Ling'an, or National Comprehensive University can get the qualification for a Yujing plate as long as they graduate with top marks and stay in Yujing to work after graduation."

"First time hearing that."

"Tell me, should I buy it and drive it over, or buy it when I get there?"

"Have you picked out a car yet?"

"Not yet..."

"Then just pick one when you get there, it's only a few days away anyway," Chen Shu said. "Besides, it takes thirty or forty hours to drive there on the highway, and even with autopilot, you'd be sitting in the car for a long time; it would be miserable."

"That's true too..."

Chen Banxia decided on that, then pulled out her Mobile Phone: "I'll book the high-speed rail tickets for you all... Should I book for the twenty-first or the twentieth? Xiaoxiao needs to go to Ling'an Academy for enrollment registration, right? Does she need to go early?"

"Whatever," Chen Shu said. "She's already very familiar with the school anyway."

"Let's book for the twenty-first?"

"Sure, I'll let them know."

Chen Shu took out his Mobile Phone and opened Feixin, only to find a few messages from Yan Keling.

Yan Keling: Senior, Senior

Yan Keling: Check out the potion

Yan Keling: Are you there, are you there

Yan Keling: /cute/cute/cute

Chen Shu: I'm here

Yan Keling: Check out the potion

Chen Shu: When do you need it

Yan Keling: I'm preparing to attempt the Spirit Lock

Chen Shu: What a coincidence

Yan Keling: Is it?

Chen Shu: Yeah

Chen Shu: You really are a peerless genius

Chen Shu: /Our old Li is thick-skinned

Yan Keling: No way

Yan Keling: /well-behaved

Chen Shu: After school starts

Chen Shu: I'm still in Yuanzhou

Chen Shu: We'll trade in person after school starts, so you don't have to worry

Yan Keling: I'm not worried at all

Yan Keling: To be trusted by the seniors of the Hua Yue Sect proves that you, Senior Brother, must be a trustworthy person.

Chen Shu: You have a good eye!

Chen Shu: Logging off.

Immediately, he found Qingqing.

Chen Shu: The high-speed train on the twenty-first.

Qingqing: Okay.

Chen Shu glanced to the side and began sending messages to Chen Banxia again.

Chen Shu: Make the potion for me first when you get back.

Chen Banxia felt her Mobile Phone vibrate; she picked it up, looked at it, glanced at Chen Shu, then at Wei Lvshi beside her, and only then typed—

Chen Banxia: I want to eat garlic crayfish.

Chen Shu: ……

Chen Shu: I'll give you fifty as a labor fee for each potion.

Chen Banxia:?

Chen Shu: My cost for each potion is about one hundred and fifty, right? I've already agreed with the classmate I'm selling it to: two hundred per bottle. The remaining fifty is your labor fee; I'll give it all to you.

Chen Banxia: Only selling it for that much?

Chen Banxia: If this potion were put on the market, even as a three-no product, it would go for at least six hundred or eight hundred, and if you met a wealthy person who trusted you and needed it, you could easily sell it for an eight-figure sum.

Chen Shu: I'm not looking to make money.

Chen Shu: Recovering the cost is enough.

Chen Shu: It's to build a good connection.

Chen Shu: Don't complain that it's too little.

Chen Banxia: I don't want money!

Chen Banxia: I want garlic crayfish!

Chen Shu: ……

Chen Shu: Damn it, crayfish are such a pain to clean.

Chen Shu: Besides, crayfish don't taste good at all. If you use the same recipe for giant prawns or tiger prawns, they taste better than crayfish and have more meat.

Chen Banxia: I don't care, I don't care!

Chen Banxia: /covers ears

"What are you two doing?" Wei Lvshi's voice sounded abruptly, and she scanned them back and forth, "Staring at your Mobile Phones, typing and exchanging glances—are you discussing the food I've cooked these past two days behind my back?"

"No!" said Chen Banxia.

"Exactly!" said Chen Shu without hesitation, "Chen Banxia said that since I haven't been home these past two days, she's been ordering takeout at noon and eating your cooking at night, and she's about to throw up!"

"You……"

Chen Banxia pointed at her younger brother, her eyes wide.

Only then did Chen Shu lower his head to type.

Chen Shu: It's a deal.

……

July twenty-first.

Chen Shu and the others boarded the high-speed train, heading toward Yujing.

They sat from morning until night.

After resting for a night, they headed to Ling'an Academy the next day.

With new students starting school these few days, it was the busiest time of the year for the entire University City, just like last year.

The three of them hailed a taxi; the bus next to them was packed with students in the prime of their youth. Seeing this, Chen Shu couldn't help but look at the young girl with a sigh:

"Xiaoxiao is a university student now, too."

"That's right……" The young girl thought for a moment and said seriously, "I have grown up!"

"Is that so?"

"I don't know……"

"Haha!"

The three of them soon arrived at Ling'an Academy.

Outside the main gate, it was piled with people and vehicles, a level of bustle not seen in the past year. The school had turned on the fountains and hung up banners welcoming new students. Many orientation volunteers stood at the entrance holding signs with the names of their colleges, and simple tents were set up along both sides of the road leading inside.

One figure was particularly eye-catching.

How eye-catching?

At this moment, at the school gate, whether they were new students, old students, or parents, anyone with eyes who passed by had to take a look at her.

Because she was standing on the gate stone inscribed with the four large characters "Ling'an Academy," her hands in her pockets, pacing back and forth in boredom, looking up and peering around from time to time.

Seeing the three of them approach, she immediately raised her hands high, jumping and waving at them, then hopped down from the gate stone and ran over happily.

"You're here!?"

Zhang Suannai was full of joy; she took the suitcase from the young girl's hand and walked quickly inside: "I've been waiting for you for so long! Let's go, let's go! I've already found out where the Artificial Intelligence Academy is, I'll take you there directly!"

"Emmm……"

Chen Shu felt the gazes cast toward him.

The three of them followed behind her as she walked inside.

"Make way!

"Don't push, don't push!

"Excuse me, excuse me!"

Zhang Suannai shouted all the way, leading them to the front of the Artificial Intelligence Academy's tent.

The little girl had applied for a new major that the Artificial Intelligence Academy had only opened the year before last, called Artificial Life Engineering—a very high-sounding name.

Ever since Chen Shu heard that Qingqing had chosen this major for Xiaoxiao, he had specifically gone to learn about this new major, wanting to know just how promising it was, or what deep meaning Qingqing, as a Secret Sect Practitioner, might have, only to find that it was even more high-sounding than he had imagined—this major did not use programs to write intelligence, nor did it use biological or Spirit Soul technology to synthesize new life, but rather combined machinery, Spirit Power, Rune, biology, and Spirit Soul technology, attempting to research a new way to create life.

This major was currently only available at Ling'an Academy, and the admission requirements were ridiculously high.

In the past, Yujing Academy had also opened a major with the same name, but it was under the School of Life Sciences, and its direction was completely different from this major. Later, due to a series of problems with biological-based Artificial Life, research in this area was stopped globally in the public eye, and the major was subsequently cancelled.

The Artificial Life Engineering at Ling'an Academy, however, was a brand-new research direction.

Yes, compared to a field of study, it was more like a research project that had just begun, with teachers and students working together to open up a new field.

Perhaps this was the confidence of a world-class academy.

"Come, come, come..."

Zhang Suannai happily pulled the little girl over to start queuing for registration.

A group of orientation volunteers on the side stared longingly.

The three girls were truly quite stunning; even excluding Ning Qing and Zhang Suannai, the little girl was also very good-looking, just slightly small in stature. If they had met them walking in from the main gate under normal circumstances, they would have gone up to greet them no matter what, and perhaps even competed for the chance in private, but Zhang Suannai's reputation and appearance had already become famous throughout the University City last semester; seeing Zhang Suannai, everyone knew that she was being brought by a familiar senior sister.

"Fill out the information."

"Okay."

"Give me your ID card."

"Okay."

"Artificial Life Engineering? Awesome!"

"I am very smart."

"Wait! You're only sixteen??"

"I have already grown up."

"No! You were specially admitted at sixteen?"

"I am very smart."

"... Impressive!"

"Are you done?"

"Done, here is your campus card." The male student in charge of registration had a complicated expression, looking at the little girl, then at Zhang Suannai and Ning Qing behind her; as for that guy with the buzz cut, he ignored him, and after a moment of hesitation, he asked, "Do you want me to take you to your Dormitory?"

"I can take you guys too!" A senior sister also volunteered.

"No need," the little girl said.

"Can you find it?"

"I can find it."

"Is this your family member?" the senior brother asked.

"She is my sister," the little girl paused, then added, "and my brother-in-law."

"..."

"Alright, you guys keep working hard," Zhang Suannai said, "She is in the same room as me."

"Okay..."

They did not dare to provoke Zhang Suannai and her group.

What was the concept of being the first place in the off-campus group of the Martial Body competition? It probably meant that not a single person in several schools could beat her...

At the same time, as fellow students at the same school, they knew more about Zhang Suannai than students from other schools; to say nothing else, just last semester, they had seen school-wide disciplinary notices regarding Zhang Suannai at least several times.

One could only say that she was worthy of being the Personal Disciple of the Sword Master.