As she listened, Yuan Hanshuang’s thoughts drifted away.

She began to contemplate what kind of skills she should develop to maximize her combat effectiveness.

Finally, through Yuan Hanshuang’s diligent training, half a month later, she successfully broke through the peak of the zero rank and officially entered the first rank.

It was at this critical juncture that she began to have some ideas about the direction of her skill development.

To confirm whether she had mastered a new combat method, practical combat was necessary.

Moreover, after breaking through to the first rank, Yuan Hanshuang could officially go to the Black Street Combat Arena and complete the procedures to upgrade from a regular combatant to a talented combatant.

“Eating without enthusiasm, there’s a problem with your mindset.”

With triple the salary in front of her, Yuan Hanshuang didn’t even think twice and happily decided to skip the unimportant theory class tomorrow morning and go take care of her promotion procedures first.

After having breakfast, the whole family set out together.

Yuan Hanshuang first dropped her father off at the tavern where he worked. After seeing her father change into his security uniform, she waved goodbye.

After taking over her father’s job at the combat arena, she found a relatively simple and easy job for him as a security guard at the tavern. With her father’s natural strength, he was more than capable of dealing with ordinary people.

That’s how it is for families in poverty. No able-bodied person can be spared.

“Goodbye, Dad! I’m going to school now!”

She backpacked her small bag, waved to her father, turned around the corner, and then circled back like a thief, confidently walking into a narrow alley and through a doorway.

After several turns in the abandoned and dark corridor, it suddenly opened up ahead.

Looking up, there was an infinite underground dome, with only the night sky and stars. But even if it was an artificial landscape, it looked no different from the outside world. As she looked around, she saw a surrounding layout of cold steel, and the ground was made of an unknown alloy. People were coming and going on the streets, and higher up, there were deep blue star tracks and floating ships.

This place was called Black Street. The underground combat arena where Yuan Hanshuang worked every day was built here.

Just hearing the name, one could tell it was a lawless place, and indeed it was.

Black Street was built underground on the planet and belonged to the default three-way zone. Inside, there were mostly combat arenas, casinos, auctions, and grey marketplaces for shady trades. After many years of development, it had become a massive industry chain, with organizations under its umbrella spread throughout the empire and federation, making it a formidable force to be reckoned with.

Of course, although it sounded dangerous, Black Street also had its own rules.

Most of the people coming and going on Black Street were talented individuals, and there were also plenty of ruthless characters. It was a mix of good and bad, with a strong scent of blood. The combat arenas held life-and-death matches several times a year, and there were even life-and-death rings set up. Yuan Hanshuang had handled bodies while working at the combat arena, so it had long become a normal occurrence for her.

“Ding, employee card recognized.”

Arriving at the back door of the combat arena, her face recognized, the tightly closed alloy door silently opened.

She changed into a black, tight-fitting combat suit in the employee room, let her twin pigtails down and tied them up into a high ponytail. Then, she picked up the sunglasses on the shelf and pressed the hidden button beside them. The sunglasses instantly underwent molecular recombination and diffusion, completely covering her face.

She walked into the employee lounge.

Black Street had more people at night, but this early in the morning, there were only regular employees in the lounge. There were a few scattered around, glancing at her when they heard the noise, but then losing interest and looking away.

There were many types of employees in the combat arena, from receptionists to front desk staff, janitors to odd jobs, and even resident combatants like her.

Every so often, the combat arena would send out invitations to active and potentially talented individuals, inviting them to become resident combatants at the arena. Those who signed contracts with the combat arena not only received better services, but also had guaranteed shares and bonuses compared to transient personnel. The combat arena would set a minimum number of matches each month that the combatant must participate in, as well as a minimum win rate, to ensure that there were always exciting matches taking place in the arena.

For someone new to the interstellar world, other money-making opportunities had their barriers, so it seemed more appropriate to stick to her old profession.

Setting aside the rest, Yuan Hanshuang quite liked the working atmosphere of the combat arena. There were no social obligations, no overtime work, and the relationships between employees were particularly cold. There was no need to spend time maintaining social connections.

She walked straight to the floating screen in the lounge, authenticated her iris, and selected the upgrade service.

Soon, senior staff members came to take her to complete the certification process as a talented individual.

Since they came to watch the matches at the combat arena, the audience naturally preferred to see something exciting. The combat of talented individuals was much more impressive than that of mere ordinary people.

In such a situation, the combat arena naturally preferred to invest more money.

After the senior staff members filled out the forms, they said warmly, “Please demonstrate your psychic Manifestation.”

“Okay,” she said.

…

Meanwhile, on the other side, Xiao Yunmeng and Hong Nian finally found the time to negotiate with the principal and successfully obtained Yuan Hanshuang’s home address.

The home visit was conducted secretly, and to take care of the student’s feelings, they specially selected a day when the student had classes and went on leave from school.

“Residential area… Does the child live here normally?”

Looking at the tall buildings in front of her, Xiao Yunmeng couldn’t help but frown.

When she enrolled, she had already noticed Yuan Hanshuang’s attire. After all, all the other children wore school uniforms, but this one walked around the school in patched clothes, completely unbothered.

Ironically, Yuan Hanshuang didn’t think there was anything wrong with it. When she was once teased, she even solemnly told her classmates that it was the latest fashion trend in the capital star’s fashion circle, where fashionable people and nobles liked to sew different colored patches on their clothes.

In the end, she shook her head with pity, “Ah, you guys are so out of touch with fashion!”

Others: ?????

1999 light-years away from the capital star, several star clusters away, with limited access to information, and with few children having access to a Star Network^[1]Some Sort of Communication Device , who would know what was popular there.

But Yuan Hanshuang confidently played along without even blinking her eyes, with a serious demeanor that was truly convincing. So, after looking at each other, her classmates were left dumbfounded. Privately, the wind shifted, and rumors began to spread that Yuan Hanshuang was actually a distressed noble miss from the capital star of the empire.

Xiao Yunmeng, who happened to witness this scene, thought to herself, “…”

If she hadn’t been subscribed to the monthly fashion e-magazine of the capital star, she might have actually believed this nonsense.

The two of them took the elevator to the entrance and pressed the doorbell.

After waiting for a few minutes, there was still no sign of the door opening.

“What’s going on? It’s lunchtime now, it shouldn’t be like this.”

They rang the doorbell for ten minutes but had no choice but to call the Star Network number of the parents.

“…”

After a while, Hong Nian fell silent.

The number was entered, but it showed as an empty number.

The school would register the parents’ contact information for the purpose of reporting the child’s academic progress and exam results, usually through text messages. But the teachers at the academy had limited time and usually didn’t think about calling parents unless something major happened.

If it weren’t for this incident today, who would have thought that this child had filled in an empty number?

It was really excessive.

Hong Nian turned to call the Star Net (Short for Star Network) of the principal.

Originally, they had planned to visit the family quietly, but now they couldn’t contact the parents. They were afraid that they would make the trip for nothing. After some thought, since they had already come, it wouldn’t be right to return empty-handed.

“Principal Song, could you please contact Yuan Hanshuang’s homeroom teacher and make sure to obtain her parents’ true contact information or workplace.”

The principal put down his insulated cup, cradling his layers of belly fat, and ran from his office all the way to the door of Class 2.

Upon hearing this, the homeroom teacher stopped teaching, “Yuan Hanshuang, please come out.”

After calling three times in a row with no response, she furrowed her eyebrows, sharply scanning the classroom and pointing at each student one by one.

Well, the person didn’t even come. She was skipping class.

Author’s Note: Yuan Hanshuang: Caught on the spot.jpg

Next chapter: The female lead appears gorgeously!!!

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Thank you very much for your support. I will continue to work hard!