The next day, Qian Qi went to the Duel Square to set up her stall again.

However, this time, she encountered a very generous student who bought all her hemostatic medicine in one go.

“Boss, you’re so generous! Wishing you great wealth, good fortune, and prosperity~”

Qian Qi’s face beamed with a radiant smile as she didn’t forget to promote her “new” product. “Boss~ Carrying so much hemostatic medicine must be quite inconvenient, right? Take a look at this cardboard box of mine, brand new, absolutely perfect!”

Qian Qi patted the cardboard box she had dug out of the trash bin the day before, showing it off to the generous male student. “10 yuan, and it’s yours as soon as you say the word!”

Male student: ???

Is she serious? He spent tens of thousands on hemostatic medicine, and she won’t even throw in a shabby cardboard box for free???

“Boss?” Qian Qi patted the cardboard box again, urging him, “Do you want it or not? If not, you’ll have to struggle carrying all that hemostatic medicine~”

“…Fine!” The male student replied, utterly speechless. He had never seen someone so stingy. Luckily, he was just running an errand, and it wasn’t his money being spent, or else Qian Qi’s behavior would have driven him mad.

After transferring the money, the student picked up the cardboard box filled with hemostatic medicine and hurried off.

Qian Qi, who got off work early, was very happy. She picked up her small stool and headed to the square to watch how the skill department students fought.

She heard that they could use elemental powers to launch attacks with metal, wood, water, fire, and earth elements, and there were also long-range archers and support classes. It all sounded very exciting.

“Hey system, what’s the key move to trigger elemental skills? Can’t you just tell me secretly?” Qian Qi began rubbing her hands together.

[…No.]

“Really? The great system doesn’t even have this?” Qian Qi started to mock sarcastically.

[…Ask again and I’ll slap you ^_^]

Qian Qi: Sob~ Heartless system~

Meanwhile, at the Duel Square.

“Old Wang, go for it! Don’t embarrass our elemental major!”

“Old Sun, beat him up! If you win, we’re having barbecue tonight!”

The crowd in the stands was rowdy, while on the square, Little Wang, a student from the elemental major of the skill department, stared at his opponent with a slightly serious expression.

Little Wang was a student of the elemental major in the skill department, capable of launching ice-based attacks that inflicted freezing damage on enemies.

His opponent in this practice duel was Sun Pingyong from the neighboring long-range archery major. Sun’s skill was “Bow and Arrow Shooting,” which allowed him to materialize a bow and arrow to deal physical damage to enemies.

Little Wang clenched his fist slightly. As soon as the referee blew the whistle, he closed the distance and launched an ice elemental attack at Sun Pingyong.

Sun Pingyong, aware of his own weakness, immediately began to widen the distance between them. At the same time, a brown longbow materialized in his hand, and he nocked an arrow, shooting it toward Little Wang.

“Whoosh—” The arrow let out a sharp whistle. Little Wang quickly dodged, but this evasion inevitably increased the distance between them.

“Ice Cone Rain!” Seeing this, Little Wang opened his palm, and the ice skill he had been practicing shot toward Sun Pingyong.

Ice cones carrying a chilling aura fell like rain from above Sun Pingyong. However, since their position was fixed, Sun Pingyong, who had already prepared, raised the shield on his back. After being hit a few times, he moved out of the ice cones’ attack range.

The distance between the two closed again, and Sun Pingyong, while running, shot two arrows in quick succession at Little Wang.

The arrows were extremely fast, but fortunately, the distance between them was still considerable, allowing Little Wang to dodge them. As he ran, an ice cone rapidly gathered surrounding ice elements and materialized in his palm, shooting toward Sun Pingyong at high speed!

Sun Pingyong pulled back two fingers and shot an arrow straight toward the ice cone, seemingly aiming to neutralize its attack. At the same time, both Sun Pingyong and Little Wang moved from their original positions.

The Duel Square was vast, and a duel with a long-range archer was bound to be a protracted battle. Archers specifically trained their long-distance running abilities to create favorable shooting conditions by maintaining distance in dangerous situations.

However, Little Wang was no pushover either. His elemental power was close to D-rank, allowing him to use more ice-based techniques. He was ready for this prolonged battle.

Just as everyone was nervously and excitedly watching the duel, and both Little Wang and Sun Pingyong were solely focused on each other’s attacks, something completely unexpected happened.

The arrow Sun Pingyong had just shot was supposed to directly counter the ice cone’s attack, but due to a slight miscalculation, the two barely grazed each other.

The ice cone, slightly deflected by the impact, spun rapidly due to its own speed, causing the originally straight arrow to veer off course and spiral away.

And the direction the arrow was heading—was straight toward Little Wang!

“Thud—” Before anyone could react, they saw Little Wang, with his back to the arrow, get struck in the neck without any defense!

“Holy crap! Old Wang!” A classmate shouted, immediately jumping down from the stands and rushing toward Little Wang. Sun Pingyong was also terrified, running while shouting in panic, “Quick! Call the school doctor!”

The crowd quickly surrounded Little Wang. On the ground, Little Wang writhed in pain, coughing up blood uncontrollably. The sudden pain left his mind blank for a moment, and after a few seconds, he realized what had happened.

It hurts so much!

What should I do—

Am I going to die—

“What happened?” Qian Qi, who had just arrived at the skill square, saw the large crowd gathered in the center and curiously squeezed her way through. “Hey buddy, are you done watching? Make some room, let me take a look~”

The panicked crowd was tightly packed, but Qian Qi, being slim, quickly made her way to the center. Just as she was about to see what was going on, her pupils suddenly constricted!

Holy crap, isn’t this the dumb big spender—no, her first little patron, Little Wang!

What happened to him?!

Qian Qi quickly pushed aside the people blocking her way and slid on her knees to Little Wang’s side, her fingers trembling as she began rummaging through his pockets.

“Classmate! Classmate, hang in there! You must not die!” Qian Qi wailed mournfully, as if the person lying on the ground was her own brother. The concern in her eyes was so genuine it could move heaven and earth.

Just as everyone was moved by her apparent compassion, Qian Qi cried out again, “You still have to spend so much money on my medicine in the future! If you die, where am I going to find another dumb big spender like you?!”

Everyone: ???

I was about to cry, and now you’re saying this?

Luckily, Little Wang still had the hemostatic medicine he bought yesterday on him. Qian Qi’s trembling hands tore open the powder packet as she glanced at the arrow in Little Wang’s neck.

She had heard that archers who awakened shooting skills could materialize bows, arrows, guns, bullets, and other energy-based projectiles. Unless they encountered extremely strong impacts, these would automatically dissipate within half an hour, returning to energy conservation.

But now, Little Wang clearly couldn’t last half an hour.

“When will the school doctor arrive?” she turned to ask the nearest student.

“At least five minutes!”

Qian Qi estimated the amount of blood on the ground. “It’s too late.”

She took a deep breath and said to Little Wang, “Classmate, I’m going to pull out the arrow. Bear with it.”

Without waiting for Little Wang’s response, Qian Qi, with lightning speed, yanked the arrow straight out of his neck and poured all the powder onto the wound.

In front of everyone’s eyes, Little Wang’s twitching arms gradually went limp, his trembling throat calmed down, and the harsh, blood-coughing sounds slowly subsided.

Soon, he lay motionless, his white eyes staring at the sky.

Everyone looked at Little Wang’s lifeless body, at a loss for what to do.

Half a minute later.

“Is he… dead?” someone suddenly whispered.

As soon as the words were spoken, the surroundings fell into dead silence, so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. At this moment, everyone couldn’t help but turn their gazes toward Qian Qi.