Chapter 82: The Butcher’s Dilemma

“What are you grinning about, you money-grubbing fool? Don’t get so happy you lose your mind!” Only when he heard Joanna’s scolding did Luo Chen notice the two girls.

Luo Chen asked in surprise, “Joanna, Elijie, what are you doing here?” As he spoke, drool threatened to drip from his mouth—not because he was ogling the girls, but because he was still lost in fantasies of how to spend his newly acquired gold coins.

Elijie nearly fainted at the sight. So there really are people who salivate over money. Luo Chen’s reputation as Winston Academy’s most notorious miser was clearly well deserved.

Joanna glared at him fiercely. “We came to watch you get yourself killed! What, did you get your head caught in a door? You actually accepted the instructor’s challenge? Are you tired of living or just stupid? Didn’t we warn you? Idiot!”

“I know,” Luo Chen said, waving the pouch in his hand. “But I won in the end! Today was a great haul, so dinner’s on me next time!”

“Dinner, my foot!” Joanna was still fuming. “You just got lucky. You could have ended up as roast pig from being electrocuted. If that happens, treat us to roast pork instead!”

Luo Chen laughed. “That won’t happen. Our instructor may be fierce, but he wouldn’t actually kill a student. At worst, I get beaten up a bit. For a gold coin, I’d say that’s a great deal!”

“A great deal?” Elijie was speechless. One gold coin versus a beating? She had never learned that kind of math.

“By the way, Luo Chen,” she asked curiously, “didn’t it hurt when your instructor whipped you? He used his unique combat skill that massively amplifies pain, right? The point of that skill is to weaken an opponent’s fighting ability through excruciating pain, but you acted like nothing happened. When you fell, you were faking it, weren’t you? To throw him off guard?”

“Hurt? It hurt like hell,” Luo Chen replied cheerfully. “But when I remembered there was gold waiting for me, I felt a surge of strength. No pain could stop me then.”

Joanna rolled her eyes. “I bet even if you died, you’d come back to life if someone waved a handful of gold in front of you. Hopeless miser!”

Just then, another person walked over—it was Shi Feng.

Shi Feng tossed a handful of gold coins and exclaimed, equally excited, “You beast! You’re incredible, beating even the Butcher. I placed a bet on you and earned a nice little pile of spending money!”

“Seriously? You bet on me again?” Luo Chen shamelessly stretched out his hand. “I helped you make so much—where’s my cut?”

“Come on, didn’t you also bet on yourself?” Shi Feng grumbled. “See how much I trust you? Ninety-nine percent of people bet you’d lose horribly, but I still put two gold coins on your win! I was ready to lose it all, too!”

Faced with these two gambling maniacs, the girls could only shake their heads in exasperation. Elijie finally said, “Luo Chen, your instructor seemed pretty upset. I doubt he’ll let this go. He’ll definitely look for another chance to get back at you.”

“Really? That’s great!” Luo Chen’s eyes sparkled. “I was worried the money would dry up after just one win!”

The two girls nearly fainted again. They realized that when a money-obsessed person like Luo Chen got blinded by the gleam of gold coins, no amount of warning could keep him from charging straight onto a landmine.

In truth, the girls didn’t know that Luo Chen’s motivation wasn’t just the money—collecting combat data was also a key reason. Facing a cunning and ruthless opponent like the Butcher would be immensely helpful for his virtual battle training.

That night, after falling into a deep sleep, Luo Chen met Nicole again in the virtual realm.

“Nicole, let’s skip the reverse-thinking training tonight. Use the data I gathered today for a virtual match. I want to get used to the Butcher’s fighting style as soon as possible.”

“Certainly, Master. No problem!” As soon as Nicole finished speaking, the scene shifted to the training field. The Butcher, face twisted with menace, stood opposite Luo Chen with a long whip in hand, and many students watched from the sidelines. Everything was just as it had been during the real training.

The Butcher’s whip still stung like fire, but Luo Chen was positively elated.

Because soon, he’d be making even more gold!

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“Did you hear? That Luo Chen from Class Three actually beat the demon instructor, the Butcher!”

“No way, is Luo Chen really that good? Or is Class Three’s instructor just a paper tiger?”

“Actually, Luo Chen didn’t really defeat him. The Butcher just lost under the rules they agreed on. He wasn’t allowed to use spirit energy above level four or combat skills above level two, and if Luo Chen so much as brushed his clothes, it counted as a win.”

“Oh, no wonder! With rules like that, I could win too!”

“Yeah, right. The Butcher’s pain-amplifying combat technique is more monstrous than a level-two A-ranked Bee King Sting. He’s got a hundred times more experience than you. When a level-five student from Class Three tried to challenge him, they didn’t even get close before being whipped half to death. You’re just a level five, are you really that much stronger?”

“Then how did Luo Chen possibly win?”

“Don’t ask me, I don’t know. But tonight, the Butcher definitely won’t let it slide. Let’s go watch the fun later!”

The next day during military training, stories of Luo Chen’s glorious victory over the Butcher spread throughout the academy. Though many students didn’t like Luo Chen, they had all suffered at the hands of their instructors. Seeing a student humble an instructor gave everyone a sense of satisfaction.

The Butcher was in a foul mood, his face dark as though his wife had just run off with another man. The students knew exactly why—being publicly bested by a student the night before had utterly destroyed his authority.

To make matters worse, after training, the Butcher returned to the instructors’ dormitory and was ridiculed by his peers for failing to handle even a rookie. Shamed and infuriated, he was seething with anger.

The students were all on their best behavior, terrified of provoking him. Still, many inevitably made mistakes and felt the sting of his whip, cursing Luo Chen in their hearts. If not for Luo Chen enraging the Butcher, they wouldn’t be suffering so much.

The Butcher kept a close eye on Luo Chen, but couldn’t find any reason to punish him. Luo Chen’s endurance was simply too impressive. The instructor even set up a sprinting exercise, hoping to catch him out, but Luo Chen performed admirably, proving his explosive power as well.

This left the Butcher puzzled. The previous night, he had gone to the academy’s administrative office to review Luo Chen’s records, confirming that before entering Blue Emperor Academy, Luo Chen had only reached spirit energy level four, and he’d only broken through to that level in the final month before graduation. It had barely been over a month since then—no more than two months total. There was no way he could have reached level five already; even if he were extremely gifted, that kind of rapid advancement was unheard of.

Furthermore, during the match, Luo Chen’s grip had shown remarkable strength, definitely above level six—even if only for a split second. The Butcher couldn’t understand how this kid’s strength could spike so dramatically.