Apocalypse Forecast

Chapter 1040: Chapter 806: The Best Teacher in the World

"What’s wrong?"

Huai Shi was puzzled.

"Huai Shi... do you often feel violent urges toward little kids in kindergarten?" Luo Lao solemnly put on his reading glasses and earnestly advised, "I know a pretty good therapist, want me to introduce you?"

"...Can you stop roasting me for once!"

"But this is you being too mean yourself!"

Luo Lao shrugged with an incredulous look. "Listen to what you’re saying! What on earth is going on in that head of yours? Going to join the Sword Hunting? With your seniority, why are you still bullying kids?"

As he talked, he completely forgot how much fun he’d had stomping newbies back in the day.

Huai Shi rolled his eyes, instantly both embarrassed and annoyed. "I’m only eighteen, damn it! How does that count as bullying kids?"

"You can’t just lump everyone’s physical condition together, you know. You, for example, used to get extremely enr—... forget it, I’ll drop it. Anyway, sending you to participate in the Sword Hunting is way too embarrassing. I don’t care if you disgrace the Ivory Tower, but at least spare the Orchard, will you? It wasn’t easy for me to open that gym."

The dignified King of Tanbo, a Master who split the ground and proclaimed his own fief in Kyoto, lowering himself to go join a dojo’s Sword Hunting—this wasn’t how you lost face.

Even if beating up little brats is fun, you can’t do it in broad daylight...

Huai Shi didn’t care, but Luo Lao still needed a bit of dignity.

This was not the way to make a name for yourself.

Huai Shi flared up at once. "Then why’d you tell me all this!"

"When did I say you were going?" Luo Lao shot back, slapping the table. "Send those two students of yours! When the Master has a job, the Disciple runs the errands. Otherwise what’s the point of teaching them?"

"..."

Huai Shi was dumbfounded. Suddenly it felt like he kind of made sense, but also like something was very wrong—so this was like one of those pyramid schemes where you start at the bottom building your downline, then once you become a boss you finally get to oppress the newbies?

"Wait, what if something happens to them!" Huai Shi sighed deeply, objecting anxiously. "I trained these students myself!"

"No bonus, get lost!"

"Oh, then it’s fine..."

.

.

"So, that’s how it is with the Sword Hunting. I can’t help it either."

After dinner, Huai Shi told his two students helplessly, "Just treat it like an extracurricular internship. Going by your age, it’s about time you two went out and saw the world. Our lives come first, the competition comes second. If you run into someone tough, don’t just charge in..."

"Alright, quit nagging."

Off to the side, Luo Lao couldn’t listen anymore. He cut him off and said forcefully, "Relax, I know your level. That old codger Shangquan’s second-generation disciples can rack up a hundred kills easy. You two can make do—each of you just bring back two hundred!"

"..."

Yuan Yuan stayed calm as ever, but Lin Nineteen, with his bruised face and swollen nose, started twitching.

How did it double just from flapping his gums?

Was this sending them to slap the dojo’s face and pick a fight with the Sword Saint?

Cannon fodder, expendable pawns, tools... a whole mess of labels popped into his head in an instant.

"Ahem, two hundred is kind of a bit much."

Huai Shi coughed, thought about it, and said, "Make it three hundred."

???

The ten thousand question marks in Lin Nineteen’s head hadn’t even finished popping up when he saw his teacher give him a meaningful glance.

"Three hundred between the two of you," Huai Shi continued. "Steal, rob, whatever, but you can’t come back one short. Got it?"

Little Nineteen froze, then started nodding like crazy.

With just a few words, his teacher had not only cut a hundred off, but turned it into a joint total, indirectly easing who knew how much pressure off him and giving him a legit excuse to cling to Yuan Yuan’s thigh.

He let out a huge sigh of relief on the spot.

There’s no love in this world like a teacher’s...

He was moved to the point of tears.

After the two of them left, Luo Lao slowly took a sip of tea, then looked up at Huai Shi with a hint of dissatisfaction.

"Huai Shi, spoil kids too much and they’ll get out of hand, and they won’t amount to anything."

"Can’t be helped, can it?"

Huai Shi shook his head carelessly. "When I was still a kid, I used to dream someone would spoil me a little. In reality, aside from my teacher, nobody cared about a stray brat. Half of what I’ve achieved today comes from her pity, and the other half from another black-hearted woman who kept indulging me..."

He thought for a moment, then said seriously, "Honestly, spoiling someone a bit doesn’t really hurt them. At most they’ll get hot-headed and do something stupid, and even if they don’t amount to anything, that’s fine."

Luo Lao snorted. "Aren’t you being a little too doting on your students?"

"Shouldn’t I be?" Huai Shi asked back. "If even teachers don’t love their students, wouldn’t this world get a bit too cold?"

Luo Lao gave him a sidelong glance, then looked away. Only after a long time did he shake his head despite himself.

"You really are a good teacher, Huai Shi."

"What about you?" Huai Shi asked.

"I’m not..."

The old man put down his teacup and said nothing more.

On the TV, a live feed from Tomorrow’s News came on.

Huai Shi lounged by the window, basking in the Moonlight, as if he’d turned into a plant.

From here on, it would depend on how the kids performed.

.

.

Huangquan Slope.

The gorgeous festering wound of Yingzhou.

Under the glow of countless neon lights, a riot of drunken, debauched color.

This was the city of eternal night, like the legendary Huangquan Kingdom, where day and night made no difference. Once upon a time, this had been the Exile for the Yingzhou Phylogeny, but after generations of Transformation, it had become one of the largest trading markets in all of Asia.

A lawless zone monopolized and run by agents from all sides, a tax haven for the rich.

After getting out of the car, the boy and teenage girl bearing their mission stood on the street, looking up at the starry sky and black night formed by flickering lights overhead.

A clamor of noise.

"The Sword Hunting has already been going on for seven days." Wood Cottage said, "We’re a bit late."

"It’s fine." Yuan Yuan thought for a moment, then said seriously, "Two days are enough, if we hurry, even one day."

She said, "I’ll take two hundred, you take one hundred, how about that? I’ll try to grab more, but you can’t just slack off..."

"It’s not like I want to slack off." Wood Cottage was helpless. "I really can’t beat anyone."

That was the truth.

The bruises on his face still hadn’t faded, still carrying a faint metallic sheen—that was Huai Shi’s Silver Blood Potion.

Over the past half month, Luo Lao’s "Old Man Happy Stick" returned to the scene, building his joy on the suffering of his student’s student.

Yuan Yuan was still okay. Whether from the Yuan Family or Huai Shi, the foundations laid for her were solid enough; once the Performance Method style inherited from Huai Shi had taken shape, all that remained was a mountain of practice.

Simply put, she got beaten by the old man three times every morning and evening, spending the rest of the time eating and summarizing what she’d learned.

But Lin Nineteen had it rough—one-sided abuse and torment...

At first glance, Luo Lao made the same judgment Huai Shi had: Rotten wood that can’t be carved.

Expecting this little bro to go head‑to‑head with others just wasn’t realistic, but if he embarrassed them too much, someone would eventually clean house, so they had to find another way.

They didn’t ask him to beat others, only that he not get beaten to death.

They’d already given up on any hope of him dealing frontal damage.

As long as he could run fast, it was fine.

After abandoning all Drummer training, they focused solely on the Transformation of the Yu Step.

And Lin Nineteen did not let Luo Lao down—under the shadow of the Old Man Happy Stick he squeezed out every drop of potential, running even faster than Huai Shi had back in the day.

But this wasn’t an escape‑for‑your‑life contest; running fast didn’t help.

At home you rely on your Master, once outside you can only rely on your junior‑sister.

So you can keep making a living without dying—nothing shameful about that...

"So, what’s your plan?" he asked.

Yuan Yuan thought for a bit, then suddenly asked, "Where’s the liveliest place around here?"

When dealing with Alliance affairs, Lin Nineteen had come here plenty of times, so after thinking it over he answered, "Two places, the Central Great Avenue and Dome Square."

"Then the Central Great Avenue." Yuan Yuan said.

Lin Nineteen was dumbfounded. "...Wait, you’re not gonna think that over?"

"People from the Yuan Family never think about the venue when they fight."

Yuan Yuan gave him a glance, picked up the lute case at her side, and left.

.

.

Half an hour later, at Huangquan Slope, the busiest stretch of the Central Commercial Great Avenue, at the head of the bustling crowd, Yuan Yuan put down her lute case, raised her hand, unfolded a high stool, and set it up in the middle of the street.

Like a wandering lute player getting ready to perform.

Only, the spot she chose to perform was really not appropriate.

Right in the middle of an intersection.

Dead center.

The teenage girl in the gray dress leaned back in the chair, quietly watching the flow of cars, letting countless vehicles speed past her. As if unaware of how eye‑catching she was, with no idea how many eyes she had drawn.

"Young lady, this isn’t a place for you to perform." A patrolling guard walked up beside her and reminded, "You shouldn’t be here."

"Relax, I’ll just sit for a while."

Yuan Yuan replied, "Are you going to drive me away?"

"Why would I? I’m not traffic police." The guard couldn’t be bothered to stir up trouble. "But if someone else wants to interfere, they might not be this polite, and they might not be..."

He thought about it, then carefully picked a word. "’Friendly.’"

"Don’t worry."

Yuan Yuan smiled. "I’m not afraid."

The guard shrugged and turned away, holding his sandwich dinner, standing not far from the intersection. He opened his mouth and began eating as he watched, even taking off his thermal cup lid to sip some tea.

"She’s really pretty."

The middle‑aged man beside him leaned against a utility pole, smoking, staring at the distant gray hem of the girl’s dress fluttering in the wind, unable to help smiling.

"You’re not going to do anything?" the guard asked.

"I’m not."

The man who was supposed to be in charge took a drag of his cigarette. "Why should I?"

"I thought she’d interfere with your business."

"Nonsense. A pretty little girl like that sitting there is like a signboard, pulling everyone’s attention. I’d love for her to sit there all night."

The smoking man shrugged. "You see? Being good‑looking comes with perks."

"Fine." The guard swallowed the slice of salmon squeezed out from the edge of his sandwich, took the last two bites, wiped his mouth, and tossed the wrapper into the trash can.

He said, "You’re the one in charge here."

"It’s just that other people might not be this polite." the guard said. "She looks a lot like my daughter, just a bit thinner. I’m afraid someone’s going to give her trouble."

The smoker was amused. "If she didn’t want trouble, why would she drag a chair into the middle of the road? She can handle it."

"What if she can’t?"

The man thought about it, then said seriously, "Then I’ll handle it, and pay her. I’ve got to make sure she sits in front of our clothing store for a whole year..."

The guard couldn’t help rolling his eyes.

Under the distant neon lights, someone finally couldn’t hold back anymore.