The staff member smiled and handed Qin Siyang a blue-gray storage box.
"Put the god corpses you're submitting into this storage box and give it to me. We'll evaluate the mission for you."
"Okay."
Qin Siyang took the blue-gray storage box, casually picked one from his waist, and transferred five Doom Octopuses into it.
"Here."
"Okay, thank you. I'll verify them and get back to you right away... HOLY SHIT!"
The young staff member couldn't help but curse when he saw the Doom Octopuses inside the storage box.
The entire mission hall instantly fell silent.
Everyone looked at the staff member who had suddenly blurted out a curse.
But the staff member kept staring with his eyes wide open. He looked back and forth between the storage box and Qin Siyang.
"Th-this... this..."
At that moment, a manager in a suit walked over and nodded apologetically to Qin Siyang.
"Sorry. He's a new employee, so he hasn't seen many god corpses."
As he spoke, he shot the staff member a glare and snatched the storage box from his hands.
"Come to my office after work."
After hearing that, everyone assumed the staff member was simply making a fuss over nothing and stopped paying attention.
"Student Qin Siyang, I'll verify the Doom Octopus corpses you've submitted right away. You've submitted one... HOLY SHIT!"
Just as everyone's attention was drifting elsewhere, the manager's shout drew all eyes back again.
Fortunately, the manager had more experience. Compared to the employee who was too shocked to close his mouth, he could at least get a few words out.
He stammered, "Fi-five... fi-five... five of them?"
The manager's words hit the hall like a thunderclap.
"What? Five Doom Octopuses?"
"Qin Siyang killed five Doom Octopuses? How did he do that?"
"This kid's life is way too tough!"
Qin Siyang paid no attention to the noise around him. He nodded slightly to the manager and smiled calmly.
"Yeah. I got lucky."
After speaking, he glanced at Zong Maohui beside him.
Zong Maohui was equally shocked. His face was full of disbelief.
Qin Siyang smiled and added, "I noticed the Doom Octopus hunting missions have piled up to more than ten. Submitting five at once shouldn't be a problem, right?"
The manager showed the highest level of respect he could toward this life-gambling maniac. He bent forward, waved both hands repeatedly, and shook his head nonstop.
"N-no... no problem..."
"Good. Please submit the missions for me."
"Okay..."
While Qin Siyang was submitting the missions, he noticed that Zong Maohui kept looking at him with a friendly expression, which made him uncomfortable.
"This Zong Maohui... what's he planning? Don't tell me he's..."
Zhao Sifang suddenly thought of something, "I bet he wants to get on good terms with you, Brother Qin, and start some business cooperation."
"Business cooperation?"
"If I remember correctly, Zong Maohui's family mainly trades god materials. Since you're the most eye-catching supplier of materials, it's understandable that he'd set his sights on you."
Qin Siyang smiled, "Trying to do god-material business with me? Little Zhao, I'm the vice president of the Zhao Chamber of Commerce. Isn't he poaching from your family's business?"
"Brother Qin, now you're making me feel embarrassed. You've always been self-sufficient, and our chamber hasn't really helped you much. Honestly, if one day you said you were leaving, I definitely wouldn't stop you. I'd even give you a proper send-off."
Qin Siyang happily patted Zhao Sifang on the back twice.
"Look at our Little Zhao! Honest and good with words! Not like certain people who only give me headaches."
Chu Baxiang and the others couldn't tell whether Qin Siyang was insulting Zong Maohui or them. Either way, it sounded unpleasant.
"Qin Siyang," Zong Maohui motioned for him to speak privately and activated conversation blocking.
Qin Siyang didn't know what he wanted, but he doubted it was anything good.
He walked over and glanced at him coldly, "Senior Zong, what advice do you have?"
Zong Maohui hesitated for a moment, "I didn't expect you to complete the mission under these circumstances."
"Just clearing out the one-star and two-star missions isn't enough. You might as well turn in all the three-star and four-star missions too and leave me with nothing to do. Your chances would be even better."
"I thought you'd back down. Looks like I was overthinking it."
"You definitely were."
Qin Siyang looked directly at him.
"Haven't you heard? Even the Thesis Review Committee couldn't make me back down."
"I've heard about it. But I haven't seen it myself."
Zong Maohui pressed his lips together.
"I don't know much about the Thesis Review Committee. Compared to that, killing five Doom Octopuses at once is more shocking to me. You're far stronger than I imagined."
Zong Maohui sighed, "There's not much else to say. My grades among second-year students are pretty good, but we're not even on the same level. Even so, I still hope you'll be less arrogant with your words in the future so you don't hurt people who have nothing to do with it."
"Arrogant?", Qin Siyang raised an eyebrow, "I've always spoken based on ability. How am I arrogant?"
"You're the top freshman at South Glory. Your future has no limits."
"I'm not a one-track-minded student like Rong Xin. My family has been in business for generations. Since I was little, I've traveled around with my parents and seen quite a bit."
"So I can tell that you've been deliberately building your reputation. You probably have big ambitions."
Zong Maohui continued, "The reason I made things difficult for you is because someone around you publicly praised you that day while putting others down. Some people died because of missions. Others were badly injured because of missions. What was said was like pouring salt on many people's wounds."
"Did I hear that right? Senior Zong is teaching me to care about other people's feelings?"
Zong Maohui frowned, "Do you think caring about other people's feelings is wrong?"
Qin Siyang laughed dismissively, "Whether it's the laws of the United Government or South Glory's school rules, both clearly state that people with higher points hold higher status. Points represent strength, and strength is what keeps you alive in this apocalypse."
"Everyone tells you that fighting, competing, taking, and risking your life is the right path. Not a single person has ever said that caring about other people's feelings can keep you alive or help you succeed."
Zong Maohui was silent for a moment, "Qin Siyang, your future is bright, but you don't think things through. Honestly, I'm doing this for your own good."
"Oh wow, then I really have to thank you. In the future, please don't do me any more favors. I don't think I can handle it."
Zong Maohui replied, "If you don't care about other people's feelings, you'll make many enemies."
"Since you care so much about other people's feelings, why are you a student? You should just become a nanny."
Qin Siyang fired back without holding anything back.
"I've nearly died many times. The only reason I'm still alive is because fate was kind to me! Life-and-death situations make people numb. These days I barely care about my own feelings, and you want me to care about everyone else's? Sorry, I don't have time for that!"
"You just said Senior Rong Xin is one-track-minded, but Senior Rong Xin follows his own principles of integrity by himself. He's never stood on some moral high ground and told other people how they should act."
"If you ask me, all that experience from your family doing business for generations isn't worth as much as Senior Rong Xin."
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