Rags to Riches: The Rise of a Dual-Talent Prodigy
Chapter 23: Wang Tong (College Fund), Don’t Die!

Chapter 23: Chapter 23: Wang Tong (College Fund), Don’t Die!

Qian Qi went to the dueling square to set up her stall again the next day.

This time, however, she met a very generous student who bought all her hemostatic medicine in one go.

"You’re a big spender, boss! Wishing you great fortune, great wealth, and success~"

Qian Qi’s little face beamed with joy as she continued to pitch her "new" product, "Boss, surely taking so much hemostatic medicine must be inconvenient, right? Take a look at my cardboard box, brand new, really nice!"

Qian Qi patted the cardboard box she had dug out from the trash can yesterday, showing it to the generous male student, "10 yuan, just say the word and it’s yours!"

Male Student: ???

Is she serious? He spent tens of thousands on hemostatic medicine, yet she couldn’t even give him a lousy cardboard box???

"Boss?" Qian Qi patted the box again, urging him, "Do you want it or not? Otherwise, you’ll have to painstakingly hug a bunch of hemostatic medicine and leave~"

"...I want it!" the male student said helplessly. He had never met anyone so stingy. Fortunately, he was just the errand runner and wasn’t spending his own money; otherwise, Qian Qi’s behavior might have driven him mad.

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

Qian Qi, who got off work early, was very happy. She grabbed her little stool and prepared to go to the square to see how the Skill Department students were fighting.

She had heard that they could use elemental power to unleash attacks of gold, wood, water, fire, and earth, and there were shooter and support types, which sounded very exciting.

"Hey, System, what’s the key move to trigger elemental skills? Could you secretly tell me?" Qian Qi started rubbing her hands together.

[...No.]

"No way, no way, the mighty System Lord doesn’t even have that?" Qian Qi started mocking.

[...Ask again and I’ll slap you＾＿＾]

Qian Qi: Eeek~ Heartless System Lord~

Meanwhile, at the dueling square.

"Old Wang, go for it! Don’t embarrass our Elemental Specialty!"

"Old Sun, finish him off! If you win, we’re having barbecue tonight!"

Around the stands, the crowd was clamoring, while Xiao Wang on the square stared at the student opposite him, his expression slightly serious.

Xiao Wang was a student in the Skill Department’s Element Specialty, able to unleash ice attribute attacks that inflicted ice cold effect on enemies.

Opposing him was Sun Pingyong from the neighboring Long-range Shooting Specialty. His skill was "Bow and Arrow Shooting," capable of materializing a bow and arrow, delivering physical damage to the enemy.

Xiao Wang slightly clenched his hand, and as the referee blew the whistle, he was the first to close the distance, directing his ice element attack toward Sun Pingyong.

Sun Pingyong naturally knew his weaknesses, and immediately began to increase the distance between their attacks. He also nocked an arrow onto the brown longbow materialized in his hand, shooting toward Xiao Wang’s direction.

"Whoosh—" The bowstring made a piercing screech. Xiao Wang hurriedly dodged, and with this dodge, their distance widened inevitably.

"Ice Cone Rain!" Seeing this, Xiao Wang opened his palm, and the ice skill he had practiced targeted Sun Pingyong.

Ice cones carrying chill fell like rain from above Sun Pingyong, but pre-preparedly, he raised the shield on his back, and after a few hits, managed to leave the circle of ice cone attacks.

The two closed the distance once more. Using the momentum of his run, Sun Pingyong shot two arrows at Xiao Wang.

These two arrows were very fast, but fortunately, the distance between them at this moment was relatively far, allowing Xiao Wang to evade. During the run, an ice cone quickly absorbed nearby ice elements, coalesced from the palm, and shot toward Sun Pingyong!

Sun Pingyong drew and shot an arrow, directly targeting the ice cone, seemingly attempting to neutralize its attack. Meanwhile, both Sun Pingyong and Xiao Wang moved together, departing from their original positions.

With the dueling square being spacious, facing off against long-range shooters would inevitably be a prolonged battle, as shooters specifically trained their long-distance running ability to create favorable shooting environments under dangerous circumstances.

However, Xiao Wang was no pushover; his elemental power neared D-Level, allowing him to unleash more ice skills. He could handle this prolonged battle.

Just as everyone was tensely and excitedly focusing on their duel, while Xiao Wang and Sun Pingyong only had each other’s attacks in their eyes, something unexpected suddenly happened.

The arrow Sun Pingyong had just shot was supposed to directly neutralize the ice cone attack, but it skimmed past due to poor accuracy.

The bumped ice cone slightly spun upon impact, and being extremely fast, it directly deflected the arrow originally aimed straight, swirling it away.

And the arrow’s trajectory—to Xiao Wang’s direction!

"Screech——" Caught off guard, the crowd watched as Xiao Wang, with his back facing the arrow, was defenselessly hit in the neck!

"Damn it! Old Wang!" Shouted Xiao Wang’s classmates as they leapt from the stands, sprinting toward him. Sun Pingyong was also dumbstruck, running and shouting frantically, "Quick! Call the school doctor!"

The crowd quickly surrounded Xiao Wang, who was struggling painfully on the ground, uncontrollably coughing blood. The sudden pain left his mind blank for a moment, only realizing what happened after a few seconds.

It hurts so much!

What do I do——

Am I going to die——

"What happened?" Just arriving at the Skill Square, Qian Qi saw a crowd gathered at the center, curiously squeezing through, "Hey folks, have you finished watching? Make some room, let me take a look~"

The panicked crowd formed into a huddle, but luckily Qian Qi was slim, quickly squeezing into the center of the circle, preparing to see what had happened. In the next moment, her pupils shrunk in shock!

Whoa, isn’t that yesterday’s big spender—oops, her first little cash cow, Xiao Wang!

How did he end up like this!

Qian Qi quickly shoved aside a person blocking her way, and slid down to kneel in front of Xiao Wang, her fingers trembling as she rummaged through Xiao Wang’s clothes pocket.

"Classmate! Classmate, hang in there! You mustn’t die!" Qian Qi screamed mournfully, as if the person on the ground was her own brother, her eyes’ worry evident to all.

Just when everyone was moved by her fierce loyalty, Qian Qi howled again, "You have to spend a lot of money buying my medicine in the future! If you die, where will I find another big spender!"

Everyone: ???

My tears were falling, and this is what you say?

Fortunately, the hemostatic medicine Xiao Wang bought yesterday was still on him. Qian Qi’s shaky hands opened the bag of powder and glanced at the arrow in Xiao Wang’s neck.

It was known that awakened shooters who developed shooting skills could materialize their bows, arrows, guns, and bullets. These were energy forms that, unless met with extreme collisions, would automatically dissipate within half an hour, restoring energy conservation.

But now, Xiao Wang clearly couldn’t hold out for half an hour.

"How long until the school doctor arrives?" she turned to ask the nearest student.

"At least 5 minutes!" _{free.webn\ove(l)(.)c(o)m}

Qian Qi estimated the amount of blood on the ground, "There’s not enough time."

She took a deep breath and said to Xiao Wang, "Classmate, I’m going to pull the arrow out, hold on."

Without waiting for Xiao Wang to respond, Qian Qi swiftly pulled out the arrow stabbing his neck and scattered the powdered medicine onto the wound.

Under the watchful eyes, Xiao Wang’s struggling and twitching arms gradually weakened, his vibrating throat calmed down, and the ear-piercing cough that brought up blood slowly diminished.

In no time, he stared blankly at the sky, motionless.

The crowd looked at Xiao Wang’s limp body, momentarily at a loss.

Half a minute later.

"He’s... not dead, right?" someone quietly muttered.

As soon as the words fell, a deathly silence enveloped the area, so quiet you could hear a pin drop; everyone couldn’t help casting sidelong glances straight at Qian Qi.