Sack's two legs were in plaster casts. When he saw Qiao Ying and Bai Xiao come over, he turned his head aside somewhat guiltily, like a child who had done something wrong. Bai Xiao had warned him earlier that God's Arms was someone else's territory, and he had to behave himself. But he had gone and stirred up this big incident by following one of God's Arms' leader's cronies to the mining site.
"Does it hurt?" Qiao Ying was the first to speak, breaking the awkward atmosphere.
Hearing this, Sack turned back to look at her. "I'm a mercenary, not a kid. This is nothing," he said in a muffled voice.
Qiao Ying nodded. With a wave of her hand, she signaled Bai Xiao and Bademan to take Sack's pants off.
Sack was shocked. He hurriedly grabbed his pants and looked at Qiao Ying with a perverted expression. "What are you going to do?"
Bai Xiao and Bademan exchanged glances. Without another word, one of them pinned Sack's hands down while the other pulled his pants off.
Sack's angry and humiliated roars and cries filled the hospital room.
"Keep it down. This is a hospital," Qiao Ying reminded.
"Little Sack, you've got nice, white legs!" Bademan said with a laugh, baring his mouth full of pearly whites, as he pulled down Sack's striped pants.
Sack cursed "F**k" at Bademan, repeating the same word over and over. Poor foreigner didn't even know how to curse in their language.
"Scared to show a little skin when you're a grown man? We left your underwear on, didn't we?" Qiao Ying said as she grabbed the blanket and covered up his private parts.
Qin Hanyue walked in just as this was happening.
Qiao Ying sat down by the bed and took out her acupuncture kit.
"Boss, you know acupuncture too? Are you a doctor? Our previous boss was also..." Bai Xiao saw Qin Hanyue by the door and stopped himself.
"Keep still. I've kept the good stuff for you. You'll get it when you're discharged," Qiao Ying said as she started needling Sack's leg.
Sack's face was beet red as he said he didn't want any good stuff.
"They really are good things, courtesy of God's Arms," Bademan said with a smile.
Earning a resentful glare from Sack.
After several needles, Sack was amazed to find that the unbearable pain had lessened. He stopped struggling and looked up at his leg.
This acupuncture reminded him of Nameless.
He couldn't help but look at Qiao Ying.
Qiao Ying had been staying at Qin Hanyue's villa these days, so Sack didn't see much of her and deliberately avoided her too. The last time he saw her was over a week ago. After a few days of not seeing her, he realized this new boss of his... had lost a lot of weight and had become even more beautiful.
Qiao Ying put in the last needle and asked, "How is it?"
"Say it, how does it feel?" Bademan chased after, asking. He had seen Nameless do acupuncture before and it was amazing. He didn't expect this new boss could do it too.
Was this a skill all people in Hua Country had? As incredible as their martial arts?
Snapping back to his senses, Sack realized his leg didn't hurt anymore. The effect was hundreds of times better than painkillers, and it came on fast too.
"It...doesn't hurt anymore," Sack said.
Hearing this, Bademan immediately bent down to look at the needles in Sack's leg, earning himself a disgusted shove from Sack. "Scram."
At this time Qiao Ying turned to look at Qin Hanyue by the door and asked, "Mr. Qin, you're done visiting Qin's assistant already?"
Qiao Ying had sensed Qin Hanyue coming even while he was still walking down the corridor outside. She thought: He's a trusted aide, sharing the same surname Qin, must be some nepotism involved. Visiting for a bit then leaving? Why not just video call from home then?
Qin Hanyue: "Yes, done."
Considering the things Qin Hanyue had given, Qiao Ying made a rare show of mercy. "I can needle Qin's assistant too if needed."
Qin Hanyue glanced at Sack on the bed, bare legs poking out from under the blanket just barely covering his privates. "No need. He's not in pain."
Qiao Ying: "Looks like the injury wasn't too serious then. Good."
Not too serious? Sack glared. He thought: That guy can endure that much? Impressive. As expected of someone from God's Arms.
Sack refused to be hospitalized and made a racket wanting to leave. Qiao Ying allowed it.
Before leaving, she was thinking of visiting Qin Yan to see how he was doing, knowing full well why he had been captured.
But Qin Hanyue merely said: "It's a minor injury, no need to see him."
Then Qiao Ying went back.
Returning to God's Arms, Sack immediately started yelling about wanting to see the good stuff as soon as he came through the door. When he saw those boxes of advanced firearms, Sack's eyes lit up.
Bademan handed him a Desert Eagle. "Saved this for you. Don't be mad at me and Bai Xiao anymore. Boss made us strip you. We're just underlings who didn't dare disobey."
Taking it, Sack was so happy he'd already forgotten about having his pants stripped off.
"God's Arms really just gave all these? Brand new and everything, gotta be worth 20 million USD right?" Sack sat in a chair looking at the dozen plus boxes on the floor.
Bademan: "Boss said God's Arms gave them, didn't cost us a thing anyway. Now we've solved the weapons problem."
A few days later,
Qiao Ying received a notice from Capital University for military training.
Qiao Ying closed her phone and asked Qin Hanyue, "When does Mr. Qin plan on returning home?"
"Naturally, together with Miss Qiao."
Qiao Ying raised a brow slightly, looking at him.
Qin Hanyue: "I rarely stay long in M Continent, except for those few days of the fight club tournament. This year is probably the longest I've stayed in years." His family had called several times asking when he'd be back.
Qiao Ying knew he didn't usually stay long, otherwise those people wouldn't have tried to investigate him but couldn't even find a trace.
So staying two whole months this year was because of her?
"School?!" Bai Xiao and the others were stunned when they heard this news, unable to process it for quite some time.
Their boss who could take on 35 opponents solo in the fight club was a student?
Thinking carefully about Qiao Ying's age, she was indeed of school-going age, but it just seemed so incongruous.
Whether it was a mercenary boss going to be a student, or a student going to be a mercenary boss, there was not one bit of compatibility.
The kind of school where you wear uniforms, go to campus, sit in the classroom below the lectern, listen to the teacher lecture, and take notes diligently?
Not going for training or something?
"University students don't wear uniforms," Qiao Ying corrected.
The Blackwater gang: "..."
Qiao Ying recalled: "I don't think I've told you guys I'm still a student."
The gang: "..."
Qiao Ying: "I scored 690 on the college entrance exam."
The gang looked at each other in confusion. Things like school and college entrance exams were too distant for them. At least such things didn't exist in the northwest of M Continent.
Sack then asked, "Is 690 full marks?"
Qiao Ying: "Full marks is 750."
Sack: "You didn't get full marks."
Sack felt she should have.
"Our previous boss was around your age too, didn't go to school either. You're already king in M Continent, so incredible. What's the point of going to school? If other bosses find out, it'd be too embarrassing." Sack didn't get it.
"You know nothing. I'm going for the campus life experience," Qiao Ying said to Bai Xiao, "I'm leaving tomorrow. I'll leave Blackwater to you and Bademan. Call me if anything comes up."
Her gaze then fell on Sack. After thinking for a bit, Qiao Ying asked, "Little Sack, want to come with me to school?"
Sack scoffed, "I only use those junk books to wipe my knives."
Qiao Ying dropped it. "I'm going back to pack. Come find me in Capital City if you're free."
With that, she turned and left.
"When will you be back?" Sack shouted.
But he only saw Qiao Ying wave her hand casually without turning back.
Looking at Qiao Ying's swaggering back, Bademan was conflicted. "I feel like... the boss doesn't seem like an academic sort. Is she really going to proper school?"
"Is 690 considered a high score in your Hua Country? Which university would dare accept our boss?"
Bai Xiao: "A high score. I wonder which university it is. Let's hope she doesn't like blowing things up like Nameless used to. Blowing up schools is illegal right?"
Bademan: "No need for explosives. I feel that school is still in great danger."
Qin Hanyue had said Qin Yan was lightly injured, but until the day she left M Continent to return home, Qiao Ying still hadn't seen Qin Yan get discharged and come back...
This was Qin Hanyue's idea of an injury that "didn't hurt".
