Chapter Thirty-Five: Wang Weilong’s Thoughts

The pirate leaders pressed forward, which was exactly what Chu Cheng wanted. He slowly retreated until he was level with the militia’s defensive line, then directed all his reflected damage onto the advancing pirate sub-leaders and squad captains.

These leaders, stronger than ordinary pirates, sensed something was wrong and began converging toward him. However, with layers of pirates blocking their way, it was difficult for them to squeeze through immediately. By the time they forced their way over, they were already covered in dozens of wounds, their life force nearly depleted in the crush, and before they realized what was happening, it was too late to escape—they fell dead before even reaching him.

It was a very simple yet highly effective tactic.

Without anyone truly realizing it, not even the commanding pirate leaders, over a third of the attacking pirates had already died—nearly three hundred pirates inexplicably perished, and the streets were littered with corpses.

Panic spread among the pirates, and even the chief leaders began to lose their composure.

Soon after, a shout came from one of the pirate leaders in the rear, and the pirates began to retreat.

Chu Cheng paused, realizing his current kill count was still not enough for a five-star rating, so he immediately shouted, “The pirates are fleeing! Don’t give them a chance to regroup—break them now!”

With that, he charged forward at the head of the militia.

The surviving militiamen, already in a frenzy, followed him without hesitation.

A hundred meters away, behind a small building, Wang Weilong and the others were waiting. Shortly, Zhang Chunlei jumped down from the rooftop and said, “Nearly a third of the pirates are dead, and they’re showing signs of collapse. Should we go in and grab some loot?”

Everyone looked at Wang Weilong. After a brief contemplation, he shook his head. “No, we’re sitting this one out.”

Zhang Chunlei was puzzled. “Isn’t this the perfect chance to hit them while they’re down? If we intercept one of the big leaders during this rout, we have the strength to take him down.”

But Wang Weilong shook his head again. “It’s too risky. Sure, there’s an opportunity during the rout, but we can’t be sure the militia won’t stop chasing after a while. If they pull back and we’re left exposed, we’ll be the unlucky ones.”

“But…” Zhang Chunlei started, but then saw Wang Weilong send a private message:

“Don’t go. We’d only be laboring for Chu Cheng's benefit. You know his talent—no one knows how many pirates he’s killed this time. This scenario might even net him a rare five-star rating.”

“As far as I know, a five-star rating has a high chance of yielding rare equipment or items of equal rank. If he gets those, his strength will leap ahead.”

He paused, then added with a sigh, “Our homeroom teacher’s resources are limited. Supporting the few of us wasn’t a problem before, but you’ve all seen his talent—it's monstrous. His overall potential far exceeds ours, and the teacher values him highly. From now on, he’ll be the focus of resource allocation.”

“The more he gets, the less there is for us—especially when it comes to core resources.”

Zhang Chunlei fell silent, as did Zhang Qing and Cheng Mingyue beside him. The last few lines had been sent to their squad channel, so they’d seen them as well.

With no desire to get involved, they quickly withdrew from the town, watching the battle below from a high vantage point outside.

Suddenly, Wang Weilong said in the channel, “Look at the tallest building in the town center.”

The group glanced over and saw two familiar figures standing atop a three-story building on the main street.

“It’s the teacher.”

“See? She specifically forbade us from getting involved in this scenario, but now that Chu Cheng is in, not only didn’t she stop him, she came herself to oversee things.”

The group was silent.

“When this class is over, I want to switch classes,” Wang Weilong’s voice sounded in the channel. The others looked up, but there was little surprise on their faces.

“You want to join Class One?”

“No, Class Six.”

“I don’t have an awakened talent, so joining Class One would get me nowhere. But Class Six is different—no one there can compete with me.”

The others said nothing, but they understood Wang Weilong’s reasoning.

It wasn’t just about being a big fish in a small pond, but about resources.

Class One had the most resources, but competition was fierce—without a talent, you had no leverage. Class Six was the lowest ranked among the seven classes in their year, and their homeroom teacher had the fewest resources.

But there, no one could match Wang Weilong, so he could monopolize the core resources of Class Six.

The most valuable resources in each class weren’t the equipment, skills, or items dropped by dungeon bosses, but the skill stones and free attribute points converted from the residual source energy harvested by the school each month from all dungeons.

Every class received these, but they were typically distributed only to the top students—ordinary students had no right to purchase them.

Previously, those qualified in Class Five were just them, with Wang Weilong and Zhang Chunlei taking the lion’s share.

But with Chu Cheng’s meteoric rise and overwhelming talent, he was sure to become the focus of the school and the homeroom teacher, which meant either reducing their share or cutting one of them out entirely.

Wang Weilong wasn’t afraid of competing with Zhang Chunlei—though he had no talent, his family background gave him a huge advantage. That edge could outweigh Zhang Chunlei’s average talent, but not Chu Cheng’s top-tier gift.

Having worked with Chu Cheng several times, he’d come to appreciate the abnormal power of his ability, and had no confidence in beating him.

Even if Zhang Chunlei stepped aside, his own share would hardly improve, and might even be worse than before.

So, after careful thought, he decided to change classes, moving to Class Six where he’d have no rivals.

A thunderous boom snapped Wang Weilong from his reverie. He looked up to see a volley of shells explode along the main street. The retreating pirates were startled, and under the orders of several leaders, were forced to halt and counterattack.

This was the Pirate King’s warning from the ship—he wouldn’t allow a withdrawal just yet.

It was exactly what Chu Cheng wanted. He estimated that his achievements still weren’t enough for a five-star rating.

Amid the thunderous clamor of battle, pirates and militia clashed once again.

The situation replayed exactly as before—Chu Cheng moved among the pirates, quietly dispatching them from within.

None of the pirates could discern what was happening; this bizarre scene sapped their morale. As more and more pirates inexplicably died, fear grew until it reached a breaking point—at last, the pirates ignored their leaders’ orders and fled.

This time, their retreat was not a fighting withdrawal, but a total rout.

“It’s over.”

On the rooftop, Duan Yuqin watched the pirates collapse and smiled faintly. She turned to her assistant, Liu Weifei, and said, “Tell Wang Weilong and the others to come and intercept those two pirate leaders.”

Liu Weifei nodded but soon looked surprised. He looked up and said, “They’ve already left town—Wang Weilong is gone.”

Duan Yuqin raised her head, thought for a moment, and said, “It seems he already knows.”

“Well, it’s just as well. I really can’t supply all three of them with resources.”