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Chapter 27 - Chapter 27: Formatted ‘Equipment’

When Li Gang's cold, authoritative voice finally faded in the grand auditorium, the entire student body erupted as if a spoonful of hot oil had been poured into a cold pan of water!

"That's… that's incredible! A Weapon Girl!" Gao Fei, sitting beside Xiang Lie, clutched his fists, his eyes blazing with an unprecedented fervor. "One spear! The sheer presence, it's stronger than our academy's combat instructor!" He elbowed the still-silent Xiang Lie, so excited he could barely form coherent sentences. "Brother Lie, did you see that? That's an S-rank Hunter! My God, if I could get my hands on one of those, who'd dare cross me out there?"

Discussions buzzed all around them, and the topic quickly shifted from the veneration of power to a more realistic, and nakedly cynical, level.

"Hey, did you guys hear?" A well-informed classmate lowered his voice, flaunting his intelligence to those around him. "The Bureau puts a clear price on a recovered Weapon Girl! Depending on her grade and rarity, it ranges from hundreds of thousands to several millions. They say the absolute top-tier ones can sell for ten million Star Coins each!"

"Ten… ten million?!" Gao Fei's eyes nearly popped out of his head. He instinctively began counting on his fingers, the string of zeros making him dizzy. "Holy crap! That's enough to buy a whole street of businesses next to our academy!"

"Hmph, what you're talking about is just official channel info," another student, who seemed to have connections, scoffed, leaning in conspiratorially. "Do you know about the underground black market? I heard that in those shadowy places, a Weapon Girl in good condition will fetch at least double the price! A lot of the big shots in the upper districts love to 'collect' them. I heard the girls they give birth to are also Weapon Girls… Tsk tsk, if the Bureau didn't strictly prohibit private keeping, you probably wouldn't even see a single hair of them in the wilderness by now."

These words made the breathing of several surrounding boys grow heavier, a complex, greedy glint in their eyes.

"Ah, what a pity," Gao Fei said, shaking his head after listening, a note of regret in his voice. "Beings of that caliber, it's hard for ordinary people like us to even glimpse one in a lifetime. They're probably all captured by the Bureau and kept in their most secure bases." He then nudged Xiang Lie, asking curiously, "Hey, Brother Lie, why aren't you saying anything? Aren't you interested in Weapon Girls?"

Xiang Lie slowly raised his head. He didn't answer, but merely looked at Gao Fei with a gaze so calm it was almost cold, a look Gao Fei had never seen before. Then, he stood up and walked silently towards the auditorium exit.

"Hey? Where are you going?" Gao Fei called after him.

Xiang Lie didn't turn back, leaving him only a silent, desolate figure.

Stepping out of the auditorium, the blinding sunlight made him squint. A vast, ineffable sense of powerlessness washed over him like a tide. He could do nothing, change nothing. In this world built on cold rules and naked self-interest, his personal anger and compassion seemed so insignificant, so ridiculous. It was only at this moment that he truly understood the weighty implications and fervent hope behind Mister Yi's words: "I hope you can pass the S-rank assessment."

He didn't even know how to evaluate the Bureau. On one hand, they treated Weapon Girls as 'formatted' equipment and resources with a clear price tag. On the other hand, without the Bureau's powerful order and strict laws, the fate of these girls would likely fall into the hands of those 'collectors,' becoming even more tragic.

This was an unsolvable dilemma.

"Hey! Xiang Lie! What's wrong with you?"

Gao Fei caught up, panting, and grabbed his arm. "You've come back a different person, buddy. You're totally out of it."

Xiang Lie stopped, turned, and looked at his simple-minded, pure-hearted best friend. He suddenly asked a question. "Gao Fei, what do you think… a Weapon Girl is?"

"Huh?" Gao Fei was startled by the question. He answered without thinking. "A girl, I guess. A really strong… pretty girl?"

"What if," Xiang Lie stared into his eyes, asking deliberately, word by word, "you were offered ten million to sell a Weapon Girl you know, a homeless one, to the Bureau, would you do it?"

Gao Fei froze. He looked at Xiang Lie's utterly serious gaze, and for the first time, he didn't immediately answer. He scratched his head, seeming to genuinely ponder the question. After a long moment, he finally chuckled, saying in a matter-of-fact tone, "Well… if I didn't know her, then selling her is selling her, it's got nothing to do with me anyway. But if…" He paused, his voice becoming incredibly firm. "If she were my friend, or my wife, then forget ten million, even a hundred million, absolutely not! Do you even need to ask?"

Hearing that answer, a faint warmth flowed through Xiang Lie's heart, which had been frozen by cold reality.

Just then, Gao Fei suddenly slapped his thigh, as if remembering something. "Oh, right! Xiang Lie! The written exam! Did you study for it? It's tomorrow morning! This written exam score will directly affect our initial ranking, from C-rank to A-rank, it all depends on this! Want to go back to the dorm and pull an all-nighter studying together?"

Xiang Lie: "…" The expression on his face instantly solidified.

Written exam? What written exam? He'd been so focused on martial arts training and contemplating life these past few days, he hadn't even remembered such a thing existed!

"HOLY HELL!"

After a cry that came from the depths of his soul, Xiang Lie disregarded any lingering sense of powerlessness. He grabbed Gao Fei, and the two, like two crazed bulls, sprinted towards the dorm!

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