After everything was settled in the first grove, Kai dragged Aiya off to… another grove.
He found another wasp nest, and this time, they managed to collect four bottles of blood parasites.
Aiya lost even more blood than before, but Kai had her assign her level-up stat point to Constitution. She still felt weak, but at least she could stay on her feet this time.
Seven full bottles of blood parasites—Kai figured that was enough.
Without warning, he wrapped an arm around Aiya and activated the teleportation ability of Death's Grip's Fourth Ring.
Woosh—
Before she could react, Aiya felt her vision blur.
When she could finally see again, her head was spinning.
To her surprise, they were back… at the boys' dormitory.
Kai let her go and casually walked toward Dormitory 4 South.
Trailing behind, Aiya asked in a small voice, "That fire you used to burn those guys... was that from a talent? And what about that teleport just now—was that a skill too?"
Kai replied flatly, "It's a tool."
"A... tool?" Aiya blinked, puzzled. Then added, "When Qifeng 'died,' his body turned into a doll. Was that also... a tool?"
"Yeah. That was a death-substitute doll. Saved him from dying once."
"What?" Aiya was stunned. "So... you're saying Qifeng didn't actually die?"
Kai turned to glance at her. "And what does that have to do with you?"
Shrinking back, Aiya muttered, "I just figured... if he's still alive, he definitely won't let you go…"
Kai didn't reply. He kept walking.
The more time Aiya spent with him, the more she realized how unfathomable this man was.
He seemed to know everything—and care about nothing.
Deep down, she understood: if her talent wasn't useful to him, she'd probably be ashes now, just like Qiao Kun.
They reached the sixth floor of Dorm 4 South.
Surprisingly, there were no dimensional bugs in sight. Looked like someone had already cleaned up the whole floor.
As they climbed the stairs from the fifth to the sixth floor, a young guy came down, grumbling to himself.
He spotted Kai and immediately sneered, ready to say something—until he noticed Aiya.
Ah yes. This was still a looks-obsessed world.
His expression did a complete 180. With a fake friendly tone, he asked, "You two headed to the rooftop to farm bugs too?"
The roof of Dorm 4 South used to be for drying laundry.
Now, after the apocalypse, a dimensional rift had appeared there—spawning endless waves of dimensional insects.
Kai gave a simple nod. "Yeah."
The guy quickly warned, "I'd suggest not going up there. The Martial Arts Club's taken control of the rift. If you want access, you gotta pay one crystal core as an entry fee. And even then, you'll have to follow their orders inside."
Tsk. So even though Qifeng got booted, they were still charging an entry fee, huh?
In his past life, the Student Council had taken control of the rooftop rift, plus three others on campus. It was standard protocol on Day 1 of the apocalypse—monsters were everywhere, but people still fought to monopolize resources.
By tomorrow, only the weaker rifts would still be controlled. The stronger ones? Full chaos.
Kai had seen it all before.
Aiya, though, was horrified. "They charge one crystal core per person?! That means the whole Martial Arts Club must be at least Level 1 by now!"
The guy shook his head. "They've got seven Level 1 members. All of 'em bathed in the rain, so their stats are jacked. Especially their president, Gao Qi—he's got 6 points across his attributes. Practically untouchable."
Tsk tsk. Sounded impressive.
Kai asked, "How many people are on the rooftop?"
"Maybe a hundred? Not totally sure."
Aiya frowned. "A hundred people? That's enough cores to level up ten people. Plus farming the rift directly? Shouldn't more of them be Level 1?"
The guy explained, "Well, the first thirty or so didn't pay. They only started charging after getting stronger. And it's not the only way to get in."
"If you've got a strong talent—like an A or B-grade one—they'll let you in for free. Or… other ways."
His tone changed, and he gave Aiya a look that made her skin crawl.
She felt uneasy. "What... other ways?"
He grinned. "Someone paid the fee with his girlfriend."
"…"
Aiya's eye twitched. She glanced at Kai and mumbled, "I'm not his girlfriend."
Kai didn't say a word—just kept climbing.
The guy saw Kai still heading upstairs and called out, "Hey bro, you got a core to spare for the entry fee?"
Without even turning around, Kai replied, "I've got a girlfriend, don't I?"
Aiya flushed red, a mix of irritation and embarrassment. She figured he was probably just joking.
After all, he still had those four crystal cores from earlier, and didn't seem to care much about them at all.
But the guy didn't know that. His eyes glinted.
He followed them up with a sleazy grin. Even if he couldn't get the girl, watching the show would still be fun.
Sidling closer, he started chatting again, "You're real pragmatic, bro. Like they say, 'A real man never lacks a wife.' Once you get strong, any woman can be yours."
"I'm Liu Bohao, sophomore in civil engineering. What about you, bro?"
"Kai."
Cold. Dismissive.
Liu Bohao didn't care. "My talent's a C-grade—Steel Claws. Not bad for offense. What's yours?"
"B-grade. Invisibility."
Hearing that, Liu's tone shifted. "Oh, B-grade sounds great, but invisibility's not really offensive, is it? Doesn't help much for grinding monsters."
Kai chuckled. "True. I've only been killing people, not monsters."
Silence.
Liu Bohao suddenly didn't know what to say.
The rest of the climb to the rooftop was dead quiet.