# Chapter 331: He's a Military Officer!
"So you're planning to pocket my money?" Zhang Xiaohou fixed both men with a hard stare.
The fat boss and Da Jin burst out laughing. "And what if we are? These days, who in their right mind just hands over a diamond card like that? Kid, have you been living out in the mountains all your life — never set foot in a real city before?"
The fat boss had never seen anyone so dim.
Da Jin had spent years in his trade, half-selling and half-swindling, and he had genuinely never come across a mark this easy.
Nine million. Call it tuition money. At this rate, the next fool might lose more than just his cash.
"Then don't blame me for what comes next," Zhang Xiaohou said. Once he'd concluded that these men intended to steal from him, there was nothing left to discuss.
Military regulations had explicit rules against raising a hand against any civilian or mage — unless the other party had first committed fraud, violence, or similar acts.
"Oh? Think you can take us on? You think this is just some little shop? Da Niu, Er Niu, San Niu, Si Niu — get out here! Some brat's come to cause trouble. Beat him properly and throw him out!" The fat boss bellowed toward the back room.
Four men in sleeveless shirts appeared promptly. Among them, the one called Da Niu radiated a potent magical aura — clearly no Basic-Level Mage.
"Another one looking for pain... oh, just a little punk. Walk away while you still can, kid. Don't make me raise my fist — you won't enjoy it." Da Niu sneered.
"That's right! Our brother here is a famous Hunter-mage. He once ran with a crew that hunted and killed a Battle-General-class Demon-Beast. You? A little runt who'd wet himself at the sight of a Servant-class Demon-Beast? Go home and crawl back under the covers!"
The four of them launched into a round of jeering the moment they laid eyes on Zhang Xiaohou.
He did look young, admittedly — more like a sheltered student than any kind of threat. That type was always the easiest to bully.
"Oh, very impressive," Zhang Xiaohou replied with a cold smile. He glanced at the fat boss. "That diamond card in your hand — nine million total. Three million of that came from a personal Enchanted Gear I recently sold. The other six million came from the corpses of twelve Battle-General-class Demon-Beasts and two hundred and thirty-one Servant-class Demon-Beasts I killed. Military regulations are clear: items obtained from Demon-Beasts killed in solo action belong to the individual."
The shop fell quiet. Everyone stared at Zhang Xiaohou, looked him up and down — and then the whole room exploded with laughter.
"Hahahaha! Oh, I can't — I'm dying here!"
"A little brat like *that*, claiming he solo-killed Battle-General-class Demon-Beasts? I ran with a proper team — four Intermediate-Level Mages, twelve Basic-Level Mages, sixteen of us working together — and we barely managed to bring down a single Colossal Death Lizard. And you have the nerve to say you killed *twelve* on your own? You're the biggest blowhard I've ever met!" Da Niu laughed until he could barely stand.
Look at this kid — twenty at most. How many twenty-year-olds in this entire city had reached the Intermediate-Level Mage tier? Every one of them was tucked away in some great family or elite academy. None of them would be wandering around like this clueless fool.
"Stop wasting words on him. Throw him out!" called Er Niu, the one with the oversized earrings.
Zhang Xiaohou stopped arguing. He stepped back a few paces.
Not out of fear — he was simply worried that the shop's beams and rafters might come down on him during the fight.
"Kid, let me show you what Intermediate-Level magic looks like. Let me teach you what a Star Chart is!" Da Niu planted his feet, magical energy swelling around him. Star Trails began to trace themselves beneath his feet, slowly taking shape.
"You're too slow." Zhang Xiaohou smiled. Before Da Niu's Star Chart had even reached a third of completion, Zhang Xiaohou's Wind Element Star Chart had already fully formed.
His Release speed was extraordinary. By the time Er Niu, San Niu, and Si Niu were still fumbling through the motions of their Basic-Level spells, Zhang Xiaohou had already completed an Intermediate-Level technique.
"Wind Disk!"
He paused for a moment, then let go of the idea of using the second-tier Wind Disk.
"Wind Disk — Dragon Cyclone!"
A howling gale erupted from nowhere. Under Zhang Xiaohou's control, the ferocious currents converged at terrifying speed, coiling upward within the confines of the shop into a massive, roaring twister.
The cyclone's reach expanded with every passing second. Everything on display in the shop was sucked into it; glass cases shattered one after another.
The churning vortex's pull was immense. Da Niu — the fellow Intermediate-Level Mage — was the first to be swept off his feet.
"Oh my — what the—!" The fat boss and Da Jin watched a full tornado materialize inside the shop and bolted for the back room, stumbling over each other in sheer panic.
The back room offered no sanctuary. The Wind Disk—Dragon Cyclone ripped the very walls apart. The other three mages never had a chance to fight back — all of them were swept into the vortex.
The afternoon streets had been peaceful and quiet. When the neighbors watched a turbulent, dragon-like windstorm suddenly erupt from inside a magic goods shop, they scattered in blind terror.
A spell like this could uproot entire buildings — what hope did any person have?
The entire shop was torn apart in moments. Fearing innocent bystanders might be caught in the aftermath, Zhang Xiaohou swiftly dispersed the trailing force of the Wind Disk—Dragon Cyclone. Even so, what had already been unleashed left everyone inside thoroughly stunned.
There was no shop left — just a floor blanketed in shattered glass and an empty husk of a frame.
Zhang Xiaohou picked his way through the rubble without so much as a glance at Da Niu and his fellow thugs, and walked straight to where the fat boss and Da Jin were cowering.
"The diamond card." He had no interest in killing anyone. The truth was, for conduct like theirs, a mage who struck out in anger would face minimal criminal liability — but he let it go.
The fat boss was covered in glass shards, his clothes in tatters, looking like a mangy old dog that had taken a savage beating. Trembling, he pulled the diamond card from his pocket and returned it.
Throughout the whole ordeal, both the fat boss and Da Jin had been paralyzed with dread. They'd assumed that Zhang Xiaohou — barely past twenty — was nothing but a Basic-Level Mage, someone Da Niu and the others could toss out without a second thought. Instead, all four had been flattened by a single move.
Now, when it came to whether this young man could really solo-kill Battle-General-class Demon-Beasts, the fat boss believed it completely.
This kid's power was more terrifying than any seasoned hunter he had ever laid eyes on.
"This is my military identification. I'd prefer no one knows I'm in Biyi City for the time being. When the Magic Association arrives, tell them you caused this yourselves." Zhang Xiaohou pocketed his diamond card, kicked the fat boss in the side, and walked off.
"Mili— military officer, you're a military officer..." The fat boss's mind had gone completely blank.
That's right. The man had mentioned being a Military Mage just moments ago.
It was over. Completely over. Cross a military officer, and his life as he knew it was finished.
The fat boss shot a furious glare at Da Jin, eyes screaming: *You absolute idiot — how could you drag a military officer in here? Every mage the military trains is a freak, every last one!*
Da Jin himself was on the verge of tears.
In all his years operating in Biyi City, he had never once come across a military officer this young.
He hadn't caught a big fish. He'd gone and hooked a great white shark.