Synopsis
[Futuristic Fantasy + Superpowers + Passionate Battles + Strong Leads + Wacky Ensemble Cast + Tsundere Romance]
As the designated heir to the Huo family, Huo Zhaoye's superpower ability had hit an all-time low: a run-of-the-mill A rank, nowhere near the average 3S ranks passed down through generations of the Huo family.
Want to inherit the family in order? Keep dreaming.
As it happened, Huo Zhaoye didn't want to be head of the family anyway. She was born carefree and loved messing around with bizarre stuff, until she drove the elders so mad they threatened, "If you can, don't ever come back to the Huo family!"
After three years of traveling, Huo Zhaoye had learned every trick in the book: scamming, fortune-telling, face-reading, and all sorts of services, including curing every illness.
In the martial world, people called her the "Queen of Hustles," meaning anyone who came to do business with her would get hustled. Some people still refused to take the hint and came to her for treatment anyway. The results were remarkable: their illnesses got even worse.
Still, she did cure some people. After all, if the service didn't satisfy you, she'd keep at it until you were satisfied. No one could escape Huo Zhaoye's forced-service move, the "Life-Ruining Punches": a combination of blades and fists that sent them straight to the afterlife.
It was enrollment season again at the five major military academies. The Huo family ordered Huo Zhaoye to go to school, so she applied to Changze Military Academy without a second thought. Changze and Shenfeng had been fighting for first place for nearly a century, and Shenfeng belonged to the Huo family, so Huo Zhaoye went ahead and applied to their rival academy.
Huo Zhaoye: I love going against my family. The feeling is simply intoxicating.
*
Laid-back and careless: that was Huo Zhaoye's first impression on others.
Dog: that was their lasting impression of Huo Zhaoye.
On her first day at school, she ran into a former customer. That customer would never forget how Huo Zhaoye had beaten them black and blue with her blades and fists, and immediately went into PTSD mode. "Huo Zhaoye! You and I are sworn enemies!"
That night, a hot new thread appeared on the forum: [Why Is the Queen of Hustles at School? A Word of Advice: Never Do Business with Her]
Meanwhile, Huo Zhaoye had just posted a new thread: [Online Service Queen Taking Requests, Affordable Prices, Satisfaction Guaranteed]. She listed all her services in the post.
As soon as she posted it, she got a comment. Huo Zhaoye opened it and saw the same question repeated over and over: Are you the Queen of Hustles?
Damn it. I should've treated that former customer again today.
Amid all the repeated comments, one outlier appeared: Will you do homework for me? Name your price.
*
After class assignments were made, there was a particularly pretentious bking in Huo Zhaoye's class. His desk had to be made of gold, his stationery too, and he liked sitting in the back. He even told the teacher he didn't like having a desk mate.
Huo Zhaoye, assigned as the bking's desk mate: You might as well play dead.
Huo Zhaoye hated the bking, and the bking hated everyone.
When the first assignment was given, a client on the forum messaged her: Will you do my assignment? The prompt is to write about the details one needs to watch out for during combat.
The client was loaded and transferred 1,000 straight away.
But that assignment prompt was exactly the same as theirs!
Could the client be someone nearby?
Then one day, Huo Zhaoye discovered the client's true identity: the bking, Xie Xucheng.
Huo Zhaoye: Damn it all, how is my client him? Since he's a client, I suppose I'll be a little nicer to him.
*
One day, Xie Xucheng realized that his desk mate, who had always looked down her nose at him, had suddenly changed her attitude completely. She was not only bringing him tea and water, but also flattering him. She treated him a hundred times better than the other students.
Xie Xucheng: Could she have fallen for me?
Xie Xucheng: She couldn't really have fallen for me, could she?
Xie Xucheng: Does she really love me this much?
Xie Xucheng: Since she loves me so much, I'll reluctantly love her a little too.
-
A tsundere, sharp-tongued, overthinker with a romance-addled brain x a career-minded hustler who loves money and doing bizarre stuff
[Bonus Scene]
During the league team-selection period, everyone discovered that Huo Zhaoye and Xie Xucheng, who had never been able to stand each other, had gotten together.
Huo Zhaoye tapped Xie Xucheng with her pen. "Bro, let's team up."
Instead of getting angry like she'd expected, Xie Xucheng's ears turned bright red. "Fine, but just so we're clear, I'm only agreeing because I feel sorry for you. Don't get the wrong idea. It's not like you can find anyone else anyway."
Huo Zhaoye waved toward the door. "Come on in, guys. We still have room for two more on our team."
Xie Xucheng: "..."
Reading Guide:
1. Same worldbuilding as Report! This Superpower Is Too Overpowered, but the story itself is different, the timeline is much later, and it introduces a new concept of [Card Superpowers]. The league competitions are different too.
2. The romance is more prominent than in the previous book. The male lead is a love-struck guy who's all bark and no bite, and incredibly tsundere.
3. The female lead is the punching bag of her group and has an extraordinarily thick skin. By the time the male lead is head over heels, she's still thinking about how to win.
4. This is a story about a group of passionate, chuunibyou youths who love saving the world.
Theme: Talent and hard work are both essential.
