An Absurd Commission!

Mo Fan felt his life was complete. A roomful of beauties — more than his eyes could handle.

No wonder ancient men rarely lived past forty or fifty. Mo Fan had already lost count of how many nosebleeds he'd had over the past few days, and those ancient men had multiple wives on top of that...

For the duration of the long winter break, Mo Fan was holed up comfortably indoors.

The entire living room was carpeted in thick, plush rugs — comfortable enough without even turning on the heat. When he settled onto the sofa to Meditate, he had a certain air about him, something cultivated and dignified. Devastatingly handsome, really.

Of course, he only Meditated on his Lightning Element and Summoning Element in the common areas. For the other two, he retreated to his room and kept his aura carefully contained.

He'd also noticed that Ai Tutu — that busty rabbit of a woman — was constantly fishing for his secrets whenever she got the chance. Did she really think that batting her eyes and shaking her assets would make him spill everything? Please. Back when Teacher Tang Yue — a woman far more mature, far more breathtakingly beautiful — had pulled all her tricks on him, he'd managed to stay perfectly composed.

Before long, though, Mu Nujiao and Ai Tutu both headed home for the break, and just like that, the whole apartment became a secret garden for Mo Fan and Xinxia alone. Lock the door, pull her onto the sofa — she'd have nowhere to turn. Heavens wouldn't hear her, earth wouldn't help her.

Xinxia's cultivation pace was no slouch either. Compared to him — a student who never paid attention in class — she took everything far more seriously, cultivation included.

Her cultivation was now on the verge of a breakthrough to Intermediate Level. If the Loach Pendant could be used by someone else, Mo Fan would have gladly lent it to give Xinxia that final push into the ranks of Intermediate-Level Mage.

A Healing Element Intermediate-Level Mage was in extremely high demand. The Healing Element students and senior sisters at Pearl Academy had always been the most sought-after — in everyone's minds, they were like angels in nursing whites, gentle, kind, and beautiful...

But the Loach Pendant was exactly what Teacher Tang Yue had said — it shared some kind of soul bond with him. In anyone else's hands, it was no different from the cheap, ugly trinkets you'd find at a bargain shop.

With Xinxia working to break free of the shackles of Stardust, the most common sight throughout winter break was her deep in cultivation. Mo Fan naturally couldn't slack off either, and began pushing his Lightning Element and Fire Element forward, hoping to reach the next stage in both.

Blazing Fist and Thunderbolt were already formidable, but against physically powerful Battle-General-class creatures, their effect was still underwhelming.

The winter break slipped by in a flash. Mo Fan reluctantly sent Xinxia back to school and buckled down for the push through the second semester.

In the second semester, Mo Fan didn't bury himself in training. Instead, he spent most of his time at the Azure Sky Hunting Firm, checking for suitable commissions to take.

Combat was the fastest way to grow stronger. After nearly every major battle, Mo Fan found his cultivation had taken a significant leap — either his Star Nebula had expanded, or he'd reached the threshold to assault the next stage.

His Lightning Element and Fire Element had been stuck at the first tier of Intermediate Level for a while now. Mo Fan desperately wanted to break past that wall, and combat was the best way to do it.

"Lingling, how is there still no commission? I'm going to die of boredom." Mo Fan sat in the bubble tea shop, staring plaintively at Lingling as she savored her drink with all the serenity of a little empress.

"No business is no business. What am I supposed to do about it?" Lingling answered with complete indifference.

"Aren't you supposed to be a time-honored institution?"

"Expensive!" She didn't even look up, just kept sipping.

Mo Fan deflated completely. *A few days without a fight and I'm already coming apart at the seams.*

More idle days drifted by. Mo Fan found himself sitting out on the balcony one afternoon, watching a couple kiss in the pavilion by the man-made lake... In short, it had gotten that bad. His cultivation seemed to have stalled as well, refusing to budge any further.

**Beep beep beep—** his phone suddenly rang.

The moment Mo Fan heard that ringtone, he jolted to life.

He'd set a unique ringtone specifically for Lingling's calls so he could recognize a commission at once — and that was exactly the sound now ringing.

"Mo Fan, we've got a job." Lingling's clear voice came through the line.

"Excellent. What is it this time?" Mo Fan asked quickly.

"It's a bit complicated, but also kind of simple. Just come to the firm yourself." Her tone was oddly strange.

Mo Fan was puzzled. He'd been with Azure Sky Hunting Firm for over four months now, completed no fewer than ten commissions, all of them successful. Normally Lingling would give him a brief rundown over the phone — so why was she calling him into headquarters in person?

Still wondering, he took the car to the Azure Sky Hunting Firm.

The place looked exactly as it always did — like an old East-meets-West café-tearoom perpetually on the verge of shutting its doors. Dead quiet, not a visitor in sight.

He walked in. The door chime rang crisp and clear. As expected, not a single customer inside.

Old Bao was behind the counter smoking his pipe. Lingling sat perched at the counter in front of him — long, slender legs not quite reaching the floor, wearing a short skirt and knee-high socks.

"So what's going on?" Mo Fan asked as he walked over to her.

"See for yourself. In all my years in this business, I've never seen anything like this one." Old Bao slid the commission sheet across the counter.

Lingling said nothing, just sipped her juice and waited for Mo Fan to finish reading.

Thoroughly baffled, Mo Fan picked it up and began.

*"Due to special circumstances, I am currently entangled in a certain situation and am unable to attend in person. I am therefore sending someone to your Azure Sky Hunting Firm in the hope that you can dispatch an experienced hunter to protect a person's safety. I trust in Azure Sky Hunting Firm's reputation, and have therefore transferred the payment directly into your account in advance..."*

Mo Fan read through it and found nothing complicated about it at all. He looked up at Old Bao with a puzzled expression. "It's just a bodyguard job, isn't it? What's the big deal?"

Old Bao tapped his pipe slowly. "Take a look at who needs protecting."

"What, is this person some kind of VIP? Still just a bodyguard job no matter how special they — what the hell?!"

Mo Fan brought the sheet closer. He even rubbed his eyes, making sure he wasn't seeing things.

"We thought it was a prank at first," Old Bao said. "But the money has genuinely landed in our account. It's a substantial sum."

"What is this..." Mo Fan stared at the commission sheet, absolutely drenched in cold sweat.

Protecting someone was perfectly normal — Mo Fan had no problem with that kind of work.

The problem was, the person named in the commission as the one to be protected... was Mo Fan himself.

At first he assumed someone else just shared his name — after all, a name as dashing and profound as his was bound to appeal to people of taste. But the commission sheet was perfectly clear: *Pearl Academy, Blue District, Summoning Element freshman — Mo Fan.*

Hiring a hunter to protect a hunter. Mo Fan felt his brain failing to process this.

He'd once thought that couple's bizarre double-commission was the strangest thing he'd ever encountered. Compared to this, that one wasn't even worth mentioning.