Was She a Student?

Luke's legs were plastered. Seeing Valentina and Bruno coming over, he turned his head guiltily to one side, like a child who had done something wrong. Bruno had warned him early on that God Armed Alliance was someone else's territory and he should behave. But he went off with one of the darlings of the leader of God Armed Alliance to the mine, causing such a big trouble. "Does it hurt?" Valentina asked first, breaking the ice. On hearing this, Luke looked back at her and grumbled, "I'm a mercenary, not a child. This is nothing." Valentina nodded, and with a wave of her hand, she asked Bruno and Badman to take off Luke's pants. Luke was stunned, hurriedly grasping his pants, and looked at Valentina with an incredulous expression, "What are you doing?" Bruno and Badman shared a glance and immediately set to work without saying a word - one holding him down and the other pulling his pants down. The hospital ward was filled with Luke's angry roars and screams. "Quiet in the hospital," Valentina reminded. "Little Luke, your legs are quite white!" Badman, having pulled off Luke's striped pants, laughed, revealing a mouthful of big white teeth. Luke cursed at Badman with the word 'fuck', repeating it over again. The poor foreigner didn't even know how to say a proper curse word. "Are you a grown man afraid to be seen? Didn't we leave your underpants on?" Valentina said, grabbing a blanket and covering his important parts. Leng Yuan-Jin came in and saw this scene. Valentina sat down at the bedside and took out a bag of acupuncture needles. "Boss, you know acupuncture? You understand medicine? Our previous boss also..." Before Bruno could finish, he noticed the figure of William at the entrance and swiftly closed his mouth. "Alright, stop moving. I saved something good for you. You can have it after you leave the hospital," Valentina says, starting to apply acupuncture on Luke's leg. Luke's face turned red as he refused the 'good thing'. "It's genuinely a good thing, a gift from God Armed Alliance," Badman reassured Luke with a grin. This was rewarded with a scornful glare from Luke. As Valentina finished the first few needles, Luke was stunned to find the unbearable pain easing and thus stopped struggling, lifting his head to look at his leg. This acupuncture reminded him of Unknown... He couldn't help but shift his gaze toward Valentina. Valentina lived in William's villa all day, and Luke rarely saw her. He also purposely avoided her. The last time he saw her was over a week ago. After a few days of not seeing her, he noticed that the new 'boss' was... completely slimmed down, and even more beautiful than before. After the final needle, Valentina asked, "How are you feeling?" "Quick, say something. How does it feel?" Badman urged him. He had previously seen Unknown perform acupuncture, something extraordinarily mysterious, and surprisingly, their new boss could do it too. Is acupuncture a skill that all Chinese people have? As fascinating as Kung Fu? Luke came back to his senses, only then realizing that his leg was no longer in pain. The treatment was hundreds of times more effective and much faster than any painkiller. "No... No more pain." Luke replied. Upon hearing this, Badman immediately bent over to look at the needles on Luke's leg, only to be disgustedly pushed away by Luke, "Get lost." At this moment, Valentina turned her head to look at William at the doorway, asking: “Mr. Felton, you’ve finished your visit to your assistant so quickly?” When she heard William's footsteps outside in the corridor, Valentina knew he was coming. She thought to herself: He is, after all, a confidant, and also bears the same surname Leng. Perhaps there's some familial bond or old acquaintance. Just a few glances and then off he goes? Might as well have a video call at home. William answered, “Finished.” Seeing the gifts that William had brought, Valentina generously offered, “If need be, I can also give a few injections for Assistant Leng.” William glanced at Luke, who was on the bed covering his privacy with the corner of his quilt, and said: “No need, he is not in pain.” Valentina replied: "It seems that his injuries aren't serious then, that's good." Not severe? Luke rolled his eyes, thinking to himself: How enduring that guy is! He exclaimed: Truly, a person armed by God. Luke refused to stay in the hospital and insisted on leaving, Valentina granted permission. Before leaving, she thought about visiting Leonard. She was well aware of why Leonard was tied up. She planned to go and see how he was doing. However, William said: “It's a minor injury, no need to visit.” Then Valentina left. After returning to God Armed Alliance, Luke entered the door clamoring to see the good stuff. Upon seeing the boxes of advanced heavy weapons, Luke’s eyes lit up. Bademan handed him a Desert Eagle and said: “Keep this for yourself. Don’t be mad at me and Bruno, we only followed the boss's orders.” Luke accepted the Desert Eagle, so thrilled he easily dismissed the embarrassment of his pants being stripped earlier. "Are these all free gifts from the divine armament? They're all brand new. These have got to be worth about twenty million dollars, right?" Luke sat in a chair, looking at the dozen or so boxes on the floor. Badman said: "The boss says that the divine armament gifted them to us, so we didn't spend a dime. Now we have our weapon issue solved.” Several days later Valentina received a notice from JD University, informing her about military training. Valentina put away her phone and asked William, "Mr. Felton, when are you planning to return home?" "I will return home with Miss Ricardo." Valentina raised an eyebrow slightly, looking at him. William: "In past years, I rarely stayed in Chadron long, except for the days at the Colosseum. This year, it's probably the longest I've spent here in many years." He had received several phone calls from home asking when he would return. Valentina knew he didn't usually stay long, otherwise those people wouldn't have tried to track him down, only to find no trace of him. Was this year's two-month stay because of her? "Going to school?!" Bruno and others had a hard time wrapping their heads around this news when they heard it. Their boss, who had taken on thirty-five competitors single-handedly in the Colosseum, was a student? Thinking about Valentina's age, it was indeed the time for her to be in school, but this situation just felt so strange. Whether it was their boss, the mercenary, becoming a student, or a student becoming a boss of mercenaries, both situations just didn't seem to fit. They were talking about that kind of school, right? The kind where you wear a uniform, enter school premise, sit under a podium in a classroom, listen to lecturers, and take serious notes? Not training of any sort, right? "In college we don't wear uniforms," Valentina corrected. The Blackwater gang: "..." Valentina reflected for a moment: "I guess I never told you all that I'm still a student." The gang: "..." Valentina: "I scored a 690 on my college entrance exam." Everyone exchanged looks. The concepts of school and college entrance exams were too far-removed for them. At least there were none of these in the northwestern part of Chadron. At this point, Saku asked, "Is 690 a perfect score?" Valentina: "The full score is 750." Saku: "You didn't even get a perfect score." Saku thought it wasn't right. "Our previous leader was about your age and he didn't go to school. You dominated all over Chadron, being so powerful, why bother to study? If other gang leaders find out, it would be quite embarrassing," Saku didn't understand. "What do you know? I'm just trying to experience a normal life," retorted Valentina. She then continued to Bruno, "I am leaving tomorrow. You and Badman will be in charge of Blackwater. Call me if anything happens." Her gaze then landed on Saku. After pondering for a moment, Valentina asked, "Saku, do you want to go to school with me?" Saku scoffed, "I would only use those damn books to clean my knife." Valentina gave up, "I'm going to pack my stuff." Saying so, she turned and left. "When will you be back?" Luke asked loudly. However, Valentina simply gave them a wave of her hand as she had her back turned. Badman watched Valentina's fading figure with a complex expression, "Why do I feel… our boss doesn't seem like an intellectual. Is a score of 690 considered high in your Thawville? Is that a result of proper studying?" Bruno replied, "High indeed, I am curious about which university has the audacity to accept our boss." Badman continued, "She wouldn't have the same fondness for exploding things as the nameless boss, would she? Blowing up a school is illegal, isn't it?" Bruno replied, "Even without explosives, I feel that the school is in grave danger." William had said that Leonard only had minor injuries, but until the day she left Chadron to return to the country, Valentina had not seen Leonard check out from the hospital... This was the mild injury that William claimed was 'painless.'