I Awakened the World's Worst Class, Then Became Unstoppable

Chapter 9: I Want Something Of Yours

For a second, Michelle Liu didn't know how to answer.

She was a campus queen. The men in this city—Brandon included—tripped over themselves for five seconds of her attention. The only one who'd ever treated her like a wall was Ethan, and he'd been doing it since before either of them had Awakened.

It infuriated her. It also confused her. The Liu family was one of the biggest names in Jiangnan. A connection to Michelle was a shortcut to twenty years of hard work avoided. And this orphan—this E-rank Farmer with no Class worth the paper it was written on—had the nerve to look bored.

She studied his face.

Then she understood.

He's embarrassed. He'd awakened a garbage Class. He knew she was out of his league. He was overplaying the indifference because he was too insecure to admit he wanted her attention.

That was it. That had to be it.

She let out a slow breath and smoothed her expression into something patient. "I do have something to ask you. I want something you're carrying."

"What?" Ethan looked himself over. A t-shirt, worn jeans, nothing in his pockets. He was an orphan with a dead-end Class. The idea that Michelle Liu would cross a room to talk to him for anything he owned didn't make sense.

"The necklace you're wearing," she said. "Can I buy it from you?"

Ethan's hand went to his throat without him deciding it would.

The necklace was on him the day the orphanage had found him. A thin silver chain, plain, with a small tag on it. The staff had said it was the only thing he'd been wearing. His parents'. The only thing he had of them.

"Why do you want it?"

She smiled, and the smile was perfectly polite and perfectly fake. "I think it's well-made. Pretty. I'd like it. Will you sell? I'll give you a hundred thousand."

Ethan stared at her. Then he laughed, once, without humor. "No."

"Two hundred thousand." Her eyebrow went up. She was not used to negotiating.

"I don't care what number you say. No. You want me to go get my head examined?" He was done. He could feel Brandon's crew already circling, and he did not need this conversation. "I'm done here."

"You—" She flushed. The flush was anger, and she pointed at him, but she was too well-raised to finish the sentence. Instead she raised her voice just enough for the nearby tables to hear. "I'll give you one million. One million dollars. Sell me the necklace. You're an orphan, your Class is worthless, you have no future. A million lets you live comfortably for the rest of your life. You will never see money like that again. Do not throw it away."

Ethan's own expression went flat.

"That necklace is my parents' only relic. You can offer me a billion and I won't sell it."

The way she was talking down to him—charity from on high, one million as if she were doing him a favor—sat in his chest like a stone. He didn't care if she was a Liu. He didn't care if she was a goddess. She was not going to stand in a public room and price his dead parents' only possession like a used car.

A chair scraped behind him.

Brandon White was on his feet, and the ten boys he'd walked in with were already fanning out. They ringed the booth in the way that looked like an accident and wasn't.

"Ethan." Brandon's voice was loud, hurt, ready to perform. "What's going on? Are you bothering Michelle? Tell me what he did to you, Michelle. I'll handle him."

Ethan didn't look away from Michelle. "What now? Price was too high, so you send your thugs to take it? This is a society with laws. You try to rob me in the open, I call the police. They won't care who your family is."

Police were a Class here. So were firefighters. The people who kept order in the Walled Cities—cops, Enforcers—had their own Awakened mandates, and the mandate didn't bend for the Liu family's checkbook.

Michelle's chest was rising and falling. She was furious.

Felix had been across the room, swapping comms with a handful of Longhu Combat Academy kids he'd just met. He turned back, saw Ethan surrounded, and his mouth set.

"Boss?" He was already shoving his way through. "You guys keep the numbers, we'll catch up. Something's come up."

Ethan sat where he was. He was not worried. Brandon might be B-rank and surrounded by friends, but he was not an idiot, and the Rose's owner was not a man you pushed. Touch someone on the Rose's floor and you didn't get a warning—you got banned for life, you and every cousin within five degrees of relation, and then the Enforcers came to take you away. Worse than the police. The Enforcers answered to the City Lord directly.

"Brandon." Felix slid in front of him, blocking the half-circle. "What, you're picking on my boss again?" He leaned in. "What happened? You good?"

Ethan ignored him. He was still looking at Michelle.

"Liu family heiress," he said. "Living up to the name. I'll remember this."

He stood. He clapped Felix on the shoulder and walked out with him.

Behind him, Brandon ground his teeth. "Like I'm not even in the room." He signaled his crew. "Let's go."

Michelle watched them through narrowed eyes. Then she spoke, quiet, just loud enough to carry.

"Brandon."

He stopped.

He actually stopped.

"When you rough him up," she said, "watch how far you go."

Brandon turned to her like she'd handed him a medal. She had spoken to him. She had looked at him. She had smiled. He would break Ethan Su's legs before the night was out, and he would do it on his knees with gratitude.

"You don't have to tell me twice," he said, and went.

Outside, Felix was still confused. "What did you even do to Brandon?"

"Michelle wanted to buy the necklace." Ethan's thumb found the chain under his shirt. "That's all. A silver chain. My parents left it. She offered me a million dollars for it."

"She wanted that?" Felix blinked. "What's special about it? You've worn it since I met you. It looks like chain."

"Exactly." Ethan couldn't work it out either. The way she'd leaned in—the eagerness under the courtesy—she'd wanted it badly. Badly enough to throw a public fit.

Which meant it mattered. He just didn't know how.