I Don’t Want to Win Lying Down

Chapter 24: Ate Too Much

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation

Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Saturday night, for the participants of the competition, the school had purposely booked a big private room in the nearby four-star hotel. In addition to the six finalist participants, Wang Xue, the director of teaching, and the vice-principal were all present.

“Mrs. Wang! We’ll leave the students in your care for the next few days.”

The director of teaching was a bald old man named Zhao Caifa. His name was a bit vulgar, and Xu Mang knew… he knew that this guy was vulgar and just as his name suggested, he really loved money1.

“Mr. Zhao, leave everything to me!” Wang Xue said in a serious tone. “I will take care of them properly.”

“Haha…”

“The most important thing is to get a good ranking, don’t let us down or embarrass the school.” The vice-principal said with a wide smile.

“It…it should be fine.” Wang Xue said slightly awkwardly. Initially, she had thought that with the students present, they wouldn’t bring up the topic so transparently. Who would have expected the vice-principal to bring it up so deliberately…

Xu Mang glanced at the vice-principal whose name was Gao Yuan. From his father’s words, he knew that the vice-principal had a special love for power and authority. For the sake of his position, he would be willing to do anything, and he had the murderous smile of a killer.

“Mr. Zhao, please place the order for the food.” Gao Yuan said. “Order more of what Yang Xiaoman likes.”

“Sure.”

Having said that, Zhao Caifa left the room.

Xu Mang felt disdain toward them in this regard. He had been at the scene when Yang Xiaoman had first arrived at the school, where the two of them had come out in person to greet her. From today’s situation, Xu Mang believed that they were in cahoots and had ulterior motives.

“Xiaoman, don’t be too stressed in this competition, just carry on like usual. Whether you can get an award or not is secondary.” Unlike his previous smile, the smile he aimed toward Yang Xiaoman looked sincere.

Xu Mang was stunned. Was this the legendary face changing skill from the ancient Chinese dramatic art of Sichuan?

Very quickly, dishes began to appear on the table. There was meat from the ones who flew in the sky, the ones who ran on the ground, and the ones that swam in the ocean—everything was available.

Xu Mang swallowed his saliva, the luxurious spread in front of him was hard to imagine. In all fairness, although he was a wealthy second generation, he usually only ate vegetarian meals because his mother had reached an age where she was obsessed with the so-called healthy lifestyle.

It was maddening!

Alas, his appetite was too small, thus, he wouldn’t be able to eat too much.

Xu Mang felt helpless in this regard. He usually only ate bread or drank soup during school, and as such, after such a long while, his stomach and appetite had shrunk. Now that he was faced with such a big spread on the table, he still wouldn’t be able to eat much.

“Eh? This…this…What’s wrong with Xu Mang?” Zhao Caifa couldn’t help but ask, seeing Xu Mang cry.

At Zhao Caifa’s words, everyone who had initially forgotten that Xu Mang was among them only saw that he was silently staring at the food, wiping his tears as he swallowed heavily.

What the heck?

Was he the reincarnation of a hungry ghost?

“Cough, cough! Let’s dig in.” Gao Yuan said in a hurry.

Finally, they could start!

Xu Mang didn’t hesitate, quickly picking up a piece of sashimi with his chopsticks, dipping it in the soy sauce. For a moment, it felt as though his life had attained enlightenment.

Eh?

If there was a skill for starving, why wasn’t there a skill that would make you never be fully satiated?

Thinking about this, Xu Mang’s head landed with a resounding ‘bang’ on the table as he started to pretend that he was sleeping while his heart was praying that doing this would trigger a ‘Not Be Full From Eating’ skill.

What he didn’t expect was for everyone present to be scared to death before he managed to trigger the skill.

“Not good!”

“There’s poison in the food!”

One of the students who had read one too many martial art novels saw Xu Mang’s situation, and his face held a panicked expression as he said, “We may all have been poisoned!”

Just that one sentence started a crash of waves!

Wang Xue was about to rush out of the room to find a waiter, but just as she reached the door, Xu Mang woke up.

[New skill detected. Hungry Ghost Skill unlocked]

Hungry Ghost Skill + 1

‘Turn on the skill!’

[The System has detected, using the Hungry Ghost Skill will require: 1 point (Hungry Ghost Skill)]

[Note: 1 point (Hungry Ghost Skill): 10 minutes]

‘Pay 2 points!’

“Eh? What’s wrong with you guys?” Xu Mang asked curiously as he looked up to see the scene.

“You…what happened to you?” Gao Yuan asked. “Why did you fall onto the table suddenly?”

Xu Mang chuckled nervously, answering with slight embarrassment in his voice. “I suddenly felt very sleepy, so I rested my eyes for a moment.”

“…”

Everyone was stunned speechless by Xu Mang’s actions.

We know of your uncanny ability to fall asleep anywhere and anytime, but the timing that you chose, isn’t it a bit too much?

After this small disturbance, the crowd returned to the table and prepared to continue eating, however, they found that one-fifth of the dishes had already disappeared. There were only so few who had started eating, how had so much food disappeared!?

At this time, they saw that Xu Mang’s plate was filled to the brim, almost as though there was a small mountain on his plate.

What was happening?

Hadn’t he just grabbed one piece of sashimi?

Why was there so much more all of a sudden!?

“Xu Mang! When did you take all that?” Wang Xue asked in slight horror.

“Just!” Xu Mang replied, a face of innocence. “Maybe you guys didn’t notice.”

“You…can finish all that?”

“Of course!”

With a doubtful glance, everyone in the room watched as Xu Mang ate the food in front of him, layer by layer. The entire process only took him five minutes.

Maybe it was because of Xu Mang, but everyone’s appetite was suddenly bigger, and everyone joined in the fight for the food including Yang Xiaoman who was usually a demure lady.

“Mrs. Wang, which school do you think is the biggest obstacle this time?” Zhao Caifa asked curiously as he chewed on chicken feet.

“Uhh…It should be Chengxi Academy from the Chengxi district. That school specializes in liberal arts and they are currently the best in the subject in our city.” Wang Xue replied after some thought. “The others would be the third and fifth middle school, their strength is also not to be underestimated.”

“Do we have a chance?”

“If it was in the past…probably not.” Wang Xue replied seriously. “But now that we have Xiaoman, we might be able to make it.”

Gao Yuan furrowed his brows and coughed lightly. “Don’t put too much pressure on the students, just perform your best as usual and that will be fine.”

“We understand, vice-principal Gao.” Wang Xue agreed and nodded her head hurriedly.

A glance was thrown in the direction of Xu Mang, who was inhaling the food in front of him, and Gao Yuan asked, “Xu Mang was someone that you insisted on coming, right? Are you sure he has a gift for essay writing?”

“Yes! Mr. Gao, don’t be deceived by Xu Mang’s usually foolish behavior. When he holds the pen to paper, he is unusually intelligent.” Wang Xue explained. “In the last monthly exam, he scored full marks on his essay. It was also unanimously praised by all the Chinese teachers in school.”

“Is that so?”

Gao Yuan glanced at Xu Mang again and drew back in slight horror at what he saw.

Nineteen minutes and forty-five seconds later, Xu Mang set his chopsticks down in satisfaction and patted his stomach. Such a good boy…he felt as though he was going to give birth.

Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain shoot through his abdomen, painful to the point that he could barely breathe.

What… What just happened?

“Hurry! Hurry up…and call 120!” Xu Mang doubled over in pain as he gasped out, “I…I ate too much!”