FXDL V1: Side Story 1

Because I am having a horrible day, I hope that this chapter can make the day brighter for the rest of you. This is one of my favourite side stories of the entire series.

Translated by: TaffyGirl13

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Side Story: Pursuit-and-escape is a trick to play hard to get; when hits reach a high, various juices are spilled—Actually, it’s PE class

A fine snow floated down in the winter night, the temperature dropping to freezing point.

The students of 1-B and 1-C were all gathered in Shalom’s central sports field, letting the wind and snow batter them.

The professor for human sociology and friendly relations, Peiris, had uncharacteristically gotten rid of his elegant suit to wear red and white sportswear instead. There was a whistle hanging from a yellow string around his neck and a baseball cap on his head.

This type of getup made Fu Xing think of the PE teachers from his hometown. However, his old PE teachers would never wear sportswear paired with pointed dress shoes to class.

Peiris blew the whistle hard a few times, then imposingly surveyed all the students as he announced clearly, “For a human being, exercise can effectively temper their physique as well as understand the true essence of cooperation. In this process, human students will learn teamwork and proactively call upon a fighting spirit through means of various physical competitions…”

“What-what is this for?!” Fu Xing shivered as he asked, “Isn’t this class for human sociology and friendly relations? Why come to a sports field?”

“Professor Peiris said that the main topic today is high school life,” Emerald answered as he skimmed through his phone to check his online store.

“We are high school students, what are we experiencing high school life for?” This is obviously completely unnecessary!

“He said that human high schools are not quite the same as Shalom, probably because he watched some kind of film again. After all, he frequently gets carried away by random whims to come up with these self-proclaimed new and creative methods.” Emerald noticed that his follower and view counts had improved slightly, so he nodded in satisfaction. “Your recommendation for me to spend money on putting the merchandise on site pages and increasing exposure really was effective. The number of views has increased to over 900 just in these past two days, and follower count has gone up to 23. It’s 23 times higher than it was previously.”

“Oooh? Is that so? That’s great! Haha!” Fu Xing forced a laugh.

In reality, those 900+ views had been created by him crazily pressing F5 last night. The follower count was the result of him opening duplicate accounts and calling on some close friends to help. He did not have many friends, so most were family. Aside from his parents and sister, he had also managed to drag his grandparents from overseas down under with him.

The always open-minded Lin Lin had even specifically video-called him to sincerely ask if he had joined some strange marketing or religious group.

In reality, he just wanted Emerald to be happy.

Mn, of course, part of the reason is also because I’m worried that if Emerald finds out it’s ineffective, he’ll demand payment for the advertisement cost…

“Fu Xing, do you have food?” Rocort leaned on Fu Xing’s shoulders as he asked this question with an expectant expression.

“Oh, I do.” Fu Xing pulled out two bags of rice crackers from his pocket. Since getting to know Rocort, he had gotten into the habit of carrying snacks on him wherever he went.

“Thanks!” Rocort happily accepted it and gobbled them down soon after. “Fu Xing,” he poked Fu Xing twice more. “Do you have a drink?”

“Hm, I don’t.”

Emerald immediately came forth to bring up his offer. “If you’re interested, I just happen to have two bottles of fairy holy water. Although its main function is to purify the surroundings and change auras, it can be directly drunk as well with the effect of interactively protecting both your body and soul. One bottle is 20 mL, two euros. If you buy two bottles, I’ll give you a special price of three euros [total]. It’s a great deal.”

“Oh, no need. I think it’s better not to drink tap water,” Rocort rejected with a smile.

Fu Xing’s eyes widened at these words as he emotionally questioned, “Fairy holy water is tap water?! Didn’t you say it was a divine water retrieved from a sacred area up in the mountains?! You cheated me?”

“Ah, the ad propaganda obviously has to be more extravagant, but I didn’t cheat anyone.” Emerald calmly clarified, “Shalom is located up in the mountains, and is well-concealed due to the protection of the wards. In addition, fairies and creatures from various other creatures of legends are here. To certain cultured humans, this place is indeed a sacred area.”

“You shark!”

Rocort turned his head to ask Zhu Yue, “Zhu Yue, can you summon some hot cocoa for me?”

Zhu Yue was slightly stunned, but she then smiled thinly in helpless sympathy, “Sorry, I’m afraid that would be difficult to do.”

“Do you think Zhu Yue is a vending machine?! How could she summon hot cocoa?!” Fu Xing huffed in exasperation.

“I figured that since she was a water-type jingguai, any liquid was under her control.” As Rocort said this, he clasped one of Zhu Yue’s palms and raised it up to scrutinise it carefully without permission. “I previously saw her materialise a pillar of water with just a wave of her hand, so I thought that if she could call up a fountain of hot cocoa with a wave, it would be awesome!”

With Rocort holding her palm so close to his handsome face, Zhu Yue lightly coughed in embarrassment, her face blushing slightly.

Slap!

A water canteen shot out between Rocort and Zhu Yue, striking Rocort’s hands away.

Rocort looked over to be faced with Brad’s rigid, foul expression.

“Brad?” Rocort was puzzled.

“Water,” Brad muttered through clenched teeth, trying his best to hide his emotions. “Take it.”

Ever since the Halloween trial, Brad acted together with Fu Xing’s group more and more often. However, he spent most of the time quietly following alongside them, rarely joining in conversations. Everyone was already used to Brad’s existence, but still did not quite know how to interact with him.

Rocort took the water canteen with an expression of humble gratefulness. “Whoa! Thank you so much, Brad!” He then reached out his arms to give Brad a huge hug.

Brad stared at him. “What are you doing!”

“Didn’t Professor Peiris say before that hugging is a way that humans express their gratitude?” Rocort smiled in reply. “I’m showing my thanks.”

Brad agitatedly said, “Let go—”

Just as he was about to furiously reprimand and shake off Rocort, he noticed Zhu Yue smiling especially brilliantly, like an angel that had come down to the mortal realm to watch the two of them. It seemed like she found their act of friendship quite laudable.

He thought that Zhu Yue was very beautiful like this.

With a slight grumble, he gave up on resisting and let Rocort embrace him.

Zhu Yue’s smile deepened and became more dazzling, like the morning sun on a spring day.

Ah, what a kind-hearted and beautiful girl. Brad internally sighed in admiration, sincerely glad that he had entered Shalom at this time to meet her.

Emerald raised a brow. “If you like being hugged by others so much, I can help. Each 10-second hug cost 1 euro.”

Brad shot an angry glare at Emerald. “No need!”

After Rocort let go of Brad, he twisted open the bottle and directly drank it with his mouth. Brad originally wanted to stop him, but upon hearing Zhu Yue’s soft chuckle, he chose to stay silent.

Emerald watched Brad for a silent moment, then leaned towards Fu Xing to whisper into his ear.

“I’m thinking…it might be better from now on not to keep my back towards him when I’m going to the bathroom or bathing…”

“Ah?” Fu Xing was stunned for two seconds before catching on. “You’re completely mistaken!”

“Are you sure?”

“Even if it really was true, he wouldn’t necessarily choose you. Your thoughts are being discourteous!”

Emerald let out a hiss, expressing strong objection to this. “Please, I’m a wind elf.”

“I think Rocort is more handsome.”

Emerald frowned and coldly snorted. “He wouldn’t choose you either.”

“It’s not like I have any intention of competing!” Wind elves really are a race with high egos to be bothered by such a minor thing!

The conversation between Fu Xing and Emerald was caught word for word by the earnestly eavesdropping Zhu Yue.

Ah, what a perfect feeling of companionship. She was sincerely glad that she had entered Shalom at this time to know these beautiful youths.

Fweet! A shrill whistle rang out, drawing everyone’s attentions back.

“—So we will have PE class,” Peiris announced.

“PE? Isn’t it already an optional class?” One of the students below asked in confusion.

Shalom did not have a fixed PE class. The students could choose optional study groups with curriculum related to the physical activities they were interested in, such as boxing, water sports, archery, etc.

“It’s not the optional physical activity study group topic, but ‘PE class’.” Peiris excitedly said, “The ‘PE class’ that human high schools have!”

“And do what?”

Peiris grinned smugly and snapped his fingers. “We’ll be doing this!” A white ball flew out from the box behind him to land in his hand.

“Volleyball?”

“No,” Peiris corrected. “It’s dodgeball! Dodgeball is quite a popular activity in human high schools, as well as an important means to enhance relations between peers…”

Fu Xing stared at Peiris talking non-stop, unable to keep himself from internally grumbling.

Where does the professor get his information? Although he had never attended a normal high school, he had practically never played dodgeball since entering junior high. It was only popular during elementary school.

However, it did make him feel nostalgic.

In the past, he would always be kept outside during dodgeball because his body was in poor health and he was not skilled in physical activity. No one had expected anything from his performance, so he’d just had to obediently stand in the corner and occasionally help pick up the ball. Practically everyone would forget his existence – he had basically been a shadow of the dodgeball players.

“So different classes are going against each other?” A student raised their hand to ask.

Peiris shook his head and raised a finger. “No, no, no, that would only improve the feelings of those in the same class, and you would lose the original intent of breaking through communication boundaries.”

He quietly murmured a spell and then clapped his hands together. Rays of light sprayed out from his palms like splashes of water, floating down onto each student’s body.

As the light landed, every student had a red or white O or X glowing on their right arm.

“The competition is split into two groups: red and white.” Peiris continued to explain, “O and X represent insiders and outsiders respectively. If an insider is hit by a ball, they’ll be knocked out and turned into an outsider. If an outsider hits an insider, they can become an insider. The team with the most insiders by the end of the competition wins…”

Fu Xing felt slightly relieved upon hearing this.

Fortunately, the rules of Peiris’ game were the same as the ones he knew. He was originally worried that dodgeball in other countries would have different rules.

“…That’s basically it. Next,” Peiris raised his hand high in the air. “Catch the balls!” He sharply swung his hand down. Dozens of white balls shot out from the large box behind him, falling next to the students’ feet.

“Each person has one.” Peiris added to the rules, “The activity’s range includes the entire instruction building area and the Bldg. A gym. Leaving this perimeter counts as a forfeit. The enchantments on your bodies and the balls will automatically detect who gets their ball taken and who gets hit by a ball. Those that get hit will have the letter on their clothes changed.”

Fu Xing was dumbstruck.

That shouldn’t be how it works!

“Can we enter other classrooms?” A student asked.

“Yes, as long as you are able to not get expelled from the class.”

“Are there places we are not allowed to hit? Are there any restrictions on the amount of force behind the strikes?”

“No. You cannot leave the activity’s perimeter and can only use the balls as weapons. It’s fine as long as you comply by these two principles.”

Peiris took out a timer. “The activity will last one hour. You’ll hear a notification in ten minutes as the competition starts. You can use the time now to familiarise yourself with your teammates and discuss tactics!”

“This isn’t dodgeball at all anymore!” Fu Xing quietly grumbled.

It sounded more like tag: Xs were ‘it’, and the Os would become ‘it’ after getting caught. The only difference was that the Os of different colours could attack each other.

Fu Xing glanced around at his friends nearby. Rocort and Zhu Yue were like him, with a red O on their upper sleeves.

Brad and Emerald sported a white X and O respectively.

“Oh, looks like we’re enemies.” Emerald chuckled, seemingly amused by this arrangement.

Brad appeared to be extremely disappointed.

The red and white groups each began to move. Brad and Emerald shifted over to the white team’s territory while Fu Xing and the others went to gather with the red group.

Aside from Zhu Yue and Rocort, who he was most familiar with, Momiji was also among the red group members. Despite it being the middle of winter, Momiji was still dressed very lightly, unsurprisingly exposing her hot and sexy figure.

“Oh, we’re quite fated together.” Momiji smiled brightly and waved at them.

Fu Xing noticed that Taeharu was not by her side, which meant the latter had likely been assigned to the white group.

In addition, there was another familiar face – Class B’s representative: Flora.

Fu Xing wanted to greet her, but before he could, Flora was already standing in front of the group to clearly command everyone.

“While everyone comes from different classes and we may have had made some minor offenses during the Halloween trial, I believe that nobody wants to lose such a laughable activity.”

Flora’s figure was petite, but she possessed a commander’s spirit. When she spoke, everyone else was too intimidated to speak. Naturally, this was possibly because she had blackmail on quite a few people too.

“There are twenty Os and ten Xs. I recommend the O members to go hide first and let the X members launch the first line of offense. That way, we can guarantee the baseline twenty points. That’s why, when the competition starts, all the O members should disperse and go into hiding. The X team members will try their best to hinder the white team members and gain time for the O members. The white team will definitely engage in pursuit to earn points, so we’ll be in a more advantageous position if we hide first. Then we can wait for the chance to capture all of them in one go,” Flora stated her tactics.

Even those that were opinionated against Flora expressed agreement with this plan for the sake of victory.

After a simple discussion to confirm the details, the red team members quietly began to move. The O members silently moved to positions closer to the edge of the activity perimeter while the X members spread out unevenly to form a wall of people blocking off the white team.

On the other side, in contrast to the red teams quiet low-profile, the white team’s atmosphere was clearly much louder.

“Get rid of red team!”

“Smash anyone you see! It doesn’t matter if they’re an insider or an outsider, attacking first is no mistake! Even if you hit an outsider, it will weaken their fighting strength and still be an advantage for us!”

“Yeahhhhhhh!”

The encouraging shouts repeated continuously. The white team had a few more beastmen who just happened to be more radical and extroverted members. The entire group had caught a more coarse and wild personality.

Dan Juan, with a bright O on his arm, furrowed his brows and walked towards Peiris.

“Professor, I have a question.” Dan Juan glanced at his nearby teammates. “May I ask what the basis used to split up the groups was?”

“It was randomly split, there was no basis.”

“I thought you had purposely arranged for people with lower intelligence to be in the white team…”

“You’re overthinking.” Peiris smiled dismissively. “Besides, this competition does not require too much thinking. If you look at physical strength, the white team actually has the advantage!”

Dan Juan stared at the excited Peiris then shook his head as he returned to his group.

“We’re comrades, roommate.” Emerald looked at his teammates that were eager for battle. “Looks like the competition will get pretty intense in a bit. Would you like to buy some fairy holy water to activate and increase your physical strength?”

Dan Juan coldly shot Emerald a sideways glance. “I saw you take water from the bathroom.”

Emerald reached a finger out to hold it in front of Dan Juan’s face. “Sh, that’s a trade secret.”

Dan Juan slapped Emerald’s hand away. “I also know that you pull up the grass in the greenhouse and call it slimming tea, and that your so-called dragon crystal tears were made in the chemistry labs.”

Emerald forcefully chuckled. “I never imagined that my roommate was paying such close attention to my actions. How about this? In reciprocation, I can act as your bodyguard to protect your safety with a fair price of just five euros per hour.”

“No need.”

“Thirty seconds left,” Peiris announced.

Fu Xing glanced left and right, extremely anxious. He still had not decided on where to hide. With how weak he was, he would definitely become a target…

“Fu Xing, are you alright?” Zhu Yue asked in concern.

“I’m a bit nervous. Oh yeah, where are you hiding, Zhu Yue? Can I move together with you?”

“Eh, since I noticed that the white team has more male members, I was thinking of hiding in the gym’s female changing rooms…”

“Ah…”

He had already been regarded as a pervert from sneaking into the female baths. If he went to hide in the female changing rooms this time, he might end up being the first student to be chemically emasculated and then thrown into the confinement room until graduation…

“Don’t be afraid, Fu Xing. We can move together. I’ll take care of you!” Rocort patted his own chest as he ensured, “Plus I’ve already thought of a contingency plan. You just have to follow me.”

“Rocort! You’re seriously so reliable!”

“We can hide in the dining hall and then eat until class ends.”

“…The dining hall is outside the activity’s perimeter…”

“Oh right…” Rocort looked quite depressed.

Fweet!

The whistle sounded out.

The red O members charged out of the school building area with balls in their hands. The red X members that had been prepared and waiting for action this entire time took their balls and began to attack the white team members indiscriminately. However, the white team members were already ready to move, and immediately countered after being attacked.

At basically the same moment the whistle blew, the competition immediately intensified. Balls flew around the sports field like artillery fire, making clear and solid sounds of collision upon striking their targets.

The moment the O members were struck, the letters on their arms automatically turned to X.

Isn’t that too fast?!

Fu Xing was momentarily unable to react, stunned in place. At the same time, a ball flew towards him.

“Watch out!” Zhu Yue hurriedly grabbed Fu Xing by the hand and pulled him to the side so that he dangerously dodged it. “Let’s leave this place first!” She reached out to grab Rocort standing next to them and the three of them began to race towards the sports field with joined hands.

Brad, who was originally not that interested in the sudden game, immediately felt his fighting spirit surge when he saw Fu Xing, Rocort, and Zhu Yue fleeing while holding hands.

“Get lost!” He picked up a ball to smash it at a red team member, forcefully opening a path.

When Dan Juan saw the red team’s strategic actions, he felt both admiration and annoyance.

If he had been in the red team too, he would have used the concept of the “Art of War” to improve the tactics even more—

Thud!

The sound of a ball colliding into something rang out next to him. He looked back to see that Emerald had helped block it for him.

“Pay a bit more attention, roommate.”

Dan Juan raised a brow. “I didn’t hire you.”

“Big sale, free service.” Emerald smiled in a flattering manner. “Hopefully our friendship will improve significantly from my goodwill, enough so that you can’t bear to divulge my minor trade secrets.”

Dan Juan snorted in exasperation. “Just don’t hinder me.”

One behind the other, the two began to move towards a direction with less people, leaving the central battlefield.

Bang!

Another ball flew over, and Emerald reached out to block it. The person with the ball was a werebear with extremely strong arm power. After blocking the ball, Emerald felt his arm turn faintly numb.

“This place has white team Os!” Multiple balls flew towards Dan Juan in succession.

Emerald watched the balls flying over from all directions and felt his heart sink for a moment. However, he still gritted his teeth and dashed in front of Dan Juan with the intention of directly blocking them.

If I had known earlier, I would have demanded medical fees—

Dan Juan shot out blade-like spider threads towards Emerald, the strands shooting past Emerald’s cheek only a hair’s width away to pierce through the attacking balls.

Emerald turned his head to see Dan Juan smirking mockingly. “Concentrate, bodyguard.”

The red team members immediately shouted loudly in protest towards Peiris, who was excitedly watching off to the side.

“Violation! He used a weapon aside from the ball to attack!”

“Oh, that’s not a violation. I said earlier that there were only two rules.” Peiris chuckled, delighted that the students were so into the game. “Using special abilities is allowed! But it only counts as a point if you hit the person with a ball. Hitting with any other weapons doesn’t give points.”

“So? That’s it?!”

“That’s right.”

“Great! Why not say so earlier?!”

The students that had been apprehensive earlier pulled out their blades and swords, while some began to activate spells to strengthen their attack power.

The battlefield that had been filled with balls dancing through the air was instantly filled with glinting blades, sword shadows, as well as light and smoke from spells. Everything turned even more chaotic.

It’s much easier if we can use spells.

Emerald inwardly considered this as he turned around to see Dan Juan still standing in place without any defence at all. Balls that had been supplemented with spells to abnormally alter their flight paths were heading towards Dan Juan. Emerald quickly summoned wind to block the ball and directly blew a counterattack in the same direction.

“Can’t you call up a defensive shield? The kind from the Halloween trial?” Emerald questioned.

“I’ve already hired you, so why exert myself?” Dan Juan asked back in a matter-of-fact tone.

“You…” Obnoxious customer!

“Also, that ball hit someone just now.” Dan Juan pointed at Emerald’s arm that had turned into a white O. “You’re also a target, so don’t drag me down.”

Emerald let out a low curse as he summoned wind to block the balls being sniped at them while protecting Dan Juan as they fled.

It seemed like his roommate was not as easy to oust as he had imagined…

 

“It seems noisy in the back.”

The red team’s O members took hold of the critical timing to arrive at the instruction building. Most people were already hiding inside; only a few scattered figures were still outside searching for shelter.

Flora’s cellphone vibrated. She answered her phone and after listening for a while, turned to report to the teammates next to her.

“Half of the white team’s members have already left the sports field. Peiris said that we can use special abilities and weapons; the battle situation has changed some.”

This exceeded her expectations. Compared to the physically strong white team, they were gradually turning disadvantageous.

Fu Xing couldn’t help but complain, “Didn’t he say it was to experience human high school life!”

What kind of high school would enter an armed dodgeball competition! Is this place Switzerland or Gaza Strip?!

“In addition, the number of balls to be used for gaining points has been decreasing this whole time.” Flora continued, “Those balls are enchanted by Peiris and cannot be duplicated. So aside from evading attacks, we must also think of a way to search and gather balls for points.” She glanced over and furrowed her brows. “Hmph, they’ve caught up. They’re faster than I thought. Everyone, good luck saving yourselves!” She then jumped up, nimbly landing on the roof and moving between the buildings before finally vanishing behind some window.

The small group of red team members that had gathered quickly dispersed to hide in the building.

Only Fu Xing and Rocort were quite conspicuously left on the path.

“They vanished way too quickly!” Fu Xing began to wildly run with all his strength. He also wanted to hurry up and hide, but he was too nervous, and his mind went completely blank, unable to think of anything.

“There’s two over here!”

Shouts came from behind, followed by a clamour of footsteps.

Fu Xing did not dare to look back and see just how many pursuers were behind.

“Rocort, we’re about to leave the school building area. Where’s your hiding place?” Fu Xing glanced over at Rocort, who had been running straight ahead by his side this entire time. Although Flora had recommended for the O members not to hide together so as not to be annihilated at the same time, he was seriously desperate!

“Hm, I don’t know. I was just running with you.” Rocort grinned and answered, “Where does Fu Xing want to go?”

Fu Xing’s face went white. “I don’t know…”

Heavens! I should’ve carefully chosen my partner!

Calm down, Fu Xing. This is just a game. Even if you get hit, it’s just one less point, and you won’t need to run after turning into an X. Plus, you can search and gather balls…

Fu Xing swallowed hard and tried his best to calm down, deciding to retreat in order to advance.

However, when he looked back and saw every white team member with arm muscles bulging from gripping the ball and murderous, red eyes, he immediately sensed that his decision might cause him to die in the line of duty.

He had been too naïve!

Rocort, who was by Fu Xing’s side, raised his head as if drawn by something as he gazed at a specific building. He then smiled.

“Rocort! Now is not the time to be laughing!”

“I know where to go.”

“What?”

Rocort grabbed Fu Xing’s hand. “Let’s go!”

Before Fu Xing could even register what was going on, silver waves of light rippled out from Rocort’s body, flashing suddenly like flickering light and shadows, and the two vanished on the spot.

The white team members that caught up searched around the empty space, not understanding what had happened.

“Where are they?”

“Did anyone see which direction they ran away in?”

Everyone exchanged looks with each other.

 

The light instantly flared up before dying out. In the blink of an eye, Fu Xing discovered that he was no longer standing in the empty space outside the building, but rather in the corridor of some building.

“Holy crap! This move is too awesome!” Fu Xing couldn’t help but exclaim in praise. “You were actually keeping back this skill?! If it had been used in the Halloween trial, we would’ve instantly reached the top!”

“This move can’t be used often, and I can’t ascertain it will succeed either.” Rocort chuckled and quietly said, “After all, it’s not my power…”

“Oooh, I understand.” Fu Xing nodded. “I can’t really control my power either. I nearly failed again trying to transform last class.” He glanced around for a while. “Where is this?”

“One of the teacher break rooms at the top of the general buildings,” Rocort explained.

“Then isn’t that really close to where we just were? It’s just the building next door!” Ah, I really can’t get excited too early!

“Hurry, hurry, over here.” Rocort waved at Fu Xing and walked towards one of the break rooms.

“Why did you choose this place?”

Rocort twisted the doorknob twice and found it to be locked, with the addition of enchantments as well.

His lips twitched as he inwardly apologised.

Sorry, lend me a bit more power again. I swear this is the last time.

A faint golden light rippled out from his palm and the doorknob let out a series of quiet, metallic clinking sounds.

“Yay!” Rocort cried out in joy and very smoothly turned the doorknob to push the door inwards and jumped in gorgeously. Fu Xing immediately followed and stepped inside the room as well.

As soon as he came to a stop, he noticed there was someone else in the room.

“Ah! Professor Samukawa!”

“He Fu Xing! It’s you two again!” Samukawa agitatedly let out a furious, deafening roar.

He stood in front of a desk, glaring at the two trespassing, uninvited guests. Aside from anger and shock, his expression also clearly showed fear.

“Prof-professor! I’m truly so sorry, I didn’t know you were in here!” Fu Xing hurriedly tried to pacify, “Calm down, this is a misunderstanding. We just wanted to find a hiding place and accidentally went the wrong way. We absolutely didn’t want to disrupt you, and we’ll immediately leave now—”

Fu Xing retreated back to the door as he spoke, but Rocort continued to move forwards instead.

“Oh, we didn’t go the wrong way. I was planning on coming here from the beginning.” Rocort walked towards Samukawa.

“Move back! Get out!” Samukawa reprimanded but remained in front of the desk the entire time, as if nailed to the spot. “Final warning: leave this place, or else I’ll make you spend the next three years of your life in Hell!”

“Aiya, I’ve already lived in Hell for several centuries, I don’t want to go back for the time being.” Samukawa’s threat did not intimidate Rocort in the slightest. He chuckled as he leapt forwards and dashed around Samukawa’s side. “Aha! I just knew it!”

Samukawa gritted his teeth and turned around to accept his fate, revealing the desk behind him.

The desk had an oval, coffee-coloured object on it: a sloth bear’s head. Accurately speaking, it was a cake in the shape of a sloth bear’s head. Next to the cake was an old-fashioned camera.

“It’s a little bear!” Rocort lowered his head to sniff at it and grinned. “It smells so sweet! There’s chocolate, cream and cherry! Can you share a bit with me? Does Fu Xing want some too?”

Fu Xing felt a bit awkward.

He immediately understood that he had once again accidentally discovered one of Professor Samukawa’s little secrets.

“Um, Rocort, it’s still better not to. It belongs to Professor Samukawa.” Fu Xing tried to persuade Rocort to leave as he strived to ignore Samukawa’s murderous gaze. “That cake…was probably prepared by the professor as a gift. After all, it’s almost Christmas. Buying one or two cakes is a very reasonable affair….”

“But there are cuts here.” Rocort pointed at the edges of the cake.

“Th-that…must be because Professor Samukawa was so cautious that he wanted to personally test it for poison before gifting it to others. It-it’s also very reasonable…” Ahhh! I’ve already tried my best! I can’t do this anymore!

“Enough! Shut up!” Samukawa angrily refuted, breaking off Fu Xing’s blatant drivel. His voice floated over in warning, “I’m sure you know very well what you should do…”

“Yes, yes, yes, of course, of course,” Fu Xing replied in fear and trepidation. “I didn’t see anything. I didn’t see a cake. Just like how I’ve never seen Professor Samukawa putting little duckies in his tub while bathing—mm.” His next words were automatically swallowed down when he saw the look in Samukawa’s eyes.

“Plus, it’s still adorable. I’m talking about the little duckies. Of course, Samukawa is also very cute.” Rocort lowered his head to skillfully grab a piece of chocolate decoration on the edge and placed it in his mouth. “This bear cake is also adorable!”

“Who let you eat it!” Samukawa pointed at the door. “Scram!”

Bang! At nearly the same moment, the door was roughly slammed open.

From his position in front of the doorway, Fu Xing turned his head to meet the gaze of a monster from the white team.

“Found a red O!”

“Don’t, wait! Slow down—”

Fu Xing had originally wanted to stop the other party. But the enemy was too excited to see their prey to notice the situation inside the room. Slender fingers raised the ball up high and shot it fiercely towards Fu Xing.

Fu Xing hurriedly grabbed Rocort to duck down.

The instant Fu Xing and Rocort went down, the people outside spotted Samukawa. Their faces instantly paled, but it was too late to pull back.

Pow!

Without an obstacle, the ball flew in a straight line to smash into the cake head-on, which burst everywhere.

Samukawa’s face and body were covered in dark red cherry juice and cream. He looked particularly sinister, ready to hunt and kill.

“Wow, the little bear’s head exploded.” Rocort leisurely stood up and looked at the destroyed sloth bear cake as he sighed in pity. Then he shifted his gaze towards Samukawa, reaching a finger out to wipe away the cream on Samukawa’s face before placing it into his own mouth.

“Mmm! Delicious!”

Samukawa did not pay any attention to Rocort’s actions. He was on the verge of exploding as he focused on the white team’s student that had caused the accident.

“You bunch of dog shit!”

“Prof-professor Samukawa! We’re very sorry!”

As Samukawa targeted the white team members, Fu Xing hurriedly dragged Rocort away from where he was trying to sneakily eat the vestiges of the cake on the plate and the two ran out.

However, the instant they crossed through the hallway to race down the stairs, they bumped into a bunch of female white team members with weapons in their hands.

“Found targets!”

“There’s two of them!”

Fu Xing mentally cried out that this was far from good.

He rushed to turn around and escape. However, Rocort instead stopped in his tracks.

“Fu Xing, you leave first. There should be an exit at the back corridor. You can just hand this place to me.”

“But…”

“Fu Xing’s very weak. If you’re attacked, you’ll end up like that bear cake just now.” Rocort clapped his hands together. “With a bang, you’ll end up spurting out a bunch of red and white soft and sticky things.”

“Uh…that’s true too, but—” Abandoning a companion isn’t a moral thing to do at all!

“I’ll be fine.” Rocort smiled and urged, “Hurry on, they’re about to catch up!”

Fu Xing glanced at Rocort one more time before patting the other on the shoulder and turning to race towards the end of the corridor.

 

The female students arrived soon after. They split into two, with some going forwards to chase after Fu Xing and some forcing Rocort into the corner of the stairwell.

“Accept your death!” The leading girl sternly raised her ball up high as she aimed at her target.

“You girls want to smash a ball at me?” Rocort showed a stunned expression, like a child that had just learned Santa Claus did not exist. The girls that had sported ominous glints in their eyes began to hesitate.

“Of-of course.”

“Why?” Rocort walked towards the leader. That unfairly handsome face made the other party involuntarily take a step back. “Did I do something wrong? Why must you punish me like this?”

Unexpected by this type of question, the female students stumbled in their movements.

“Um, this isn’t a punishment, it’s just a competition…” She pointed at the O mark on Rocort’s arm. “Because you’re in the red team, we have to attack you. Of course, you can use your ball to attack us too…”

Rocort nodded as realisation dawned. A relieved smile appeared on his face. “So it’s because this mark is no good.”

“Mn, yeah. It’s all because that mark is no good,” the female student subconsciously responded to Rocort’s words.

“If that’s it, then it’s simple.” Rocort grinned and reached out to take off his jacket.

However, after removing his jacket, the glowing red circle shifted onto his shirt.

“Huh? Why is it still there? In that case, I can only continue taking off more…” Rocort undid his buttons and removed his shirt, revealing his perfect, sculpted body.

The group of girls sharply inhaled, their faces instantly blushing bright red as they let out cries of surprise and delicate giggles out of shyness. Rocort took advantage of this opportunity to start slipping away.

On the other side, Fu Xing was attempting to race out from the back entrance, but his pursuers caught up before he had even left the hallway.

Seeing the female students surround himself, Fu Xing immediately raised both hands and begged for mercy.

“Big sisters, spare my life!”

“Let go of your ball.”

Fu Xing obediently loosened his hold on the ball and let it roll off on the ground. The other person picked it up.

“Is this enough?”

“To think you wouldn’t resist at all, how yielding.” The female students sneered in disdain.

“I can’t bear to hit a girl…” Even if their combat abilities were clearly several times stronger than his own, he could never make himself throw a ball at a girl.

This was probably a trauma from when he had accidentally made some female classmate cry in elementary school and ended up being isolated for the entire semester.

“Could you let me off leniently?” Fu Xing looked at the ominous ball of violet light spinning in the other person’s hand. He gulped and said, “If you wish, I could also take my top off.” He had heard what Rocort had just did and figured he could follow this pattern of using his youthful body to turn the hostility into friendship.

The girls revealed humiliated expressions of disgust. “Who would want to see that kind of thing!”

Their balls all shot towards him. Fu Xing raised his hands to cover his head.

However, the anticipated pain did not arrive. He only felt an ordinary force strike his feet rather than attack.

“Hmph, left one out,” Flora’s voice rang out.

Fu Xing put his hands down to discover Flora and Zhu Yue currently standing in front of him. The balls that had been aimed towards him were sealed inside a wall of water that Zhu Yue had summoned. All the balls were now in the red team’s hands.

“Flora!”

“Thanks for your help with gathering the ammunition.” Flora turned to tell Zhu Yue, “Quick, go give them to the other team members.”

Zhu Yue waved at Fu Xing and left.

“Alright, I have a ball now.” Flora tauntingly weighed the ball in her hand as she said to the white team members, “This guy and I are both X. So, do you still want to continue without balls, white [team’s] young misses?”

Fu Xing glanced at his own arm. The previous O had already changed into an X.

The white team members let out low curses and retreated.

Fu Xing sighed in relief. “You guys appeared at just the right timing!”

“It wasn’t just right timing. We were lying low nearby the entire time.”

“What? So you saw everything that just happened?”

“Not everything either. We only saw you around when you came down the stairs. Speaking of which, how did you and Rocort enter the building? We didn’t sense you two at all.”

“You just coldly watched us get attacked from all sides?”

“Didn’t we rescue you in the end?” Flora impatiently snorted, “Besides, this was within our original plans. We were missing ammunition, and you just happened to be surrounded, so you were used to retrieve the balls.”

“What?! Using me as a resource for your own ends?”

“Congratulations on finding a stage for you to freely be yourself. The scores are getting close; I need to go help the frontlines.” Flora turned around, prepared to proceed forwards to fight in the main battlefield.

“Oi! Wait a minute! I’m an X right now too, leave a ball for me!”

Flora was silent for two seconds. “You should just continue being a resource.” With this, she pushed open the window and leapt out.

 

After their individual messes, Fu Xing and Rocort went separate ways. Fu Xing idly walked out of the building to wander randomly around the school area. Now that he was an X, he didn’t need to stay on edge while hiding from others. However, without a ball, he could not do anything either. He walked to a garden in the courtyard and sat on a bench under a tree.

How chill. If he had known earlier that becoming an X would be so lax, he should have just endured the pain of a hit.

However, he felt a bit envious when he saw everyone so absorbed in the competition.

He also wanted to fight together with comrades, just like during the Halloween trial. Yet because his original companions were scattered, in addition to the fact that he was absolutely no use in this activity, he could only acknowledge and accept it.

As he gazed at the vacant courtyard, he recalled how he had been during his elementary days.

He would also spend his PE classes like this back in elementary school. His teachers and classmates knew his physical condition was poor, and would have him rest off to the side in concern so that he did not need to take the field and engage in intense activity.

He had not needed to exercise or run the 800m, nor stand under the sun on a blazing hot day. However, that type of life was truly dull…

He really hated the feeling of being alone.

Fortunately, at Shalom, the dullness was temporary and not the norm.

Rustle, rustle.

A faint noise came from the thicket behind him. Fu Xing curiously looked backwards and spotted a red figure in a short shrub nearby that was concealed by a layer of snow. When he angled his head backwards, he found Taeharu crouching in the thicket, hugging a ball.

“Taeharu?” Fu Xing called out.

Taeharu jumped in fright and lifted her head. When she realised it was Fu Xing, she breathed out in relief, though she did not walk out from the grass.

“You’re not coming out?”

Taeharu shook her head and turned her body to the side. Fu Xing saw the white O on her arm.

“I’m not in the same team as Momiji. I wanted to meet with her…” Taeharu quietly said, “But as soon as the competition started, we were separated by the crowd. I could only hide while searching for her.”

Footsteps sounded out from the distance, and Taeharu shrank back behind the tree.

The presence that had arrived was a brownie out on a task, a false alarm.

“Your arm has an O, it’s really easy to turn into a target,” Fu Xing stated.

“Then what should I do?”

“I’m in the red team. If I throw a ball [at you], your O will change into X. Then you won’t be hunted by others.” Fu Xing paused for a second before saying with slight embarrassment, “It’s fine if you don’t want it. I don’t have a ball and I’m very weak; you can ignore my existence.”

These words sounded like he was taking advantage of Taeharu, effortlessly gaining points for the red team. However, honestly speaking, he was quite terrified of this suggestion himself. Because after attacking Taeharu, he would become a target.

“I trust you.” Taeharu smiled and stood. “Momiji said Fu Xing is the type of person that would keep their chastity forever, someone that’s good to everyone. You’re very kind-hearted.”

Fu Xing forced a chuckle, uncertain of whether to be happy or hurt. “Thanks for the compliment…”

Taeharu passed the ball to Fu Xing. After receiving it, he lightly knocked it once on Taeharu’s shoulder. Instantly, the white O turned into an X.

“Does it hurt?” Fu Xing carefully asked.

“Not at all.” The sound of footsteps came from the distance again. It sounded like there was more than one person, almost certainly some pursuers from one of the teams.

“Let’s split up!” He had no idea which side was coming. It would be a disaster if it were not his people.

“But I’m an X now,” Taeharu replied.

“We’re not in the same team. It won’t be good if we’re discovered to be acting together.” The footsteps got closer and closer. Fu Xing waved at Taeharu, “I’ll be leaving first!” He then began to escape towards the other end of the road.

The pursuers following noticed Fu Xing, their shouts ringing out. “Found a red team member!”

Ack! It’s the white team!

Fu Xing internally shouted at the mess. However, he noticed that the voice just now had sounded a bit familiar. A gold figure rose with the gale and a wind elf landed before Fu Xing, blocking his exit path.

“Emerald?!”

“Fu Xing, you’re an O, huh.” Emerald sighed and lifted the ball in his hand that spun with a stream of air.

The other white team members, including Dan Juan, caught up and eyed Fu Xing covetously.

“We’re friends, aren’t we?” Fu Xing pleaded to Emerald, planning to stir the latter’s emotions.

“Friendship is useless in this kind of place.” Emerald smiled, the ball accumulating power mid-air. “Sorry!”

As Fu Xing watched the ball about to get smashed down, he pulled out his wallet from his pocket with the quickest speed he had ever used in his life, raising it high above his head like a kamen rider going to transform.

“Let me go, thirty euros!” Emerald’s movements immediately paused.

“Are you serious?”

“Yes! Paid in cash!” Fu Xing sensed Emerald wavering. He immediately followed up to press in on the attack by continuing to raise [the price]. “If you get rid of your teammates, [I’ll] add another fifty yuan.”

“What are you trying to sell?” The white team members watched Fu Xing’s absurd actions and chuckled, “We’re teammates!”

Emerald also chuckled. “You think I’m that thin-skinned of a person?” As soon as he spoke, the ball floating in the air instantly turned and smashed towards his teammates. The sudden attack struck them hard enough to see stars.

“How could I be someone thin-skinned enough to see my teammates as more important than money?” Emerald grabbed Fu Xing and summoned the wind.

“…You immoral scum.” Dan Juan coldly glared at Emerald.

“I didn’t do anything to you, which is already being extremely benevolent!” Emerald grinned. “Take care, roommate!”

The wind rose. Emerald and Fu Xing left the premises, descending down on an empty lot on the other side of the building.

“Mission accomplished. Pay up.”

Fu Xing grumbled as he took his wallet out and reluctantly pulled out the bills. “I thought you’d let me go for once.”

“It’s two different things. I like you, but you’re still not that important.”

“Yeah…”

“Don’t feel sad. If both sides had simultaneously pulled out money, I would choose your deal first.”

“Oh really, thanks so much!”

Emerald stowed the money away. “Transaction complete. Thank you for your patronage.”

The ball next to Emerald’s feet flew up again and aimed at Fu Xing.

Fu Xing froze. “What are you doing?”

“We’re enemies, Fu Xing.”

“Didn’t I already pay?!”

“That was earlier. The attack time-out has a time limit.” Emerald smirked. “You can continue employing me to stop until the end of the competition.”

“You shark!”

“Don’t say that.” Emerald shook his head. “If you want to blame [something], blame the prosperity.”

Boom!

A pillar of fire suddenly fell down from above, striking the ground next to the two of them.

Emerald jumped backwards to dodge the flames. However, the flames on the ground flew after him as if alive and wrapped around Emerald.

Emerald tried to step out of the circle of fire, but as soon as he got close, the flames would quickly rise up and turn into a blazing wall. He tried to summon the wind to fly away, but when the wind rose just the slightest bit, the tongue of the flames would instantly exacerbate, making it impossible for him to gather the power of the wind.

Emerald furrowed his brows at Fu Xing. “Get rid of it!”

“If I was that amazing, why would I need to spend money to avoid calamity?!” Fu Xing was also bewildered by the abrupt fire.

“Those are my flames,” a female voice rang out.

Fu Xing turned to see Momiji walking over in all her beauty, towing Taeharu with her. “Thank you for taking care of Taeharu.”

Fu Xing scratched his head in embarrassment. “Nah, I was the one under her care…”

Taeharu’s ears perked as she heard something and warned, “There seem to be people coming!”

“Next time!” Momiji lifted Taeharu and jumped away.

Fu Xing hurriedly fled as well.

“You’re all just going to abandon me here alone?” Emerald shouted, “Remove the flames first! Flame fox! I’ll give you a silver membership card!” Emerald heard footsteps. Turning around, he saw that Dan Juan had arrived.

When Dan Juan discovered Emerald’s situation, an expression of great interest showed on his face.

“Hi, roommate.” Emerald pretended to be relaxed as he waved at Dan Juan. “Could you lend me a hand and get me out?”

Dan Juan crossed his arms over his chest as he stood outside the circle of fire. “Not calling the others over already counts as extreme benevolence.”

He snapped his fingers and spider’s thread flew past, cutting off several tree branches. Bending down, he picked up the branches and shook the snow off them.

“What are you doing?”

“Helping you add firewood.” Dan Juan let go, tossing the branches into the flames.

With the additional fuel, the flames turned fiercer, even letting out black smoke. Emerald could not stop coughing.

Dan Juan turned and chuckled, “Take care, roommate.”

 

Fu Xing blindly ran around like a headless fly, fleeing into some building and taking a detour to go up and forge ahead towards the library reading room with his final ounce of strength.

The reading room was the school’s smaller library room. The book collection there was mainly comprised of references related to courses. Students would only come and go here for reports due during the midterm and final hell periods; there were usually very few people inside.

Fu Xing pushed open the door, panting as he stepped inside. Yet sitting next the window was a familiar figure.

“Leon!”

Leon lifted his eyes to coldly look at Fu Xing before apathetically shifting his gaze back onto the book.

“May I sit here?” Fu Xing carefully asked as he walked up to Leon.

Leon was silent for a moment, then indifferently made a noise of affirmation.

Fu Xing happily sat down in the empty seat in front of Leon and heaved a sigh of relief. For some reason, seeing Leon made him feel much more at ease.

Fu Xing took this chance to take a breather and rest. Leon minded his own business and read his book, not paying attention to Fu Xing. The two quietly sat there like this.

The window next to them was open. The cold wind blew straight in, but Leon remained unruffled, as if what was being sent in was a warm spring breeze.

Darkbloods were a race resistant to the cold. The clean, cold winter wind cleared his mind and helped him reflect.

The books on the table were records of battle between special animate beings and White Triangle. He had to be particularly calm in order to read through them and use this knowledge to nurture his seed of revenge.

It was not long before Fu Xing began to feel chilly, his body shivering slightly.

He had been running the entire time and was covered in sweat. Now that he had settled down, he felt really cold.

“You’re not cold, Leon? So impressive!”

Leon raised his head and discovered Fu Xing’s lips had paled, complexion ashen, yet was still smiling while looking at him.

“You…”

If you feel cold, we can change places.

He originally wanted to say this, but the sound of conversation came from outside, making Fu Xing quickly stand up like an easily frightened bird.

“Ah! Someone’s here!” Fu Xing immediately dove underneath the table, curling up into a space next to Leon’s feet that was a blind spot. “If anyone asks, don’t say you saw me!”

Leon raised a brow.

Why should he cooperate? However, he ultimately stayed silent and decided to deal with it quietly.

Curled up under the desk, the figure hugging their knees caught the corner of his eyes.

Leon suddenly remembered a similar experience very long ago.

When Lia was still a child, she had once hidden in his study too.

“If Emily comes looking for me, tell her you didn’t see me!” The young Lia earnestly requested.

“Don’t worry, I won’t say it.” Leon lovingly looked at his younger sister.

The sound of the door opening broke off Leon’s reminiscing, pulling him back to reality.

The page of the book had a medieval drawing of a darkblood that had encountered White Triangle and ended up with a silver sword pierced through their chest. This image jumped into his vision. It triggered the memory of that night’s surprise attack that his clan had suffered.

His eyes turned bright red. It was the colour of anger and mourning.

The person that stepped into the room was a darkblood from the white team. When he saw Leon, he took the initiative to greet, “Oh, Sagveiss.”

Leon turned his head to look at the visitor with clenched teeth.

When the other party saw Leon’s expression, he immediately used an extremely quick speed to retreat back out the way he had come.

There was the faint sound of discussion outside. Nobody entered. After a while, the voices faded into the distance.

“Leon’s so cool! Just by sitting here, you can scare people off!” Fu Xing looked up. Noticing Leon’s furious expression, he obediently shrank back to his original spot. “Um, sorry…”

It was not long before the door opened again.

“Although my teammates urged me not to enter, I think they’re making a big deal out of nothing,” Brad’s voice floated through.

Leon’s emotions had already calmed. He did not even lift his head, completely treating Brad as if the latter did not exist.

“My teammates saw a red team member enter this building but cannot find the person. Have you seen them?”

“I do not know,” Leon coldly replied.

In the past, he would not have paid any attention to beastmen. However, after the Halloween trial, his level of loathing for beastmen had dropped a bit. He was willing to spare a meager amount of courtesy to this member of the beastmen.

“Oh?” Brad raised a brow dubiously.

He scanned the reading room but did not see anyone, so he decided to leave.

“Hehehe! Wawawalalala~~”

A joyous ringtone sounded out, interrupting Brad’s exit.

Leon’s face darkened a bit.

Brad raised a brow.

He had heard that cellphone ringtone before. It was He Fu Xing’s phone!

Nested underneath the table, Fu Xing frantically scrambled to pull out his cellphone. The caller indicated on the screen was Rocort.

Ahhhh! Rocort! I’m going to die because of you!

He hurriedly ended the call, but it was already too late. Brad had already discerned the source of the sound, walking up to Leon’s table.

“Move aside.”

Leon arched a brow. “Are you ordering me?”

“He Fu Xing is hiding here, right?!”

“Don’t ask for a mile after given an inch, beastman…” Leon imposingly warned.

Underneath the table, Fu Xing just realised that hiding here had been a mistake. It would be horrible if Leon and Brad ended up fighting because of him.

At that moment, the door opened again. Brad turned around warily, entering battle state.

The one that entered was Zhu Yue.

When Zhu Yue noticed Brad’s presence, a panicked expression formed on her face as she cried out in alarm.

Brad hurriedly retracted his attack posture. “Ah! Don’t be nervous! I-I won’t attack you!” He raised his hands up and tossed the ball on the ground.

Zhu Yue sighed in relief and walked in.

“You’re such a great person. I couldn’t hide the red O on my arm and had no way of disguising myself…” Zhu Yue smiled as she bent down to pick up the ball. She then approached Brad, seemingly about to personally return the ball. “It’s a good thing I bumped into you.”

Brad scratched his face, flustered. “This isn’t anything.”

“It’s a good thing you’re an idiot.” Zhu Yue smiled evilly and fiercely threw the ball at Brad.

Brad was stunned as the white O on his arm turned into an X.

“Zhu Yue…why?”

“Because I’m not Zhu Yue.” Zhu Yue raised her hand and passed it in front of her face, which instantly turned into Rachel. “I originally wanted to transform into a white team member, but Peiris’s marking couldn’t change, so I could only turn into someone from my team.” Her scarlet lips tilted upwards. “The results were better than expected! You stupid pup.”

“You damned blood-sucking demoness—” Brad grabbed the ball to retaliate. However, Rachel’s figure flashed as she leapt out into the night sky, leaving only the echo of laughter behind.

Brad ran out of the reading room utterly discomfited.

Fu Xing let out a relieved breath under the table. “Thank you, Leon.”

Although the danger had been eliminated, there were still twenty minutes left before the activity ended. With caution as his main intention, it was still safer if he continued staying here.

Fu Xing hugged his knees and quietly curled up below the table.

The room was extremely cold. There was only the sound of wind and the occasional flipping of a page.

Despite it being so quiet, he felt completely at peace.

Because he was not alone.

Because Leon was keeping him company.

Leon was reading his book when he abruptly sensed the person underneath the table lean against his legs.

He angled his head downwards to discover Fu Xing already fast asleep, seemingly very serene while leaning on the outer edge of Leon’s thigh.

Leon originally wanted to wake Fu Xing up, but then decided to drop it.

He did not want to interrupt this tranquility, because if He Fu Xing woke up, it would be very noisy and destroy this peace and quiet.

That was the only reason.

 

Meanwhile, the white team and red team were colliding head-on in the courtyard plaza. The chaotic battle scene from the very beginning was once again playing out.

When the intense battle had reached its peak, the markings on everyone’s arms began to flicker and vanished a few seconds later.

“The letters are gone?!”

“Did the competition end? Aren’t there still twenty minutes left?”

The crowd was beyond perplexed as they returned to the sports field only to see two people already standing there. One was Peiris, the other was Samukawa.

Peiris’s face was very dejected. Samukawa’s face was several times more foul than usual.

“Professor Peiris has overestimated everyone’s level of morality and intelligence.” Once everyone had gathered, Samukawa reprimanded, “Your stupid actions have seriously disturbed others, destroyed order, and killed off any sense of right and wrong!” Samukawa shot Peiris a glare. “I am extremely disappointed and pained at the creator of this evil practice that led to such a situation! We will absolutely need to be more stringent about fulfilling the responsibility of oversight!”

Peiris’s head sank even lower. It seemed that he had likely received a severe lecture from Samukawa.

Just like this, the competition was forcefully stopped. In the end, nobody knew who had won or lost. The matter was left unsettled.

“Seriously, what a farce…” Flora snorted. She turned to glance at Emerald. “Why are the ends of your hair burned?”

Emerald and Dan Juan exchanged a look with each other. The former smiled bitterly while the latter wore a disapproving expression.

Momiji grinned in dark amusement off to the side.

Brad was still glaring furiously at Rachel.

“Why do you keep staring at me, pup?”

Brad let out a low warning, “You’d better watch out…”

“Did something happen?” Zhu Yue asked curiously.

“Mhm, just now during the competition, I—”

“What about He Fu Xing? Where did he run off to?” Brad quickly cut off Rachel’s words with this loud question as he glanced around.

“Didn’t see him. I thought he would meet up with you guys.”

“He probably left already.”

“Just give him a call.” Zhu Yue took out her cellphone.

“Oh, Fu Xing seems to be busy. When I called him earlier, he hung up,” Rocort stated.

“Is that so.” If busy, it was best not to interrupt.

 

“Achoo!”

When Fu Xing awoke, Leon had already vanished without a trace.

He checked his watch. The activity had already ended half an hour ago, and the letter on his arm had disappeared too.

“Wonder which team won…”

He wanted to stand up, but his legs were both paralysed. He could only use the chair as support to slowly climb up and roll out his stiffened joints.

A jacket hung on the back of the chair. Fu Xing curiously picked it up and spotted Leon’s name embroidered on it.

Why did Leon leave his jacket here? Did he forget to take it?

He hugged the jacket in his arms, intending to bring it back and return it to Leon on his way.

When he stepped out of the building, the chilly late-night wind made Fu Xing sneeze non-stop.

He stared at the jacket in his arms, contemplating whether to wear it or not.

Finally, he dismissed the idea.

Forget it, our friendship isn’t at that stage yet. It had been difficult just for Leon to willingly accept him. It was better if Fu Xing did not risk anything so that the barely accumulated favourable impression would not disappear again.

Thus, he endured the cold wind, clenching his teeth together as he ran back to the dorms.

If Fu Xing had paid a bit more attention before leaving the reading room—

He would have discovered that the previously open window had been shut.

He would have sensed that the distance between their hearts was unknowingly starting to change in a subtle, invisible way.

---

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