Translated by Team DHH at Fish Trapped in Secret Room

Book 3: Glory on the Other Side

Chapter 21

Ai Qing held her knees sitting on a white lounge chair at the beach in
front of a hotel, whose name she did not know.

Her cell phone was right beside her, showing the short message she
had sent to Dt half an hour ago: “I’ll stay at the beach for a while.  I’ll
be back to room shortly.”

The ocean wave was strong in the middle of the night.

Suddenly, she saw Dt and a girl close behind him.  Was she a player
in some girl’s team?  That uniform looked really familiar?

Dt stopped abruptly, telling the girl with a serious face not to follow him
any more and took two steps back.  The girl seemed to talk about
something, but Ai Qing couldn’t hear clearly……

The girl turned around and left shortly.

Dt stood there looking around the array of lounge chairs of the hotel.  
He successfully spotted Ai Qing curled up in a corner holding her knees,
observing him.  After hearing about the conflict between Gun and SP right
after he finished training, he ran out to look for her immediately.  He walked
along the beach from one hotel to another, bothered by a random girl all the
while, feeling quite downcast.

Fortunately, he found her at last.

He didn’t expect the first words from her to be,  “Does she like you?”

Now Dt was even more annoyed by that girl.  He didn’t answer and sat
down next to her.

“Is she chasing after you?”  Ai Qing kept teasing him in a small voice.

“......I’m not interested in her.”

She felt like chukling.

“Really.”  His tone was firm.

She continued to hold her laughter and looked at the ocean.

Dt didn’t know what she was thinking about.  He was a little fretful about
why he didn’t get rid of that girl earlier, letting her follow him all the way here
and letting Ai Qing see it.  He continued to explain because he didn’t want
any misunderstanding,  “I don’t even know her name.”

Ai Qing couldn’t hold it in anymore and burst out into laughter, making him
realize just how nervous he was.

“I’m not jealous.”  She joked,  “But…...maybe you should consider wearing
the hat around compet.i.tions?  So you won’t attract those girls?”  Her face
leaned on her knees, looking at him mockingly.

It was a quiet night on the quiet beach.

She suddenly showed her cute side, curling up her body next to him and
joking at his expense in a quiet voice.  This made him a little bit…...hard
to resist.  Dt clearly saw her feet crossed over and her small toenails…...
his fingers moved slightly to touch the back of her foot……

This wasn’t the first time they had touched.

But he paused the moment his finger touched her soft skin…...she retracted
her feet back abruptly.

“Alright.”  He cleared his throat to cover up his distraction and switched
back to the previous subject, “I also felt it was quite troublesome.”

“I’m just joking……”  She muttered in a low voice and lowered her head
to play around her cell phone.

The time displayed at the upper right corner of the cell phone just
advanced one minute.

She looked at the time and became moody. She was back to reality after
a short moment of intimacy.

Two hours had already pa.s.sed.  Were they still talking?

Would Solo convince him to stay?  But what would he do even if he stayed?

It seemed that it wasn’t Xiaomi who was unwilling to recognize and accept
the fact but actually her, Solo and Gun.

“Wu Bai……”  She called his name lightly.  “I’m afraid to look…...can you
look at the SP official website to see whether there’s any announcement of
personnel change.”  She said in a weak voice, sounding like she was begging
him.  Dt lowered his head and browsed the web page he had bookmarked on
his cell phone a long time ago.  He hesitated for several seconds, then he told
her the content of the announcement briefly, “Xiaomi retires, Bug takes his position
effective immediately.”

Ai Qing blinked her eyes trying to suppress her tears.

Xiaomi was really heartless. He wouldn’t stay after he said he was leaving.

……

“Xiaomi wouldn’t retire if only he had just 70% of your ability.”  She said lightly.

Dt finally understood that it wasn’t Gun who had confronted her, but it was
caused by…...her old friend retiring again.  He was quiet for a little while and
answered her,  “I will retire someday, too.  We are all the same.”

Right, everyone was the same.

There would arise a new generation every few years.  The age, hand speed,
and brain speed would flush out champions at the peak batch by batch.  n.o.body
wanted to leave, but they were forced to make this decision involuntarily…...
However, it was very cruel for a hero to end this way.

Ai Qing wiped away her tears, unzipped the pocket of Dt’s K&K uniform, and
stuffed her cell phone into it.

Then, she left the chair, bare feet, into the ocean water.

Dt pulled up the zipper of his pocket, bent down to pick up her sandals and
followed her.  He didn’t followed her too closely, keeping five or six footsteps away.  
At least, since he was here, there wouldn’t be any danger to her.

Translated by Team DHH at