I was surprised. Why is she calling me? Shouldn"t she be getting ready to head out and eat supper?
I accepted the call, and Lin Yixin"s urgent voice came from the other side of the phone. “s.h.i.+t, I can"t get out!”
“What"s wrong?”
“The school gates are closed at 11, and the guards refused to let me out. They say that it"s not very safe lately…”
“What to do, what to do...” I licked my lips. “I know, why don"t you stuff your face with some crispy noodles from the supermarket? You can enjoy some fresh meat buns when tomorrow arrives!”
“You"re the one who should stuff your face with crispy noodles, b.a.s.t.a.r.d…” Lin Yixin made some cute whiny noises. “No seriously, what should I do? Think of a way, Lu Chen! I don"t wanna eat crispy noodles, I can"t go about a meal without meat!”
“f.u.c.k!” I gritted my teeth and thought for a moment before suggesting, “If I remember correctly, some parts of the university walls aren"t very high. There is a section near the drains to the southeast of the campus where the walls are only 1.5 meter tall. You can climb out from there if you want to; Du Thirteen and I often used that route when we wanted to go to a cyber cafe.”
“It"s still too tall, and I"m alone you know…”
Alarm bells immediately rang inside my head. The next second, Lin Yixin proved my danger senses correct. “Why don"t you come over and help me, Lu Chen? I promise it won"t take too long…”
I turned my head a bit and saw He Yi, Murong Mingyue and Beiming Xue all looking at me. Murong Mingyue"s lips curled a little into a smile. “Sounds like Beauty Lin is in a bit of trouble?”
I nodded.
He Yi also smiled and said, “Beauty Lin is our staunchest ally, so it"s our responsibility to destroy any obstacle in her path, or make one so we can destroy them…”
I almost spat blood after hearing that incredible logic, but I managed to rein myself in and reply to Lin Yixin, “I"m coming. Just give me a moment!”
“Okay, be quick. I"ll be waiting beside the phone booth!”
“Got it!”
……
I hung up the phone and faced the girls. They were all staring at me and waiting for me to give a full explanation.
“Er… the university gates are closed, and the guards forbad Lin Yixin from leaving on the grounds that it isn"t too safe as of late. So my plan is to send you guys to the restaurant first and fetch Lin Yixin later. It shouldn"t take too long, the university is very close to the restaurant after all. I"ll be back in ten minutes at most…”
Murong Mingyue smiled dubiously. “Are you sure that"s enough time? Ten minutes?”
I rolled my eyes at her but didn"t give her a reply. Seriously, there are better times than now to make a joke. He Yi is right here! If she has a problem with this, then we may as well cancel this supper completely.
The good news was that He Yi didn"t mind one bit. She smiled at me and said, “Be quick, then. We"ll be waiting for you at the lounge!”
“Mn!”
I chose Murong Mingyue"s car because He Yi"s Lamborghini was way too powerful. It literally felt like the vehicle was about to take off to the sky when I stepped on the gas, and I didn"t dare tempt fate with my current driving skills. After sending the girls to the buffet restaurant, I immediately moved to Suzhou University next.
……
It was unusually quiet tonight. There were very few cars tonight, and after circling twice around the university I decided to park the car next to the public transport stop. Murong Mingyue was the one who was responsible for paying the violation ticket anyway, so it wasn"t my problem even if I got fined for this.
I took out my phone and called Lin Yixin"s number.
“I"m here. Where are you right now?”
“The southeast side of the school, duh! There"s a row of abandoned phone booths here!”
“Oh, got it!”
I knew the place she was referring to immediately. Those phone booths were relics from a different time, and no one used them anymore after mobile phones had become affordable to the public.
I walked across the soft gra.s.sy ground and headed toward the walls. After I set my eyes on a certain spot, I broke into a sprint, grabbed onto the top of the wall with one hand and crossed over the wall with ease. Yep, my physical skills are getting better and better!
“Ah, ah…”
When I landed inside the campus, I heard a coquettish moan from the silent trees. I immediately knew what was going on. These lovebirds must be having a h.e.l.luva good time!
I didn"t make a sound, of course. I fitted my right hand into my pocket and nonchalantly stepped onto the cobblestone path.
Even from a distance, I was able to spot Lin Yixin immediately as I ran toward the phone booths. Standing beneath a street lamp, the girl looked absolutely gorgeous with her hair covering her shoulders, her face s.h.i.+ning like snow underneath the light, and her eyes s.h.i.+ning like stars when she saw me. No words could describe how beautiful she looked when she broke into a run herself.
Meanwhile, I found myself a bit dumbfounded after finally figuring out why she had insisted that I come over myself. She was wearing a knee-length skirt, an attire that was clearly unsuitable for climbing walls.
“You sure took your time…” Lin Yixin curled her lips at me. “I waited for a long time, you know!”
“Yep!” I nodded. “Let"s go. He Yi, Murong Mingyue and Beiming Xue are all waiting for us at the restaurant!”
“Okay!”
We walked side by side as we reentered the forest. The couple was still going at it hard to the point where they were panting in exertion. Lin Yixin flushed red in an instant, and when I c.o.c.ked my head to look at her all she had to offer was a wordless glare. She managed to convey her killing intent even though she was silent; as expected of the guild leader of Snow Cathaya.
When we finally arrived at the wall, Lin Yixin couldn"t help but whine. “Didn"t you say that it was only 1.5 meters tall? This is almost 2 meters…”
“No it"s not! Now come on!”
I leaped up the wall easily before extending a hand to her. “Here, I"ll pull you up!”
“Okay!”
I felt a smooth, warm sensation when Lin Yixin grabbed onto my hand. Man, it felt so good to touch a girl that I nearly fell off the wall myself.
A series of combined efforts later, Lin Yixin barely managed to climb onto the wall. However, her skirt had also ridden up to her thighs as a result. Tsk tsk, Lin Yixin had an amazing body if nothing else!
Still sitting on the wall, I asked as if it was the most natural thing in the world, “Need my help?”
Lin Yixin stared at me. I could sense a bit of wariness and playfulness behind her eyes. It looked like she figured out that I was hoping to cop a feel of her smooth thighs. In the end, she shook her head and said, “It"s fine. Now that I"m up, the rest is easy. I can jump down myself!”
“Hmm? Well, okay…” I nodded.
Eyes filled with determination, Lin Yixin jumped off the wall like nothing could shake her resolve. I recalled to the female warriors I often saw in war dramas and thought that their expression was similar to Lin Yixin when they were faced with a do-or-die situation. However, their motives were drastically different. Those warriors jumped for the sake of freedom and equality, while Lin Yixin jumped for the sake of food. Talk about disparity. I should educate her on patriotism when we have some time to ourselves.
However, Lin Yixin let out a yelp of pain when she hit the ground!
“What"s wrong?”
I immediately jumped off the wall as well and checked on her. She was clutching her ankle and staring at me aggrievedly, “I sprained my ankle…”
“Really!?” My eyes widened. “I thought you were a pro!”
“I"m wearing high heels, okay!”
“Oh, no wonder. But why the heck are you wearing high heels in the first place?”
“What do you think!?”
Lin Yixin shot me a hurt look, but I still couldn"t for the life of me figure out why she wore high heels on a night out. She can"t be wearing them for me, right? Nah, of course not. I know full well I"m nowhere good enough to make an excellent girl like her dress up for me.
I got on my knees and checked her ankle. It was swollen and most definitely sprained.
……
“What do you want to do? Should I send you to the hospital?”
“No, I want food!” It was as if her life"s obsession was food and nothing else.
I asked, “Are you sure? Your leg looks pretty bad, you know?”
“Yes!” She nodded. “You drove here, right? Give me your hand and carry me to your car. It"s just a sprain, it"ll be fine after I put some ice on it.”
“Well, okay!”
I looked at Lin Yixin and froze for a second. Her cheeks were red, and she was glowing under the moonlight. The longer I stared at her, the more attractive she became. It was to the point I actually forgot what I was going to do.
“Hey, what are you waiting for?” She rolled her eyes at me.
“Right!”
I put her arm around my neck, and we started walking toward the car. But we hadn"t taken more than a few steps when Lin Yixin suddenly let out a cry and lost her balance. She had to cling onto me to even stay standing.
“My foot hurts. I can"t even touch the ground with it. What do we do now?”
“Fine, fine, I"ll carry you…”
I swept her into my arms before running toward Murong Mingyue"s A8 like the wind. Surprisingly, she didn"t feel too heavy. It seemed like the enhanced strength the virus gave me hadn"t left my body yet.
Lin Yixin didn"t say anything. She simply buried her face into my chest and trembled slightly for some reason. Her face was completely red.
“Yiyi, what is your most favorite food?”
“Meat!”
“d.a.m.n, your desires are so basic!”
“Hmph hmph!”
“By the way, Yiyi…”
“Hmm?”
“You should go on a diet. My arms are getting sore…”
“Die!”
Lin Yixin punched me with everything she got.
I opened the front pa.s.senger door and threw her in. When the Fruit Knife G.o.ddess smiled at me from her seat, it felt like the most beautiful smile I had ever seen in my life.
I hurriedly shook the image out of my head. Focus, Lu Chen! Remember that she"s a minx, don"t let her steal your soul!
……
After calming myself through a series of meditative stances, I finally started the car and drove toward the buffet restaurant. As expected, everyone was still waiting for us. They rushed up to us immediately when they saw that I was supporting Lin Yixin.
“What happened to her, Lu Chen?” He Yi asked.
I answered, “She sprained her ankle while we were climbing over the campus wall…”
“What…”
He Yi looked impressed. She didn"t think Lin Yixin would go this far.
Meanwhile, Lin Yixin looked incredibly embarra.s.sed by all the attention she got. “Let"s forget about the unhappy stuff and focus on food, shall we? By the way, who"s paying tonight?”
All the girls looked at me at once, causing a s.h.i.+ver to run down my spine. I supposed I could afford it seeing as I still had a lot of high-rank gear that I could sell at the auction for a couple thousand RMB or so. Fine, I"ll pay!
Suzhou"s nightlife was surprisingly busy even though it was just a medium city. It was almost 12 am at night, but there were still a tonne of people at the buffet restaurant and a huge variety of food selection.
Lin Yixin couldn"t walk, so I basically had to play the waiter and bring her any food she wanted. A couple of rounds later, I came to the conclusions that all women were carnivores these days. The carrots I had kindly put on the table were completely untouched.
I sat down and asked while drinking my soup, “I know this is probably a pointless question, but is everyone satisfied with our run at Hundred Flower Valley?”
“Mn!”
Murong Mingyue nodded. “Of course! Eve got a boss-tier pet and a Purple Gold–grade Soul Stealing Spear, so she"s the biggest winner out of all of us. Sister Lin got two skill books—Profound Ice Armor and Ice Flame Slash—so she"s not too far behind either. I got the Prayer Scepter, you and Beiming Xue got a couple of top-tier items, and all of us rose a couple of levels since the start of the quest. We all died once, sure, but it would take Dominating Heaven Blade and the rest of our compet.i.tors at least a whole week of mad grinding before they could catch up to us!”
“Heh, that"s right!” Lin Yixin said happily.
It was at this moment He Yi shot Lin Yixin"s leg a glance before saying, “Luckily, it doesn"t seem like your bones are damaged, but it"s still pretty swollen. There"s no way you can get back to the campus like this, can you? Would you like to stay a night at our workshop, Lin Yixin? Beiming Xue can sleep with me.”
“Ah?”
Lin Yixin looked back and forth between me and He Yi. She was clearly struggling to come to a decision.