Chapter 26: Training Ground (Part-2)

Back in the real world;

The curtains swayed lightly from the breeze of the half-open window, but the two girls sat in silence, the mood noticeably heavier than before.

Li Liu still had her hands half-covering her face, peeking through her fingers like a child hiding from the consequences of their own impulsiveness. She mumbled, “Ugh… This is so embarrassing.”

Zhi Yan sat by the small desk, arms folded with a gentle frown on her face. “It’s okay if you’re still not used to him, Liuliu,” she said calmly, “but did you really have to storm off like that?”

Li Liu groaned and let her hands fall into her lap. “I didn’t mean to. I just… I saw him standing there, and then I saw myself, hair messy, shirt clinging to me, chips in one hand like a slob, and my brain short-circuited. I panicked and ran. Before I knew it, I was already inside the room.”

Zhi Yan sighed and gave her a look somewhere between exasperation and concern. “Still, that must’ve been really awkward for him. He just moved in. He probably already feels out of place. It was already bad enough that you have yet to thank him properly for saving your life, and now you’ve made him think you dislike him.”

“I don’t dislike him,” Li Liu said in a hurry, staring at her bestie. “He’s… actually kind of cool. I just… ugh, okay, I get it. I’ll talk to him tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow? Do it right now.” Zhi Yan demanded with a stern face, crossing her arms.

Li Liu looked down and sighed. “Alright…”

“Good.” Zhi Yan nodded. “And also, don’t blurt things out again.”

Li Liu blinked. “What things?”

Zhi Yan hesitated, then quietly muttered, “You know… that ’date’ thing…”

Li Liu tilted her head for a moment, then a sly grin spread across her face. Her earlier demeanor changed with a sudden thought. “Wait… don’t tell me…” She leaned forward with twinkling eyes. “Zhi Yan, do you like him?”

“Eh?”

*

“Do you like him?”

Zhi Yan’s eyes widened in alarm, and her cheeks flushed red almost instantly. “What? No! God, no. Why would I like him? We’ve barely talked before this week. He moved in three days ago, and you think I’m the kind of girl who just… falls for some guy like that?”

All of a sudden, Li Liu gained the upper hand in conversation. Her grin widened as she flopped back dramatically on the bed with her arms splayed out. “Oof. Denial. That’s the first sign. And she isn’t any other guy. It’s your old classmate, who you said was one of the most popular guys in your high school. There could be some old lingering feelings involved.”

“I’m not denying anything,” Zhi Yan said, raising her voice as if she snapped at her bestie.

However, Li Liu continued to be mischievous as she commented. “Oh, come on. You volunteered to go with him today.”

“I went with him because he’s being reckless,” Zhi Yan replied in defense, crossing her arms. “He wants to be a hunter when he doesn’t even have mana, taking the path of a tamer. If I hadn’t been there, who knows what trouble he would’ve gotten into?”

“Uh-huh. The noble heroine saves the reckless boy,” Li Liu said with a teasing lilt. “Sounds very romantic.” She added.

Zhi Yan groaned and looked away, staring down at her knees. “You’re impossible.”

Li Liu chuckled softly but then sat back up, her expression mellowing as she walked forward and hugged Zhi Yan from behind, her hands over her shoulders. “Honestly though… I know it’s impossible between you two. I was trying to mess around. So, relax”

That caught Zhi Yan off guard. “What?”

Li Liu’s voice was quieter now, less teasing, more thoughtful as she explained with her chin on Zhi Yan’s shoulder. “I mean… You two come from completely different worlds. He’s a plainfolk with no background, someone who practically lights up when he earns a mere hundred thousand credits. You… you grew up with everything. The best education. Wealth. Status. Influence. Heck, you’re in fact the heiress of…”

Zhi Yan suddenly held up her hand, stopping her. “You don’t have to remind me of my background,” she murmured.

Li Liu paused, freeing her grip.

“I know my own status,” Zhi Yan continued with a flat but soft voice. She slowly moved to the window as she said in a quiet voice. “But you are right about one thing. Our worlds are indeed different.”

Li Liu tilted her head. “Huh?”

Zhi Yan looked back over her shoulder and forced out a smile. “Anyway, I’ll just be clear. I’m genuinely not interested. Okay? He is just a friend.”

Li Liu raised her eyebrows. “Okay,” she said, slightly confused by her words, but didn’t point them out.

Zhi Yan took a deep breath before turning back to face her friend again. “Alright, now, let’s go back to the main issue. Go and apologize to him, right now.”

Li Liu couldn’t help but sigh as she got up. “Alright. Alright… Whatever you say, Your Highness.”

She put on some pants over her shorts and wore a jacket before walking out of the room.

*Knock*

No response to the knock.

*Knock* knock* “Lin Fang, it’s Li Liu. Can we talk?” She spoke aloud. But received no response.

“Hmm?” Li Liu frowned. “Is he in the shower or something?”

*

Meanwhile, in the System’s Training Ground;

Lin Fang’s legs pumped like pistons, his breath coming in panicked gasps as he dashed through the ice-lit corridors of the cave system.

The air whooshed past his ears as the monstrous mammoth right behind him, whose trunk cracked the stone floor with every strike.

[18:16]

[18:15]

“Goddammit, it hasn’t even dropped a minute yet!” Lin Fang roared in frustration, knowing very well that the system wouldn’t respond to him. “I’m being chased by a freaking mammoth, and your timer ticks like it’s on holiday? What’s with this thing? Its size and its speed don’t match at all.”

He didn’t even know where he was going.

There were no arrows, no blinking system lights guiding him.

The cave stretched endlessly in shifting paths that didn’t exist before, curves where there were walls before, a staircase where he swore nothing was earlier.

Was the layout changing? Or was it leading him somewhere? Why can’t he find the goddamn entrance hole that he walked in? Instead of running toward the entrance, was he going deeper?

A lot of thoughts filled his head, but he didn’t have time to care.

Because the freaking mammoth was still behind him, and a moment of halt would mean a death sentence.

However, as if the goddess of luck smiled on him, at some point, his foot slammed into a jutting stone, and he went sprawling. “Argh…” Pain lanced through his wrist as he hit the ground hard, rolling over just in time to see the bear mid-leap…

And then the world shifted as he felt something click right beneath him.

A pit opened right afterwards.

Lin Fang didn’t even have time to scream before he dropped straight down, tumoring into darkness. The mammoth roared above, but it couldn’t follow him.

*Thud*

Meanwhile, he landed hard on his back with a heavy thud. He lay there, wheezing with his eyes fluttering up to the jagged opening above as it slowly sealed shut.

The system… spared him? Lin Fang couldn’t help but wonder before a familiar chime rang in his head, followed by the holographic screen with a notification.

*Ding!

[You have escaped the defense entity. Training will resume.]

[Time Remaining: 17:22]

“System, you son of a… Hmm…”

Lin Fang was about to curse aloud as he finally dragged himself up, limping a bit, but then found something strange. His back…

He fell hard, but he wasn’t feeling much pain as he had felt earlier. It appeared to be just a mild ache.

And before he checked his body condition, his eyes fell on his surroundings. This new chamber was quite warmer than the cave. Soft moss glowed from the walls, and the floor was sandy instead of stone.

“What is this place?” Just as he wondered aloud, the system gave him the answer.

Ding!

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