Chapter 46
Cheng Yunshao, of course, had his reasons.
“My line of thinking wasn’t wrong. Look, aren’t they no longer rejecting you from joining the squad now?”
Upon discovering that Wen Hu had saved Lu Qiujin, Luo Shizhen indeed looked at him with new respect.
He earnestly thanked them: “Thank you both.”
Wen Hu opened his mouth to speak, but Cheng Yunshao was already saying with a smile:
“No need to thank us. We are all classmates; it’s only right to help each other out.”
Lu Qiujin: “…”
Qin Yinian: “…”
Only Luo Shizhen would believe these words, but as it happened, as long as he believed it, it was enough.
Cheng Yunshao didn’t directly say he wanted to join Luo Shizhen’s squad. Instead, with a serious expression, he first looked underground. It was pitch black, and nothing could be seen.
“It seems this is the lair of that Anomaly. The giant python from just now was at least a Tier Three Anomaly. We aren’t Guardians yet after all, and if we go down individually, we probably won’t be able to defeat it. Our goals align; how about we cooperate temporarily and go down to explore together?”
Sure enough, as soon as these words were spoken, Luo Shizhen immediately felt it made sense. Even Lu Qiujin and Qin Yinian nodded after considering it.
Putting aside how things usually were, the enemy was right before them. The two weren’t brainless enough to play out a script of going off to die alone at a time like this.
Wen Hu had wanted to speak just now, but Cheng Yunshao blocked him from doing so.
Now that he had gotten his wish and joined Luo Shizhen’s squad, he instantly lost the frustration he had just felt.
Cheng Yunshao indeed had some skills after all.
Even though Wen Hu was clearly in human form, he seemed to be swishing a non-existent, thick tail as he went to fawn over Luo Shizhen.
“Shizhen, don’t go down yet. I’ll go down and scout first. My beast form is tough; even if I’m attacked, I won’t die right away.”
Luo Shizhen didn’t understand the reasoning: “But weren’t you just attacked by Gu Chong earlier and couldn’t do anything about it?”
Wen Hu: “…”
Luo Shizhen said sheepishly: “Besides, we aren’t planning on sending a person down first. Lu Qiujin will stimulate the growth of a vine to go down first.”
Wen Hu: “…”
This instantly made himâwho had planned to go down in person and properly show off his majestic tiger posture to Luo Shizhenâlook a bit too reckless.
He wasn’t discouraged, but instead pivoted to verbal praise: “That’s a really good idea. Did you come up with it, Shizhen?”
Luo Shizhen gently pulled Lu Qiujin over: “No, Lu Qiujin came up with it. He’s very smart, isn’t he!”
Wen Hu: “…”
Lu Qiujin glanced at Wen Hu, finding Luo Shizhen’s praise very pleasing.
When Luo Shizhen praised someone, he was always very straightforward. Earnest, with plain wording, but his tone and gaze were visibly sincere.
Lu Qiujin had never encountered such a method of praising people before. Now, every time he was praised, it didn’t show on his face, but his heart felt extremely comfortable.
“Shizhen, stand to the side a bit. I’ll scout it now.”
He had used quite a bit of Qi in the battle just now and hadn’t fully recovered. Holding a vine seed in his hand, he began to earnestly stimulate its growth.
Stimulating a seed and expending energy to attach his own Qi to it took more effort than elongating an existing tree. Especially since the length of this vine depended on how deep the bottom of the pit was.
The long vine with bright green leaves seemed to come alive, trailing down towards the bottom of the pit.
As the minutes and seconds ticked by, Lu Qiujin’s expression remained unchanged, but fine beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.
Seeing this, Wen Hu felt his chance had come.
This was obviously a sign that Lu Qiujin’s ability was about to run out! Almost running out equaled Lu Qiujin lacking spare energy, which equaled Lu Qiujin lacking sufficient strength!
“Shizhen, look, he can’t handle it. How about you just let me go down?”
Cheng Yunshao facepalmed in the back, thinking that when Atavistic Awakeners were being brainless, there was truly no saving them.
Sure enough, not only did Luo Shizhen not feel Lu Qiujin’s ability was too low because of this, he instead very carefully took out a tissue and gently wiped the sweat for him.
“Lu Qiujin, how is it? Are you still holding up? Do you want to stop and rest for a bit?”
Lu Qiujin’s face was pale, but feeling Luo Shizhen’s meticulous care, he still said: “No problem, it’s almost at the bottom.”
Luo Shizhen took out a water bottle again: “Do you want to drink some water?”
Lu Qiujin: “Yes, thank you.”
So, holding the water bottle, Luo Shizhen carefully fed Lu Qiujin a few sips of water.
Wen Hu: “…”
Qin Yinian chuckled on the side: “Wen Hu, if you don’t know how to speak, you can keep your mouth shut.”
Wen Hu: “…”
He turned to look at Cheng Yunshao.
Cheng Yunshao mouthed: Be friendly.
To whom he should be friendly was self-evident.
Wen Hu was very reluctant.
But thinking about how Luo Shizhen had actually agreed to let him join the squad right after he saved Lu Qiujin, he felt it wasn’t impossible.
To court a mate, what was wrong with slightly buttering up a love rival?
Wen Hu hadn’t brought tissues, but he had brought some beef jerky snacks. He shoved a piece towards Lu Qiujin’s mouth:
“Lu Qiujin, your stamina is almost depleted. Eat a piece of beef jerky to replenish your strength.”
“Come on, I’ll feed you.”
Lu Qiujin: “…”
Qin Yinian almost died laughing on the side:
“Yeah, Lu Qiujin. Don’t use up all your stamina before the fight even starts. I still have bananas here. Do you want one too?”
Lu Qiujin really couldn’t endure it anymore. He sped up, letting the vine touch the bottom:
“It’s touched the bottom. There is indeed a basement at the bottom, roughly seventy meters down.”
“My vine could only probe a five-meter radius around the area. There’s no danger within five meters. Are we going down?”
He asked this to Luo Shizhen, his tone extremely gentle, just like every husband who listens to his wife.
Luo Shizhen was surprised: “Let me decide?”
From childhood to adulthood, among his peers, the people entrusted with the responsibility of making decisions were always those with good grades and more outgoing personalities.
This was the first time Luo Shizhen had encountered such an honor, and he subconsciously grew nervous.
“Of course it’s you, Stone.” Qin Yinian said from the side. “You’re a Purifier. No matter which squad you’re placed in, you should be the center.”
Luo Shizhen was nervous, slightly apprehensive, and a bit excited.
He thought about it seriously: “This is also my first time encountering this kind of situation. I can’t make a decision. How about everyone votes?”
Those who agree to go down stand on the left, those who disagree stand on the right.
Everyone stood on the left.
For young Awakeners who wished they could fight eighty battles a day, once they found the enemy, even if their legs were broken, they had to go up and fight to the death first.
Lu Qiujin and Cheng Yunshao stood on the left. Aside from this reason, it was also because they knew that the current mission was to fight and capture this Anomaly. If it wasn’t dealt with, the mission would never be completed.
If they couldn’t handle it, the teachers responsible for protecting them from behind would definitely step in.
Before going down, the group arranged their formation.
By unanimous agreement, Luo Shizhen was arranged in the very center position.
This way, when encountering an attack from the front, Wen Hu in his beast form would act as a meat shield, blocking the damage for the teammates behind him.
When encountering danger from behind, Qin Yinian would bring up the rear with his flames, cutting off the danger.
Since Lu Qiujin had consumed a lot of energy releasing the vine, he was temporarily placed in the second-to-last position.
Cheng Yunshao was in the second position from the front. While Wen Hu acted as a meat shield, his puppet technique could be used to attack.
Luo Shizhen was in the middle. Once he detected pollution, regardless of whether a teammate was in the front or the back, he could act in time.
Cheng Yunshao asked Luo Shizhen: “Have you learned how to purify the pollution of an attack yet?”
This was also one of the reasons why Purifiers could play a huge role in battle. Some Purifiers could not only help purify their teammates’ pollution, but they could also proactively step in to purify polluted Qi the moment they detected it approaching their teammates.
Luo Shizhen shook his head honestly: “This is my first time participating in a battle. I don’t know if I can do it or not either.”
He was a bit apprehensive: “How about we don’t put me in the middle? I’ve never tried it before. If I can’t manage this kind of purification, wouldn’t I be screwing you guys over?”
Cheng Yunshao smiled: “How is this screwing us over? It’s inherently difficult for Purifiers to advance; it’s always figured out bit by bit during combat. It’s precisely because you haven’t learned it yet that you should stand in the middle and slowly learn now.”
“You don’t need to carry any psychological burden. Even if you aren’t successful this time, when you review it after going back, you might gain something. Just treat us as guinea pigs. The few of us have thick skin; even if we get tainted with a little pollution, it’s nothing.”
Luo Shizhen caught the familiar scent of a top student on Cheng Yunshao.
His gaze towards Cheng Yunshao instantly became much closer than before.
“Thank you, I will do my best.”
His eyes were earnest, and the way he slightly pursed his lips made him look like a good student listening to his teacher.
Cheng Yunshao had merely been talking tactics out of habit. He hadn’t expected Luo Shizhen to actually be so willing to listen, even acting as if his words were the gospel truth. His expression subconsciously softened.
He didn’t expect Luo Shizhen’s attitude to be so rigorous and earnest.
He had originally thought that since Luo Shizhen was a Purifier, he wouldn’t need to work very hard to become the center of the squad; at the very least, it shouldn’t be like how he was now.
Luo Shizhen was different from what Cheng Yunshao had thought before. How should he put it? He was a bit… clumsy?
It wasn’t that Cheng Yunshao hadn’t seen clumsy or slow people before, but his impression of them was that they were foolish without knowing it, constantly repeating the same mistakes, which made those watching feel agitated.
But Luo Shizhen was different. He seemed to know that he was slow, so he acted more cautiously and carefully, absorbing knowledge as much as possible like a sponge. He wouldn’t brag about things he couldn’t do; instead, he would lower his head in embarrassment and say, “I’m sorry, I can’t do it.”
Although clumsy, he wasn’t annoying.
On the contrary, his clumsy, hardworking, and sincere demeanor actually looked strangely endearing.
Cheng Yunshao didn’t feel like he had been slapped in the face. He clearly understood that in a person’s life, they would always encounter all sorts of things and all sorts of people. Views between people would also change because of all sorts of things.
Right now, his view of Luo Shizhen had merely changed in a very reasonable and natural way.
When taken seriously, wouldn’t most people be unable to resist having some favorable impression of the other party?
Cheng Yunshao was also an ordinary mortal and couldn’t avoid such a mindset. Therefore, with complete peace of mind, he grabbed Luo Shizhen’s hand behind him as he walked forward.
Wen Hu looked back, saw this scene, and immediately frowned: “What are you doing holding Shizhen’s hand?”
Cheng Yunshao felt that he had a clear conscience, so his answer was very confident and justified as he reminded the others:
“It’s dark underground. Everyone should keep in contact with each other so we don’t get separated.”
Wen Hu still felt something wasn’t right: “I’m in front of you, why aren’t you holding me?”
Cheng Yunshao: “Fine, I’ll hold you.”
Wen Hu immediately withdrew his hand: “Forget it, forget it. It feels gross just thinking about it.”
He wasn’t used to being touched by others, except for Shizhen.
Luo Shizhen had already extended his other hand behind him.
“Lu Qiujin, hold onto me.”
Lu Qiujin gently held Luo Shizhen’s hand and replied: “I’ve got it.”
Cheng Yunshao pushed up his glasses and took out a rope from his waist:
“I happen to have found a rope. Let’s all hold onto this rope together.”
“There’s no need to hold hands; it’s inconvenient.”
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