Chapter 44
In the entire venue, perhaps only Luo Shizhen wouldn’t overthink things.
The giant tiger’s movement of embracing him was very gentle, and the barbs on its tongue had been retracted. Luo Shizhen, who was being licked, didn’t feel any discomfort; it felt more like being licked by dogs that were several times larger than normal.
Seeing Lu Qiujin and Qin Yinian about to step forward and attack Wen Hu, Luo Shizhen even stopped them.
“It’s fine. Wen Hu was just polluted; his mind might still be a bit unclear.”
While cradling Luo Shizhen and burying his head to lick, lick, lick, Wen Hu thought to himself: Yes, exactly, my mind is unclear.
Qin Yinian pointed at Wen Hu’s darting tiger eyes and directly exposed him:
“Stone, look at him. Where does he look like his mind is unclear?”
Cradled in the giant tiger’s embrace, Luo Shizhen indeed couldn’t see the other’s eyes. He lifted his head slightly, just in time to meet the giant tiger’s massive eyes.
The tiger’s eyes were staring blankly; nothing could be gleaned from them.
“Wen Hu?”
“Roar!”
The giant tiger responded and gave a gentle lick.
Being licked made Luo Shizhen ticklish. He laughed and pushed him away:
“Are you better now? If you’re better, we need to continue the mission.”
Wen Hu was indeed feeling a bit dizzy. Seeing Luo Shizhen smile, he thought to himself: It seems he likes being licked by me.
Makes sense. Am I not better than that fish Rong Nian?
The giant tiger obediently stood up. Facing Luo Shizhen, who was covered in his scent, he felt utterly satisfied. His thick, long golden tail curled around, wrapping around Luo Shizhen with overwhelming possessiveness.
He even let out a low growl at the other classmates.
Although no one present understood beast language, just looking at him now, anyone could guess that Wen Hu definitely hadn’t said anything nice.
Luo Shizhen was very tolerant. Still believing him to be confused in the head, he didn’t swat the tail away and even patted it comfortingly.
Lu Qiujin took all of this in, his gaze turning dark and obscure, the look he directed at Wen Hu carrying murderous intent.
Qin Yinian was much more direct.
“Stone, don’t indulge him. Look, his tail is wrapped all around you.”
“It’s fine, he’s a patient. Letting him lean on me for a bit is okay.”
Luo Shizhen was very conscious of his role as a Purifier. His mission was to purify Awakeners, and he was perfectly willing to help care for them while they recovered after purification.
Moreover…
Luo Shizhen gently stroked the giant tiger’s exceptionally glossy and smooth furāa result of good nutritionāand smiled at his other classmates:
“I’ve never petted a tiger before. It feels so nice.”
Luo Shizhen’s thinking had always been rigid. Logically speaking, Rong Nian’s merman form was much rarer than a tiger’s.
But upon seeing Rong Nian’s merman form, Luo Shizhen felt nothing more than curiosity, because almost no one in daily life talked about mermen.
But encountering Wen Hu’s tiger beast form got him excited. In all the stories Luo Shizhen had heard growing up, tigers were rare animals. Even at the zoo, they were behind bars, impossible to pet.
But now, he was tightly surrounded by his tiger classmate and could even stroke his smooth tiger fur.
Hearing these words, Wen Hu smugly swept his gaze over everyone else again. The giant tiger head lowered with ingratiation, gently licking the person beneath him.
Luo Shizhen didn’t spend the whole time there just petting the fur. Even though petting tiger fur was very enjoyable, they were currently on a mission.
With movements that were gentle but firm, he unwound the tiger tail that had wrapped around him several times and pushed the tiger head away.
“Cheng Yunshao is still over there. We have to go check on him.”
Lu Qiujin and Qin Yinian hadn’t forgotten the injured Cheng Yunshao.
They just couldn’t be bothered to care about him.
The named Cheng Yunshao clutched his abdomen and slowly sat up. He didn’t look like an Awakener who got into fights every day; his appearance gave off the vibe of a frail scholar.
At this moment, Cheng Yunshao was holding a phone and recording a video. The content of the video was precisely the scene of Wen Hu turning into a licking tiger, swishing his tail and licking Luo Shizhen in every possible way.
“Don’t worry about me. I want to watch for a bit longer.”
His handsome, pale face showed no concern despite the dagger stuck in his abdomen, even revealing a smile:
“It’s not every day you get to see a joke like Wen Hu.”
Luo Shizhen pushed the tiger’s head away and stood up:
“Stop watching the joke, the wound on your stomach needs to be bandaged.”
He looked down to search for gauze in his medical kit.
Seeing this, Qin Yinian immediately raised his hand: “I’ll do it! I’ll help bandage it!!”
“Shizhen, you don’t know this, but before you came, I was the best at treating wounds!”
Luo Shizhen actually believed him, looking at Qin Yinian with a bit of admiration.
Cheng Yunshao rarely interacted with Qin Yinian, but no matter how little they interacted, he knew Qin Yinian wasn’t the type to be helpful.
He looked at Qin Yinian: “Are you planning to cauterize my wound with fire?”
Qin Yinian gave a dashing smile: “You guessed it, dear.”
“My fire doesn’t carry bacteria, and since you’re an Awakener, you won’t die. The reason you haven’t pulled the dagger out is because it hit an artery and you’re afraid of massive bleeding, right? Don’t worry, I’ll instantly scorch your blood vessels. Guaranteed to stop the bleeding.”
Even though it was his own wound being burned, Cheng Yunshao still smiled faintly:
“Makes perfect sense. Go ahead.”
Qin Yinian spread his palm, and a ball of flame danced within it.
Cheng Yunshao pulled the dagger out himself. Almost the exact second the dagger was pulled out, blood spurted out, and Qin Yinian sent the flame forward.
In just a few seconds, it indeed successfully stopped the bleeding.
Cheng Yunshao closed his eyes. If it weren’t for his face growing a shade paler, one wouldn’t be able to tell he had just experienced being burned by fire.
Qin Yinian: “Done, perfect!”
He turned to Luo Shizhen to claim credit: “Stone, I amicably helped heal our classmate’s wound!”
Cheng Yunshao looked down at the wound: “Why did you burn it into an irregular shape? It doesn’t look good.”
Qin Yinian rolled his eyes: “You’re lucky I even helped you burn it, yet you’re still being picky. With your recovery ability, you won’t even see a scar in three days. What shape do you want?”
Cheng Yunshao: “Then I’ll ask our Purifier classmate to help me bandage it.”
Qin Yinian clicked his tongue. Another ball of flame flew out, this time burning for over ten seconds, forcibly searing Cheng Yunshao’s wound into a perfect circle.
“Satisfied now?”
Cheng Yunshao revealed a satisfied smile: “Acceptable. Then I won’t trouble our Purifier classmate.”
Luo Shizhen had already escaped the giant tiger’s licking and walked over. The five-meter-tall giant tiger continuously nudged him from behind with its head, following clingily.
As he walked, the giant tiger let out a low growl. Looking down, he saw that some wooden thorns had appeared on the ground at some point, piercing into his paw pads.
His aim was precise. He immediately snapped out of it and roared angrily at the wood-element Lu Qiujin.
Lu Qiujin’s dark eyes looked straight at him:
“You really are awake.”
If his mind were truly unclear, how could he instantly distinguish that the wood element came from Lu Qiujin?
Giant tiger: “…”
“Roar~”
His roar lacked confidence for a moment, but then, perhaps thinking of something, he became self-righteous again. Pretending he hadn’t heard what Lu Qiujin said, he clingily tried to follow Luo Shizhen again.
Lu Qiujin didn’t immediately flare up. He merely used his scanner to sweep over the giant tiger once, then transmitted the data over the team channel to Luo Shizhen.
Receiving the data, Luo Shizhen turned around in pleasant surprise:
“Wen Hu, you’ve regained your rationality?”
The giant tiger, still attempting to nudge him with its head: “…”
Unable to keep up the act, his beast form shrank smaller and smaller until it reached the size of an adult human, gradually revealing Wen Hu’s appearance.
The tall man, who even in human form possessed the overbearing aura of a tiger, stood up and cracked his neck: “Thanks.”
On his honey-colored face was a highly charming smile:
“I didn’t expect you to use purification on me.”
Looking at Luo Shizhen, who was completely covered in his scent, he only felt a deep sense of satisfaction:
“I should have guessed. The fact that you could call out my name right away means you must have been paying attention to me for a while.”
Lu Qiujin sneered coldly from the side: “Was your brain submerged in water during culture class? Purification can be used as long as there is a bit of favorable impression. Both Xiao Shan and Chu Xiao have been purified by Shizhen.”
Wen Hu didn’t even look at him. He continued staring intently at Luo Shizhen, exactly like a large tiger.
“Oh? Is that so? Then you, Lu Qiujin, must have definitely been purified too, right?”
Lu Qiujin: “…”
“Oh my, it seems not. Unlike me, who got purified by Shizhen the very first time we made contact.”
Wen Hu had already pegged Lu Qiujin as a simp.
Unlike him, who hadn’t done anything, yet was able to be purified on his very first direct contact with Luo Shizhen.
A tiger’s nature was domineering; they never thought too much and only looked at results.
Furthermore, Atavistic Awakeners were even more straightforward in their thinking.
Luo Shizhen purified him, smelled wonderful, had a good personality, was stained with his scent all over, and let him lick him. In Wen Hu’s view, the two of them could directly skip to getting married, building a nest, and having little tigers.
Seeing Lu Qiujin at a loss for words, Wen Hu felt triumphant. Instinctively, he lowered his head to lick Luo Shizhen again, only to be pushed away.
Wen Hu: “?”
His imagination had already reached the point of a litter of little tigers running around Luo Shizhen inside a cave, so why was he being pushed away?
Luo Shizhen, however, frowned as he looked at him: “Wen Hu, you shouldn’t speak to Lu Qiujin like that.”
Not being able to be purified was such a dangerous thing. Lu Qiujin himself was very sad about this, having asked him earlier, can I really be purified?
Luo Shizhen felt that Wen Hu’s words were truly unpleasant. He pushed away Wen Hu, who wanted to lean in again, returned to Lu Qiujin’s side, and gave him another hug.
“It’s okay, Lu Qiujin, don’t listen to these words. I will definitely be able to purify you.”
Wen Hu: “…”
Qin Yinian: “Talk is fine, but why are you hugging?”
Cheng Yunshao silently picked up his phone to record again. After recording Luo Shizhen hugging Lu Qiujin, he was going to record Wen Hu’s expression of utter disbelief.
When Lu Qiujin lowered his eyes just now, it wasn’t out of sadness, but rather he was contemplating how to kill Wen Hu. But now, caught off guard and plunged into a warm embrace once more, his expression froze.
Could this be considered Luo Shizhen’s open and honest favoritism towards him?
All the sinister plots and machinations in Lu Qiujin’s mind instantly vanished. With his mind completely blank, he obediently stood there and let himself be hugged.
Luo Shizhen comfortingly patted his back before letting go. Turning to the others, he asked:
“What exactly happened just now? Do you guys remember the situation?”
Wen Hu: “I remember that just a moment ago you were hugging me, praising how nice my fur felt to pet, and now you suddenly went to hug Lu Qiujin. Why? Is Lu Qiujin better to hug than me?”
Luo Shizhen was confused: “Huh?”
Cheng Yunshao couldn’t stop recording with his phone: “He’s asking how we were attacked just now.”
He offered an evaluation in his heart, entirely devoid of derogatory intent: Atavistic Awakeners really just have bad brains.
“Wen Hu and I were originally operating separately. I found three corpses. While I was examining how they died, the corpses suddenly revived. I had scanned them with my instrument and confirmed they carried no pollution, so I let my guard down and was stabbed by one of the corpses. That corpse possessed roughly the strength of Tier One.”
While talking about being attacked, Cheng Yunshao’s tone remained very calm, stating the facts without a hint of personal emotion:
“After I was injured, these bugs started emerging from the ground. I could only deal with the three corpses first, while simultaneously sending a distress signal to my teammate.”
Noticing that Luo Shizhen was listening intently to Cheng Yunshao without giving him a single glance, Wen Hu immediately chimed in.
“I received the signal and followed the location here. I saw the ground covered in bugs, so I immediately rushed in and attacked.”
Luo Shizhen felt a bit of lingering fear.
“Lu Qiujin and I also encountered corpses, but we zipped them up in body bags, so they were trapped inside and couldn’t attack us.”
Lu Qiujin nodded: “If it’s just corpses or just Gu Chong, they can be dealt with or avoided right away. But using corpses to stall first, then releasing Gu Chongāan Awakener without area-of-effect attacks will simply be dragged to death.”
Qin Yinian smiled smugly: “So what you’re saying is, I’m the only one here who can do area-of-effect attacks, right?”
He squeezed over to Luo Shizhen’s side and nudged him with his elbow:
“Stone, I just got back to school and didn’t have time to be assigned a teammate. Being all alone is quite scary. How about this, you let me join your squad?”
Luo Shizhen thought for a moment and looked at Lu Qiujin: “Is that okay, Lu Qiujin?”
They were a two-person squad. If they were to add someone, he definitely had to ask for everyone’s opinion.
Of course Lu Qiujin didn’t want Qin Yinian to join.
He still needed to cultivate feelings with Shizhen, wishing that only the two of them were left in this world.
But Qin Yinian was indeed suited for area-of-effect attacks. If they encountered Gu Chong again, he would play a huge role and maximize the squad’s safety.
Lu Qiujin weighed the options in his mind and nodded: “I have no objections.”
“Alright! Thanks, thanks!”
Qin Yinian had a beaming smile on his face, but inside he was thinking: It’s time to let you, Lu Qiujin, experience what it means to invite a wolf into the house.
Wen Hu became anxious: “I want to join you guys too!”
This time, Luo Shizhen himself disagreed.
He looked a bit troubled, but his tone was very firm:
“Sorry, Wen Hu. Lu Qiujin needs purification right now, he can’t be angered. If you anger him into alienating, it’ll be hard to handle. So I can’t let you join. Besides, don’t you have your own team?”
Wen Hu: “…”
He could hardly believe his ears: “You’re saying, for Lu Qiujin’s sake, you won’t let me join?”
Wen Hu clearly remembered how gently Luo Shizhen had stroked him just moments ago, his eyes full of fondness. While being licked, Luo Shizhen was even laughing.
Moreover, Luo Shizhen’s Qi had been tenderly twining around his own Qi, gently soothing him, full of tolerance.
But now, how had it turned into him not wanting him for Lu Qiujin’s sake?
Wen Hu didn’t believe it.
Luo Shizhen, however, nodded in confusion: “Yeah, Lu Qiujin is my teammate after all.”
Wen Hu: “…”
Luo Shizhen’s smile was still as gentle, carrying a bit of embarrassment: “Sorry, you’ll have to find another team.”
Before, Wen Hu was polluted and needed soothing and purification. Now that Wen Hu was fine, Luo Shizhen didn’t feel he necessarily had to be on the same team with him.
How could he possibly agree to let Wen Hu, who spoke unpleasant words to Lu Qiujin, join their team?
That would be equivalent to bringing a classmate who had conflicts with another roommate into the dorm to sleep, without asking for anyone’s opinion.
What a rude behavior.
“We’re leaving now, bye.”
Luo Shizhen waved goodbye to the two of them and left together with Lu Qiujin and Qin Yinian.
Wen Hu stood frozen in place, watching his back get further and further away.
Cheng Yunshao patted his shoulder:
“Alright, they were already roommates and teammates to begin with. You, who just made contact for the first time, insisted on competing with that. Did you really think you could win?”
Wen Hu: “…”
He was full of grievances, desperately wanting to explain to Cheng Yunshao that what he had felt when he fell into pollution clearly wasn’t like this.
Wen Hu remembered distinctly that just a moment ago, he had felt completely embraced by Luo Shizhen’s Qi, along with that gentle stroking.
He firmly believed that Luo Shizhen definitely had favorable feelings toward him.
It must have been because Lu Qiujin was there that he couldn’t easily express it.
Wen Hu’s ears twitched, attempting to listen if Luo Shizhen was evaluating him behind his back, but he heard nothing.
He asked: “Cheng Yunshao, do you hear any sound?”
“I hear it.”
Cheng Yunshao nodded.
“The sound of your heart breaking. I hear it incredibly clearly.”
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