“Why did we have to come so late, my stomach is already growling so loudly… The dining hall is no longer serving dinner too.”
Lin Xianyu grumbled to Gu Yueyan as they stood in the stairway of the dining hall. Gu Yueyan apologized and said, “Supper is still being served on the third floor. I’ll treat you then if you wish.”
Lin Xianyu blinked and replied, “Sure, sure, but why didn’t you have dinner at Teacher Dong’s house today and instead, Practiced with me all day?”
“…”
Gu Yueyan deliberately did not answer the question. Lin Xianyu, however, was not planning to let her drop the topic so easily as she did previously. She was at a stage of her teenage years when everyone liked to gossip—though it might not actually be related to her age anyway. She hugged Gu Yueyan’s right hand and grinned as she questioned, “Is it related to you staying out the entire night yesterday?”
“No!” Gu Yueyan rebuked instantly. She added, “I will not treat you if you continue asking about this.”
“Okay, okay,” Lin Xianyu replied. A free meal was, ultimately, still more important when compared to gossip. Nonetheless, a few seconds later, Lin Xianyu could not help but ask, “In that case, why did you have to drag till now to eat dinner when I already asked you since just now?”
“I was busy, just now,” Gu Yueyan replied.
“You were completing a test paper just now, don’t think that I did not see that,” Lin Xianyu said, feeling speechless. She continued, “I’ve only heard about people refusing to eat while playing games, but not people forgetting to eat and sleep as they were completing test papers…”
Gu Yueyan’s face froze as she turned away and refused to answer.
It was precisely because she was distressed and could not sort out the thoughts in her mind that she did not want to go to Teacher Dong’s house, where she would meet Ren Suo. At the same time, however, she was also afraid that Ren Suo did not go to Teacher Dong’s house for dinner. As such, she deliberately dragged till 7 p.m. before heading to the dining hall, just in case Ren Suo went to the dining hall to eat too.
It was neither dinner time nor supper time when they reached the dining hall, so Ren Suo would certainly not appear there.
Lin Xianyu was amused at Gu Yueyan’s reactions; even her class chairwoman who always bullied her and shut her down would have such a day. She could not help but laugh as she whispered into Gu Yueyan’s ear, “You shameless little girl, are you missing your man now?”
“No!” Gu Yueyan retorted angrily as she pinched the fats around Lin Xianyu’s waist. Lin Xianyu quickly grimaced in pain and shouted to surrender.
At that juncture, they reached the entrance to the third floor of the dining hall. Lin Xianyu’s eyes suddenly lit up as she waved her hand and shouted, “Doctor Ren!”
Gu Yueyan was stunned momentarily. She saw Ren Suo walking out of the dining hall on the third floor with two bags of takeaway in his hands. He stopped and appeared surprised to meet them there.
What luck, how did she still end up bumping into him?
Gu Yueyan subconsciously wanted to turn her head away and avoid eye contact with Ren Suo. However, doing that would make her seem very uncultured and rude, so she forced herself not to turn away with her great resilience. She mustered her courage and glared coldly at Ren Suo with her usual attitude towards him.
(I– I– What do I have to be afraid of?)
Regardless, even though her hands were behind her, she was already playing with her fingers.
Nonetheless, Gu Yueyan had already thought of how to reply to Ren Suo: When he greeted them later, she would give a cold snort and walk away, to assert her dominance and display her authority. She would not be embarrassed!
The next moment, however, she realized that Ren Suo did not say anything. Instead, he tilted his head slightly, and then…
He smiled.
It was an extremely bright smile.
It was an extremely happy smile.
Having known Ren Suo for one to two months, it was the first time that Gu Yueyan saw him smile with such sincerity. It was such a pure smile that seemed to come from the bottom of his heart, as if all of his cells were smiling brightly with him.
Why was he so happy?
What made him so happy?
As she thought deeper into Ren Suo’s smile, the snort which was about to emerge from Gu Yueyan’s mouth was lost midway.
Even when Ren Suo walked all the way down to the bottom of the stairs, Gu Yueyan did not say anything.
Lin Xianyu remarked, “Doctor Ren looks so friendly today… Eh?”
After walking two steps forward, Lin Xianyu realized that Gu Yueyan had not kept up with her. She turned around and found Gu Yueyan still rooted to her original position with her face blushing red.
She pretended to know nothing and walked over to Gu Yueyan. She patted her shoulder and said, “Let’s go! What are you thinking about?”
“Oh, oh…” Gu Yueyan said as she snapped out of her daze. She quickly tried to explain, “I was thinking about a question in the test paper…”
“Why are you still studying so hard when the exams have already ended,” Lin Xianyu replied casually. When she turned around, however, she could not help but break out into a wide grin with an expression of ‘how sweet, my dearest daughter must have been so charmed that her teeth are dropping’.
——————
On the other hand, when Ren Suo’s clone reached the dormitory building, the black cat which was resting downstairs saw him and meowed.
The clone stopped in his tracks, and he smiled warmly at the cat.
The black cat completely ignored the smile and brandished its small claws.
The clone continued to smile.
The next moment, however, the black cat leaped off the ground and pounced towards the clone. As it was in the air, it cast its ‘soul-grappling iron claws’ at the clone, but the clone remained motionless and allowed it to attack.
After a while, the black cat grew tired and returned to its spot on the ground, wagging its tail. It curled itself up snugly and returned to sleep while the clone continued on his way back home.
“You’re back?” Ren Suo said.
Ren Suo did not even turn around but asked, “Did anything happen outside?”
“I met a cat downstairs and was attacked by it,” the clone replied.
There was a window of opportunity in the midst of the intense fight, and Ren Suo turned to take a quick glance at the clone. The clone, who was placing the food down on the table, turned to look at Ren Suo and revealed the claw marks on his face.
“Ah… I forgot to ask you to buy some spicy dried anchovies for the cat,” Ren Suo said as he scratched his head. He continued, “Anyway, you may continue cleaning the house. Remember to use cotton swabs to remove the stains in the small gaps between the tiles. Also, help me to wash my clothes and hang them on the balcony outside…”
Ren Suo leaned back on the soft couch as he commanded the clone in the tone of an upper-class member of a feudal society. The clone replied ‘yes’ in acknowledgment of his orders.
“Mmm, how did the cat even scratch his face, did the clone squat down? …” Ren Suo thought.
There was a trace of doubt in Ren Suo’s mind, but his attention was quickly turned to the monsters in the game.
One supper later, the clone disappeared and left behind only a pile of clothes.
In the meantime, Ren Suo finally defeated all the small monsters in the arena and began fighting the boss.
However, just as the mages began the boss battle, humans appeared in the arena.
It was the same group of people he had encountered in the previous checkpoint!
[Sir Mage!]
Caroline led the armed Watchmen to bash into the forest. When she saw the mages, she shouted: [What about him? He is not dead, is he?]
Ren Suo had not expected to meet the same group of people again in that next arena. After some deliberation, he controlled the red-haired mage to shoot a Holy Light bullet directly at Caroline.
The red-haired mage said: [I will use his offering well.]
Caroline seemed to tremble, but she quickly calmed down. At that juncture, more and more people appeared behind her. Caroline immediately shouted: [The Watchmen of the Federation has come to support the mages under the World Tree!]
[The Victoria Combat Agency of England has come to support the mages under the World Tree!]
[The Versailles Security Agency of France has come to support the mages under the World Tree!]
[The Changjiang Team of the Countermeasure Division of Xuan Nation has come to support the mages under the World Tree!]
[…]
Extraordinaire teams of six countries appeared at the checkpoint, and Ren Suo was stunned.
Judging from the fact that there were many Extraordinaire teams from various European countries, the entrance to that checkpoint must have been in a small country in the European region. Xuan Nation and the Federation, on the other hand, were global superpowers, and it was natural for them to have also deployed troops to guard the entrance of the mystery realm.
Ren Suo calmly switched between multiple languages to express gratitude to the various countries in their native languages: [Thank you for your support, but I would require you to listen to the command of the World Tree. Otherwise, your support will only serve to hinder our progress.]
[I, Caroline, Commander of The Watchmen of the Federation, pledge to obey the commands of the World Tree!]
[I, Chen Zhishou, Team Leader of the Changjiang Countermeasure Division of Xuan Nation, pledge to obey the commands of the World Tree!]
After the teams from Xuan Nation and the Federation pledged to accept the command of the mage, the teams from the other nations did likewise!
Caroline said: [The World Tree has won the trust of the Federation, and we will help you to eliminate the evil demon here… This is his wish, too.]
Chen Zhishou also said: [We are very grateful towards you for taking care of our warriors in the mystery realm. Furthermore, you are protecting the world, and there is no reason for Xuan Nation to do otherwise… Let us fight and conquer together!”
It was most likely that they only entered the mystery realm because they noticed an unusual phenomenon at its entrance and knew that the mage was fighting. Ren Suo guessed that the nations likely signed agreements of benefit and wanted to determine the proportion of benefits to be split among them through their performance in the fight in the mystery realm. Nonetheless, Ren Suo did not mind any of that—he had already achieved his goal.
Through the “show” he put up in the first two checkpoints, the mage had finally won the support of the people on Earth!
That was the greatest help Ren Suo needed—he no longer needed to fight alone at all!
It was also the advantage of the Sacred Hand route, as well as the best combat tactic. The more companions the mage had, the greater the healing power of the mage would be. Even though the mage did not take the Magic Wrist route, he could still deal sufficient damage!
Suddenly, a black mist emerged from the brook in the middle of the forest, and a terrifying figure appeared amidst the beauty of the forest.
Ren Suo loosened his finger joints and controlled the mage to respond loudly:
[The mage under the World Tree has never been too far away, and will always be here with you!]
“Why did we have to come so late, my stomach is already growling so loudly… The dining hall is no longer serving dinner too.”
Lin Xianyu grumbled to Gu Yueyan as they stood in the stairway of the dining hall. Gu Yueyan apologized and said, “Supper is still being served on the third floor. I’ll treat you then if you wish.”
Lin Xianyu blinked and replied, “Sure, sure, but why didn’t you have dinner at Teacher Dong’s house today and instead, Practiced with me all day?”
“…”
Gu Yueyan deliberately did not answer the question. Lin Xianyu, however, was not planning to let her drop the topic so easily as she did previously. She was at a stage of her teenage years when everyone liked to gossip—though it might not actually be related to her age anyway. She hugged Gu Yueyan’s right hand and grinned as she questioned, “Is it related to you staying out the entire night yesterday?”
“No!” Gu Yueyan rebuked instantly. She added, “I will not treat you if you continue asking about this.”
“Okay, okay,” Lin Xianyu replied. A free meal was, ultimately, still more important when compared to gossip. Nonetheless, a few seconds later, Lin Xianyu could not help but ask, “In that case, why did you have to drag till now to eat dinner when I already asked you since just now?”
“I was busy, just now,” Gu Yueyan replied.
“You were completing a test paper just now, don’t think that I did not see that,” Lin Xianyu said, feeling speechless. She continued, “I’ve only heard about people refusing to eat while playing games, but not people forgetting to eat and sleep as they were completing test papers…”
Gu Yueyan’s face froze as she turned away and refused to answer.
It was precisely because she was distressed and could not sort out the thoughts in her mind that she did not want to go to Teacher Dong’s house, where she would meet Ren Suo. At the same time, however, she was also afraid that Ren Suo did not go to Teacher Dong’s house for dinner. As such, she deliberately dragged till 7 p.m. before heading to the dining hall, just in case Ren Suo went to the dining hall to eat too.
It was neither dinner time nor supper time when they reached the dining hall, so Ren Suo would certainly not appear there.
Lin Xianyu was amused at Gu Yueyan’s reactions; even her class chairwoman who always bullied her and shut her down would have such a day. She could not help but laugh as she whispered into Gu Yueyan’s ear, “You shameless little girl, are you missing your man now?”
“No!” Gu Yueyan retorted angrily as she pinched the fats around Lin Xianyu’s waist. Lin Xianyu quickly grimaced in pain and shouted to surrender.
At that juncture, they reached the entrance to the third floor of the dining hall. Lin Xianyu’s eyes suddenly lit up as she waved her hand and shouted, “Doctor Ren!”
Gu Yueyan was stunned momentarily. She saw Ren Suo walking out of the dining hall on the third floor with two bags of takeaway in his hands. He stopped and appeared surprised to meet them there.
What luck, how did she still end up bumping into him?
Gu Yueyan subconsciously wanted to turn her head away and avoid eye contact with Ren Suo. However, doing that would make her seem very uncultured and rude, so she forced herself not to turn away with her great resilience. She mustered her courage and glared coldly at Ren Suo with her usual attitude towards him.
(I– I– What do I have to be afraid of?)
Regardless, even though her hands were behind her, she was already playing with her fingers.
Nonetheless, Gu Yueyan had already thought of how to reply to Ren Suo: When he greeted them later, she would give a cold snort and walk away, to assert her dominance and display her authority. She would not be embarrassed!
The next moment, however, she realized that Ren Suo did not say anything. Instead, he tilted his head slightly, and then…
He smiled.
It was an extremely bright smile.
It was an extremely happy smile.
Having known Ren Suo for one to two months, it was the first time that Gu Yueyan saw him smile with such sincerity. It was such a pure smile that seemed to come from the bottom of his heart, as if all of his cells were smiling brightly with him.
Why was he so happy?
What made him so happy?
As she thought deeper into Ren Suo’s smile, the snort which was about to emerge from Gu Yueyan’s mouth was lost midway.
Even when Ren Suo walked all the way down to the bottom of the stairs, Gu Yueyan did not say anything.
Lin Xianyu remarked, “Doctor Ren looks so friendly today… Eh?”
After walking two steps forward, Lin Xianyu realized that Gu Yueyan had not kept up with her. She turned around and found Gu Yueyan still rooted to her original position with her face blushing red.
She pretended to know nothing and walked over to Gu Yueyan. She patted her shoulder and said, “Let’s go! What are you thinking about?”
“Oh, oh…” Gu Yueyan said as she snapped out of her daze. She quickly tried to explain, “I was thinking about a question in the test paper…”
“Why are you still studying so hard when the exams have already ended,” Lin Xianyu replied casually. When she turned around, however, she could not help but break out into a wide grin with an expression of ‘how sweet, my dearest daughter must have been so charmed that her teeth are dropping’.
——————
On the other hand, when Ren Suo’s clone reached the dormitory building, the black cat which was resting downstairs saw him and meowed.
The clone stopped in his tracks, and he smiled warmly at the cat.
The black cat completely ignored the smile and brandished its small claws.
The clone continued to smile.
The next moment, however, the black cat leaped off the ground and pounced towards the clone. As it was in the air, it cast its ‘soul-grappling iron claws’ at the clone, but the clone remained motionless and allowed it to attack.
After a while, the black cat grew tired and returned to its spot on the ground, wagging its tail. It curled itself up snugly and returned to sleep while the clone continued on his way back home.
“You’re back?” Ren Suo said.
Ren Suo did not even turn around but asked, “Did anything happen outside?”
“I met a cat downstairs and was attacked by it,” the clone replied.
There was a window of opportunity in the midst of the intense fight, and Ren Suo turned to take a quick glance at the clone. The clone, who was placing the food down on the table, turned to look at Ren Suo and revealed the claw marks on his face.
“Ah… I forgot to ask you to buy some spicy dried anchovies for the cat,” Ren Suo said as he scratched his head. He continued, “Anyway, you may continue cleaning the house. Remember to use cotton swabs to remove the stains in the small gaps between the tiles. Also, help me to wash my clothes and hang them on the balcony outside…”
Ren Suo leaned back on the soft couch as he commanded the clone in the tone of an upper-class member of a feudal society. The clone replied ‘yes’ in acknowledgment of his orders.
“Mmm, how did the cat even scratch his face, did the clone squat down? …” Ren Suo thought.
There was a trace of doubt in Ren Suo’s mind, but his attention was quickly turned to the monsters in the game.
One supper later, the clone disappeared and left behind only a pile of clothes.
In the meantime, Ren Suo finally defeated all the small monsters in the arena and began fighting the boss.
However, just as the mages began the boss battle, humans appeared in the arena.
It was the same group of people he had encountered in the previous checkpoint!
[Sir Mage!]
Caroline led the armed Watchmen to bash into the forest. When she saw the mages, she shouted: [What about him? He is not dead, is he?]
Ren Suo had not expected to meet the same group of people again in that next arena. After some deliberation, he controlled the red-haired mage to shoot a Holy Light bullet directly at Caroline.
The red-haired mage said: [I will use his offering well.]
Caroline seemed to tremble, but she quickly calmed down. At that juncture, more and more people appeared behind her. Caroline immediately shouted: [The Watchmen of the Federation has come to support the mages under the World Tree!]
[The Victoria Combat Agency of England has come to support the mages under the World Tree!]
[The Versailles Security Agency of France has come to support the mages under the World Tree!]
[The Changjiang Team of the Countermeasure Division of Xuan Nation has come to support the mages under the World Tree!]
[…]
Extraordinaire teams of six countries appeared at the checkpoint, and Ren Suo was stunned.
Judging from the fact that there were many Extraordinaire teams from various European countries, the entrance to that checkpoint must have been in a small country in the European region. Xuan Nation and the Federation, on the other hand, were global superpowers, and it was natural for them to have also deployed troops to guard the entrance of the mystery realm.
Ren Suo calmly switched between multiple languages to express gratitude to the various countries in their native languages: [Thank you for your support, but I would require you to listen to the command of the World Tree. Otherwise, your support will only serve to hinder our progress.]
[I, Caroline, Commander of The Watchmen of the Federation, pledge to obey the commands of the World Tree!]
[I, Chen Zhishou, Team Leader of the Changjiang Countermeasure Division of Xuan Nation, pledge to obey the commands of the World Tree!]
After the teams from Xuan Nation and the Federation pledged to accept the command of the mage, the teams from the other nations did likewise!
Caroline said: [The World Tree has won the trust of the Federation, and we will help you to eliminate the evil demon here… This is his wish, too.]
Chen Zhishou also said: [We are very grateful towards you for taking care of our warriors in the mystery realm. Furthermore, you are protecting the world, and there is no reason for Xuan Nation to do otherwise… Let us fight and conquer together!”
It was most likely that they only entered the mystery realm because they noticed an unusual phenomenon at its entrance and knew that the mage was fighting. Ren Suo guessed that the nations likely signed agreements of benefit and wanted to determine the proportion of benefits to be split among them through their performance in the fight in the mystery realm. Nonetheless, Ren Suo did not mind any of that—he had already achieved his goal.
Through the “show” he put up in the first two checkpoints, the mage had finally won the support of the people on Earth!
That was the greatest help Ren Suo needed—he no longer needed to fight alone at all!
It was also the advantage of the Sacred Hand route, as well as the best combat tactic. The more companions the mage had, the greater the healing power of the mage would be. Even though the mage did not take the Magic Wrist route, he could still deal sufficient damage!
Suddenly, a black mist emerged from the brook in the middle of the forest, and a terrifying figure appeared amidst the beauty of the forest.
Ren Suo loosened his finger joints and controlled the mage to respond loudly:
[The mage under the World Tree has never been too far away, and will always be here with you!]
