Chapter 29: 29 School Team
Chapter 29: Chapter 29 School Team
“What are you laughing at? Fantasizing about some lover, huh? Don’t tell me you have a boyfriend now?” Wan Ning perked up his gossip-attuned ears and leaned in to whisper.
Chen Lingya’s smile faded from the corners of her mouth, her expression instantly turning cold. “I don’t need a boyfriend.”
“How about a girlfriend then?”
“I don’t need one of those either! Please keep your distance, classmate Wan Ning.” Chen Lingya pushed away Wan Ning’s wandering hand.
The white jade snail in Chen Lingya’s arms seemed to sense its owner’s mood, ceased nibbling on the leaves, turned its head, and opened its mouth nearly 180 degrees wide, bristling with sharp teeth, as it “threatened” Wan Ning.
“Tch, little lap dog.” Wan Ning pointed his finger towards the white jade snail.
The snail lunged forward, attempting to bite.
“Hey, I retracted it.”
“Then I thrust it forward again.”
“And I’ve pulled it back.”
“Go on, bite me, dummy.”
“Alright, now that we’ve got what we came for, let’s head back,” Chen Lingya said.
The two retraced their steps, and after a while, they came to a sudden stop.
Chen Lingya and Wan Ning exchanged a glance, silently nodding in mutual understanding.
Leading the group, Chi Yu suddenly stopped in her tracks, her powerful front limbs propping her up as she rotated ninety degrees to face the dense forest on the left. Her snowy white claws shone brilliantly as the treetops quivered, a cold stream descending in a cascade from the treetops.
The bone-chilling wind carried bits of ice, which grew more numerous until they formed a sweeping blizzard when they reached their destination!
The sudden onslaught of snow covered the target area, instantaneously encrusting a large swath of bushes with ice and then shattering them to pieces.
An ice-based skill—Snowfall Cascade!
The nearly ten-second onslaught of Snowfall Cascade gradually subsided, the mist cleared, and a giant sphere, formed by entwined tree roots, became visible to the pair.
The tree roots writhed like living things, slowly boring back into the earth.
Three figures appeared at the center of the area protected by the sphere.
Thud, thud.
Footsteps came from behind as well.
Three figures emerged from the diagonal rear, blocking the path.
The summoning array of light brightened, and each of the six individuals had a magical creature at their side, closely watching the two.
Wan Ning narrowed his eyes; the magical creatures of these six were not weak, their energy levels were definitely not low.
However… sometimes it’s not just about how many you have; before becoming an Advanced Beast Tamer, the Beast Tamer is often the greatest weak point of their magical creatures.
A muffled groan came from the crowd; one person clutched his ankle and squatted down. His body trembled uncontrollably, his face quickly turning a shade of blue as he spat out foam from his mouth.
The others, seeing this, changed in complexion, realizing that there must be a magical creature launching stealth attacks from the shadows.
The remaining five had a faint luminescent glow emanating from their bodies, as though they had donned an invisible armor.
Another man leaped up, his foot sending the dry leaves flying to reveal a fleeting black shadow hiding among them. “It’s a scorpion! Damn, there’s a scorpion under the leaves, everyone be careful.”
Watching the stealthy escaping scorpion, the man breathed a sigh of relief, thankful he had cast a Defensive Secret Technique in time, or else he would have ended up like his companion. Nevertheless, the Defensive Secret Technique was constantly draining energy from his magical creature, and they needed to end the battle quickly.
“You can even cast Defensive Secret Techniques; it seems you’re not ordinary Beast Tamers,” Wan Ning commented as he grabbed Chen Lingya’s shoulder. A transparent luminescence similar to the four others spread from his arm to Chen Lingya, protecting them both.
Chen Lingya looked at the transparent, film-like layer covering her body with curiosity, but this wasn’t the moment for such thoughts.
“They’re only two people, take them down!” The five charged forward, paying no mind to the fallen comrade, whose only guardian was his own magical creature, loyally staying by his side, desperately nudging his chest with its head.
The five ferocious magical creatures charged in.
“Let’s go.”
Chi Yu ran to the front and crouched down, and Chen Lingya along with Wan Ning mounted Chi Yu’s back.
With a mighty leap forward, Chi Yu sprinted ahead, the five magical creatures in hot pursuit.
“Who’s there!”
Passing through the dense woods, a group of men in black uniforms sat on a relatively flat stretch of land ahead, in groups of three, with silver giant wolves, nearly three meters in length, lying next to them.
Although not far apart, their positioning created a strategic triangular formation.
Spying the group that passed by, the men in black uniforms didn’t seem to care, simply munching on their rations.
Suddenly, one of them glanced at the person riding on Chi Yu’s back, frowned in thought, then took out his phone, opened his photo gallery, and looked at a picture. He immediately stood up.
“Brothers, lend a hand.”
The group sitting beside him didn’t ask why and simply got up, dusting the dirt off their behinds, as the nearby silver giant wolves aroused and positioned themselves in front of the five people.
“Why are you meddling in a matter among us civilians, this frontier Secret Realm is not under legal protection,” said the leader of the five people from behind.
Seeing Chen Lingya and her companion getting further away, a hint of anxiety flashed in his eyes.
“Scram! We of the military district are protecting these two.”
“You can’t just be so unreasonable,” the leader said with frustration.
“Military affairs are none of your business. Scram, gutter rats!”
With no alternative, the five individuals wanted to retaliate but didn’t dare to, and eventually retreated dejectedly.
The woman with straight black hair, dressed in a black strapless top with a loose black coat draped over her shoulders, took a lazy sip of her drink. “Since you’re already involved, why not just kill them all?”
“It’s merely a personal grudge, not fitting to involve the military in this. Besides, we have other tasks,” Yue Chongshan shook his head.
Chen Lingya and her companion noticed the commotion behind them, and after some hesitation, they returned to the group to express their gratitude.
The surrounding comrades pointed to the man who had just stood up for them. “No need to thank us, it was the vice-captain’s idea.”
Yue Chongshan said in a deep voice, “I’m simply fulfilling a request. If you want to thank someone, thank Xue, the principal of No. 8 Middle School.”
Chen Lingya and Wan Ning were a bit confused; they didn’t know this principal Xue of No. 8 Middle School.
Chen Lingya suddenly thought of something, realizing she indeed had a close relative in No. 8 Middle School. Although unlikely, after eliminating the impossible, that seemed to be the only answer.
Her expression complex, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath, yet a smile couldn’t help but emerge once again on her lips.
Kuang Shiyi led Chen Xing and the other two to the back of the school canteen, and after facial recognition at the entrance machine, the gate opened. Kuang Shiyi, without looking back, said, “Later, your information will be registered, and next time you can come, you can also use facial recognition to enter.”
“Right, now that you’ve joined the school team, you’ll have to follow the team’s training rules. You’ll receive the same resources and treatment as everyone else, but your training time will also have to match that of the other students,” Kuang Shiyi said with a serious look. “If you can’t do that, you can leave now, and I’ll talk to the principal about it.”
“We can do that,” Chen Xing firmly agreed with Mr. Kuang’s words. The amount of work should correspond to the pay—one’s responsibilities and obligations are tied to their treatment. Since they enjoy the resources, they should put in the work.
Taking money and not doing the work, that’s not right, is it?
Wang Bing also thought there was no problem. Anyway, he would train his Beast Taming at home after school, and training could happen anywhere. “I can do that too.”
“So can I!” Zhou Hao quickly chimed in.
Kuang Shiyi hummed, “Come on in, these are your school team’s senior brothers and sisters.”
Passing through the gate, Chen Xing saw the spacious field behind the school.
The wide open space was comparable to a large sports field, equipped with various training apparatuses.
Wang Bing noticed that his family didn’t even own some of the auxiliary equipment. “Teacher, did the school buy all these?”
“No, these auxiliary devices are funded by the district education bureau, simply leased to us for use. We have two units coordinating above us, one is the district education bureau and the other is the school,” Kuang Shiyi shook his head.
“Mr. Kuang, got some new recruits?” A Beast Tamer training under a fitness device not far away greeted Kuang Shiyi with a smile.
“These are your junior brothers; in the future, they’ll be your teammates in the same team,” Kuang Shiyi said. “This is your senior, Tong Xuhua from the third year.”
“Welcome, junior brothers~” The grey-haired young man in a white tank top greeted the three with a cheerful smile not far away.
“Where’s Wu Ju?”
“Fatty Ju went out to buy snacks, his licking dog went to pay, and the sick one took leave to get treated today. Ah, can’t help it, I’m the only one diligent in the school team! Working hard every day alongside my Beast Taming training.” After saying this, the grey-haired young man turned and patted the hands of Wildflame Monkey, who was doing squats behind him. “Come on, come on! Do one more set of squats!”
The Wildflame Monkey’s face was flushed red, nearly matching the color of its buttocks, with closely packed sandbags tied around its body. Holding onto a huge barbell, it squatted down slowly, the barbell’s ends sagging with oversized weight plates, curving into an exaggerated arc.