"Assemble! Line up! Get ready to go! The road ahead won't be as easy as it was before, so everyone stay alert!"
After gazing at the ancient ruins, the group resumed their movements. The atmosphere seemed to have subtly changed after the earlier commotion.
Gao Lang walked silently to the front of the line, almost a distance away from the others. His back was still stiff, but the sharp hostility seemed to have subsided, leaving only a dull and aloof demeanor.
Li Yuheng indeed kept his promise to ignore it, and never glanced at Gao Lang again.
"Hey, if they had really fought just now, who would you bet on to win?" He nudged Shu Bai with his elbow and asked in a low voice with great interest.
Shu Bai stared straight ahead, his steps steady: "You."
"So sure?" Li Yuheng raised an eyebrow smugly. "Although I know I'm sure I'll win, couldn't you pretend to hesitate for a moment and give me some suspense?"
"No," Shu Bai answered decisively. "If you win, you'll be smug for a while. But if he wins, you'll hold a grudge until graduation, which will be even more troublesome."
Li Yuheng was amused by this peculiar logic: "Hey! Little Shubai, in your heart, am I really such a petty person?"
"Otherwise what?"
"I have strong likes and dislikes! But don't worry, if we really fight, I can finish the battle in a minute, and it won't delay our time for climbing the mountain and enjoying the scenery."
"Hmm. Squishy A's explosive power is still pretty good."
"...Shu Xiaobai, you can't get over this joke, can you?!"
"I'm just stating the facts. After all, there's probably no other Alpha in the entire galaxy who suffers a concussion and amnesia after being hit by a basketball, right? Hmm?"
Li Yuheng was momentarily speechless after being rebuked, but the male lead's thick skin was not to be underestimated.
He immediately adjusted his expression, adopting a perfectly measured look of bewilderment and innocence, and blinked as he looked at Shu Bai: "Concussion? Amnesia? Me?"
Li Yuheng raised his hand and touched his forehead.
"Really? I have no recollection of that at all... I only remember that we went hiking together, the scenery was beautiful, and you were so pretty."
He tried to get away with it, skillfully weaving in a sincere compliment.
Shu Bai realized that Li Yuheng was changing the subject, so she went along with it and nodded in a perfunctory manner: "Thank you. You're not bad either."
Upon hearing this, Li Yuheng immediately leaned closer, his brows furrowed, as if he had heard some unbelievable assessment:
"...Not bad? Just 'not bad'? Xiao Shubai, isn't your evaluation standard a bit too harsh? With my looks, my temperament, my elegant demeanor... I should at least be 'very good' or 'quite good', right? 'Not bad' is too perfunctory!"
As he spoke, he nudged Shu Bai lightly with his shoulder, trying to get a fairer assessment.
Shu Bai readily changed her tune: "Yes. Very good."
Li Yuheng: "...This feels even more perfunctory. Let's start over!"
Shu Bai looked at Li Yuheng's crumbling face, and the words he was about to say suddenly changed his mind.
He read in a monotone voice, expressionless: "Wow, Li Yuheng, you are so handsome, dashing, charming, and irresistible. You are the epitome of good looks among Alphas and the benchmark of aesthetics in the interstellar era."
"No, no. Too exaggerated! It lacks sincerity! Start over! It needs to be genuine!"
More, more, more, more, more, more!
"...Your eyes are like two black grapes that have been gouged out, your hair is as smooth as if it had been licked by a cow, and your nose is as perfectly shaped as if it had been punched in the face."
"...Are you praising me or describing a crime scene? Start over! Make it heartwarming! Make it beautiful!"
Shu Bai looked up at the sky and said, "...Your existence is like a spring breeze blowing across Lugu Lake and autumn rain soaking Jiuzhaigou, making this boring mountain climbing activity shine and giving my retina the ultimate pleasure."
Li Yuheng stroked his chin and nitpicked, "The metaphor is old-fashioned and lacks originality, and it sounds like a travel advertisement! Start over! It needs to be unique! It needs to be applicable only to me!"
Are you sure?
Shu Bai, pestered relentlessly by him, finally stopped and turned her head to look at Li Yuheng seriously.
Sunlight filtered through the leaves and fell on his sharply defined profile.
“Yes,” Li Yuheng replied.
"No regrets?"
"hold head high."
No, what's there to regret?
"real?"
"hold head high."
Shu Bai leaned slightly closer to Li Yuheng's ear and whispered in a voice only the two of them could hear, each word clear and distinct:
"Number one in the universe, absolutely unique, so handsome it makes my legs weak."
After saying that, he straightened up and continued walking forward, as if those earth-shattering words had not come from his own mouth.
Only a faint blush spreading rapidly behind her ears betrayed the slightest hint of emotion.
Li Yuheng: "………………"
He regretted it.
Three seconds later.
"Awooo—!!!"
A strange cry startled the birds into flight.
The mountaineering club members walking a short distance ahead all turned around, their faces filled with surprise and questions.
President Chen Niansha stopped and frowned as she looked over: "Li Yuheng? What are you doing? Howling like a wolf?"
Wu Yue turned around, her face showing concern: "Li, are you alright? Did you slip?"
Even Gao Lang, the one who had been silent and stiff at the very front, seemed to pause slightly, though he didn't turn around.
Countless gazes instantly focused on Li Yuheng.
Li Yuheng blinked his eyes, which seemed exceptionally innocent at that moment, and looked around as if searching for the source of the sound.
Finally, he spread his hands towards the president and Wu Yue, his tone both natural and confused:
"Huh? What's that sound? It's not me. Club president, Wuyue-kun, you must have misheard. I was just breathing normally."
President Chen Niansha looked him up and down suspiciously: "Really not you? It sounds like you're coming from that direction."
"Absolutely not. It could be some kind of mountain bird? Or a monkey? There are monkeys in these mountains, aren't there?"
Just then, as if to confirm Li Yuheng's made-up monkey theory, strange cries of "Awooo!" and "Wah!" came from the mountains, growing louder as they approached. They sounded excited and wild, and were clearly made by several people, instantly attracting everyone's attention.
President Chen Niansha frowned even more, looking warily in the direction of the sound: "What kind of commotion is this? I've never heard of any monkeys on this mountain, let alone... this human that sounds like a case of atavism?"
Wu Yue hesitated for a moment before replying, "It sounds...like another mountaineering team? But they seem a little too excited..."
Shu Bai looked in the direction of the sound and saw several figures wearing brightly colored windbreakers jumping and leaping down the hillside in front of him, making all sorts of strange noises as they rushed down the hillside. They looked exactly like a group of monkeys that had just escaped from the foot of Wuzhi Mountain.
Those people were very fast, and in the blink of an eye they rushed to the path not far from them, then stopped, leaning on their knees and panting, while hitting and laughing with each other, obviously having a great time.
One of the tall boys, wearing a bright pink headscarf, looked up and happened to see Li Yuheng and his group. He immediately flashed a big smile and waved enthusiastically in greeting.
"Hey! Friends! Here for a hike too? This slope is awesome! It's like a slide! Whoosh—!"
After saying that, he couldn't help but let out another howl, and his companion next to him also shouted twice in a jeering manner.
President Chen Niansha: "..."
Everyone: "..."
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