Chapter Twenty-Nine
-Xiao Lan-
"Senior Xiao Lan! Senior Shao Han! You are both so amazing!"
Kugizaki Nobara blinked her starry eyes and looked at me with adoration, a look of admiration that perfectly spurred my vanity.
“That’s it.” Ignoring the mess behind me, I summoned the Instant Sword back to my senses. “Who are we?”
"Heh, thank you for remembering to include the 'us' in your name." Shaohan sneered, placing her hand on my shoulder. "If I hadn't reacted quickly and shouted just now, we would all have been turned into kebabs by your ice crystals!"
"...But you're there, I always trust you." Sensing something was amiss, I quickly changed the subject, "Speaking of which, it's not class time now, what are you all doing here—except for Panda?"
"It's preparation for the sister exchange event with the Kyoto campus in a couple of days," Wild Rose said. "Senior Xiao Lan, didn't you know?"
...A sister school exchange event with the Kyoto campus?
Is that true?
I asked with difficulty, "...Any new activities this year?"
“It happens every year,” Maki, who arrived a step later than me, said. “But you probably don’t know that you two were away on a mission during last year’s sister school exchange event.”
I:"……"
Shaohan: "..."
Now I understand what you said the very first thing when you returned to the Spellcasting Academy. I turned to Shaohan expressionlessly, exchanging glances with her. It seems we really have missed a lot of the main storyline.
Shaohan nodded fiercely: Right, right? What did I tell you! It really feels like we were either on a mission or on our way to one in the first half of the year.
The others, of course, couldn't understand the unspoken exchange between Shaohan and me. Ji stood up and patted my shoulder: "Da Jie."
Maki also said, "When we first started preparing for the sister school this year, we thought you two wouldn't be able to come back, so we brought in the first-year students. Who knew you two would come back these past two days without even telling us in advance?"
"So what do we do now? We've got everyone." Panda rushed over, having overheard our entire conversation. After a moment's thought, he made a bold decision: "How about this time, for the sister school... I won't go. Let Xiao Lan and Shao Han go instead."
Thorn also raised his hand: "Salmon."
“No way,” I said. “You two have been preparing for so long—it won’t do.”
"Really." Although she really wanted to attend the sister school, Shaohan firmly disagreed with Ji and Panda giving up their spots to us. "You two are making us feel so embarrassed—you two go."
"Maybe I shouldn't go." Maki inexplicably started to defer, with Shaohan's voice in the background saying, "Maki, what are you doing here?"
"Forget it, forget it." Wild Rose scratched her hair in frustration. "We were just here to make up the numbers because we didn't have enough people. We can participate again next year. Let Senior Sister Shaohan and Senior Sister Xiaolan go this year."
Fukuhei nodded.
"Oh, really, you don't need to..."
The chaos surrounding the sister school spot give-up was triggered by my phone ringing. After seeing the message on my phone, my temples throbbed twice, then I shrugged and said, "OK, OK, there's really no need for all this pushing and shoving now—you can keep your original teams for the sister school. Shaohan and I have a new assignment."
"..."
"...Sure enough, the senior students are very busy."
-
"Who sent the message?" After making an excuse to leave the playground, Shaohan and I hid in the stairwell and talked in hushed tones. "I remember that after we finished the Hokkaido mission, we were given a leave of absence."
"Smart." I gave Shaohan an approving look and handed her my phone. "New message from Dengzi—Guyu has been found."
Smart people should have already figured it out—did you really think that Shaohan and I were diligently removing all cursed spirits while we were constantly on business trips? No, as level one sorcerers, Shaohan and I can more or less refuse some tasks, such as those simple tasks of removing level three or four cursed spirits. But why do we personally handle every task we're assigned, and why do we only do it when both of us are present?
Yes, a new character has appeared—Gu Yu! But ultimately, this matter is still related to Xia Youjie.
"Gu Yu? The medical cultivator representative who traveled with us?" Shao Han and I weren't very familiar with her; we'd only exchanged a few words with her before setting off for the sect competition. "Do we absolutely have to find her?"
Deng Xiqi and she are quite familiar with each other, but judging from her expression, it's a bit...unpleasant? It's probably because some entanglement happened between them without my knowledge.
"This is a necessary condition for reviving Xia Youjie," Deng Xiqi said irritably.
Sensing his own name, Xia Youjie lazily opened his eyes.
"What happened?" Shao Han grabbed Deng Xiqi's ear. "Explain yourself!"
"Ouch, ouch, ouch—it hurts! Let go of me, Yu Shaohan—I'll explain myself properly, okay?!"
Having finally escaped Shao Han's clutches, Deng Xiqi rubbed her bright red ears: "Although I don't know what kind of creature possessed Xia Youjie, if we take back Xia Youjie's body and revive him, do you think his body with his head split open can live for long?"
...This is indeed a very serious issue.
Even if Xia Youjie could live a long time with his head split open, wouldn't people mistake him for a zombie and take him to a lab to dissect and study him if he walked on the street every day?
"So," Deng Xiqi said, "we need to find Gu Yu and ask her to restore Xia Youjie's skull to its original state. Although I have some personal grudges with her, I have to admit that her medical skills are indeed top-notch. She can completely restore Xia Youjie's body to its original state. Even if the unknown creature ate too much sugar from Xia Youjie's body and got two cavities, she can help cure them."
"No one doubts her medical skills, OK?" I interrupted Deng Xiqi's rambling urgently, "The question now is—did Gu Yu really travel through time with us?"
“Believe me!” Deng Xiqi waved her hands, “She traveled through time just like us—I already met her before I met you all!”
"..."
“…”
Shaohan and I exchanged an incredulous glance: "So you two didn't act together?"
"We're not like you two." Deng Xiqi crossed her arms and sneered. "We're mortal enemies, you know? Do you even know what mortal enemies mean? Who wants to act with her?"
If Deng Xiqi were to complain about Gu Yu, she could complain for a whole day and night without stopping. But if we really let her complain, then the past few days would be completely wasted.
"Alright." Shaohan clapped her hands and announced loudly, "That's not the point. The point now is where Guyu is."
"Where Gu Yu is shouldn't be the main point," I said. "Even if we find Gu Yu, it'll be useless without Xia Youjie's body."
Deng Xiqi: "So we have to do it on both sides at the same time? But if we find Gu Yu but still haven't found Xia Youjie's body, then we're doomed."
“Of course we can do both at the same time,” Shaohan retorted. “Even if we find Guyu before we find Xia Youjie’s body, we can still talk to her in advance and exchange contact information before we start talking.”
I looked at Deng Xiqi: "Dengzi, didn't you two just meet a while ago? Do you know where she is now?"
Deng Xiqi shook her head like a rattle drum.
"You don't know?" Shaohan asked her, "You two, in this unfamiliar world, when fellow countrymen meet, even if you don't have tears in your eyes, you should at least inform each other where you're going and what you're going to do next, right?"
"Ha." Deng Xiqi scoffed at my and Shaohan's views. "Only the weak need companions, the strong don't! The strong can live well alone in another world!"
"If what you mean by 'living well' is sleeping in an abandoned warehouse and eating near-expired instant noodles, then I have nothing to say." I yawned. "You really can't count on anything."
“Only you are counting on her.” Shaohan looked at me with some pity and patted my shoulder. “Didn’t you notice that I didn’t say a word the whole time you asked her about Guyu’s exact location?”
I forced a smile at Shaohan: "Looking at it this way, you were the one who had foresight. So, how are you planning to find Guyu, the most brilliant mind here?"
Shaohan rested her chin on her hand: "I remember we've both become level one sorcerers now, right?"
"That's right." I scratched my head, wondering what she was up to.
“After becoming a Level 1 Spellcaster, you’ll have to travel all over the country frequently.” Shaohan raised an eyebrow at me with an ambiguous expression.
That's why we get along so well—I instantly understood what she meant: "Oh, you mean we're going on a business trip at company expense, and then use that as an excuse to go see Gu Yu?"
"Bingo, that's it!" Shaohan snapped her fingers. "Isn't this great? We can even use the excuse that Guyu is related to the cursed spirits in various places and ask them to assist in the investigation."
Deng Xiqi blinked, looked at me, then at Shaohan: "What about me? What about me? What am I going to do?"
"Think about it yourself," Shaohan said. "Do whatever you want. What else do you expect us to do? Take you with us on business trips?"
"I think it's okay."
"I don't think so."
I glared at you, then softened my tone: "You should use your own brain for this kind of thing, since we don't know your specific situation."
That concludes the recollection. In short, neither Shaohan nor I knew how Deng Xiqi found Guyu. Moreover, after Shaohan and I had been searching for Guyu for over half a year without any trace, Deng Xiqi actually found her again.
Seriously, you two are such a coincidence, it's so coincidental that I'm even starting to ship you two (just kidding).
Shaohan reached out for my phone. "Let me see," she said. "Let me see what the stool said to you."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
