Trample the thorns and pass through the golden curtain.

The sports car cheered freely on the continent of time. Ash looked at the new grids refreshed on the virtual map. Whenever battle grids such as "worth a visit" and "it's time to confiscate the property and exterminate the clan" appeared on the road ahead, he would immediately avoid them, allowing the sports car to firmly walk on the route of "wasting time".

Unless there was a sucker like the sorcerer's projection appearing on the road, Ash would reluctantly run him over and kill him.

There are only two of them tonight, so it is not suitable for fighting. Even if they fight, it will inevitably consume a lot of soul energy. It is better to expand the scope of exploration to see if there is a chance to encounter special virtual buildings.

Besides, they were not in the mood to fight tonight.

The atmosphere in the car remained silent, but it was not the kind of awkward silence, but the kind of silence that someone who was a few hours late and just stopped by to check on his date found that his date was still waiting for him there - well, it was just awkward.

But this kind of embarrassment does not make people feel uncomfortable, but instead there is a kind of tacit warmth.

"Little trumpet." After a long time, Ash suddenly uttered this sentence.

"Ah?" Sonia couldn't believe her ears: "What did you say?"

"I'm talking to you, little trumpet."

After many days of fierce fighting in the school forum, Sonia naturally took the quarrel faction to a higher level: when someone scolds you, you must not refute that you are not right, but fight back; the counterattack is divided into three levels, the worst strategy is to fight back, the middle strategy is exclusive customization, and the best strategy is...

Don’t talk if you can do it!

Sonia reached out and grabbed Ash's ear: "Okay, you dared to scold me today, I dare not think about what you dare to do tomorrow!"

"Hey, hey, I'm driving and there's a fish-slaying dragon passing by!"

"Why are you scolding me!"

"You're so stupid, what's wrong with me scolding you?"

"Where am I stupid?"

"You've been standing there for more than two hours, aren't you stupid enough?" Ash said loudly, "Fortunately, there is no 'Expulsion Poison' in the Time Continent. If you were in the Sea of ​​Knowledge, you would have been eaten by the knowledge creatures by now!"

"I'm not a fool!" Sonia was dissatisfied: "Do you think I'm you? You come to the virtual world without any common sense? Since the day we parted, I have been learning the knowledge of the Time Continent every day. Every day I recite the attention factors of the Time Continent, the mechanism of the virtual world, and the coping methods of various knowledge creatures... Of course I know that nothing will happen, so I wait for you!"

"How can nothing happen?" Yaxiu was so angry that he laughed: "I saw it on the map just now. The white bull is already very far away from you. In an hour at most, Jingyu will catch up with you!"

"I will definitely leave the Void Realm before the Quiet Realm comes!"

"What if you didn't notice? You said before that the Silent Zone is silent. When you discover the Silent Zone, you can't escape!"

"At least I can run away."

"But you obviously don't have to take such a risk!" Ash complained, "I didn't ask you to wait, you could just explore the virtual realm normally and move forward, why do you have to put yourself in danger? Isn't it right for me to say that you are stupid?"

Boom!

This time Sonia was really angry and hit Ash hard. Ash felt that his soul energy was dispersed a little bit - you are a sword girl, not a fist girl, why are you hitting so hard! ?

"How dare you say that to me?" Sonia said viciously, "We agreed to meet at 12:30, but I was the only one here! You didn't even leave me a car or a note!"

"I used to think you at least kept your word, but now I will never believe you again, a big liar!"

"This is an accident within the tolerance range!" Ash retorted, "I just had something unexpected and couldn't come tonight. It wasn't intentional. It's been two hours since I settled down. Shouldn't I come in right away to meet up with you guys?"

"So what happened to you? Tell me and make this Sword Princess happy."

"I can't say."

An Nan's contract blocked Ash's mouth like a ball gag.

“Will there be a next time?”

"It's very likely that there will be." Ash thought about the current situation of the funeral office: "It may even be impossible to come to the virtual world for several days in a row."

"So what you're saying is," Sonia narrowed her eyes, "you can't tell me the reason and you want to continue to take leave?"

"……yes."

Ash answered rather aggrievedly - what kind of world is this? He is the investor of this team, how could he be reprimanded by the operators? As an investor, isn't it natural for him not to work? Not to mention that he has a legitimate reason, although he can't say it.

He waited quietly for the next round of scolding from Fiora, but after a long while, Fiora remained silent.

"I will try to leave the car to you next time..." Ash said, "Although I can't lend you the map, with this car you should be able to maintain the rapid growth of your magic power..."

Sonia suddenly asked, "Is it more dangerous than escaping prison?"

Ash was silent for a moment: "It's a little dangerous."

"Oh."

Following Sonia's inexplicable chuckle, the atmosphere returned to silence.

When they finally killed the first magician projection of the night, Sonia said, "How boring."

"Then you sing a song?"

"Don't you have anything in your life to share?"

"Yes, but I can't tell you everything." Ash shrugged. "If I have to tell you something, I can only tell you in the Riddler's way."

"Oh?" Sonia became interested: "How about grammar?"

"For example, I'm famous now." Ash thought for a moment and said, "Not only do I have to face the risk of being sexually harassed by my boss, but I also have another person in my life that I need to protect with my life."

"Who?"

"I can't say."

"woman?"

“…”

"Women under 30?"

“…”

"A woman under 22?"

“…”

"Women under 18!?" Sonia was shocked: "How old are you, the viewer? You are so shameless, you actually——"

"It's not what you think!" Ash was helpless: "And why don't you ask your boss about sexual harassment? Don't you care about this at all?"

"Because this is definitely different from what you said." Sonia was very sure.

"In short, although I really want to tell you about what happened to me recently, I really can't do it." Ash said: "After these things are all over, I will slowly tell you the stories of these days."

"Then I will just wait with anticipation."

Sonia looked at the golden rain outside and suddenly said, "A few days ago, Kazan-tsuru sent someone to find me - you can think of Kazan-tsuru as a business association that specializes in helping singers to write songs - they hope to tailor a battle song for me. If there is enough time, it can even be used as the theme song for this year's college league!"

"And senior Celia - you may have forgotten who she is - through her recommendation, I have successfully got a role in a monthly drama. Although I am not the heroine, but a villain, my role is basically equivalent to the second female lead!"

"Then your opportunity has come!" Ash said, "If you play your role well, the impression left by the villain on the audience will be no less than that of the protagonist!"

"I think so too!" Sonia nodded and sneered, "Humph, those nobles don't have any good intentions. I've become famous recently. They want to take advantage of my fame, but they look down on my background and are unwilling to arrange any good roles for me, so they give me the role of a villain, hoping to make me look bad and leave a bad reputation... But it doesn't matter. When it comes to disappointing my enemies, I never disappoint them!"

Ash never doubted Sword Lady's ability - the rebelliousness that came from the grassroots in her made her exude unyielding confidence from the inside out, as if nothing in the world could crush her eyebrows.

Maybe there was in the past, after all, Sword Princess was a weak person alone. But now, her shortcomings have been made up by Ash.

She will not be weak, nor will she be alone.

Ash suddenly sighed, "It seems like it's been a long time since we've been alone together like this?"

"...Yes." The village girl lowered her eyelids: "With the witch here, there are some things I can't talk to you about. It's not that I want to hide it from her, but... I feel a little embarrassed."

“Puff.”

"What are you laughing at?"

"No, I'm not laughing at you. I actually understand your feelings." Ash said with a smile, "Just like a beautiful flower in full bloom, the witch only sees your beautiful petals, so you want to maintain your reserve in front of her; but I have seen your roots before you bloomed, hidden in the soil, which are not beautiful, so you will be more relaxed in front of me."

To put it in layman's terms, we can apply the label that anyone can be labeled with: 'appears cool on the outside, but becomes a chatterbox once you get to know each other' - this is indeed the case with most people. When they meet someone for the first time, they will definitely maintain their image until both parties know each other well, and then they will slowly reveal their abnormalities.

"You mean I'm just a pretty girl with nothing on the outside?"

"You make it sound like a pretty girl with nothing to show for it is worthless..." Ash muttered, "But I don't think you need to be so reserved in front of a witch... First of all, a witch isn't the type of person who would look down on you just because of your background."

"Secondly, those roots covered in dirt that you want to hide are actually quite cute."

Sword Princess stared at him without saying anything. Ash shrugged and said, "Of course, I'm just giving you a suggestion. I'm already satisfied with the current atmosphere of the team. It doesn't matter if we don't continue to deepen the cohesion. If you prefer us sitting in a small boat in the Sea of ​​Knowledge, I can understand-"

"OK."

"Um?"

"Thinking about it carefully, it's really inappropriate to always talk about girlish thoughts with a stinky man like you." Sonia said with her chin held high: "It's time for me to change my best friend."

"First of all, I don't stink, and secondly—"

"You're not a man?" Sonia subconsciously used the school forum online skills.

After a quarrel that was as loud as a trumpet, the village girl won.

Looking at the unhappy driver, Sonia suddenly said: "We have left the sea of ​​knowledge."

"Um?"

"So, the days of two-person teams are over. Next up are three-person teams, four-person teams, five-person teams... The teams will grow bigger and bigger, and we will become stronger and stronger too."

"...Yeah." Ash looked at her in the rearview mirror: "This is my plan."

"I will help you." Sonia said, "Although I may not be willing to do so, I will help you, because if the team becomes stronger, our exploration efficiency will also increase, and I will gain more and more benefits from it."

“The benefits you gain from it will increase.”

Ash looked at Sonia in surprise, but Sword Princess was looking at the countercurrent golden rain outside with a gleam in her eyes.

"My life is very colorful. I have to sing, act, and participate in competitions. If you encounter any trouble in real life, please don't ask me for help. I don't have the time or ability to help you." The village girl said softly, "But if you really have to kneel down and beg me, I can help you more in the virtual world."

"... Kneeling is impossible. In my place, I only use this ritual when praying for a miracle." Ash smiled and said, "However, I will accept your awkward kindness with reluctance."

"Humph, now I'm really in cahoots with you."

"Then remember not to do stupid things like Xujing and others. It simply lowers our average IQ."

"None of your business, little trumpet."

…

Liz felt her face was wet. She wiped the saliva and turned to the side to continue sleeping. She dimly saw that the corners of Ash's mouth rose slightly.

Liz muttered in her heart: "Dad is smiling so happily, is he dreaming?"

Diya said, "Maybe it's pre-prison training. He knows that he will be caught by the red hat sooner or later, so he wants to stay optimistic..."