Chapter 33. The Two Realms of Yan Yan ③: First...
In the following days, Chen Zhuoran kept looking for opportunities to strike up a conversation with Lin Xiaoxiao, which greatly troubled her.
Chen Zhuoran seemed not to understand anything. No matter how much I refused, he would still come over with a smile and talk to himself.
Liu Duoxin, who usually treats Chen Zhuoran like her own possession, surprisingly didn't show up when Chen Zhuoran tried to get on Lin Xiaoxiao's good side.
Before 7 a.m. this morning, Longya got into the truck that the operations department was going out to clear out the monster horde's nest.
In addition to the thousand-strong regiment from the operations department, there were also more than twenty A-level squads and more than fifty B-level teams that went along.
Hundreds of semi-enclosed commuter buses with open rear compartments lined up and swayed as they headed east, kicking up dust that covered the workers standing inside and those sitting on small stools.
Lin Xiaoxiao huddled in the upper left corner of the back of the car, while Xiao Weizhi sat beside her, his hand resting lightly on the back of the seat behind her, forming a half-hug gesture that clearly conveyed his protective intent.
Wearing a mask, Cheng Cheng buried his face in Chen Feng's shoulder and neck, muttering, "Cough cough cough, my god, couldn't you have used a tarpaulin?"
Chen Feng shielded Cheng Cheng's face with his hand, his expression somewhat helpless.
This was clearly a show of force from the operations department; how could they possibly be willing to provide a tarpaulin to shield these small teams, who were on their first mission to clear out the monster horde, from the dust?
"Cough cough cough." Lin Xiaoxiao also coughed lightly a few times.
Upon hearing the cough, Xiao Weizhi reached out and tightened the hood of Lin Xiaoxiao's [Escape Cloak] a little more, carefully adjusting the mask on her face before tying the hood.
Lin Xiaoxiao met his serious eyes behind his glasses, and her heart began to race uncontrollably.
Their faces were close together, and the atmosphere gradually began to develop in an ambiguous direction.
Just then, the Yanhuo team next door grumbled:
"My butt is practically bounced to pieces, when will we arrive?"
"I've looked at the map, it's a long way off."
"What a waste! Why can't we use our own transportation? Why do we have to squeeze onto this old oil truck from the last century?"
"Heh, be content. This time we even have transportation. Last time we came, we had to run around on foot."
"Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey, your mouth is full of dirt."
...
This comment broke the ambiguous atmosphere between Lin Xiaoxiao and Xiao Weizhi. They casually straightened their clothes and sat down.
The big guys from Dragon Fang couldn't stand it anymore and glared at the group of roughnecks next door.
The atmosphere between the eldest brother and Xiaoxiao is so good, it feels like they could kiss at any second. A bunch of clueless single dogs, they deserve to be single.
More than two hours later, the convoy stopped at the edge of a dirt slope.
The sun shines on that basin, and you can clearly see the heat emanating from above distorting and deforming.
The slope is 45 degrees and about one kilometer from the sunken ground. Looking down, there is a patch of reddish-brown land that is so dry it is cracked into pieces. Every two meters above the land, there is a hole large enough for a person to enter, densely packed like a honeycomb.
The commander leading this team was a sixth-tier water mage.
He was young, dressed in a wide, royal blue robe, with a hat with an extremely wide brim that revealed only half of his face. He held a 1.2-meter-long staff that looked like ice crystals, and wore half of a strangely shaped mask prop on his face, which functioned as a megaphone for public speaking.
It exudes a watery aura, which turns into wisps of smoke under the sunlight, giving it an ethereal and otherworldly feel.
His clear, deep voice boomed through the loudspeaker: "After more than half a month of tracking by the vanguard of the operations department, we have finally located the lava black ant's nest. This is our mission for today..."
"Please arrange your positions according to the mission: Class A Team..."
In a mere ten minutes, the young sixth-level water mage finished explaining everything.
He stood at the very front of the group, raising his right staff towards the sky, and began chanting the incantation for a forbidden water spell: "[Elemental Language] Respected water elementals, as the most devout believers in the elements, I beseech you to help me form this spell. Gather, water elementals of the air..."
As a long incantation was recited, the blazing sun in the sky was suddenly covered by dark clouds, and the sky became gloomy and oppressive, with the air becoming muggy.
Lightning flashed and thunder roared within the dark clouds, and a magic circle over a hundred meters long appeared at the bottom of the clouds, as if dragging them along or continuously creating more clouds.
As the incantation ended, a torrential downpour began, drenching the parched, cracked cave below.
As the water mage chanted, Lin Xiaoxiao curiously peeked out from behind Xiao Weizhi, her eyes fixed on the sapphire blue figure without blinking.
Xiao Weizhi turned her head and asked in a low voice, "What's wrong?"
Lin Xiaoxiao shook her head and muttered under her breath, "Are all forbidden spells this...cringeworthy?"
It was just like the incantations described in the novels she read in her teens, both complicated and pretentious.
Upon hearing this, Xiao Weizhi felt a sharp pain in his teeth. He gently pressed his tongue against the soft flesh in his mouth, and his already low voice weakened even further: "Don't talk nonsense. No one can understand the incantation of a forbidden spell except the caster himself."
Xiao Weizhi increased the intensity of his explanation when he couldn't understand a few words.
Forbidden spells use a wide variety of languages, the most famous being: Dragon Language, Elemental Language, Demon Language, Light Language, and Elven Language; there are countless other less common languages, numbering in the tens of thousands.
To learn forbidden spells: you can either learn them directly from a skill book, or have a master bring you out to make a copy and teach you, or learn to cast spells by rote (but this method is very dangerous, as you may accidentally injure yourself if you make a mistake in chanting).
Upon hearing this, Lin Xiaoxiao realized she had made a foolish mistake again, so she immediately shut up, pulled her head back, and hid behind Xiao Weizhi, pretending to be a quail.
But she didn't notice that the water mage casting the spell ahead had already heard it.
He even glanced back several times, and after finding Lin Xiaoxiao who had said those words, he secretly memorized her features.
Half an hour later, the basin turned into a large lake.
Moments later, dozens of huge pillars of fire shot into the sky, and in just a few dozen seconds, they burned all the water in the lake into steam, engulfing the operations department and all the squads in the steam.
The water mage's clear, deep voice echoed once more from the steam: "All shield warriors, step forward and hold the front of the formation; mages and archers, prepare to attack on my command; all warriors, prepare to charge forward with full force after the mages and archers have finished their attack..."
A series of detailed operational plans were announced by the commanders at the front.
Everyone quickly followed the instructions, moving to their designated positions, activating their skills or raising their weapons, and awaiting the order to attack.
A gust of wind blew away some of the water vapor, and then, accompanied by a rustling crawling sound, countless red eyes appeared in the hazy mist, heading towards the direction of the operations department.
"Activate your shields and crouch down; all mages and archers, prepare to unleash your strongest skills forward, fire and lightning magic users, step back..."
As soon as the commander finished speaking, countless ice, wind, water, and arrow skills were thrown forward at once.
A series of explosions rang out, one after another.
The violent explosion not only blew away most of the nearby lava ant swarms, but also the water vapor that obscured visibility.
Congratulations on defeating the level 89 Lava Black Ant! You have gained 485,641 experience points.
Congratulations on defeating...
...
The densely packed swarm of lava black ants in front of me resembled a black blanket swaying in the wind. Even if countless lava black ants were blasted away one second, new ones would take their place the next.
The attack, which lasted for more than three hours and involved thousands of people, thinned out the originally dense lava ants, and the reddish soil could now be seen from time to time.
"Stop attacking, everyone! Back up! The boss is coming out!"
Just a hundred meters back, a deafening roar erupted: 'Hiss—'
The ground exploded open, revealing a black ant queen over thirty meters tall with a small body and a large rear end. She was accompanied by hundreds of black sapper ants over fifty meters tall, each with a pair of large pincers in front of them.
[WARNING: (Silver-tier) The level 150 Lava Black Ant Queen has entered a state of rage due to the mass slaughter of her people]
As the special notification sounded, the professionals standing next to the commander, who hadn't moved until now, finally slowly drew their weapons.
Over the next five hours, the team members witnessed the power of a sixth-tier professional's skills.
Each skill has a range of at least tens of meters; each sword strike can easily deal massive damage to the BOSS.
When the queen ant is destroyed, its broken body sprays out a large number of gold coins, mixed with a small amount of equipment and props. Finally, a silver-white BOSS treasure chest falls out.
Compared to the cheers and jubilation of other professionals after the BOSS fell, Lin Xiaoxiao's expression was somewhat solemn.
If I'm not mistaken, a familiar golden mist was released along with the BOSS the moment it was defeated.
But in just a few seconds, the golden mist disappeared, not as if it had dissipated naturally, but as if it had been silently taken away.
The next few hours were spent by the commander leading a thousand-strong force deep into the anthill to clear out the remaining monsters and plunder the remaining resources within the nest.
Class A and Class B teams, stay on the ground and collect the carcass resources of the lava black ant horde you just defeated.
Xiao Weizhi picked up a black ant and tossed it onto the cart next to him, then reached out to help Lin Xiaoxiao, who almost tripped and fell, saying, "Don't get distracted, watch where you're going."
After being helped to her feet, Lin Xiaoxiao looked a little embarrassed and said, "I didn't mean to."
Xiao Weizhi sighed helplessly. When would she be able to get rid of this habit of getting distracted all the time?
9:30 p.m.
The team that went out with the operations department to clear out the monster horde all returned to the residential area. The first thing they did after getting off the vehicle was to line up to register and sign in, and to count and calculate the points they had earned that day (there were no items to be awarded when going out with the operations department, only points).
Just as Xiao Weizhi led Chen Feng inside to calculate the points, the rest of the Longya members waited outside the door.
Chen Zhuoran has arrived.
Upon seeing him, Jiang Tao and Wang Hao instinctively stepped in front of the two girls in their group, while Liu Huihui, Li Junxuan, and Chen Yijin quietly clenched their fists.
With a gentle smile, Chen Zhuoran raised his hands slightly and stood two meters away, speaking to Lin Xiaoxiao: "Xiaoxiao, can we talk?"
Lin Xiaoxiao frowned as she looked at Chen Zhuoran, who was like a leech, her voice filled with obvious impatience: "I don't think we have anything to talk about, do we?"
A glint of light flashed in Chen Zhuoran's eyes, and a smile played on his lips: "Xiaoxiao, you had a box with me before, and I've been wanting to return it to you. Shall we chat over there?"
Lin Xiaoxiao quickly retrieved her memories of the box, and her expression turned somewhat grim.
That was a box containing the belongings of the original owner's parents. During a previous mission, they had acquired too many items and didn't have enough space, so they temporarily placed it with Chen Zhuoran. Later, the original owner asked Chen Zhuoran to return it, but he kept making vague excuses and didn't return it, delaying the process again and again.
We have to get that box back. Even though the contents aren't worth much, it's still something to remember us by.
She gritted her teeth and said in a hoarse voice, "Fine, I'll go talk to you over there, but give me back the box."
Chen Zhuoran chuckled and shook his head: "Let's chat for a bit over there. You can have the box."
Lin Xiaoxiao stopped Cheng Cheng and his group, and followed Chen Zhuoran to the side to start a conversation.
When Xiao Weizhi came out of the Operations Department, he saw Chen Zhuoran with a lewd smile (from Xiao's perspective) reaching out to pat Lin Xiaoxiao on the shoulder.
Lin Xiaoxiao lowered her head, her hands clenched into fists and hanging down at her sides, her whole body stiff and motionless, like a piece of wood.
He strode over, shoved Chen Zhuoran aside, and warned sharply, "Get out of here, stay away from her."
Chen Zhuoran staggered a few steps to regain his balance, looked up and met Xiao Weizhi's angry expression, a slightly smug smile appearing on his face. He patted his clothes and said, "Xiaoxiao, I'll wait for your answer."
After leaving behind this ambiguous and suggestive remark, Chen Zhuoran turned and left.
Xiao Weizhi closed his eyes for a few seconds, suppressed his anger, and said in a deep voice, "Let's go, we've finished registering, let's go back and rest."
Back at the camp, everyone went back to their tents to wash up.
After washing up, Lin Xiaoxiao sat on the bed in deep thought. Her hair wasn't completely dry, and water droplets dripped from her hair, soaking her nightgown.
When Xiao Weizhi came out of the bathroom, he saw Lin Xiaoxiao sitting on the bed, looking somewhat lost and dejected.
Mistaking that her absent-mindedness was due to Chen Zhuoran's appearance, a bittersweet sense of urgency rose in his heart. He expressionlessly picked up the towel that Lin Xiaoxiao had placed aside, put it on her head, and gently wiped her still dripping hair.
Lin Xiaoxiao snapped out of her daze and said softly, "I'll wipe it myself."
Xiao Weizhi didn't stop. After her hair was half-dry, he held a soaking wet towel in his hand and asked in a hoarse voice, "What does that kid Chen Zhuoran want with you?"
Lin Xiaoxiao originally wanted to state the reason directly: Chen Zhuoran used a box containing the original owner's parents' belongings to 'negotiate' (threaten) in exchange for a batch of living supplies. She was racking her brains about where to get some supplies to exchange for the box.
But when she saw Xiao Weizhi's lips pressed into a straight line, a thought suddenly occurred to her, and she asked in return, "Are you very concerned? Why?"
After asking that question, her heart pounded like a drum. Would she be able to hear the question she wanted to hear?
Xiao Weizhi took two deep breaths, met her gaze, and said in a hoarse voice, "He's already trying to steal my boyfriend, what's wrong with me caring? Lin Xiaoxiao, I'm willing to give you time to think it over."
Before he could finish speaking, Lin Xiaoxiao interrupted, "What are you considering?"
Xiao Wei didn't react for a moment, but continued, following her words: "Being with me doesn't mean..."
Before Xiao Weizhi could continue, Lin Xiaoxiao interjected, "Okay, let's be together!"
"That doesn't mean I can accept it. Are we... together? You agree?" Xiao Weizhi realized what was happening, and her voice unconsciously rose a few decibels.
Lin Xiaoxiao nodded: "Yes, I agree, let's be together."
After saying that, Lin Xiaoxiao reached through Xiao Weizhi's neck, pulled him over with a little force, and gently bit his thin lips, which she had been longing for for a long time.
Lin Xiaoxiao had thought about it for a long time and imagined many things. A few nights ago, she woke up and saw Xiao Weizhi sleeping on the small bed next to her. Suddenly she realized that Cheng Cheng was right. Whether the melon is sweet or not, she should eat it first.
Even if it's not sweet, just for Xiao Weizhi's face, she won't lose out. At worst, if the conversation falls apart, she'll just run away once she gets the unbinding item.
Just as Lin Xiaoxiao finished kissing him, she relaxed her arms that were holding Xiao Weizhi's neck with satisfaction and leaned back.
Xiao Weizhi reached out and pressed the back of her head, tilting his head to deepen the kiss.
As the air in her chest grew thinner, Lin Xiaoxiao struggled to pat Xiao Weizhi's back, trying to make him let go.
Just before she felt she was about to faint, Xiao Weizhi let go.
His heart pounded, and he pulled Lin Xiaoxiao into his arms, resting his chin on her shoulder. He whispered in her ear, his thin, rosy lips close to hers, "Xiaoxiao, I'm so happy."
Lin Xiaoxiao felt a bit dizzy and thought vaguely: Xiao Weizhi, I'm also very happy.
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Author's note: Happy 520, my darlings! [Sprinkling flowers][Sprinkling flowers][Heart][Heart]
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