CSMCDB - Chapter 77

Chapter 77

Fifty experience points in hand, yet Wen Yuncheng's mood was anything but cheerful. She glanced at Zhou Yaze, who was incessantly thanking Lin Jinyu, and felt an inexplicable wave of irritation.

"Did your mentor not tell you not to venture deep into the Demonic Beast Great Forest?" Lin Jinyu's tone was level, betraying no emotion. Zhou Yaze put on a startled and aggrieved expression, saying in a low voice:

"I-I know… but, I don't know how I ran into a Winged Tiger. I could only keep running…"

"What about your distress signal?" Wen Yuncheng couldn't help but ask.

"…I used it."

Wen Yuncheng immediately took five distress signals from her storage ring and stuffed them into his hands. "Here, don't be polite!" She kept a close eye on Zhou Yaze's expression and, as expected, saw a flash of annoyance in his eyes. He quickly composed himself, however, and thanked Wen Yuncheng gratefully.

"Thank you, Senior Wen. You're such a good person." Zhou Yaze couldn't help but put heavy emphasis on the words "good person." Seeing this, Lin Jinyu knew he couldn't refuse the signals, but… "It's so dangerous here. To be honest… I'm a little scared. Senior Lin, can I stay with you? I promise I won't hold you back!"

"Don't make things difficult for your Senior Lin. You can't even handle a third-layer Star Master Winged Tiger, while we're challenging Star Lord-level demonic beasts to break through. If you're with us, we'll have to divert our attention to protect you. If you're scared… how about this, I'll take you back." Wen Yuncheng had no intention of giving this guy a chance to talk to Lin Jinyu. She threw an arm around Zhou Yaze's shoulders, pulling him so he staggered back two steps, then smiled at Lin Jinyu. "My Mechanical Wings are fast. Wait here for a bit, I'll be right back." As she spoke, Wen Yuncheng casually released an Enemy-Annihilator and placed a Monitor on it, then looked at Zhou Yaze.

"What do you say, junior? Let your senior give you a lift?"

Zhou Yaze's expression was stiff; it took a great deal of effort to keep it from twisting into a snarl. He stared resentfully at Wen Yuncheng. With his back to Lin Jinyu, he no longer needed to hide anything. He could see it clearly now—this Wen Yuncheng was deliberately trying to ruin his plans. Every time he got close to Lin Jinyu, if this person was around, she would find a way to get rid of him!

"Then… thank… you… very… much… Senior!"

Hearing the suppressed anger in Zhou Yaze's voice, Wen Yuncheng didn't get angry but laughed instead. "Of course, of course, don't mention it~" Her mood lifted, and her smile grew brighter. With a burst of strength, she lifted Zhou Yaze right off the ground. As her Mechanical Wings carried her into the air, Wen Yuncheng looked at Lin Jinyu and said, "Wait for me," before speeding away.

After casually dropping Zhou Yaze off in the outer region, Wen Yuncheng thought back to the look on Lin Jinyu's face… did she seem angry? Suspecting she had misread the situation, she planned to hurry back after leaving Zhou Yaze in a safe place.

"Wen Yuncheng!" Zhou Yaze shouted, stopping her. "Who the hell do you think you are, daring to compete with me for Lin Jinyu? Your engagement was already broken, Lin Jinyu doesn't even look at you!"

"Oh? So what? All I need to know is that Lin Jinyu doesn't think much of you either." Wen Yuncheng sneered. "Your constant pestering is truly disgusting, and you're so pretentious… Heh, still playing the little puppy?"

"What little puppy? (Curse word) How dare you insult me like that?! Fine, fine! We'll see what becomes of you after graduation. Just don't fall into the hands of my Sky High Sect!" Zhou Yaze flew into a rage and threatened her.

Only then did Wen Yuncheng remember that the concept of a "little puppy" probably didn't exist here. But it wasn't something that needed explaining. She rolled her eyes. "Can you speak for the Sky High Sect? Anyone who didn't know better would think you were the Sect Master's godson."

"You-you!" Zhou Yaze clenched his fists, fuming. "Lin Jinyu will be mine sooner or later! A marriage alliance between sects is only natural! Even Sect Master Lin has praised me highly… Heh, all you can do is run your mouth." He spun around abruptly and left.

Wen Yuncheng's expression instantly darkened. A sect marriage alliance?

She hadn't heard any news about that! Lin Jinyu wouldn't… she wouldn't be forced into a marriage, would she? Lin Jinyu didn't have that kind of weak personality! …But even if she was being forced, what could she do? Wen Yuncheng pressed her lips together, her head lowered as she lost herself in thought. After a long while, she took a deep breath, and her Mechanical Wings activated, lifting her into the sky. She briefly checked the location on her tracker and headed back.

[Actually, it's not impossible to fight for it,] 1947 encouraged hesitantly. [So what if you're both girls?]

"But Lin Jinyu sees me as a friend," Wen Yuncheng said sullenly. If Lin Jinyu didn't feel that way about her, the moment she confessed… she and Lin Jinyu wouldn't even be friends anymore. Graduation was coming soon. If… if that happened, as long as Lin Jinyu wanted it, she would probably never cross paths with her again for the rest of her life.

[…You can still try. Lin Jinyu cares a lot about you, too!]

"I only want her to like me too; I don't want to force her to like me." Wen Yuncheng sighed. "Let's not talk about this. Anyway… if there's a sect marriage alliance… and Lin Jinyu is being forced, I definitely won't stand by and do nothing. Even if, even if it's not me, Lin Jinyu has the right to choose her own happiness."

[…What if Sect Master Lin is the one forcing her?]

"Then I'll have to level up faster." Wen Yuncheng had no illusions that she, a second-layer Star Master, could challenge Sect Master Lin. Lately… one thing after another had been pushing her to become stronger. She had to become stronger. Only by becoming strong could she have autonomy.

Whether it was Fu, the Huanling Continent, or Lin Jinyu… everything she cared about, she had to become stronger to protect. But ironically, the one thing this template without bottlenecks needed was time.

She needed time to grow.

"You took him back?" The moment Wen Yuncheng landed, she heard Lin Jinyu ask this.

"Ah…" Wen Yuncheng paused for a moment before explaining, "No, I just took him to the outer region. It's safe there, and taking him back to town would have been too slow."

"Do you care about him a lot?" Lin Jinyu looked at Wen Yuncheng. She had been pondering this question while Wen Yuncheng was gone, but now that the words were on the tip of her tongue, she couldn't bring herself to ask. Although she knew Zhou Yaze would be in danger here, she hadn't expected Wen Yuncheng to personally escort someone back. Wen Yuncheng's personality… she wasn't someone who liked to get involved in troublesome things. One could even say she was quite lazy; she wouldn't do something if she didn't have to. Especially since Zhou Yaze… had no connection to her whatsoever.

Wen Yuncheng rarely took the initiative to show goodwill to others like this. Or rather, she almost never had—except towards her. The feeling wasn't very good, Lin Jinyu thought silently.

In fact, it was very bad. She seriously considered the reason—was it perhaps a sense of disparity? Or maybe it was because Wen Yuncheng was also a girl, and even disguised as a man, she should maintain a certain distance from the opposite sex. The way she had held him and flown off with her Mechanical Wings (in reality, she had been carrying him) was improper in every way.

But Wen Yuncheng had said she disliked Zhou Yaze. For a rare moment, Lin Jinyu was confused. She couldn't figure out why. However, given her disposition, even if she didn't understand, even if she cared, she wouldn't show it. Thus, Lin Jinyu just became a little colder and didn't ask any more questions. She silently continued her training in the Demonic Beast Forest with Wen Yuncheng.

—Wen Yuncheng was very strong. Especially when there were no rules to bind her, the—machines?—that Wen Yuncheng invented were all formidable. At times, Lin Jinyu would even feel a sense of frustration, as if she herself wasn't of much use. She didn't want to compare herself to Wen Yuncheng, but comparisons were inevitable.

Lin Jinyu raised a hand to her forehead and closed her eyes, finally managing to cast aside all these messy thoughts.

Wen Yuncheng had been feeling a bit uneasy these past few days. She didn't know why, but Lin Jinyu's spirits seemed low, even though nothing strange had happened. She then guessed that perhaps Lin Jinyu wasn't feeling well, so she became even more attentive in her care for the Little Ice Mountain, but… it didn't seem to make a difference.

There was good news, though. Wen Yuncheng had gained a lot of experience and was already level 37. The Beast Tide had become an annual experience bonanza for her. But that was the only piece of good news.

Because there were far more troubles—like that Zhou Yaze. In one week, they had "coincidentally" run into him three times. Even a fool would know that Zhou Yaze must have done something for it to be such a coincidence. Wen Yuncheng was so angry she had thrown him back to the outer region three times. The last time, she directly attached a Monitor to him, so whenever he started heading their way, she would take the Little Ice Mountain and run farther away.

"…Wen Yuncheng," Lin Jinyu called out one night as they were roasting meat. She watched the sparks from the bonfire flare up and die down before asking, "Do you have someone you like?"

Wen Yuncheng's heart stopped for a second. She gave a dry laugh, her panicked expression almost impossible to hide. "What are you talking about? I-I don't have anyone I like…" 1947!!! What's going on? Why? Did I give myself away?!

[I-I-I don't know either!] 1947 was in the same state of panic as Wen Yuncheng. The poor Long Aotian Growth System had never experienced a scene like this. It had only ever dealt with love triangles—but love triangles between Long Aotians were always resolved with ease.

She denied it. But her expression clearly said she did. Lin Jinyu felt a wave of inexplicable irritation, so much so that even the bonfire before her seemed an eyesore. She tightened her grip on the hilt of her longsword, lowered her gaze, and simply hummed in acknowledgment.

…Was Wen Yuncheng unwilling to tell her?

Lin Jinyu didn't know if she was angry about being kept in the dark, angry that Wen Yuncheng had someone she liked, or angry that she was no longer the one and only. But no matter the reason, her "anger" was unjustified. She had neither the right nor the standing to be angry, a fact Lin Jinyu was well aware of. Yet this awareness only made her more frustrated.

Wen Yuncheng's hands were trembling slightly. She carefully watched Lin Jinyu's expression from the corner of her eye. Subconsciously… she felt that Lin Jinyu was unhappy. But why did such a question suddenly come up? Wen Yuncheng reflected on her own behavior. She had been acting exactly the same as before during this time; there was no way Lin Jinyu could know she liked her!

[The meat! The meat is burning!]

Wen Yuncheng hastily flipped the meat, sighing inwardly. From the looks of it… Lin Jinyu didn't seem to know that she was the one she liked.

The Little Ice Mountain's thoughts were truly hard to guess.

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