Chapter 704 Learning to Enjoy Life
“What do you mean?”
Everyone looked at me, momentarily stopped, with some disbelief and confusion.
They could understand breaking through the siege, but it was of no use; the enemy still clung tightly to them. Even if there were complications along the way, Li Feiya was supposed to lie in ambush on the periphery as a last resort…
But this still couldn’t change the final outcome.
“Have you already prepared to surrender?” Although everyone who had chased over was physically strong, such high-intensity running was certainly exhausting.
“I mean… the offense and defense have switched, understand? You fools!” I sarcastically rebuked the crowd again.
“Offense and defense switching? Where did you get that… you…”
At first, they were puzzled, some even thinking I had gone mad, but as they regained their composure and looked straight ahead…
There, a crowd of students had gathered into a cooperative hunting party of hundreds or even thousands!
“How is that possible! You! How could you possibly summon so many people?” The leader, seeing the large group, thought of me as the instigator, especially with my confident expression.
However, it was impossible to gather that many people all at once!
“Who knows? Maybe I’m just very charismatic.” I tossed my hair aside with a smile.
What was happening now was indeed beyond my expectations; after all, who would have thought so many would come over?
Looking at their numbers, they were fully qualified to hunt an entire group of mutated beasts.
“You’re lying! That’s absolutely impossible!”
“You have no such ability! Oh… I get it, your bounty hasn’t been lifted yet, right? No wonder you can attract so many people!”
“Quick-witted, huh~” I gestured as if to say they were correct. “So now… are you still planning to hunt me? Before that crowd catches up, I bet you can’t k*ll me. The longer this drags on, the more advantageous it is for me.”
“Because ultimately, whoever gets dragged behind by me, the decision lies with me!”
“I can drag one down with me too.” At this moment, Li Feiya also chimed in while standing beside me.
“You… despicable…”
Seeing us so unfazed, this group was practically furious! Did this mean their plan had been meaningless from the start?
Moreover, it was clearly an open scheme; if they retreated, it would align with the enemy’s wishes, and they too would escape. It seemed everything was resolved, yet they worked so hard and received nothing in the end!
But if they did not retreat… they would perish together with that group!
Everyone would d*e, and even so… it wouldn’t be worth it. Even if they killed the enemy, what difference would it make?
Additionally, choosing the latter option, those people might not necessarily catch up to them, but ultimately, they would be scattered and hunted down, causing this encirclement to dissolve.
More importantly, the reputation of the teaching assistant would also suffer!
And they clearly did not have a united front… Just as the leader was contemplating, others from this cooperative team also realized the situation, and many showed signs of retreating.
“Have you thought about how to resolve this?” Seeing their disheartened expressions, I knew victory was assured.
At that moment, I recorded the scene with the Knowledge Seed, capturing a moment with over twenty teaching assistants!
“‘Over twenty teaching assistants are gathered here, their minds scattered, first come first served.’ I wonder how much trouble this post, along with the current location, could cause you if it gets sent out?”
At this time, I publicly opened the view of the Knowledge Seed, sharing the spell’s imagery.
Everyone gazed at the post about to be sent, feeling a mix of despair.
Even though they knew it would take time for the post to circulate and for the crowd to arrive, it was impossible for it to create issues for them right now, yet this made their hearts feel cold.
Failed… this ambush had completely failed!
And at that moment, I publicly posted the message. Some instinctively reached out to stop me, but they were a step too late.
With the post published, to my surprise, its view count skyrocketed after release, and there were numerous comments.
“Retreat!”
Though they were reluctant, looking at the ever-approaching massive hunting party, they could only grit their teeth and yell.
“Just retreat? Are you sure?”
“What do you want?” The leading teaching assistant from the Witch Academy turned around angrily to ask.
“Of course, it’s time to be ruthless~ Your team will disband right here today! If you don’t disband, I will follow you, and the hunting party will follow me to see who can’t take it first! Guess what, how huge is the temptation of over two thousand points for students?”
“You!”
“Stop with the threats; I’ve said it before, the so-called public outrage is just your lost face. It seems frightening, but in the face of greater power, it’s nothing but a paper tiger. Face doesn’t mean much in the face of life and d*ath.” I smiled at them, seeming to have them figured out.
If they really confronted me and perished together, it would be quite troublesome because I didn’t want to d*e this way. Each of my deaths had to have value, not just wasted here meaninglessly.
But I was betting that they wouldn’t dare confront me, and now… I had won.
Watching them flee, though they left with harsh words, the meaning of their disarray was inescapable.
“They really ran away…” At that moment, Li Feiya looked at the fleeing figures, somewhat in disbelief.
“Let’s go.” I said to Li Feiya.
“Eh? Where are we going?”
“Of course, we’re running away. Did you really think those behind us were here to help us? They came here chasing my signal. If we don’t run now, we’ll be caught!”
“Oh right, I almost forgot. Um… Sister Xiao Han, how long until your bounty ends?”
“Probably a few more hours.” I shrugged and said, “The last batch of opponents was somewhat too numerous.”
“So we need to run for several hours?!”
“Or we can find a group of mutated beasts for that crowd behind us.” I added.
“Ah? That sounds easy, but how is that possible!” Li Feiya complained, but she quickly reacted, “Wait, Sister Xiao Han, how do you always manage to get those chasing you to run into mutated beast groups…”
“Luck~”
I didn’t elaborate much, but there really were mutated beast groups nearby; after all, I had gone there to ‘hunt’ teaching assistants previously, naturally considering those chasing me. However, later plans changed, forcing this last resort.
After escaping from our pursuers with Li Feiya for quite some time, we finally managed to shake them off, and the bounty pursuit should also be drawing to a close.
At this moment, the Plant Network hunting website was buzzing due to my earlier post.
After all, the image featured assistants from various academies, bound to be recognized; this was a gathering of over twenty teaching assistants!
In the comments section, a crowd was posting things like “Save one for me” and “Share one with me,” enough to prove the allure of this image.
Unfortunately, even though I added the location, they were still able to escape.
Then it was commented that the hunting party, composed of several hundred people, also launched an attack; although they didn’t catch a single teaching assistant, they ran into a group of mutated beasts.
This genuinely left everyone speechless, as it was said that their eagerness to catch over twenty teaching assistants led them to be unprepared for encountering the mutated beast group, resulting in heavy losses…
Time passed quickly, and as the sun gradually set, the sky became dim.
Yet on a small, deserted hill, two figures busily lit a campfire.
As the fire blazed up, many other items were laid out nearby, such as pots, drinking water, canned meat, instant meals, staple foods, cooking packs, and so on.
Meanwhile, I was busy setting up a tent beside it.
Once everything was more or less ready, I leisurely lay back in a folding chair.
“Mmm… this is really comfortable~ Another day has passed, and today was much more thrilling than the previous few days~” I spoke with a smile, seeming to either be talking to myself or conversing with Li Feiya.
“Do you live this leisurely every day?” Li Feiya came over, carrying a bundle of dry branches to add more fuel to the fire.
“Of course, on the first night I stayed in a hotel in Ninglan New City; I probably can’t do that now~”
“Haah?!”
“Are you surprised? That means you’re not very good at living.”
“I said I wanted to go back to the city for supplies, but so many people were guarding it…”
“Sorry about that~ However, I have plenty of supplies; I remember you bought a lot of stuff back then, right? It’s impossible for you to use it all up that quickly.”
“Ah… just unnecessary items… I was too hasty back then, thinking I could go back anyway… but now I can’t…”
“Oh really?”
I sat up, fiddling with the small charcoal stove beside me. The fire from the campfire was too unstable; this small charcoal stove had a more stable flame. With a pot on top, I could even have hot pot in the wild.
“Li Feiya, what do you want to eat?”
“Eh? You… have fish… never mind…”
“Fish? Do you want ready-made spicy fish jerky, freshly sliced fish fillets? Or I also have smoked fish chunks here, but you’ll need to set up a pot yourself, or the fishy smell might mix.”
“Not… how do you have everything?!” Li Feiya looked at those well-packaged fish slices, fish chunks, and the little charcoal stove and pot I pulled out on the side…
“This is called being prepared; it doesn’t matter if it’s useful or not. The saddest thing in life is wanting to use something but not having it~”
“Th… thank you.” Li Feiya sighed and eventually accepted the small charcoal stove I handed her.
“And smokeless charcoal.”
“Mm…”
As Li Feiya busied herself, my pot was already boiling, releasing a fragrant aroma from the pre-made base that had a faint scientific smell. Even the strongest flavors couldn’t disguise my sensitivity from body cultivation, but at this degree, the damage to my body couldn’t breach my defenses.
“Li Feiya, just curious, didn’t you say you were also going to choose the mage profession?”
“Uh…”
“Actually, I wanted to choose it… but another profession was simply too appealing…” Li Feiya hesitated for a moment before finally speaking.
“Is being a melee catgirl that appealing?” I asked, somewhat confused.
“Perhaps you don’t quite understand…” Li Feiya transformed out of her catgirl form, and her signature cat ears vanished.
I always knew she was a “pseudo-catgirl.” When we first met, I figured it out; her cat ears and other feline elements were all magical effects.
“After signing the contract, all extraordinary powers are restricted, including my original decorations…”
“It’s obvious you really like being a catgirl, so is that why you chose this profession?”
“Does that reason not convince you?”
“You could have directly told me at that time. When I was testing the power of the Fireball Spell, why did you avoid it?” I said.
“Sorry… it wasn’t intentional…”
“I don’t mind that, but I’m curious. When you appeared at that time, those people called you a traitor… what does that mean?”
“…”
“Oh, did I ask too directly?” Seeing Li Feiya’s action freeze, I realized my way of questioning might have been problematic.
“Don’t want to talk about it?”
“It’s not convenient to talk about…”
“Oh~” Seeing Li Feiya’s expression, I roughly understood it was because of the live broadcast. “Are you not going to request a live pause?”
“Mm?” Li Feiya showed a puzzled expression.
“A live pause? You didn’t think that pauses only happen when people do private things, did you?”
“Is that possible?”
“Mm.” I nodded. Seeing her expression, I understood it was indeed because she couldn’t speak due to the live broadcast, but I quickly demonstrated how to pause for her.
“Now there are no distractions from the outside, is it convenient to speak now?”
“Mm… this matter, it’s complicated…”
“If it’s complicated, keep it concise. I’ll just ask, does it relate to your family in the outside world?”
“This… you know…”
“Is it really related? Which side do you represent?” I raised an eyebrow, somewhat surprised.
Because looking at Li Feiya’s style, I thought she was the type who acted freely.
But thinking about it… if Li Feiya were truly reckless like that, would she show up as the troublemaker she is now?
Everyone’s approach stems from their environment; if Li Feiya were still rebellious… that likely isn’t the case…
“Which side… uh? What do you mean?”
“The pro-Witch Academy families have already split into two factions: those who oppose the Witch Academy and those who support it, haven’t they?” After all, this was something Fu Xinglan roughly talked about with me at the time, and I might have my own conclusions.
“Oppose? Support? What is that? What can families use to oppose the Extraordinary Academy? Xiao Han, are you reading some strange novels?”
“Oh… so from this perspective, I misunderstood? Would you be willing to share a bit? I really don’t know much about the families.”
“Uh… I… I don’t know much about families either…” At that moment, Li Feiya felt a bit embarrassed.
“What do you mean?”
“If I said… I mean if, I never had the qualifications to enter the Witch Academy from the very beginning?”
