Chapter 58: Being Protective in Front of Him

No matter what Jiang Zihan said, that would not change the fact that Chen Tianyu’s figure had already vanished into the distance... and he most likely wouldn’t come back to get his backpack.

Jiang Zihan: "..."

At last, he turned around and tilted his head, silently asking his team members what they should do next.

After a long silence, it was Lin Xingxue who finally stood out and took the backpack from his hands. "The next time I see him, I’m definitely gonna give him a punch on the face again," she said as she gritted her teeth.

Although saying so, she still ran quickly toward the direction Chen Tianyu went to return the backpack to him.

The rest of the team left for class. Even Jiang Zihan and Mo Shiyan followed their schedules and headed for their classroom together. However, they had not expected their first class to be the "Combat Training" Course.

Then the two of them pulled out the map and began searching for the training field where the class was located. On the way, Jiang Zihan had to lead Mo Shiyan to the correct direction multiple times as Mo Shiyan was getting lost more than a hundred times (and yes... Jiang Zihan had just known that Mo Shiyan had a poor sense of direction).

Still... by the time they arrived, they were more than twenty minutes late...

Jiang Zihan finally let out a sigh of relief after they reached their destination. However, the second he pushed the door open, he felt a murderous intent coming directly toward them. Before he had the time to react, Mo Shiyan had pushed him over to the side, causing both of them to fall together and tumble across the ground.

Ouch!

Jiang Zihan sat up and shook his head lightly before looking at Mo Shiyan.

"Shiyan... are you okay?" he asked, his voice filled with concern. Throughout the fall, Mo Shiyan had protected his head with his own hand, such that he wasn’t injured. However, Mo Shiyan didn’t get any protection at all.

He looked around his body and let out a long breath. Fortunately, thanks to the superior physique of an S-Rank Hunter, Mo Shiyan wasn’t injured that badly, just that there was a large cut on his right arm.

Jiang Zihan lifted his head, trying to identify what had happened, when he suddenly noticed that there was a woman leaning against the doorway, staring at them indifferently. He realized that she was the person who had just attacked them.

Anger rose through Jiang Zihan’s chest. He immediately stood up and met the woman’s eyes, demanding, "Who are you? Why did you attack us?"

The woman merely glanced at him, though she did not plan to answer his question. "Your reaction was pretty fast, but the first thing you thought was to dodge the attack and not fight back; that was out of my expectations," she said as she looked toward Mo Shiyan, her voice sounding indifferent.

She slowly lowered the weapon in her hand. Her expression was cold as she spoke without any sign of apology. "When facing an unknown enemy, relying only on defense would only put you at a disadvantage."

Mo Shiyan didn’t mind her words, but Jiang Zihan frowned since he was clearly displeased with her actions. "Do you know—"

However, before he was able to finish his sentence, the woman suddenly called out his name. Then she looked toward Mo Shiyan and called out his name too.

"How do you know our names?" Jiang Zihan asked in shock.

Mo Shiyan had already stood back up as he brushed the dust off his clothes. He didn’t react as strongly as Jiang Zihan, though his wariness toward her was no less than Jiang Zihan’s.

"I have reviewed your information before you both came," the woman said calmly. "Both of you are S-Rank Hunters, so I thought that I could expect more from you, but it seems like I have overestimated you. You’ve disappointed me."

Hearing her words, the expression on Jiang Zihan seemed to change a little. He kind of guessed who the woman was by now, but he still couldn’t accept her actions. That attack that she struck, if it hit them directly, would basically take away half of their life, and she did not hold back her power at all. Especially with the thought that Mo Shiyan almost got hurt because of him, it caused him to nearly lose his mind.

Jiang Zihan took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down. Then, he stood up straight and looked toward the woman. His gaze was calm, though a light of coldness flickered through his eyes. "If that was part of the combat training, I can understand that."

He paused, his gaze lowering as he looked toward the weapon in the woman’s hand. "However, there should be a limit to your training. If it wasn’t that Shiyan had reacted fast enough, he could have been killed."

"I could wait for you to be prepared, but monsters won’t wait for you to react before they attack. Only when you face an actual threat to your life can you truly unlock your potential," the woman said, her tone stern and sharp.

Jiang Zihan fell silent for a moment. He understood that there’s no such thing as fairness in the world of Hunters. When it comes to actual combat, no one would give you enough time to prepare yourself. However, even while acknowledging this, he still couldn’t accept a test like this.

The memory of Mo Shiyan almost dying had still left him shaken. To be honest, Jiang Zihan had once thought that if Mo Shiyan, as the game’s protagonist, had died, would he be able to return to his original world? But for some reason, that thought only flashed through his mind for a second before it was immediately wiped by his consciousness.

He didn’t understand why, but the longer he interacted with Mo Shiyan, the blurrier the thought of returning to the original world had become. Maybe there would be a day in which he would totally forget about those memories... leaving only the hourglass recording everything.

"I understand, and if those were the rules of this class, then I’ll accept them," Jiang Zihan suddenly said. Then his voice turned deep as he expression became serious. "But before that, I have a question."

"Oh? What is it?" the woman asked as she raised an eyebrow.

"If we hadn’t dodged that attack just now, would you have saved us?" Jiang Zihan asked.

The woman was stunned for a moment as she stared at him; the emotions under her eyes seemed hard to understand. Then she looked toward Mo Shiyan, who was standing silently beside him, letting out a soft chuckle.

Under Jiang Zihan’s confused gaze, she only said, "You certainly are protective; no wonder you could become the vice-captain of your team."

Jiang Zihan didn’t really understand what she meant, but that doesn’t matter to him. "Shiyan’s my friend, and I would definitely not risk my friend’s life," he replied seriously.

Clap... Clap... Clap...

"Very good," she raised her hands and gave him a round of applause. "I’m Bai Lan, your instructor for the "Combat Training" Course for this semester. Next, I will be responsible for teaching you—"

"—How to survive leaving the dungeon~"

In the next moment, she turned around and walked back to the training field, leaving with the last few words. "Since you have your own persistence, then let me see how determined you are. I don’t accept the thoughts of ones who are useless."

When they had finally gathered themselves and walked onto the training field, they were completely shocked to realize that all of the students were either sitting or lying on the floor, panting heavily, completely unable to move.

Some of the students knelt on the ground, blood seeping from their wounds, while others were leaning against the wall, nearly losing consciousness.

The whole training field looked like a crime scene, which made Jiang Zihan worried that it would actually turn into one by the end of this semester.

Jiang Zihan: "...?!!"

What in the world is happening?!

I was just twenty minutes late... and not twenty days late, am I right?

Noticing that they had walked near, Bai Lan took a look at them before glancing at the students laying on the ground. "It looks like everyone is still alive."

Before those students had the time to react, she continued to speak, her voice cold. "You have ten minutes to treat your wounds, and we will gather ten minutes later."

One of the students couldn’t help but ask, "But... What about combat training?"

Bai Lan gave them a cold glance before answering, "It had already begun the moment you stepped through the door."

Then she lowered her head and looked at the watch wrapped around her wrist. "Now there are only nine minutes left," she said before she stepped out of the training field.