Chapter 704: Learning to Enjoy Life
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 704: Learning to Enjoy Life
"What do you mean?"
The crowd watched as I came to a dead halt. They looked on in disbelief, unable to process the move.
They could understand me breaking through their encirclement, but in their eyes, it was futile. They were still nipping at my heels, and even if a variable like Lifaeya had appeared—who was supposed to be lying in wait on the perimeter as a final insurance policy...
It still shouldn't have changed the final outcome.
"Ready to surrender already?" Though everyone chasing me possessed formidable physical stats, a high-intensity pursuit like this was an immense drain on their stamina.
"I said... the tables have turned. Do you understand now, you idiots?" I taunted them once more.
"The tables have turned? Where do you get the—you..."
The group initially thought I was being strange, some even thinking I’d gone mad. But as they caught their breath and looked at what lay directly ahead of them, their expressions froze.
There, a massive swarm of candidates had converged into a collaborative hunting party numbering in the hundreds, if not thousands!
"How is this possible! You! You, you! How could you possibly call in that many people!" The leader saw the horde and then my confident smirk. His first instinct was that I was behind this.
But to gather that many people at once... it was a feat no single person should be able to achieve!
"Who knows? Maybe I just have a very magnetic personality," I said, flicking a stray lock of hair from my forehead with a smile.
To be honest, the current situation had exceeded my expectations as well. After all, who could have guessed so many people would show up?
Judging by the scale and the sheer numbers, they were fully capable of hunting an entire variant beast colony.
"Liar! That’s impossible!"
"You don't have that kind of power! Oh... I get it. That wanted order on you hasn't been rescinded yet, has it? No wonder you could attract so many people!"
"Quick on the uptake, aren't you?" I spread my hands, signaling he’d guessed right. "So now... do you still plan on hunting me? I’ll bet you can't kill me before that crowd catches up. The longer this drags on, the better it is for me."
"Because in the end, I’m the one who gets to decide who I drag down with me!"
"I can drag one down too," Lifaeya added from the side, twisting the knife.
"You! Damn it..."
Seeing us so utterly unbothered, the group looked like they were about to explode with rage! Didn't this mean their entire plan had been a meaningless joke from the start?
Moreover, this was a blatant open trap. If they retreated, it played right into our hands, and we would be free. It seemed like a win-win on the surface, but they had spent all that effort and manpower only to end up with nothing!
But if they didn't retreat... they would go down in flames with us!
Everyone would die. Even so... it simply wasn't worth it. What was the point of killing the target once if it cost them everything?
Furthermore, if they chose the latter, while the crowd might not necessarily catch them all, they would be forced to scatter and run for their lives. This joint suppression force would dissolve anyway.
More importantly, their reputations as Teaching Assistants were on the line!
They weren't a united front to begin with. As the leader hesitated, the other members of the collaborative team realized the reality of the situation, and many began to show signs of wanting to back out.
"Decided how you want to settle this yet?" I looked at their crumbling morale and knew the situation was stable.
At that moment, I used my Knowledge Seed to record the scene. This was a rare sight—nearly twenty Teaching Assistants all in one place!
"'Over twenty Teaching Assistants gathered here. Easy points for the taking. First come, first served.' I wonder how much trouble it would cause you all if I posted this picture and caption along with your current coordinates?"
I opened the vision of my Knowledge Seed, turning it into a shared magic image.
The group looked at the pending post and sighed inwardly.
Even though they knew it would take time for the post to gain traction and for the crowds to arrive—meaning it wouldn't cause them immediate trouble—it still sent a chill down their spines.
They had failed... this ambush was a total disaster!
I hit 'send' right in front of them. Some instinctively reached out as if to stop me, but they were a step too late.
As the post went live, even I was surprised to see the view count skyrocket instantly, with comments flooding in.
"Withdraw!"
Though they were loath to do it, they could only grit their teeth and shout the order as they watched the massive hunting party draw closer.
"Just a withdrawal? Are you sure?"
"What else do you want!" the Witch Academy Teaching Assistant at the front turned back to snap at me.
"I’m not the type to let things go when I’m in the right. This team of yours dissolves right here, right now! My word is final. If you don't disband, I’ll follow you, and the hunting party will follow me. Let's see who breaks first! How much of a temptation do you think over two thousand points is to a candidate?"
"You!"
"Don't 'you' me. Like I said, this 'public wrath' of yours is just a mask for the pride you can't let go of. It looks intimidating, but in the face of greater power, it's nothing but a paper tiger. Pride isn't worth a damn when your life is on the line." I smiled at them, looking as if I had them completely cornered.
If they had actually called my bluff and fought to the death, it would have been a major headache. I didn't want to die like that; every one of my deaths had to have value, not be wasted pointlessly here.
But I bet that they wouldn't dare. And now... I had won.
I watched their retreating figures. Though they threw out some parting threats, there was no hiding how pathetic they looked in their flight.
"They really ran..." Lifaeya looked at them, still finding it a bit hard to believe.
"Let's go," I said to her.
"Eh? Where are we going?"
"Running away, obviously! You didn't think the people behind us were actually here to help, did you? They’re only here because they’re tracking my location. If we don't run now, are we just waiting to get caught?"
"Oh, right, I almost forgot. Um... Sister Xiao Han, how much longer until your wanted status ends?"
"About a few more hours," I said with a shrug. "That last team I fought had quite a few people."
"You mean we have to keep running for several more hours?!"
"Or we could just find a variant beast colony for the people behind us," I added.
"Huh? That sounds easy, but how is that even possible!" Lifaeya complained, but then she paused. "Wait, Sister Xiao Han, tell me how you do it. Every time people chase you, they end up running into a variant beast pack..."
"Just luck, I guess~"
I didn't offer much of an explanation. But speaking of variant beast packs, there really was one nearby. After all, I had come here specifically to "hunt" Teaching Assistants, so I had naturally scouted the area with my pursuers in mind. It was only because the plan changed that I had to resort to this backup strategy.
After fleeing with Lifaeya for a while, we managed to shake off the pursuing crowd. My wanted status would be over soon.
Meanwhile, the Zhiwang Hunting Website was in an uproar because of the post I’d made.
After all, that one picture featured Teaching Assistants from various academies. It was inevitable that people would recognize them—twenty Teaching Assistants in one spot!
The comment section was flooded with people "camping" the thread, saying things like "Leave one for me" or "Share the points." It was proof enough of how tempting that picture was.
Unfortunately, even though I had attached the coordinates, the targets had already fled.
Further down, someone commented that the hunting party of several hundred had made their move. Although they didn't catch a single Teaching Assistant, they had run head-first into a variant beast pack.
It left everyone speechless. Word was that because they were too excited about chasing twenty Teaching Assistants, they were caught unprepared by the beasts and suffered heavy losses...
Time passed quickly. As the sun dipped below the horizon, the sky turned dark.
On a deserted small hill, two figures were busy starting a campfire.
As the fire crackled to life, various supplies were laid out nearby: pots, drinking water, spam, instant meals, staples, sauce packets, and more.
I, meanwhile, was busy pitching a tent.
Once everything was set up, I leaned back lazily in a folding lounge chair.
"Mm... this is the life. Another day down. Today was certainly more exciting than the last few," I said with a smile, half to myself and half to Lifaeya.
"Are you always this relaxed?" Lifaeya walked over with a bundle of dry branches and tossed them onto the fire.
"Of course. On the first night, I even stayed at a hotel in Ninglan New City. I probably can't do that now, though~"
"Hah?!"
"Are you that surprised? It just means you don't know how to enjoy life."
"I was wondering why there were so many people camping the city gates when I wanted to go back for supplies..."
"My bad~ But I have plenty of supplies. I remember you bought a lot of stuff back then, didn't you? There's no way you've run out already."
"Ugh... it was all useless junk... I was in such a rush, thinking I could just go back whenever... but now I can't..."
"Is that so?"
I sat up and started fiddling with the small charcoal stove beside me. Campfires were too unstable; these little stoves provided much more consistent heat. With a small pot on top, you could even have hotpot in the wilderness.
"Lifaeya, what do you want to eat?"
"Eh? You... do you have fish... never mind..."
"Fish? Do you want spicy dried fish, fresh-cut fillets? I even have smoked fish chunks, but you'll have to set up your own pot, or the smell will bleed into everything else."
"No... how do you have everything?!" Lifaeya stared at the neatly packaged fish fillets and chunks, and the second small stove and pot I pulled out...
"It's called being prepared. It doesn't matter if you use it; the saddest thing in life is needing something and not having it~"
"Th-thanks." Lifaeya sighed and finally took the stove from me.
"And here's some smokeless charcoal."
"Mm..."
While Lifaeya was busy, my pot had already come to a boil. The rich, pre-made broth had a faint "taste of technology." No matter how strong the flavor, it couldn't hide from my Body Cultivation sense of smell. However, this level of artificial additives couldn't even bypass my physical defenses.
"Lifaeya, just curious—didn't you say you were going to choose the Mage profession?"
"Uh..."
"I actually wanted to... but the other profession was just too tempting..." Lifaeya hesitated for a moment before finally speaking.
"Is being a melee cat-girl that tempting?" I asked, puzzled.
"Maybe you wouldn't understand..." Lifaeya deactivated her Cat-person Transformation, and her signature cat ears vanished.
I had always known she was a "pseudo-cat-girl." She wasn't a real one; I’d figured that out when we first met. Her cat ears and other feline traits were all magical effects.
"Once the contract was signed, all transcendent powers were suppressed. That included my usual decorations, of course..."
"I can tell you really like being a cat-girl. So you chose that profession just for that?"
"Is that not a good enough reason?"
"You could have just told me. No wonder you were so hesitant when I wanted to test the power of my Fireball Spell," I said.
"Sorry... I didn't mean to hide it like that..."
"I don't mind. But I am curious—when you showed up, those people called you a traitor... what did they mean by that?"
"..."
"Oh, was that too direct?" I noticed Lifaeya freeze up and realized my phrasing might have been an issue.
"You don't want to talk about it?"
"It's... not convenient to say..."
"Oh~" Seeing her expression, I understood. It was because we were currently on a live broadcast. "Don't you know how to request a broadcast pause?"
"Huh?" Lifaeya looked confused.
"A broadcast pause. You didn't think the stream only paused when people were doing... private things, did you?"
"You can actually do that?"
"Yeah." I nodded. Seeing her reaction, it was clear she hadn't spoken because of the stream. I quickly demonstrated how to pause it for her.
"There. No outside interference now. Is it convenient to talk now?"
"Yeah... it's a long story. I..."
"If it's long, then give me the short version. I'll ask directly: does it have to do with the families outside?"
"You... you know about that..."
"It really does? Which side do you represent?" I raised an eyebrow, somewhat surprised.
Based on Lifaeya's style, I had honestly thought she was the free-spirited, unattached type.
But then again... if she were truly unattached, would she be such a troublemaker?
Everyone's personality is a product of their environment. If Lifaeya were just going through a rebellious phase... that seemed unlikely at her age...
"Which side... wait, what do you mean?"
"The families associated with the Witch Academy. Haven't they split into two factions—those who want to resist the academy and those who support it?" Fu Xinglan had given me a general overview of the situation, and I’d made my own deductions.
"Resist? Support? What are you talking about? How could a family possibly resist a Transcendent Academy? Xiao Han, have you been reading too many weird webnovels?"
"Oh... so I misunderstood? Then would you mind giving me the gist of it? My knowledge of the families is indeed limited."
"Well... I... my knowledge of the families... isn't that great either..." Lifaeya looked embarrassed.
"What do you mean?"
"What if I said... I mean, just hypothetically... what if I never had the qualifications to enter the Witch Academy in the first place?"