Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
On the spur of the moment, he felt that whatever his arms were touching has become softer.
It turned out that as Misaka Mikoto paddled, her body shifted backward without her realizing. Thus, the position of Liu Zilang’s arm that was on her stomach naturally shifted forward.
In a trice, the whole situation became rather awkward.
Misaka Mikoto’s face reddened and she no longer paddled such that she froze on the spot.
At that time, the two of them were not in the shallow section of the sea.
As such, while Liu Zilang was fine in the water, Misaka Mikoto eventually sank.
Before long, Liu Zilang realized that something was wrong.
Nonetheless, when he lowered his head to look, he saw his foolish apprentice shut her eyes and pout her lips before she let herself sink in the sea.
It was as if she was doing so to avoid embarrassment…
“Bloop-!”
Bubbles were seen emerging on the water’s surface.
Upon seeing this, Liu Zilang’s eyes twitched and the awkwardness that was present dissipated. As if he was carrying a puppy, he chuckled and lifted her up.
Once Misaka Mikoto was out of her “cover”, she was surprised.
When she opened her eyes, she saw Liu Zilang giving her a snappy look.
“Shifu~” Misaka Mikoto mumbled.
Liu Zilang felt that it was not nice to keep a straight face. After all, he was at fault.
Hence, he let out a dry cough. “That… Uhm, there was something wrong with your posture just now, let’s try again.”
Subsequently, Liu Zilang asked her to turn her body over. He then supported her back so that she could do a backstroke.
Not long after, Misaka Mikoto grasped the techniques.
She began paddling away in the water with Liu Zilang’s support and uttered joyfully as she did so, “Ah! It feels good~! It feels so good~!”
Liu Zilang was speechless upon hearing her.
When he turned to look, sure enough, the people around him were casting strange looks at them.
Zhang Xiaotong who was not far away from them looked at them and scoffed before she swam away on her own.
On the other hand, Wang Qianqian who was in the shallower section crossed her arms in front of her chest as she looked at him. She then gave him a meaningful look.
‘Why the f*ck are you smiling?’
Liu Zilang stared back at her.
After supporting her for some time, his arms began feeling sore. Thus, he said to Misaka Mikoto, “I think you’ve somewhat got the hang of it. I’ll let go slowly now, try it.”
When Misaka Mikoto who was happily kicking her legs in the water heard him, she immediately looked downhearted.
“Ah? Shifu~”
Liu Zilang responded seriously, “You’re a fish! A mermaid! Look for that feeling, you can do this!”
Once Misaka Mikoto heard this, she blushed and nodded bashfully.
Followed by that, Liu Zilang slowly let go of her.
As if she had been inspired earlier, Misaka Mikoto tried her best to move her arms and legs in the water because she wanted to prove that she was a mermaid!
However…
She sank…
Right away, Liu Zilang was startled. He quickly went underwater and pulled his silly apprentice out of the water.
Needless to say, Misaka Mikoto who had choked on seawater coughed hardly. She said with a bitter face, “Shifu~ I’m not a mermaid…”
“I can see that.” Liu Zilang felt resentful toward her for failing to meet his expectations. He was impatient to see improvement. “You can’t swim at all!”
After bringing Misaka Mikoto to the shallow area for her to “practice” kicking in the water, Liu Zilang was finally free from his responsibilities. Therefore, he began swimming like a fish through the undulating waves.
From time to time, he purposely swam past Zhang Xiaotong whereby he would kick the water as hard as he could so that water would splash on her face…
Evidently, the little girl yelled angrily whenever it happened and chased after Liu Zilang as fast as she could.
Initially, Wang Qianqian dissolved in laughter as she watched the siblings fool around. That was until they swam past her and caused water to splash onto her face one after another.
All of a sudden, Wang Qianqian’s face turned cold.
Based on her understanding of Liu Zilang, it was no doubt that he had done so on purpose.
Therefore, at once, she joined in the chase.
On the beach not far away from them, Gao Yunyang, Li Muqiu, and Shen Zeyan were enjoying some fruits and drinks as they watched Liu Zilang play in the water with two other girls.
At one point when they all thought the few of them were hanging with each other, they suddenly looked at each other.
Then, they took a look at Li Mufan who was simply munching away before looking away again.
It was then when a sea breeze blew past them, causing the three of them to feel a sense of loneliness.
‘Life is truly… as lonely as the sea!’
…
Fun times were always short.
After the enjoyable morning, in the afternoon, Liu Zilang invited Li Muqiu and the others to the outdoor barbeque.
By the time it was evening, Li Muqiu and the others bode Liu Zilang farewell and left after saying, “See you in California.”
In the coming week or so, Liu Zilang and the girls became more used to staying together in the same house.
In fact, apart from the fact that Liu Zilang disallowed Misaka Mikoto from hanging certain clothing items at the balcony, nothing much happened.
Soon enough, as the world invitational tournament in California came closer, participating recreational clubs and eSports media began feeling nervous about it.
Almost every day on the Internet, various analysis and predictions of the participating teams for the invitational tournament in California were posted.
In the beginning, local players were unfamiliar with the strong recreational clubs in western countries. Nevertheless, once they had a better understanding of them, even the fans and spectators who were previously elated that all three Asian teams were from Hua Xia became dispirited.
At last, some of them even commented, “Participation is more important!”
Of course, discussions on the Internet were always two-sided.
Some people bad-mouthed the teams while some supported them no matter what.
Besides, quite a number of old FPS fans recalled the incident that happened three years prior when Se7en became unstoppable as they rose up to defeat other western recreational clubs.
Although Se7en no longer had the same players in their team, in all three teams that were going to participate in the invitational tournament in California, the soul of each team was an old-timer from Se7en.
Since a miracle took place back then, why did people not believe in them this time?
With that being said, regarding this reasoning, there was a two-sided opinion on the Internet.
After all, the old players from Se7en were going to play in their respective teams and might even be enemies in the tournament.
On the other hand, the legendary players in the strong western recreational clubs were in their previous teams.
Under such circumstances, indeed, the Asian teams had low chances of winning…