Chapter 95: Chapter 88: I, Sonia, Good Person!
“I once saw a Medical Practitioner use ‘I want to go back for a good meal’ as a reason to sneak onto a transport ship, and they didn’t even have to take off their masks after boarding. No one checked their identities throughout the process.”
“Although I don’t know why they have such privileges, according to investigations, the identity of a Medical Practitioner is definitely above that of a Prison Guard.”
Lanna’s eyes wandered as he asked, “Are you planning to target the Medical Practitioners?”
“We’re just borrowing their clothes,” Igula said. “The specific process is—we gather in the bathroom, Ash performs the purification on our neck chips, and within ten minutes, we each rush to the treatment room, use the Technique Spirits to subdue the Medical Practitioners and take their clothes, and finally blend into the returning transport ship before the prison alarm goes off. Of course, we cannot harm the lives of the Medical Practitioners, as their deaths would trigger the prison alarm and draw the attention of the guards.”
“Everyone understands, right? It’s a simple plan, the only thing we need to practice is how to get from the treatment room to the harbor in a few minutes. Train more in the next two days.”
Ash asked, “What if the prison finds out the Medical Practitioners are injured and notifies the transport ship to stop for an inspection?”
“That’s when ‘Gourmet’ and ‘Woodpecker Golden Mouth’ need to step in,” Igula responded calmly. “With the unsuspecting at a disadvantage, will you be able to handle the Blood Frenzy Hunters on the transport ship?”
Lanna looked at Ronald, who took a deep breath and nodded firmly, “Yes!”
“I will protect Ronald,” Lanna said.
“When is the transport ship arriving?”
“The transport ship comes to the prison every 1st, 11th, and 21st of the month,” Igula wrote a ‘2’ on the mirror. “Today is the 19th, which means, Ash, you must master the Purification Miracle within two days and be able to perform it under the restrictions of Magic Power. Any problem? If you can’t do it, we’ll have to postpone the escape until the next month’s 1st.”
Ash paused for a moment then nodded, “No problem.”
“Then… let’s break up here. For the next two days, please adjust your attitudes, simulate the action route for the day, or say, eat and drink what you should, don’t leave any regrets.”
Lanna and Ronald were the first to leave. Just as Igula was about to exit the restroom, Ash suddenly asked, “The premise of your plan is that the chip will change its signal frequency due to special circumstances. But what if, even under special circumstances, the chip continues to transmit life signals at a fixed frequency? Wouldn’t this plan be doomed to fail? Perhaps the moment we remove the chips, the next second the prison processor will detect our anomaly.”
Igula turned and glanced at him, “Yes, indeed there is such a worst-case possibility.”
“What if the worst-case scenario happens? What are we going to do?”
“What are we going to do? Are you asking me?”
Igula seemed provoked, took a step forward, and grabbed Ash by the collar, staring intently at him.
“What are you expecting? For me to design a flawless plan? If you’re not satisfied, can you throw it back at me for adjustments? Do you also want to make some interesting demands, like leaving Shattered Lake Prison by stepping on a rainbow?”
He might have wanted to pick Ash up or shove him against the wall, but the restroom only allowed excretion permissions, not attack permissions, so Igula could only grab Ash’s collar.
Ash did not back down, “If saying this makes you feel a bit better… I’m sorry, I used you.”
“But I’m relieved that it was you I used because anyone else would hardly be able to come up with such a high feasibility plan.”
“Do you think a few nice words will work?” Igula sneered, but suddenly his anger faded, he adjusted Ash’s collar, and said in a measured tone, “However, if you really want to be better prepared to increase the fault tolerance of the escape plan, it’s not impossible.”
“Pray to your Four Pillar Gods, my dear cult leader.”
Igula left with a look of disdain.
Jiale City, Sword Flower University.
“Professor Librom, I think Lois would be a better choice since she has also chaired various events before, she would likely be quite willing to take on this role as a host…”
The young professor, holding a textbook, stopped and looked helplessly at the persistent female student, “Ms. Sevi, the list of hosts for this inter-university evening gala was audited by six responsibles and reported to the principal before being finalized. It’s not a small departmental event that allows your little group to freely swap people…”
Sonia became anxious, “Professor, I absolutely don’t mean that, and I’m not on good terms with Lois, I definitely didn’t give her this opportunity to take care of her! Or even if not letting her take it, finding a sophomore or junior to replace me would work too!”
Professor Librom sighed, “Ms. Sevi, you remember our school motto, right?”
“‘Honoring promises is the most beautiful rose on the handle of the sword, guarding is the sharpest blade beneath the rose,'” Sonia said reluctantly.
“Honoring promises and guarding are the greatest expectations of the school. If you want to give up the role of host, you must provide a valid reason, otherwise such poor performance in important matters will negatively affect the school’s evaluation of you.”
Professor Librom said earnestly, “And you are also Professor Trozan’s research apprentice, to show fairness, the school might even give you a warning!”
As Professor Trozan’s apprentice, Sonia naturally received many privileges privately, such as course professors turning a blind eye to her assignments.
But in public, every action of Sonia must undergo the strictest scrutiny, because she is now the most outstanding student at Sword Flower University, representing the university’s reputation, she cannot have any flaws, nor can she affect the university’s public perception.
Sonia didn’t want to receive a warning. The first step in the school’s punishment for students was issuing a warning, followed by a suspension, and thirdly by expulsion.
That meant, with this warning, Sonia was one step away from going back to her hometown to farm.
“I’m not suitable to be the host for some special reasons…”
Sonia opened her mouth, her lips trembling. She made ‘ah ba ah ba’ shapes with her mouth but couldn’t utter a word. Librom raised his eyebrows. “Miss Sevi? What’s your reason?”
“I…” Sonia struggled to speak as if there was a fire burning in her throat. “I…”
“Do you feel unwell? Family issues? Busy with studies? Is it a critical moment in your swordsmanship training?” Librom, feeling her difficulty, proactively thought of many excuses for her, letting her pick one to skirt around the issue.
“That… it’s just…” Sonia said as tears almost fell. “At the party, I need to introduce outstanding students from our school, praise the school’s achievements this year, introduce the professors’ teaching results…”
“Yes, that’s one of the host’s tasks. What about it?”
“But… I… I…” Sonia’s eyes welled up with tears. “I can’t lie.”
“That’s a good quality, Miss Sevi. I hope you can continue to uphold it. So, do you have a legitimate reason for resigning from the host position?”
Sonia’s lips twitched, unable to utter a word for a long while before she fiercely bit her lip, “No! I don’t!”
“Have a pleasant evening.”
Watching Librom leave, Sonia, feeling helpless, stamped her foot in frustration. She could struggle more, but her feet walked toward the direction of the training gym—it was time to train.
The moment she entered the training gym, Sonia attracted all eyes. Unlike the usual envious glances, this time the looks contained something indescribable—admiration? Mockery? Schadenfreude?
“Professor Wesley was so angry he skipped his classes…”
“It’s just the petty taking pride…”
“Not even Felix is as arrogant as her. What’s so great about being talented?”
“Sigh, talent just means having the arrogance, not needing to care about interpersonal relationships…”
The more Sonia listened, the more aggrieved she felt. She, always graceful and meticulous, was now seen by others as an arrogant genius who disregarded relationships!
She even fell to being compared with Felix!
At that moment, Felix also entered the training gym. As he passed by Sonia, he coughed and jokingly said, “Sister Sonia, Professor Trozan has listened to your suggestions and has gone to a stylist to change his hairstyle…”
Many apprenticeship students gasped—the whole school knew that Professor Trozan maintained a very tacky mushroom hairstyle, but no one dared question Trozan’s taste, not even the ‘Rhythm Sword Saint’ Nidara, who didn’t get along with him.
What harsh words had Sonia said that even forced Trozan to abandon a hairstyle he had kept for a decade?
True to Sonia, she easily achieved what others couldn’t!
At that time, Ingrid also came to train. Upon seeing Sonia, she rushed over and clenched her fist encouragingly, “Sonia, keep it up, you’re doing the right thing, we swordsmen should be unyielding, straightforward, not everyone has to like us, you must keep going!”
I don’t want to be unyielding! I don’t want to be straightforward!
I also want to lie, to have relationships, to be liked by everyone, to achieve things more easily, to have people greet me wherever I go, instead of being treated like a venomous snake that can’t speak human words!
The more Sonia listened, the more distressed she became. She focused all her energy on pummeling the target, striking the target’s tenth ring with each sword strike. For some reason, the more she chopped, the more excited she got, the more she swung, the more she felt full of strength, and training was not tiring at all, even feeling a slight sense of joy as energy continuously surged within her!
Ding, with a clear sound of sword ringing, a one-winged Technique Spirit appeared on the tip of her sword—a one-winged Technique Spirit “Chop Sword”!
Sonia was a bit stunned; she couldn’t understand why her training efficiency was so high today, the process so exhilarating, even successfully summoning a one-winged Technique Spirit. Of course, she didn’t know it was the effect of the Advanced Physical Potion, she would only look for reasons from her performance today.
Today she hadn’t worn a hypocritical mask, hated when she needed to hate, liked when she needed to like.
Today she hadn’t lied, hadn’t covered up to avoid punishment, hadn’t been perfunctory to maintain relationships.
Today she hadn’t compromised herself, bluntly criticizing Professor Trozan’s ugly hairstyle, decisively refusing when Adelle wanted to borrow clothes.
Then her training efficiency greatly increased, and the training process was enjoyable.
Combining these factors, Sonia couldn’t help but come up with a frightening speculation.
Could it be that she, Sonia Sevi…
Was fundamentally a genuinely good person!?