“Mm.”
Lu Bai responded and continued removing the remaining protective gear from his body.
“Feels like time passed quickly, right?” the scrawny old man said with emotion. “But with your current skill, it shouldn’t be a problem to achieve good results in the second round deathmatch duel.”
“That’s hard to say.” A kind smile appeared on Lu Bai’s face.
“Have some confidence. When I was young, I probably couldn’t beat you.”
The scrawny old man patted Lu Bai’s shoulder, somewhat helplessly. “You still need to fight for it. The first round deathmatch results for your class came out, and our campus ranked dead last. A couple days ago, I even heard the principal cursing in the office.”
There was more than one deathmatch school in Underground City No. 9, so there was naturally competition between them.
If the campus ranking was low, resources and treatment would decline, which was also why high-ranking campuses could more easily recruit good prospects.
It was worth mentioning that Lu Bai had not submitted his first round deathmatch duel results. At first, he didn’t know where to register, and later he simply didn’t bother. Anyway, submitting after the second round ended was the same.
……
Walking out of the combat training hall, he stretched facing the sunset.
Staring at the holographic sky screen overhead for a long time, it still seemed pretty real.
“To be precise, I think I’ve almost forgotten what the real sky looks like,” Lu Bai said with an unconscious smile, striding toward Yiju City.
After nearly a month, he was already very familiar with this road.
In the first few days, delinquent youths came to block him every day, but after he taught them a few lessons, even the troublemakers stopped coming.
Although he was a bit afraid of campus violence, during this time, Lu Bai had not encountered Fan Ding at all. That guy never showed up, as if deliberately avoiding him.
After leaving the school gate, it was another five or six hundred meters to the steel frame bridge over the river.
The traffic on this stretch of road was always dense; Lu Bai had rarely seen it not congested.
“This hobby is really niche.” He walked on the steel frame bridge, clicking his tongue in amazement.
On the bench by the riverbank, he saw that girl in the white dress again.
He didn’t know if she “refreshed” at this spot at a fixed time every day, but if Lu Bai passed the steel frame bridge after noon, he could basically always see her figure.
He had no intention of striking up a conversation; he just couldn’t help looking a few more times at such unique behavior.
The tall buildings in Yiju City had a gray-black main color tone.
Standing in rows together, from afar they emitted a suffocating sense of oppression.
Once closer, this oppressive feeling lessened considerably.
Because the ground floors were almost all converted into shops and restaurants, even hot pot places. The street was bustling with people coming and going, very lively.
Lu Bai didn’t linger much on the street and headed straight to his place after entering Yiju City.
Thump~ Thump~ Thump~
His knocking wasn’t heavy, because he knew if someone was inside, they would definitely hear it.
And that was indeed the case.
In a moment, a girl’s voice came from inside the room. “Coming.”
The house door opened. Lu Ziyi was wearing oversized men’s flip-flops and holding a pot ladle in her hand.
“Why are you back so early today?”
Seeing it was Lu Bai, her voice was somewhat cold, but she still quickly stepped aside halfway.
Lu Bai entered and conveniently closed the door behind him. “Tomorrow is the second round deathmatch duel.”
He likewise did not act overly intimate.
It wasn’t that he was quarreling with this little girl. He always remembered that the original owner was the family of these siblings. Even after entering this body following the other’s death, he was not him.
As for concealing this matter, one aspect was considering the risks of rashly revealing it.
The other aspect was that such a fact would be too cruel for these siblings who depended on each other.
Hearing that Lu Bai had his second deathmatch duel tomorrow, Lu Qingyan jumped down barefoot from the sofa. “Then shouldn’t we go out for something good tonight?”
“Go out to eat my ass!”
Lu Ziyi swung the pot ladle in her hand for a fake swat at the little boy. “All you know is going out to eat. It’s not like we don’t have it at home.”
As she spoke, she turned to turn off the induction cooker, plated the stir-fried dishes, and brought them to the dining table.
If observed carefully, one could see that the dishes were actually already cooked; they weren’t plated just to keep them warm.
Lu Bai ladled three bowls of rice and sat down at the small square table for eating.
During this time, the siblings also came to their respective seats and sat down.
Lu Ziyi glanced at him and tapped the chopsticks on the tabletop to align them. “Eat.”
The dining table immediately fell quiet.
The little boy pretended to be mature and pursed his lips, lowering his head to secretly observe.
He didn’t dare speak either. He knew if he opened his mouth, big sis would definitely come out with some old-fashioned remark like no talking while eating or sleeping.
Lu Bai silently chewed the synthetic rice in his mouth.
Actually, the taste of these synthetic foods wasn’t good. For example, this rice felt like grainy strong glue when eaten, and its nutritional value wasn’t as good as real rice.
The only advantage was that it was cheap.
“Clean up yourselves after eating. I’m on the night shift this week.” Lu Ziyi set down her bowls and chopsticks and got up to go into the bedroom to change clothes.
In a moment, she came out changed, with a small bag on her back. “I’ll try to come back early tomorrow.”
With that, she opened the house door, hesitated for a moment in the corridor, then couldn’t help turning back to Lu Bai. “Rest well tonight. After the deathmatch tomorrow, we’ll come pick you up… Cheer up.”
“Got it,” Lu Bai replied.
Click~
The house door closed.
Watching his sister leave, Lu Qingyan’s eyes lit up. He leaned his head close and whispered, “Big bro, how about we go out for something later?”
Lu Bai placed his chopsticks flat on the bowl rim and poked the little boy’s forehead with two fingers.
“Forgive your brother. Next time.”
……
The next day, morning.
The holographic sky screen was mostly bright weather without a cloud for miles.
After all, good weather always made people feel comfortable inadvertently.
Outside the astonishingly large multi-purpose venue, it was bustling with voices. Large crowds of students gathered chatting, eagerly ready.
“Please enter in an orderly manner, don’t crowd,” staff commanded with a loudspeaker.
Lu Bai stood at the outermost edge of the crowd, not in a hurry to squeeze in.
He observed the crowd in front of him and saw no familiar faces, not even Fan Ding. He didn’t know where he was hiding.
Compared to these students, he felt his mindset was quite relaxed.
“Next, students from class 05B, please enter.”
Hearing the broadcast, Lu Bai then stepped toward the multi-purpose venue.
This class of students was already doing the deathmatch duel for the second time, so everyone was familiar with the process, and it went quickly.
Lu Bai showed his student ID and soon reached the designated position under the guidance of the faculty and staff.