The sun was shining brightly, and the sky was clear for miles. It seemed like today would be a pleasant day.
Of course, that was assuming I could ignore the Imperial Commanders on the roadside selling bootleg discs, telling fortunes, grilling lamb skewers, selling Tibetan medicine, hawking fake jade, and various other activities...
I just couldn't understand it. With their abilities, finding any kind of job should be a breeze. Why did they have to come out and affect the city's appearance?
"Because fighting with city management is a very fulfilling thing to do. It lets everyone experience the fun of battle," Pandora said while clutching my hand tightly and pretending to be a blind girl.
Suddenly enlightened, I said, "Oh, so that's how it is... Wait, Lili (we're back on Earth now, so her name should have changed), how did you know what I was thinking?"
Pandora replied, "Brother, you just said what you were thinking."
At school, everything was normal. The classmates were still goofing around, the fat guy Zhao Hang was still distributing advertisements, and I was still sleeping on the desk. The events of the past few days seemed so distant now, as if they never happened, ah, such blissful normal times!
"Ah—Jun!" A sweet female voice suddenly sounded in my ear. Without looking up, I knew it was Qianqian's voice. Since I came back from the Otherworld a few days ago, this girl had been sticking to my side. Basically, once we got to school, her figure wouldn't leave my sight for more than 10 seconds. It seemed my disappearance last time really scared her.
I didn't lift my head, reached out, and accurately ruffled Qianqian's hair, then continued to sleep.
"Hey! Could you please not treat me like Lili! And why do you start sleeping as soon as you get here? Are you all right in the head?"
I mumbled in response, "I exercised too much at night these days, I urgently need rest."
"What?!" Qianqian burst into flames instantly.
"...Lili wanted me to tell her stories..."
"Oh..." She cooled down.
Hugging a cute little loli and reading her stories from a book sounds like a wonderfully enticing thing, but if this little loli's book is "World War History," the feeling gets very peculiar.
Given Pandora's extremely unique taste that far exceeds that of an ordinary loli, after returning from the desert, I made a resolute decision: to begin a well-behaved Pandora training plan!
The first step of this plan was to use Earth fairy tales (it seems someone forgot that middle school students had already outgrown fairy tales) to activate Pandora's loli heart!
So, I gave Pandora some money and let her pick a few books she liked from the bookstore as my gift to her.
The little one happily went, as it was my first gift to her.
And she happily came back, with twelve brick-thick volumes of "World War History" in her arms...
My well-behaved Pandora training plan encountered an unprecedented challenge right from step one.
As I joked with Qianqian, suddenly, a gritting voice came from Sun Yang, who sat in front of me: "Hey, you two, if you're going to get cozy, could you please do it somewhere else? It's really hurting the heart of a single guy like me..."
I turned and said, "If you could lose weight, you would have long escaped single life."
"...Stop joking. We're in our senior year! I really don't understand how you two can have so much free time. Even the teachers turn a blind eye to you..."
Of course, the current homeroom teacher was Pandora's deputy officer and my trusted general. Even if I had a bonfire party in the classroom, she wouldn't have any questions.
At this moment, Zhao Hang, who was busy spreading some gossip near the podium, suddenly smacked his head and exclaimed, "Hey! How did I forget this— there's big news today!"
Everyone jeered, "All right now, when isn't your news big news!"
"This time it's really big news," Zhao Hang said confidently with his arms crossed, not in the least irritated by the jeers. "It's definitely a major event in the history of our school!"
Seeing Zhao Hang begin to get serious, everyone knew this was truly interesting—usually, as long as this fatty spoke in that tone, it meant there was something genuinely intriguing.
Seeing everyone's expectant gazes, Zhao Hang looked around proudly...
Those who knew his temperament well all spontaneously ducked to grab their benches.
Zhao Hang ducked his head and quickly said, "Don't, don't, I'll tell you! We have a new student transferring in today!"
"Ahhh—" the crowd let out a collective sigh. That news wasn't all that interesting. Transfer students were quite common. Even in senior year, a transfer student wasn't peculiar enough to pique the interest of these bored individuals.
Zhao Hang clearly anticipated everyone's reaction, and calmly continued, "But she is a beauty~~~"
Passerby A joked, "We can be sure of at least one thing, that she's a woman?"
"That's not necessarily true," Passerby B chimed in, "Judging from our beautiful teacher Pan Lingling, fatty's aesthetics have improved."
"You two, stay out of this!" Zhao Hang swung his round arm, suppressing the joking Passerby A and Passerby B. "I'm telling you, this isn't only a beauty but also a blonde beauty!"
"A blonde beauty?!" The guys exclaimed.
"A foreigner?!" The ladies exclaimed.
"Crash—" an emperor toppled.
On the podium, Zhao Hang continued introducing the newly transferred foreign blonde beauty, and everyone listened with great interest.
"I'm telling you, she's absolutely gorgeous! Luxurious golden hair, noble temperament just like a princess. The moment I saw her, I fell in love. I've decided that I must win her over before my high school life ends..."
Blonde beauty, noble temperament, like a princess, well, very powerful...
Sandora, apart from Sandora, I couldn't think of anyone who would appear at this time and fit those characteristics so well.
"Ah Jun, why did you slide under the desk?" Seeing me suddenly slide off the bench, Qianqian was startled and quickly pulled me up, asking with concern.
I waved my hand and said, "It's nothing, I was just startled by fatty's news."
Qianqian immediately eyed me suspiciously, "Do you know that blonde beauty?"
I nodded—trying to hide it now would be impossible. Otherwise, Sandora would definitely blow our cover once she came. It was better to admit it outright now than to let Qianqian build up unnecessary suspicions later.
"Strange, I feel like there are suddenly a lot of unusual people around you. Lili is one thing, then Lin Xue, and now another one—what's her name?"
"If I'm not mistaken, Sandora is here this time—she's my... fellow!" I finally thought of a way to explain Sandora's identity, and I whispered to Qianqian.
"Fellow?" Qianqian was initially puzzled, then quickly remembered my Superpower User identity and immediately lowered her voice to ask, "Like you? Also..."
Qianqian understood and then smiled sweetly, "Ah Jun, why are you so nervous?"
Seriously, confessing to your girlfriend about how you met a beautiful stranger, if I wasn't nervous, there would be something wrong.
"Don't worry! I didn't suspect you. Don't we have that bit of trust between us? It's just, there are suddenly many unfamiliar people around you, which makes me nervous. I feel like you're excluding me from something..."
Hearing Qianqian's complaints, I felt a bit guilty too. After all, I had been hiding many things from her. I had considered being honest with her, but I was really worried about whether she could accept my identity. This was different from Lin Xue, who was just an ordinary friend. Letting her know some things didn't worry me as much. But Qianqian was closer to me, which made me more concerned and unable to be as honest as I was with Lin Xue.
At this moment, the bell rang, and the noisy classroom quickly quieted down.