97: Why is there gauze on your face?

The two scuffled purely to vent; both tacitly agreed to only use hand-to-hand combat.

But there was a gap in their Realms, and their strength differed as well. Soon, An Xueshi gained the upper hand.

The surrounding people intervened and stopped them before they were willing to quit. Though the scuffle ended, they still glared viciously at each other.

An Xueshi was furious: "Let go of me!"

An Xueshi didn't argue further with the person. She walked over to Xia Weiyu in the corner and slapped her.

"You scheming bitch, just you wait! I was already leaving, and you still wanted to mock me? I'll remember this grudge. Just you wait!"

"Hey! Who do you think you are!"

Wang Xiaoting wanted to chase after her but was stopped by Xia Weiyu.

"Forget it."

"How can we just forget it! She slapped you, and that's it? Look, your face is cut."

"Can you even beat her?"

"I... it's not a matter of strength."

"If I can't beat her, I'll find Yang Junlong to help me."

"Just endure it. If you chase her out, you'll only get beaten up yourself."

"Right now, Yang Junlong is busy dealing with exotic beasts. If you start infighting here, aren't you just causing trouble for them?"

"Let's go for a walk outside."

Feeling uncomfortable under the gaze of a dozen or so people, she pulled Wang Xiaoting and walked outside.

"Don't talk about what just happened."

"No way, how can we just let this go? Do they really think we're easy targets?"

"At least don't say anything until we've left safely. Su Chen and the others are busy dealing with the exotic beasts; this would just be a distraction for them, you know?"

"Fine, I'll listen to you. I won't say anything until we get out of here."

...Inside the camp tent, Li Yanan thought for a moment and then chased after them with a medical kit.

"Sorry for dragging you into this. Do you know her?"

"Let me treat your wound first."

"That bitch's nails must have been sharpened. Look, your face is cut. Let me apply some medicine so it doesn't leave a scar."

Xia Weiyu didn't refuse the kind offer. "What about you? Why did you provoke her for no reason? Look, your face is all scratched up."

"I think I should apply anti-inflammatory medicine to you first. Your face..."

"I'm fine. I've been fighting since I was a kid. I fight anyone I'm unhappy with; I'm long used to it."

"Let's take care of you first before talking about me."

"An Xueshi and I never got along. I didn't have the chance before, but since I ran into her this time, I wanted to teach her a lesson."

"With my E-Rank Talent, if I don't act now, I'm afraid I won't have the chance later."

"I've dragged you into this this time."

Xia Weiyu's face was only slightly grazed, but compared to her, Li Yanan's face was a mess, with over twenty scratches.

She quickly began treating Li Yanan's wounds, while also asking about the thing she cared about most.

"Do you know Su Chen?"

"Yes, I've known Su Chen for a long time. When he first started going on missions, he was with me."

"Me, Su Chen, Yang Junlong, and that An Xueshi just now—in the first month, we were way ahead of everyone else. You have no idea; back then, I used to walk around school with my head held high."

"Then why didn't you stay together later?"

Li Yanan smiled bitterly. "We had a falling out later."

"I wrongly accused Su Chen. Even though he didn't blame me for it later, I still feel bad about it."

"With my E-Rank Talent, I felt like I couldn't keep up with Su Chen's pace. I was holding them back, so I eventually dropped out on my own."

"The real reason was An Xueshi. If it wasn't for her, it wouldn't have turned out like this."

Wang Xiaoting, who was nearby, asked, "It sounds less like a falling out and more like you have a grudge against her."

"If you want to put it that way, you're not wrong. It really is a grudge."

"An Xueshi and I used to be roommates. You have no idea how awful she is. She never bought toiletries or makeup and just used mine. She even wore my underwear sometimes, and then had the nerve to complain and tell me to buy smaller sizes in the future."

"When I was on a team with Su Chen, I knew I was only there because of her, so I endured those things, thinking I should just focus on passing the assessment first."

"And guess what? That bitch didn't write my name on the mission registration!"

"Four people went on the mission, but only three names were written down. I was basically just tagging along for nothing. If the Instructor hadn't asked me about the mission progress, I wouldn't even have known."

"Do you think that's something a human would do? I hated her to the core because of that, and it's also why I wrongly accused Su Chen."

"What happened next?"

"Because of that, I thought Su Chen and the others were ganging up to screw me over. That's why I wrongly accused him."

"To my surprise, Su Chen didn't blame me. He even spoke up for me so my name could be added back."

"I only found out later that An Xueshi was behind it all. She already wanted to jump ship back then, but she needed the achievements."

"So, every time she ran errands, she would secretly change the mission details so the main credit went to her. Kicking me out was just her way of making sure she got a bigger share of the credit."

"She's truly scheming."

"No way, didn't you go check it yourself at the time?"

"How could I check? Only logistics can check the mission records. Besides, who would normally do such a thing? It wouldn't even cross your mind!"

"Never mind me, would you two go out of your way to check the mission records to see if your names were there?"

Wang Xiaoting felt a headache coming on. She only knew she had completed the missions herself; she also needed to verify them.

Otherwise, if Yang Junlong forgot to write her name, she would truly be wronged to death.

"Now that you mention it, I'll have to check mine when I get back too."

"Anyway, because of that incident, I never contacted Su Chen again."

"After we split up, I went on three missions in a row, and two of them failed. This time, while hunting Ear Rats, this whole mess happened. I don't know if I'll end up losing my life here."

"What about your teammates?"

"Heavily injured. If someone hadn't suddenly delivered 20,000 healing potions yesterday, I might be mourning today."

"Clearly, the three of them aren't even First Rank, so seeing An Xueshi, who is First Rank, hiding in the back made me a bit annoyed."

"That's why I deliberately picked a fight just now, wanting to take out all my old grudges and frustrations on her."

After a few more words of small talk, Li Yanan took her leave.

"Thanks for applying the medicine. If we make it back alive, I'll treat you to a meal."

"Also, don't take what An Xueshi said when she left lightly."

"Take me as an example. Do you know why I, with an E-Rank Talent, was able to live in a double dorm and go on missions with Su Chen?"

"An Xueshi must have been planning to screw me over. As for the reason, I guess it's because I bumped into her at the start of school and broke her limited-edition sunglasses."

"She said she didn't care at the time, but she must have held a grudge all along to screw me over like that."

"That woman's heart is pitch black. Since she said it, she's definitely planning to get back at you. Be careful..."

"Goodbye."

Xia Weiyu didn't really worry about An Xueshi's revenge, but she was a bit troubled by something else.

"If we stay with Su Chen, it seems we'll only be a burden."

"What are you thinking? We're still in our growth phase. Do you understand what a growth phase is?"

"If we work hard, we can catch up. There are only three major gaps between an E-Rank Talent and an A-rank Talent; it's not that far."

"Alright, your sweetheart is here. You talk to him."

"About what just happened..."

"Fine, I'll bring it up later when I'm out."

Wang Xiaoting excused herself and left... "Su Chen!"

'Ding! Gained Xia Weiyu's favorability. lottery ticket +100.'

Seeing Su Chen running over, Xia Weiyu hurriedly circled him, checking him thoroughly from head to toe. Seeing that he was all in one piece, she finally felt at ease.

Though she breathed a small sigh of relief, she was still dissatisfied with Su Chen.

"You just came back from the battlefield, why aren't you resting? Why are you still running around!"

"It's nothing. I just brought Chen Yuan over for treatment and stopped by to see you."

"Why is there gauze on your face?"