ASFTB 51: The Protagonist Gets Scolded 2

Li Suisui said in confusion, “Alice?”

Alice grabbed Li Suisui’s hand. The little girl’s face was full of vulnerability. “Suisui, let’s team up.”

Li Suisui’s voice was clear and soft, “But aren’t we in a competition?”

“No, no, students can team up.” Alice knew that Li Suisui hadn’t come last semester, and she quickly explained, “Many people team up first, and then go together!”

Li Suisui thought for a moment and said, “Then how do we divide the defeated magical beasts?”

The questions children always think about are so practical.

Alice replied, “If you defeat a magical beast alone, it’s 10 points; if two people defeat it together, it’s 5 points.”

Li Suisui shook her head, and was about to refuse to team up.

Alice seemed to know what she was going to say, and quickly said, “Alice’s sensing ability can help find the magical beasts!”

Li Suisui indeed hesitated. She nodded and said, “Okay, but why do you want to help me? Why not look for other classmates?”

In the little girl’s eyes, there has never been the concept of friends.

Alice’s thoughts were very pure and simple. A smile appeared on her face. “Because Suisui helped Alice before and gave her the potion, Alice also wants to help Suisui!”

Suisui suddenly understood. “Suisui understands now.”

Alice’s eyes showed anticipation. “You understand?”

Wuwuwu, so touching.

Suisui finally understands her feelings, right?

Good friends are supposed to help each other.

Suisui’s heart isn’t that cold after all!

“Mm.” Suisui’s little face was full of determination. “Alice still wants the potion, right? Daddy said there should be an equivalent exchange. It seems like you know that Suisui’s poison for rabbits works really well. Do you want to poison rabbits together?”

Alice: “…”

Ah.

It’s not because of that.

All the little contestants were gradually getting into the zone.

The audience outside the arena was also watching attentively—completely captivated, holding their breath for the kids.

Jian Chengxi was completely overwhelmed like a Spartan when he saw the female lead with his daughter.

Feiyun was still smiling softly beside him. Her face is full of tenderness. “It looks like the two kids really get along well. With Suisui by Alice’s side, I feel at ease.”

Jian Chengxi: “…”

Don’t worry.

What nonsense!

This sports meet is supposed to be the first meeting between the male and female leads!

The female lead is not meeting the male lead, she’s going to team up with the villain.

What’s the male lead supposed to do?

Who is the male lead supposed to meet?

If they don’t meet, will the male lead cause trouble for his son?

This plot is completely different from the script, it’s gone completely off track!!!

Jian Chengxi didn’t know if this was a good or bad thing. “If the female and male leads don’t meet, does it mean that future events won’t happen?”

Then his child would be safe.

The system was silent for a long time before finally saying:【According to the law of quantum entanglement, the development of events is uncertain, but the outcome should remain unchanged.】

Jian Chengxi’s mood was complicated, “So, does that mean they will still meet in the end?”

The system answered:【Yes.】

What it didn’t say was, although it said the outcome wouldn’t change, it didn’t say the plot would follow the original development.

…

The competition venue was a vast rainforest with towering trees.

The young children weaved through it with dangers everywhere.

The virtual equipment restored the environment 100% accurately. This was the empire’s consistent approach, training all the children to experience battlefield skills from a young age.

Li Chen walked slowly through it.

The virtual body simulated still alleviated the disability in his leg in certain aspects. This virtual body was a bit more agile than his real one.

From the nearby forest came the sharp sound of a magical beast.

The noise was no small matter.

Li Chen bent his body low and completely concealed himself in the bushes. The sound was like it was piercing through his eardrums, and it sounded like a formidable magical beast. He had to be more careful.

The grass concealed his body very well.

The slanted sun poured through the forest.

The noise grew louder and closer. Li Chen held his breath, focusing intently. He watched the nearby path and waited for the troublesome magical beast to pass by. If it’s too large in size, he might not be able to handle it.

The sound grew nearer—

“Bang!”

A hamster, about the size of a rabbit, appeared on the path while shouting loudly. It screeches and the sound is ear-piercing.

Li Chen: “…”

The hamster, while shouting, was eating the fruit by the roadside.

Suddenly, the magical beast’s sensitive ears caught the rustling sound from the nearby bushes.

The hamster turned its head and saw a human standing behind it. The magical beast was programmed, and upon seeing a human, it would rush over to chase. The hamster immediately put down the fruit and ran towards Li Chen.

However—

The hamster had just rushed over when the human disappeared behind a tree.

The magical beast hamster had low intelligence. It looked around in confusion, and didn’t have time to react…

“Bang!”

Another dull thud sounded.

A huge wooden club came crashing down, and the hamster spun around in place before immediately passing out.

Li Chen’s small body was about the same height as the bushes. The young child picked up the hamster, and the system’s point sensor on his body detected the magical beast’s unconscious state. It automatically awarded +10 points.

After the child finished getting scored, he threw the unfortunate hamster away.

The audience outside the live broadcast room was shocked: 

“This… this…”

“No bullets?”

“This kid is unbelievable!”

“He’s only three years old. How dare he use a stick to hit the hamster?”

This live broadcast was watched by the entire nation. All the audience’s attention should have been on the kids with good shooting skills, but gradually, everyone started noticing something that seemed like a bug.

Li Chen, an obscure little boy.

He hit the hamster with his hand.

He threw a stone at a wild rabbit.

Without using any bullets, he easily earned fifty points.

Maybe he was a bit tired. He even stopped doing things himself later, but instead, he combined vines and stones, and made a trap himself.

The audience was amazed:

“He’s so smart.”

“Incredible.”

“His mechanism ideas are so clear.”

“I dare say his combination skills will make him an excellent mecha engineer.”

Li Chen had already accumulated a total of 70 points, and his ranking was almost far ahead of everyone else. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to use bullets, it was just that he thought things through very clearly. His leg was disabled, and he couldn’t run like the other contestants or make large movements.

In this case, bullets were more precious to him than to anyone else.

His father had once taught him while building a house for the hamster that he must preserve his strength and think carefully. Otherwise, he’ll be vulnerable to attacks from all sides.”

“Bang!”

A gunshot broke the silence of the forest.

A small magical beast fell to the ground.

At the end of the road appeared the figures of a group of children with Peiqi leading the group. He ran over and proudly said, “I hit it!”

The other children from the class followed behind.

“Class leader, you’re amazing!”

“You already have 60 points now!”

“You must be in first place!”

The lackeys all bowed down to Peiqi.

Peiqi hummed a few times. “Of course, my shooting skills have never lost to anyone!”

A group of children walked towards his way.

Li Chen hid behind the bushes, silently cocking the gun in his hand, and assuming a defensive stance.

They were in large numbers. He might not be able to take them head-on, so the best strategy now was not to be discovered.

One step, two steps, three steps.

Just as the group was about to walk away—

“Squeak!!!”

The sharp cry of the magical beast came from behind the tree. It was the hamster that had been knocked unconscious earlier, now waking up.

The group of children were startled and looked back in panic. Li Chen’s hiding spot was naturally completely exposed to the sunlight.

The magical beast ran out from behind the tree.

Peiqi let out a terrified scream, and quickly fired a burst from the gun in his hand.

The bullets knocked the magical beast down.

The other children then noticed that there seemed to be someone standing behind the bushes.

Peiqi, being tall as a giant, immediately saw him with one glance, and said, “Li Chen?”

Li Chen saw he couldn’t hide anymore so he could only walk out from behind the bushes.

Peiqi was a bit happy when he saw him. He lifted the hamster in his hand and said, “See? This is what I shot!”

Li Chen didn’t say anything.

Peiqi boasted again, “You haven’t hit any prey, have you? It’s okay, I know you’re from the Underground City, and maybe you haven’t used a gun before, right? We won’t make fun of you!”

There were no bullet shells nearby, so Peiqi naturally thought that Li Chen didn’t dare to shoot or that he didn’t dare to hunt the prey.

And his words also shocked the audience in the live broadcast room:

“A child from the Underground City?”

“How did he end up participating in this school’s competition?”

“No wonder he doesn’t use bullets.”

“Using those barbaric methods to catch prey.”

“It really is unpresentable.”

After learning he was from the Underground City, the audience clearly forgot how they had once praised Li Chen’s intelligence, and one by one, they started turning against him, using harsh words.

In the forest—

Li Chen watched the few people in front of him cautiously.

Although Peiqi liked to boast usually, he was still just a three-year-old child at the end of the day. He put his hands on his hips and said, “Never mind, you look kind of lonely on your own. Come with us!”

Li Chen wanted to stay here, as he still had traps set up, and the location was well-hidden. “I’m not going.”

Peiqi was stunned. “What are you doing here by yourself!”

The other classmates also said:

“Li Chen, stop playing the hero.”

“Exactly, exactly.”

“Class monitor Peiqi is amazing!”

Li Chen was annoyed by the noise from the group of people. He thought for a moment that since the classmates had already passed by and discovered him on this path, if he stayed here, he might encounter people from other classes, and it could cause other problems later.

Following them briefly wouldn’t be a problem.

Thinking this through—

Li Chen nodded and said, “Okay.”

Sure enough, his agreement greatly satisfied Peiqi’s vanity. Peiqi hummed a few times, “You’re smart!”

The group of children then walked forward.

Not far ahead, there was a small river. The children were full of playful energy and naturally loved playing in the water. Immediately, many of the children let their guard down and ran to the riverbank.

Peiqi was the first to enter the river, happily splashing water with his feet.

Li Chen stood by the riverbank, not moving.

Peiqi shot him a glance and said, “Li Chen, come play already, why are you so scared?”

Li Chen crouched down slightly and used his hand to feel the ground.

The forest ground was unusually damp. When he used to gather wild herbs in the Underground City, he often heard his grandmother mention that the damper the area by the river, the more likely it was for water snakes to appear. Though they were not venomous, they were very dangerous.

He had a bad feeling.

Sure enough—

Before Li Chen could even speak, a terrified scream from a child came from the riverbank!

A thick water snake was crawling out of the river. The snake was just passing by. It was very timid and scared of humans, but the sharp scream from the children scared it, and it jumped three feet high out of the water.

Peiqi and the others were only three years old. They had grown up in Sky City, so they had never seen anything like this.

“A snake!”

“There’s a snake! There’s a snake!”

“Run!”

As they ran, they directly threw Peiqi into the water.

The water was actually very shallow, and only about as high as Peiqi’s waist. Yet he fell into the water, and terrified by the snake, he kept thrashing in the water, shouting, “Help… help!”

Splashing water everywhere.

Peiqi was terrified.

The classmates had all run away, and no one paid attention to him.

Just as he thought he was going to drown, a pair of hands grabbed him.

Li Chen barely used any strength and pulled him out. His low and strong voice was full of disdain, “Stop screaming, get up.”

Peiqi was stunned. The giant child used his strength to stand up and realized the water only reached his waist.

Li Chen’s body was soaked through by the river water.

The boy said in a low voice, “Get up.”

Peiqi didn’t expect Li Chen to help him. The child was moved and began to cry. “Li Chen… why did you save me?”

He had always thought Li Chen was very bad. 

He didn’t give him any face, and even caused him to get beaten.

He didn’t expect Li Chen to be so kind-hearted and even willing to save him. He really misunderstood Li Chen.

Wuwuwu!

Peiqi was feeling moved, but then—

Li Chen said flatly, “If I hadn’t come to pull you, and you kept screaming like that, you would scare off the other magical beasts. How am I supposed to earn points?”

“…”

There was some camaraderie, but not much.

Peiqi was about to speak, when he suddenly saw the water snake nearby. He started screaming again, “A snake! A snake! Don’t bite me, I don’t want to be out!”

Many of the children from Sky City didn’t recognize this kind of magical beast, and only thought that snakes bite people.

When disaster struck, Peiqi didn’t care whether Li Chen’s leg could run or not. He could only use his hands and feet to crawl up from the river, and immediately ran towards the forest.

Li Chen glanced back at the direction where Peiqi and the classmates had left him behind and were running.

What a coincidence.

It was the direction of his trap.

The boy wasn’t in a hurry, and grabbed the fainted, pitiful water snake, returning it to the river. He slowly dragged his leg which was aching a bit, and walked up the riverbank. The virtual body translated his physical condition and sensory feelings into reality as well.

When he first entered the water, he had run a bit too quickly. His calf had already been injured and now, it was a sharp, bone-deep pain.

He endured the pain and made his way back to the shore. He took off his shoes, and rolled up his soaking wet pants.

Sure enough, his entire calf was swollen, and the pain made him tremble a bit.

“Ahhh!”

“What is this thing?!”

“What the heck are these vines?!”

“And the rocks are falling down!”

The screams of a group of children came from the nearby forest, and in their panic, they indeed fell into the small traps Li Chen had set to catch the magical beasts.

A cold and somewhat disdainful smile flashed in Li Chen’s eyes.

The children, in a panic, finally managed to get out of the trap, but each of them was in a sorry state. Their guns dropped, clothes torn, and their hair a messy, tangled mess. The screams even attracted a magical beast bird.

Some of the children were bitten and got eliminated.

The sound of gunshots rang out, and after much effort, they finally managed to tranquilize the magical beast bird. Everyone was covered in dirt, looking disheveled.

Someone said, “Who set this trap?”

“Li Chen was standing nearby just now.”

“It must be him.”

“How could he be so despicable!”

Li Chen sat by the lake, easing the pain in his leg, while the other children ran over aggressively and shouted, “Li Chen!”

The timid water snake had already run away.

A few children surrounded Li Chen with expressions of grievance on their faces. “Was that trap set by you?”

Li Chen looked up and said, “What’s the matter?”

“Yo–you made us all fall, do you know that?”

“We all got hit!”

“Why didn’t you tell us?”

Li Chen said in a calm voice, “I didn’t tell you to run that way.”

It was them who panicked, left him behind, and ran off without thinking. If they had taken him with them, of course, he wouldn’t have let them fall into the trap.

Peiqi had it the worst. He was scratched by the magical bird, his clothes were torn, and he even had bird droppings on his head. He angrily walked over, pointing at Li Chen, and said, “You… you’re too bad…”

The children were arguing loudly.

Suddenly, a strong male voice came from nearby, filled with anger, “What are you doing!!”

The children turned around and saw a blond-haired boy walking towards them. The boy was very handsome with sharp eyebrows and bright eyes. His camouflage uniform highlighted his tall and slender figure, exuding a heroic aura. He radiated a sense of justice from head to toe.

Raymond Dante walked over with big strides and angrily said, “How can you gang up to bully your own classmates?”

The children were all intimidated by his aura.

Although they were all kindergarten children, Raymond looked more muscular and taller due to the hardcore military-style management and education from Imperial Jiang.

Peiqi felt a bit wronged with bird droppings on his head. He said, “W–we didn’t bully him.”

It was clearly Li Chen who used a trap to hang them up and hit them with rocks. They were even caught by a magical bird.

How dare they bully this troublemaker!

Raymond glanced at Li Chen, who was sitting on the stone. His pale face and frail body looked so fragile, as if a gust of wind could blow him away. It was really heart-wrenching.

The young, justice-driven protagonist never imagined that there would be bullying happening in school!

How hateful! How frustrating!

As long as he’s here, no classmate will be bullied. Raymond immediately said in anger, “What do you mean ‘we didn’t’? I saw it just now!”

Peiqi: “…”

You saw a damn fart.

The group of children were all intimidated by Raymond’s presence. Especially when they saw the angry expression on Raymond’s face, they became even more frightened. They hesitated for a moment and decided not to fight, running off immediately.

Only two people were left by the riverbank.

Li Chen watched Raymond warily. This was definitely a tough opponent. He became fully alert, even secretly gripping his gun.

However—

Raymond quickly walked over. His standing position wasn’t ideal, as Li Chen was sitting with his back against the stone, so Raymond could only see half of his frail back, and half of his pale slender leg that was slightly swollen with redness as his pants were rolled up.

He had always lived in Imperial Jiang School, surrounded by boys who were as tough and strong as him, so he didn’t even perceive this as a boy.

He had never seen someone like this before.

She exuded an aura of calm and serenity. Even when being bullied, she didn’t cry or make a scene.

Her head was lowered with short hair, yet one could still see her sharp, slender chin, and her long, swan-like neck.

He had never seen such a beautiful girl before. It was just like how his mother always told him… The princess he would need to protect when she grew up.

She looked like she really needed the protection of a knight.

Raymond felt at a loss for the first time. The young man, full of vigor and youth, even blushed a little and unconsciously straightened his clothes. He had been a bright and popular boy since childhood, but for the first time, while facing a child of the same age, he felt nervous.

Taking a deep breath, Raymond quickly walked over. He asked with concern, “Miss, are you alright?”

“…”

The air was as silent as death.

Li Chen’s face instantly darkened, as if it could drip ink.

Raymond looked at him innocently, and saw the delicate, fragile, and pitiful princess he thought of, lifting her eyelids and glaring at him. Li Chen’s gaze was deep and cold, his voice seemed to come from between clenched teeth, “Get lost.”