The characteristics of a stolen kiss are that it involves the word “stolen,” and it’s done cautiously, discreetly, and with a guilty conscience.
There should have been no sound at all.
But Li ZuoXing couldn’t help himself.
He had never known this side of himself, the one that revealed emotions like this. After regaining his composure, he pressed Gu Wen into his neck, afraid to let him see his expression.
Gu WenCheng couldn’t control himself and bit into Li ZuoXing’s neck as if he were a wild animal, targeting his vulnerable spot.
They both knew that tonight had crossed a line.
One didn’t know how to circle back, and the other was afraid that if the other found out about their true feelings, they would distance themselves.
Gu WenCheng was forced to bring up his infamous player’s handbook again, “Don’t be afraid, this is normal.”
Li ZuoXing, who had been a bit flustered, burst into laughter upon hearing his confident assurance, “Is this supposed to be normal?”
“Of course,” Gu WenCheng said with complex emotions, “very normal, what else could it be?”
Could it be that you like me, and I like you?
Their voices were very low, requiring careful listening to be heard clearly. They had forgotten that they could achieve this effect even without using mental powers; they put all their mental energy into convincing each other.
By the end of it, they almost believed it themselves.
The teammates’ breathing had a hypnotic contagiousness to it.
Gu WenCheng returned to his own bed, and when both of them were drifting off to sleep, he suddenly became alert, “If we had a goodnight kiss right now, I think I’d have a sweet dream.”
Li ZuoXing leaned over and planted a clean and simple goodnight kiss on his forehead, “A goodnight kiss from Xiao Xingxing. Xiao Chengcheng, remember to have a good dream.”
It was sweet; even their breaths were sweet, not to mention dreams.
Gu WenCheng’s lips curled up as he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep. When Li ZuoXing closed his eyes, he touched his own lips and they curved with a sweet smile, a smile that carried a hint of sweetness.
Darn it.
He surrendered.
…
Teacher Wu did indeed have extensive experience leading teams. He brought them to the entrance of the Daystar Tournament Zone an hour early.
Due to Li ZuoXing’s mischief, everyone had gone to bed early. Even though they woke up early in the morning, they were full of energy, making the senior students from the neighboring teams look like men in their thirties.
“Aren’t you discussing tactics?” a senior student with dark circles under his eyes yawned. “We were discussing late into the night yesterday.”
“We already discussed it when we were on Utopia Star,” Li ZuoXing smiled. “We’ve prepared everything we need, so everyone went to bed early.”
The senior student, in the middle of a yawn, suddenly felt a bit guilty.
Before this, they had held a somewhat casual attitude, assuming that even if they couldn’t beat the students from Chengyang Military Academy, they could still secure an advancement spot. However, now it seemed that their preparation had been quite lackluster.
Not to mention that they were senior students.
“I’m Fang Cheng,” the senior student extended his hand. “During the match, if possible, it’s best if we can watch out for each other. The competition conditions are much harsher than our usual practice sessions.”
People from all three teams nodded in agreement. Just as Li ZuoXing was about to shake his hand, Gu WenCheng had already beaten him to it.
The senior student looked puzzled, not understanding why they were in such a hurry to shake hands.
Soon, the event organizers announced the rules.
Each person would be given special cards prepared by the organizers, and each card counted as one point. To advance, each person had to accumulate ten points.
In other words, Li ZuoXing and his team needed to collect 54 cards, excluding their own, which meant collecting cards from 54 different people.
The distress signal device had only one use; once it was activated, it meant giving up the competition.
It was a survival mode where no one knew who was the hunter and who was the prey.
Daystar was indeed a quite small planet, and there was no fear of not encountering people during the competition. Their team from Chengyang Military Academy naturally stayed together, and they didn’t hesitate to enter the competition area.
A three-member team of girls from another school hurried over. “Hello, can we enter together with you?”
The uniforms they wore clearly marked them as Chengyang Military Academy students, making them more trustworthy than others.
Before anyone from the Dream Team could respond, Fang Cheng had already said, “I’m sorry, but we don’t accept any alliances.”
The members of the other team looked disappointed as they watched the Dream Team enter the competition area.
“Do you not know,” Fang Cheng told them, “before we came, I asked many people who had participated in the competition, and they all told me not to trust anyone other than our own school’s team, especially in this mode. We can’t afford to be soft-hearted with anyone.”
“Did any of you just feel sorry for them?” Gu WenCheng teased his teammates.
“Of course not,” Li ZuoXing replied firmly.
Gu WenCheng raised an eyebrow, a hint of a playful smile on his face. He leaned closer to Li ZuoXing and spoke through their mental connection. “You’re amazing, XingXing.”
Indeed, this guy was quite the flirt.
The teammates all chimed in, one by one, saying they didn’t feel sorry for the other team. Gu WenCheng clearly had divided attention, merely nodding in acknowledgment of their responses.
The special treatment Li ZuoXing received from him was quite enjoyable.
Li ZuoXing suppressed a smile at the corner of his mouth. “I hear voices up ahead.”
The group fell silent immediately. The senior students were about to suggest scouting ahead when the Dream Team split into two groups and approached from different directions.
Hiding behind the trees, the six enhanced senses individuals watched a group of people in the center engaged in conversation.
“We should head this way!”
“We can split into two teams; there’s no need for everyone to follow your lead.”
The cards provided by the organizers emitted a faint light, creating another challenge. At night, whoever had the most cards on them would become a target for both competitors and wild creatures.
The trickiest part was that they didn’t specify where the cards had to be placed on the body. For anyone who thought about stashing the cards in their underwear… it was a dilemma. They neither wanted to touch nor abandon those cards.
Gu WenCheng chimed in, “Black clothes, left-side pocket.”
He accurately reported the card’s location one by one but didn’t take action to deprive his teammates of a growth opportunity.
“I’ll give it a try,” Li ZuoXing said.
He controlled a small, inconspicuous wisp of his mental power. Shielded by the sunlight and the forest, it was challenging for anyone to notice this tiny bundle of spirit power.
Silently, he approached the guy in black and slowly retrieved the shining card from his pocket.
Li ZuoXing attempted to envelop the card with his spirit power and then slowly pulled it back.
“What’s that?” Someone looked curiously at the elongated silver-white mental power with two wings forming on it. “Is this a special species from Daystar? It looks quite similar to mental power.”
The others glanced briefly and then shifted their attention. “Forget about it. Where are we going now?”
Xi Nan was left dumbfounded by this scene. “Their intelligence…?”
“So cute,” Ling Nian blushed slightly as he watched the mental power trying to mimic a bird. He replicated it in his palm, creating a small, silver-white bundle of spirit power. “Mental power is really cute.”
The mental power in his palm became even prouder, basking in the praise from its master.
Turns out, mental power is as cute as gadgets… Ling Nian blushed expressionlessly.
Ji Yu and Xi Nan were so startled that they shivered all over and quickly called out to the other three on the opposite side, “Have you got the cards?”
“Almost,” Li ZuoXing reached out to receive the mental power. However, this mimicry bird suddenly dove into his body as if it were embarrassed. Li ZuoXing found it strange. He didn’t mind taking advantage of a situation or even acting cute; he had a thick skin. Why hadn’t his mental power learned to be as audacious as he was?
No, when it came to teasing Gu WenCheng, his mental power was just as audacious as he was.
The guy in black in the crowd would occasionally touch his pocket, but his face suddenly turned pale. “My card is gone!”
His exclamation made everyone in the vicinity check their card positions immediately.
Now!
Regardless of whether they would be discovered, everyone’s mental power rushed out and aggressively snatched their cards, then retreated, not waiting for anyone.
A massive surge of mental power came and went suddenly. After they reacted, they realized that all the cards were gone. Their faces turned livid. “Damn it!”
“Split up and chase!”
With a group of about twelve or thirteen people, they split into groups of six or seven, left and right. Li ZuoXing’s group took a route that avoided the seniors. They ran and dodged through the jungle, eventually losing themselves.
Thanks to Ling Nian’s black technology, they successfully regrouped, and as soon as they saw each other, they burst into silent laughter.
Oh my goodness, the scene of them running wildly in the jungle just now must have been extremely hilarious!
They didn’t even know why they had run. Clearly, they had no reason to fear in terms of strength; it was probably just because they felt guilty about their sneakiness.
A group of young people laughed until their faces stiffened. They began to check the number of cards they had collected. It was unclear whether it was silent communication among the teammates, but they had not gone for the same cards. They all targeted different people. Gu WenCheng snatched up the cards they had overlooked, and now, when he counted them, there were 13 cards in total—quite a haul!
“Quick, hide them,” Xi Nan hurriedly stuffed the cards into his clothes. “Gathering so many cards together is too conspicuous. Everyone should hide them. Even in our underwear, isn’t everyone wearing our school uniform? The shirt is tight enough, and we can fit a few more cards in the chest.”
Ji Yu fell silent for a moment. “Well, it’s not impossible.”
Surprisingly, he was genuinely considering it.
Ling Nian couldn’t help but look at them with disdain.
“You know,” Li ZuoXing chuckled, “I really can’t fit any more cards in my underwear. Big brother has too much down there.”
Was he showing off?!
Xi Nan pounced on him and tried to pull down his pants. “I’ll pull your pants down! Put all thirteen cards in there!”
Gu WenCheng pulled him away. “I don’t think that method is a good idea.”
Xi Nan pleaded, “But many people are doing it.”
“But I can’t fit them either,” Gu WenCheng regretfully said. “I’m quite well-endowed too.”
Others: “…”
It seemed that they were all in this together, even in their cheekiness.
