Chapter 477: Chapter 297: The Battle of the Duck and the Chicken

Early morning—

The sun rose from behind the mountains of Hundred Rivers, climbing over the layers of ruins to illuminate the land. Footsteps and shouts had long since filled the campsite as Alliance Members worked in intense shifts, resting and then continuously throwing themselves back into the disaster relief mission.

Su Zhi woke up very early.

He was awakened by both the gentle sunlight and the stirring of his several Pet Beasts.

Yu Bao was asleep next to him, sprawled on its back with its limbs splayed out. Its tongue lolled out of its mouth, drool trickling from the corner. Shan Bao, on the other hand, liked to sleep snuggled against his chest, having burrowed into his clothes. The moment Su Zhi woke up, he could feel its fluffy touch.

Wu Bao was sleeping outside. ’It probably stayed up too late reading novels last night, huh?’

A hint of a smile appeared in Su Zhi’s eyes as he carefully got the three little guys settled.

In truth, Pet Beasts rested more efficiently inside the Beast Taming Space, but the three little ones were, by some unspoken agreement, not fond of it.

Unless they needed the Beast Taming Space for healing or recovery, they generally preferred to stay outside. When it was time to sleep, they especially liked to be right beside him.

’Well, I’ll just let them be. Waking up and immediately seeing my closest Pet Beasts... that’s a nice feeling, too...’

Su Zhi turned his head again and looked at the white-haired girl beside him.

The two of them had shared a tent last night, though they had their own separate sleeping bags. It wasn’t like they were sharing a blanket. ’Of course, there would be nothing wrong with that, either,’ he thought. ’It’s not like we haven’t done that before.’

The girl immediately put on a peaceful expression. Her mouth was slightly parted, and her chest rose and fell in a steady rhythm.

Su Zhi stifled a laugh as he watched her. He distinctly remembered catching a flash of azure blue out of the corner of his eye—she had clearly been awake for a while and only lay back down to feign sleep when she saw that he was awake.

Besides, Shao Ya was always an earlier riser than he was.

Every time Su Zhi got up, he would glance at the fifth floor of the building across from his. Without fail, her curtains would be open. Sometimes she’d be studying in the living room; other times, she’d be in the kitchen making breakfast. In short, she never slept in.

’Besides, she’s not this quiet when she’s really asleep...’

Su Zhi stared at Shao Ya, waiting for her to crack and give herself away, but she patiently kept up the act.

’Oh-ho, so we’re playing the long game, are we?’

Su Zhi narrowed his eyes and suddenly reached for her nose.

SWAT! The girl’s hand shot out from under the covers, intercepting his instantly.

"What do you think you’re doing, Su Baby?"

Shao Ya opened one eye, lifting her chin. "Getting handsy with a girl while she’s sleeping isn’t very gentlemanly, you know~"

Su Zhi just smiled back. "Fine, then. I’ll stop pretending to be a perfect gentleman."

Then, the hand she had caught pushed forward and gave her nose a light pinch.

The girl let out an involuntary hmph, blinking as the realization dawned on her a moment too late.

’Oh, right. He’s a Tier Five Beast Tamer now. His physical abilities have improved a lot since he was Tier Four. I can’t restrain him anymore...’

"I’d advise you not to get handsy. I’m the stronger one now; I can handle you anytime," Su Zhi said smugly.

’Heh heh, this feels great.’

’So this is how she felt back when she was the top student protecting me!’

"Boo hoo, poor little me is about to be put in my place by God Su..."

Shao Ya feigned a whimper, but then her expression suddenly shifted to a mischievous grin. "Then how about I let you ’handle’ me?"

With that, Shao Ya took his hand and guided it downwards.

Su Zhi’s face flushed red. He snatched his hand back before it could touch the forbidden zone and scrambled out of the tent, so flustered it looked like steam was coming out of his head.

"You’re such a pervert!" his trembling voice came from outside, sounding like he had short-circuited.

Shao Ya’s lips curled into a triumphant smirk. She sat up in the tent and tied her loose, bright white hair into a high ponytail.

Separated by a thin layer of fabric, the boy stood outside pressing his lips together while the girl sat inside, secretly gloating.

’He talks such a big game, but he’s obviously still so innocent. All it takes is a little teasing and he short-circuits~’

Failing to notice she was exactly the same, Shao Ya lifted her chin smugly.

·

At 8:00 AM, the buses began to depart.

The first group of victims being moved to the resettlement area boarded the buses in an orderly fashion under the direction of the Alliance Members. Su Zhi and Shao Ya would also take this bus to a temporary airfield in the resettlement area, where they would catch a flight back to Huai City.

The Flying Shadow Alliance’s rescue efforts were extremely efficient. Within 48 hours of the earthquake, they had already evacuated all affected civilians from the disaster zone. Because there were no aftershocks this time, the overall operation went much more smoothly than usual.

With the support of the Huichun Alliance’s medical teams, nearly every seriously injured person received timely treatment. Aside from those who were unfortunately killed when the earthquake first struck, there were no subsequent civilian deaths.

Su Zhi stood at the bus station, looking back one last time at the relief camp before his departure:

Rows of blue tents stood in neat formation, a striking sight against the gray-and-yellow ruins. Huge stacks of boxes filled with relief supplies were piled high, resembling an impenetrable rampart.

Alliance Members shuttled between the tents, engrossed in their duties. In the last 48 hours, no one had gotten more than twelve hours of cumulative rest.

Su Zhi’s gaze finally fell upon two stone tablets in a corner of the camp.

He later learned that on the first day of the rescue operation, two new Alliance Members had ventured deep into a dangerously unstable building to rescue one hundred nineteen trapped civilians, braving the risk of its imminent collapse.

In the end, the civilians were all evacuated by their Pet Beasts, but the two Alliance Members were impaled by the collapsing debris. They died before rescue could reach them...

Because of this, Su Zhi had received one of their last letters.

It was from one of those two Alliance Members, addressed to him.

The man wrote that his own talent was nothing special. He had dreamed of joining the Flying Shadow Alliance since childhood but had only barely passed the entrance assessment long after graduating from college. He’d heard that Su Zhi had reached an Alliance Member’s level of strength at such a young age and admired him greatly for it. He had even painstakingly studied the recordings of all of Su Zhi’s matches.

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