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Although Gu Qingluo never explicitly said that she wanted to return to how things were previously, Su Chen could still sense the change in her attitude.

This made Su Chen feel extremely excited. He slept fitfully that night, resulting in an unanticipated benefit – Yu Chengjiao came to raid their tents again, and this time Su Chen caught him in the act.

When the sun rose, they continued their training. However, they had lost six students, bringing their number down to 94 from 100.

While standing in front of everyone, Yu Chengjiao yelled in his uniquely coarse voice, “Today, everyone can form their own teams of at most seven people.”

Everyone was extremely excited.

They were not randomly assigned to teams, meaning they could choose to be with their friends.

The goal of the random team assignment was to improve everyone’s adaptability to the strengths of complete strangers, while the goal of allowing the students to select their own teams was so that they could team up with those whom they were more familiar with, resulting in a greater level of unspoken coordination and understanding.

A moment later, Su Chen, Cloud Leopard, Wang Doushan, and Yue Longsha gathered together.

The four good friends could finally undertake missions together. Naturally, they were quite happy.

They were still missing three members.

At that moment, Ji Hanyan walked over and said, “Do you want me?”

“You?” Su Chen was startled for a moment.

“What? You don’t want me on your team?” Ji Hanyan asked.

“Oh, that’s not what I meant. I just thought that you would join their team.” Su Chen pointed in He Niliu’s direction.

Ji Hanyan replied, “I don’t want to be on a team with people that I can’t beat.”

“......” Indeed, Ji Hanyan’s personality was still the same.

At that moment, Jiang Xishui walked over and said, “Then count me in as well.”

Anywhere Ji Hanyan was, Jiang Xishui would be as well. This had basically become an unspoken rule.

Even though Ji Hanyan frowned, Su Chen still happily accepted him.

No matter what, Jiang Xishui was truly powerful.

“Just one more team member,” Wang Doushan said.

Su Chen glanced at Gu Qingluo.

He went to Gu Qingluo’s side and said, “I hope you will join our team.”

Gu Qingluo glanced at Su Chen, then at the people behind him, and said in a low voice, “Just as a team.”

Su Chen replied sincerely, “Just as a team.”

He didn’t try to force the issue. Gu Qingluo felt the pressure in her heart subside, as if none of it existed anymore.

She gazed at Su Chen, and a smile that he had not seen in a long time appeared on her face.

“Okay!” She replied happily.

From this day onwards, Su Chen and Gu Qingluo once again began talking with each other.

There were no oaths of undying love or any whispered sweet nothings. The two of them were not exactly friends or lovers.

They were closer than just regular friends, yet they also lacked the mutual adoration between most lovers.

It was as if they had both returned to Northface City.

This made their interactions very natural.

However, there was a trace of anticipation and sweetness for the future deep within their hearts.

——————————————

No matter what their feelings were towards each other, the training still needed to continue.

Every day, the students were trained and tempered by the instructors. They battled all kinds of opponents, including students, soldiers, beasts, and even Ferocious Race captives.

The instructors gave them pointers on their combat style and how to integrate it others’, as well as continuing to task them with missions.

Sometimes, they would pit the camps against each other to improve their large-scale battle abilities. Other times, they would be given reconnaissance missions to test and improve their perception. They would also sometimes be tasked with dealing with Origin Formations because there were likely many traps within the ruins, in addition to the Ferocious Race. Finally, they would also allow the students to form their own teams and spar with the instructors. The instructors were like powerful bosses, changing up their tactics to give the students a taste of despair.

At night, the students also needed to study the subjects that they had selected.

The days flew by, packed with training and studying. Life was filled with substance and happiness.

Yes, happiness.

At the very least, Su Chen felt that way.

He didn’t care about how difficult the training was or what dangers would come in the future. All he knew was that the girl he cared about was by his side. This was his greatest source of happiness.

Su Chen particularly looked forward to missions that allowed him to choose his team.

Every time that happened, he could be with Gu Qingluo.

During battles, he particularly paid attention to protecting Gu Qingluo. When being rewarded, he was willing to accept less if it meant taking care of her.

As time went on, everyone began to realize what was happening.

Of course, since Su Chen didn’t say anything, everyone just pretended that they didn’t know what was happening.

Time flew by. In the blink of an eye, the three-month training period was nearing its end.

On the last day of training, the students were allowed to form seven-man teams with whomever they wanted. The mission was to search for treasure on their own.

The words “on their own” carried a certain connotation with it.

On that day, Su Chen and Gu Qingluo didn’t do anything. They used “searching for treasure” as their excuse to spend some time playing around within the forest.

As for the other five people on their team...... who cared about them.

As dusk approached, Gu Qingluo said, “Let’s go sit by the lake.”

Su Chen and Gu Qingluo arrived at the Ancient Maila Lake.

The ancient lake was beautiful and calm. Water gently rippled across the surface, scattering the light from the setting sun.

A Blueheart Lotus swayed gently on the surface of the lake, shining radiantly.

Gu Qingluo rested her hands against her cheeks as she gazed at the Blueheart Lotus. She let out a sigh, “How pretty.”

“You like it?” Su Chen asked.

“Yes!” Gu Qingluo nodded.

“Then I’ll go and get it for you,” Su Chen said.

“Don’t be silly. The Dragonfish is in the lake; you won’t be able to defeat it.”

“Who said I’d have to fight it?” Su Chen laughed. “Watch me.”

He walked towards the lake.

Gu Qingluo began to grow a bit anxious. “Su Chen, don’t mess around. The Dragonfish isn’t easy to deal with!”

“I’m not planning on dealing with it.” As Su Chen spoke, he arrived near the lake and whistled. Suddenly, a small capybara appeared from seemingly nowhere.

The capybara’s chubbiness made it extremely cute. It did not appear to be afraid of Su Chen in the slightest; rather, it excitedly ran towards him.

Su Chen pulled out a few strips of dried meat and fed it to the capybara.

The capybara swallowed it immediately and cried out in excitement.

It circled Su Chen a few times. Clearly, it wanted more.

Su Chen patted it on the head. “You want it? Fine, but you need to bring me that.”

He pointed at the Blueheart Lotus.

The capybara let out a few cries and then jumped into the water.

It swam its way over to the Blueheart Lotus and picked it up with its mouth by the stem. Then, it carefully dragged the Blueheart Lotus back to the shore.

From beginning to end, the Dragonfish didn’t appear once.

Su Chen fed the capybara a few more strips of meat as a prize and then brought the Blueheart Lotus back to Gu Qingluo.

He placed the Blueheart Lotus in front of Gu Qingluo and said, “For you.”

In that instant, the Blueheart Lotus was no longer some kind of precious medicinal herb but a flower that represented his feelings – a beautiful flower that he had picked for the girl he loved.

Gu Qingluo was in shock.

She took the flower, still in shock. “How...... how did you do that?”

“Want to know? Give me a kiss and I’ll tell you.”

Gu Qingluo blushed furiously as she kicked at him. “Tell me, how did you do it!”

Su Chen laughed and dodged.

Gu Qingluo flew forwards in pursuit. Su Chen dodged as he yelled, “Okay, okay, I’ll tell you! It’s actually really simple...... the Dragonfish doesn’t eat anything without Origin Energy, so you can just train a common lifeform to do your bidding...... how do you train it? Give me a kiss and I’ll tell you...... Hey, I already gave you an answer, and you’re still kicking me!”

She chased after him the entire way.