Chapter 25 - Mindblown and... Recovering strength

It seemed the female student was not the only person who doubted it. Many others shook their heads in disbelief as well and the people began to stir.

“What happened? What did the person say?”

“That hero… He introduced himself as Jiayu…”

“No way? There seems to be someone in our school with the same name…”

“En, it should be Li Jiayu… The outline of his face is similar to Li Jiayu’s. It’s no wonder why I had a sense of deja vu.”

“Based on my male instincts, that is undoubtedly Li Jiayu.”

“How is that possible? Are you a blind dog? Li Jiayu is far from being that handsome!”

“I will not believe it even if you kill me! Li Jiayu wasn't even a flower boy. He was nothing in comparison to the flower boys of the Art Faculty! How can he be this white-haired hero? You guys must be mistaken!"

“He is really a male?! H-he actually has an adam’s apple… Ugh, there’s no more sword G.o.ddess, such a pity…”

“Li Jiayu? Isn’t that the fellow from Etiquette Society? I’ve heard that he is a very refined, standard pale-faced scholar and he was always polite and amiable with everyone… Yet, the benefactor is merciless and his every move was vicious. How can they be the same person?”

“That’s right! It’s that sissy. I’ve heard that his physique isn’t all that great. He was forced to attend the School’s Sport’s 5km run and fainted. With that kind of weak physique, he definitely can't be the benefactor who is skilled with the sword…”

There were many who expressed suspicions, but a small portion of them gradually pieced things together.

“Keep it down, he really is Li Jiayu!”

“I’m his cla.s.smate and if I say it's him, it's definitely him!”

“No wonder! I've suspected that since I saw the octopus… But after seeing Li Jiayu’s hair had turned white, his face became unfamiliar. That is why I did not dare to affirm it. However, the more I look, the more I feel that he is Li Jiayu. Look, he even admitted to it… You guys don’t know but Li Jiayu had already summoned that octopus in the cla.s.sroom and he is very powerful…”

“Aiyo, the regret is killing me! I would have remained in the cla.s.sroom if I had known. We left him to deal with so many spiders… Even if he doesn’t mention it, he must feel unhappy inside, right?”

Listening in on the crowd’s intense discussion of Li Jiayu’s ident.i.ty, Hsiao Wanqing’s brows creased up inadvertently.

As a vice-princ.i.p.al, she was busy most of the time. However, there was once when she had met Li Jiayu.

It was during the first-years’ evening party for the university’s anniversary!

Her eyes had lit up inadvertently while watching Li Jiayu's magic show! On stage, the 18-year-old Li Jiayu had appeared young, yet he emanated an air of prominence. Particularly, his eyes had contained a lot of intelligence and had left a deep impression on Hsiao Wanqing.

Her lips parted as she tried to sound him out,

“You’re Li Jiayu from the Art Faculty? But y-you… Don’t look alike…”

“Then who do you think I look like? Are you also suspecting that I’m from the Celestial Empire’s Dragon Group?”

Li Jiayu did not know whether to laugh or cry over the fact that his ident.i.ty got questioned. He grabbed a chair casually and sat snugly on it. Gasping slightly, he said,

"Do I have any need to pose as Li Jiayu? Vice Princ.i.p.al Hsiao, we are meeting for the first time. Should you not award me with a ‘willing to help others’ flag?”

“A flag? Haha. How many do you need? I’ll give you as many as you want! Your contributions alone could suffice for the entire university to be grateful to you for hundreds of years…”

Hsiao Wanqing's lips curled up into a charming smile. Coupled with her ripened body, she unintentionally emitted a fatal attraction.

“Returning to the main topic… if you’re the real Li Jiayu, what's the reason for your get-up? Perhaps… like Superman or Spiderman, you must dress up in a weird costume before saving the world?"

“What's the matter? Is Vice Princ.i.p.al Hsiao unhappy with my white hair?”

“N-no, I did not mean it that way… I feel that you are an enigma. No matter how I rack my brains over this matter, I just cannot wrap my head around how an ordinary student became so unfathomable all of a sudden. The most bizarre matter is... why was an expert like you hiding in the school? And that octopus, that’s a bizarre creature that topples Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution…”

At this moment, a female student behind Hsiao Wanqing could not resist it and strode boldly toward Li Jiayu.  She gazed at him with feverish eyes and inquired in a small voice,

“Hero, are you the genuine Li Jiayu? You’re not lying?”

Li Jiayu remained unfazed throughout. He wasn't conceited nor did he play the profound thinker and merely nodded his head.

“There is no need for doubts. I am Li Jiayu from Xijiang University’s Art Faculty, group 3 cla.s.s 2. I am also the sissy and pale-faced scholar you guys mentioned earlier.”

“Ugh…”

The female student had remained skeptical. However, upon hearing Li Jiayu’s admittance, she could not help but become breathless, having been rendered speechless.

One must know, this female student was the Etiquette Society’s club president, so she definitely knew the etiquette society club member, Li Jiayu.

However, her sights were set higher than the roof(proud)! She did not bother being cordial to ordinary men. So, inevitably, there was not much interaction between the two and now that she was looking at Li Jiayu... Regret washed over her like a cras.h.i.+ng wave.

‘Why did I not pay more attention toward him in the past?!’

Those who had known of Li Jiayu somewhat stiffened as though someone had cast a spell on them, their entirety freezing into place like statues.

At this point of time, with the exception of Li Jiayu’s cla.s.smates, everyone else questioned…

‘Who is he?’

Inwardly, they questioned thousands of times, trying to figure out the ident.i.ty of this ridiculously handsome juvenile.

'A superhero? An angel sent by G.o.d? A white-clothed swordsman that leaped through time? Esper organization’s ace?'

No matter who he was, they would never have thought in a thousand years that the person before them would be the amiable sissy from the etiquette society!

That scholarly man who had an attractive smile!

The male student who never resisted when girls bullied him!

That person who didn't know how to play basketball! That good-for-nothing who had to be carried to the medical center while running a 5-kilometer marathon!

'Unexpectedly, it’s him?'

'It really is him?'

'Is there a misunderstanding somewhere?'

In an instant, a bizarre atmosphere loomed over the hall.

Li Jiayu’s plain admittance brought a great shock to the students that was no less than when Li Jiayu decimated the Corrosive Worms!

“Is there something wrong with my hearing?”

“I feel like I’ve heard wrong…”

“It really is him! It's him. There’s no misunderstanding! Oh, heavens…”

“I think he is part of Celestial Empire’s Dragon Group and was sent to this school… Who knew. He was actually our cla.s.smate and to think we even treated him like an ordinary student all this time…”

“Li Jiayu, aren't you a little too much? You are so handsome, but you don’t even dress up. You’re so strong, yet you pretended to be so fragile and feeble!”

“How can this be endured! This is intolerable! I am the number one flower boy, but standing next to him, I am merely a side dish…”

“Unbelievable… So, this is his true self. To think I used to tease him for being feminine…”

If what had occurred earlier was a disturbance, then it would be an uproar now! Noise erupted as they no longer had to conceal their guesses and bewilderment and they spoke loudly of their shock and emotions!

Why were they so excited?

They did not know why!

Perhaps, it was due to the overwhelming pressure and stress of survival which had been brought on inadvertently by the insect invasion… Further and further, they sank into the bottomless pit of despair...

Yet, the sissy had appeared!

The person they had thought they’d known had changed! With an unequaled att.i.tude, he had gone on to become their guardian angel. It was this emergence that brought them a new lease of hope… However, it impacted their psyche too heavily!

“Jiayu! Are you alright? Are you injured?”

At this moment of time, Sun Weiwei, Han Xiaoqi and crew entered the hall. Shortly after, they took notice of Li Jiayu who was sitting on a stool.

At present, Li Jiayu appeared rather pathetic with disheveled hair and sweat-drenched clothing clinging to his skin as he gasped heavily for breaths of air.

Beside him, Dark Octopus laid limply on the ground like a puddle of mud. Its entire body was riddled with injuries that seeped with yellowed blood. Evidently, the states of both the master and servant did not look that optimistic.

“Don’t worry, I’m just a little exhausted…”

Li Jiayu squeezed out a bitter smiled but was actually entangled within.

From his current circ.u.mstance, it was obvious that he was far from being strong and he should think of a solution to strengthen himself. Li Jiayu did not need to become a war machine like the Berserkers but he needed to at least be able to not over-exhaust himself just after exercising for a few moments.

“That’s good… Actually, you need not force yourself. You have done enough… What will we do if you get injured…” Han Xiaoqi said with heartache as she looked at Li Jiayu’s exhausted figure.

“En, I know my limits.”

Li Jiayu nodded and suddenly said to Hsiao Wanqing,

“Vice Princ.i.p.al Hsiao, naturally, I’ll fill you in on the details later… En, if it’s possible, can you let me hug you?”

“Hug?”

Hsiao Wanqing was taken aback by Li Jiayu’s overboard request and a surprised expression crept up inadvertently onto her face. Even though she was a married woman and treated the affairs between male and females rather plainly, she felt at a loss. Just as she was about to reject him, she recalled that Li Jiayu’s ident.i.ty might be a little peculiar, so she did not dare to act rashly.

At the side, Sun Weiwei and Han Xiaoqi had changed expressions and stared incredulously at Li Jiayu with puzzled gazes.

‘Li Jiayu did not seem to be a pervert. So, why did he request such a rude condition from the vice-princ.i.p.al? Perhaps, he had been having a crush on the vice-princ.i.p.al for a long time and today was the chance to seize the opportunity to request for reciprocation?’

“Ha ha… Princ.i.p.al Hsiao, you’ve misunderstood me. I consumed too much energy and will not be able to recover in these few moments. Yet, there are still Scythe Beetles, Venomous Spiders and Crimson Crowned Beetles wreaking havoc on the floors below. Not to mention the other school building's student dormitory is currently flooded with insects. Who knows what the students are going through now. So, I must speed up my recovery, you know…”

Hsiao Wanqing glared at Li Jiayu and that gaze looked extremely electrifying.

“Know what? Explain it clearer… What does hugging me have any relation to you healing?”

“You don’t know? You are the Priestess of Radiance. Not only can your Sacred Light recover injuries but if you get adept at it, you may also recover fatigue. However, you’ve only awoken recently and do not have good control over Sacred Light’s altering attributes… Therefore, you must be in close contact with me. I’ll guide your Sacred Light with my mental energy, to form a basic Healing Spell. Understand?”

“What Priestess of Radiance… what Sacred Light… what Healing Spell... I do not understand a single thing you spouted!”

Hsiao Wanqing’s eyes flickered with embarra.s.sment. Before the gazes of the students, how could she, an esteemed vice-princ.i.p.al, lay casually in a stranger’s embrace? She was quick to reach her wits’ end. She was someone who placed the big picture in priority and was also soft-hearted. If Li Jiayu could truly recover more quickly, she did not mind trying. Compared to those students who were in danger, what would a mere embrace amount to?

“There’s no need for you to know. In short, there’s no wrong in heeding my words!”

Li Jiayu waved his hand. He did not care if Hsiao Wanqing agreed, nor did he need her compliance. Li Jiayu had a total grasp of her character, even to the point of knowing what color of undergarment she liked. For him, leaving a rude and overbearing impression in her mind might not necessarily a bad thing. This way, she would not treat him like a little brother in need of care, right?

“You people, go to the other halls and transport the Corrosive Worms’ carca.s.ses here. Don’t worry, they’re all frozen over and it isn’t ordinary ice that has encased them. It won’t melt this soon, so you don’t have to worry about corroding your hand… There’s a great need for those insect carca.s.ses. En, I’ll leave this to you guys.”

Li Jiayu appointed several male students who were gawking fervently at him, He delegated tasks to them but they were not unhappy. Instead, they ran off reverently to work. After all, being able to help their idol was exciting and the most exciting part was that they could ravage the insects’ corpses!

“The few of you… Go to the other halls and bring Sword Saintess Ran Hongxia, Shapes.h.i.+fter Lan Xiaoyue, Sonic Warrior Chenkun, Draconian Chuxiang and Flame Sorcerer Feng Liaoyuan over here. What are you guys dilly-dallying for? Did you not hear me? Are you thinking that I play too many games? Scoundrels! Go when I tell you to. Stop wasting time.You’ll know how powerful they are after meeting them!”