“It must be her.”
“But why is there a member of a Foreign Race in our Red Pine City?”
“If you’re asking me, who am I supposed to ask? Who would possibly know that…”
“Do you know something?”
“Tom, stop asking questions and just say it!”
“It’s like this… I’ve always felt that the high-ranking people in our Lord’s Estate are actually Foreign Race members. They wear a layer of Face Skin and use fake history to deceive us so they can rule over us humans. That girl is the evidence!”
“…”
Such whispers gradually died down after that shocking and incredibly stupid conspiracy theory was voiced.
A crowd of people acted like a source of gravity, drawing more and more people in to see what was happening.
Lilith heard the rumors directed at her, of course, but she was too lazy to care. This wasn’t the first time she had heard such things; she was already immune to them.
She looked at Estelle and Susia beside her, then at Rosily and Elqi in their disheveled clothes. She felt this wasn’t a good place for a reunion or a chat.
After thinking it over, Lilith decided to take them to where she lived, away from the eyes and ears of these outsiders.
Just as she was about to do so, a voice suddenly appeared, interrupting her as she opened her mouth.
“Oh, look at all these people gathered here!”
“Are there any of you left, or are you all scared? If there’s really no one else, I’m closing the books.”
The newcomer was a punkish man with yellowish curly hair. He was tall and relatively handsome.
He wore an arrogant smile, tilting his head back to glare at Pangzi through his nostrils.
Pangzi was startled the moment he heard about closing the books.
‘My money!’
The thought of losing so much money made him worry about getting a scolding from his Mother when he returned. She might even cut off his allowance for the next month.
At the thought, Pangzi became anxious. If he ran out of money, the underlings he kept at the Academy might switch sides. He had to get the money back.
He had to win it back, but how?
Rosily was clearly unwilling. As for the Missy Estelle, he didn’t even dare to approach her. Even if he did, she wouldn’t pay him any mind.
His only hope lay with Rosily!
Pangzi suddenly had an idea. He immediately dropped the timid, guilty look he had when he first saw the punk and replaced it with a look of absolute confidence.
“Wait a minute! Who said we were scared?”
As he spoke, he pushed aside the people nearby to make a path to Rosily, who was 3 to 5 meters away.
He continued, “Lady Rosily is The Contemporary Strongest of our Academy. Your people won’t last a single round against her!”
There were several people behind the punk. Including him, there were four of them—two men and two women.
They were only one person short of a complete five-person team.
The four of them looked at Rosily and Elqi, who were surrounded by the crowd. A hint of surprise flashed in their eyes.
After all, while Rosily had a beautiful face, her tattered clothes ruined the aesthetic.
‘How could a girl wear such rags in broad daylight? Is this all Crimson Academy of Red Pine City has to offer?’
“Hahaha!”
The punk burst into laughter.
Pangzi wore a triumphant expression. He gave a sinister smile. ‘The more you look down on her, the more pathetic your defeat will be!’
Turning his bulky body around, Pangzi trotted to a distance of exactly 3 meters from Rosily. Any closer and he might get hit.
He smiled flatteringly and said to Rosily, “Lady Rosily, it’s this bunch!”
“You…”
Elqi furrowed her brows deeply and glared at the tactless Pangzi.
Pangzi simply relied on his thick Face Skin and kept smiling.
If it weren’t for the crowd, he would have knelt before Rosily and begged her to help him win the money back for a 50/50 split.
With the attention now on Rosily, the others had different reactions.
Estelle remained expressionless, her pale gold eyes fixed on Rosily. She wasn’t trying to figure out the girl’s plan; she just felt like she had nowhere else to look besides her sister.
Susia reached out and covered Lilith’s mouth just as she was about to speak. She tilted Lilith’s head back.
She looked down at Lilith from above, placing a finger in front of her cherry lips in a shushing gesture. Then, she led her to the side, seemingly intending to ignore the four people.
These four people were the ones Ishumir had brought.
Not long after entering the Academy, they had found an opportunity to leave the group and start a gambling match, seemingly as part of a premeditated plan.
By chance, Ishumir and Yelena had gone to the training ground to watch the match between the students of both sides.
Rosily looked at Susia, who was pulling Lilith behind the crowd, and then at Pangzi, who had a pleading look on his face.
She had no intention of using this to become famous. Taking Elqi’s hand, she turned around to leave.
Seeing this, Pangzi felt a chill run down his spine. He couldn’t help but think to himself.
‘Things have already reached this point. Do you really want me to kneel and beg you in public? I… for the money…’
If he really knelt, he would lose all face. It would be no different from losing all his money. Pangzi was extremely conflicted.
“Haha! Is this The Contemporary Strongest of your Academy? It’s just a woman. How hilarious.”
The punk with the yellowish curly hair laughed recklessly.
Previously, people would have rebuked him indignantly, but after he had crushed their side with an invincible posture, everyone shrunk back, not daring to argue.
However, they could now redirect their emotions toward Rosily.
They stared at her back with eyes that said, “If you don’t step up, you’re letting everyone down.”
In the four-person team from Westwind Moon-viewing City, a short-haired woman said to Rosily, “Are you in a hurry to go home and find your mother?”
“…”
Rosily stopped.
Elqi stopped the instant she did.
She tilted her head to look at Rosily but didn’t see any anger on her face. However, anyone who knew Rosily would know that she was truly unhappy when she showed no expression at all.
“Rosily…”
Elqi originally wanted to tell Rosily to ignore these boring people, but Rosily let go of her hand and reached out to pat her shoulder gently.
Rosily winked at Elqi, signaling for her to wait a moment and that she would resolve this very quickly.
Then, she turned around and looked at the young woman.
“Yes.”
“Whoa, this little sister is quite the beauty — “
The punk’s eyes widened as he looked at Rosily’s exquisite and pretty face. He was momentarily dazed with admiration.
This caused dissatisfaction in the young woman beside him. She glared at Rosily and mocked, “Then hurry up and find your mother, haha.”
“I was just about to head home, so…”
Rosily tilted her head slightly, a strange smile curling the corners of her mouth.
“So, I’ll settle this as quickly as possible.”
Before she could finish her sentence, Rosily was already right in front of the young woman.
Her orange-red eyes were less than 10 centimeters away from the girl’s eyes, which hadn’t even had time to contract.
All this happened in a Kshana. By the time the young woman reacted, her pupils shrank, her heart tightened, and she broke into a cold sweat.