He had originally thought that the so-called VIP seats would just be slightly softer chairs with a better view and a few extra bottles of water you didn’t have to queue for.
But after actually sitting down, he realized that both the luxurious configuration and the viewing experience here were an unprecedented level of comfort for Lin Jianqing. So money really could buy happiness.
The central venue was covered by a semi-transparent protective screen. The circle of light blue lines along its edge was slowly brightening, like some giant glass bowl turned upside down over the arena.
Lin Jianqing stared for a few seconds, feeling inexplicably uneasy.
What if some supernatural being accidentally slipped and a fireball or wind blade went astray? Then today he wouldn’t just suffer a social death by crossdressing—he’d get a taste of what “version strength” meant in the world of superpowers.
This kind of blessing… Lin Jianqing felt he was unworthy of it.
Shen Huaixue sat beside him, perfectly at ease. She handed the bag she had just bought to a staff member, and as she turned back, she casually tidied the strands of Lin Jianqing’s hair that the wind had messed up. Her gaze lingered on his face for a moment, as if observing his reaction.
By the way… it was less observing his reaction and more ‘appreciating’ him.
“You look a bit more pleasing to the eye than when you first came downstairs this morning.”
Shen Huaixue’s tone was natural, even carrying a hint of seriousness.
“At least you match me well enough—you’re a decent pendant.”
Lin Jianqing’s body stiffened. After enduring for two seconds, he lowered his voice and said, “Can you stop evaluating me like that? I’m dressed like this today—don’t you know the reason in your heart?”
“Fine.”
Shen Huaixue looked at him, her expression natural enough.
“Of course I do, so I’ve been looking at you all along.”
Lin Jianqing paused. The words he had prepared suddenly got stuck in his throat.
Shen Huaixue acted as if she didn’t see anything wrong with what she’d said. Instead, she leaned a little closer and lowered her voice.
“What’s wrong? Embarrassed by my staring?”
Lin Jianqing’s ears instantly grew hot. He immediately averted his gaze, his tone obviously strained.
“No! Just watch the match properly!”
Shen Huaixue detected the panic in his voice. She let out a laugh but didn’t continue to call him out on it.
A staff member quickly walked over to confirm their seats. First, he greeted Shen Huaixue, then his gaze landed on Lin Jianqing, pausing quite subtly.
“Miss Shen, this is your…?”
Lin Jianqing’s internal alarm bells immediately blared.
‘Don’t ask… Please don’t ask.’
Shen Huaixue leaned back in her seat, sounding incredibly lazy. “She’s here with me. Just arrange things according to my specifications. She’s shy around strangers. If there’s anything, ask me.”
Lin Jianqing: …
The staff member nodded professionally and even smiled considerately at Lin Jianqing.
“Understood, miss. If you find the on-site volume uncomfortable, you can activate the noise reduction mode on the side of the seat. Once the match starts, the protective screen will fully activate. The view from the front row is quite impressive, but it won’t affect safety.”
Lin Jianqing struggled to maintain his expression and even nodded politely. He absolutely could not let the staff member hear a male voice from his throat… Otherwise, he would die of on-the-spot social embarrassment.
The venue lights quickly dimmed. The central large screen began playing the match opening footage, and the voices from the audience seats gradually rose.
Lin Jianqing had intended to focus his attention on the match, but as soon as he looked down to straighten his skirt, he noticed people beside him staring. More than one.
Around the VIP seats, there were already staff members and other spectators. And Shen Huaixue sat too conspicuously, dragging him along like some fragile exhibit forced into the spotlight.
Lin Jianqing instinctively wanted to slide away, but Shen Huaixue, as if she had expected it, lightly pressed down on his wrist.
“What are you dodging?”
Lin Jianqing lowered his voice. “People are staring.”
“You look good today anyway. It’s normal to get a few looks.”
“Can you not say things like this at times like this?”
“No.”
Shen Huaixue even naturally leaned a bit closer to him. To outsiders, it looked like she was whispering to the female companion beside her.
Lin Jianqing’s entire body stiffened. The more he feared being stared at, the more Shen Huaixue seemed deliberately to draw all the gaze their way.
She didn’t make any exaggerated moves—just leaned in to tidy his hair or placed her hand on the back of his chair.
But to others, these actions definitely didn’t look like mere friendship. To make things worse, Shen Huaixue clearly knew. She was doing it on purpose!
Lin Jianqing stared at the large screen in front, the tips of his ears burning hot. Before watching the superpower competition, he got to experience what a public execution felt like.
The commentator’s voice descended from above the venue.
“Welcome everyone to this year’s Linzhou City Superpowers Open. This event is co-organized by the Linzhou City Ability Association, the Crack Stabilization Foundation, and the Lingqi Network, among others.”
“Today’s schedule consists of three parts: the exhibition match, the ranking match, and the youth group competition. Contestants’ levels range from C to A.”
When Lin Jianqing heard “Lingqi Network,” he instinctively glanced at Shen Huaixue.
Shen Huaixue seemed to know what he wanted to ask. She spoke slowly.
“No need to be surprised. Linzhou hasn’t had a rift accident in many years. Normal people don’t get many chances to encounter supernatural beings on a daily basis. Ability competitions are very useful for city publicity. It’s perfectly normal for Lingqi to sponsor this kind of event.”
Lin Jianqing thought for a moment and muttered softly, “So that’s how you got your Financial Backer status?”
“Mm,” Shen Huaixue answered without hesitation. “So there are a lot of companies and corporations in Linzhou… and others, I forgot, that all want to curry favor with me.”
As she said this, she gave Lin Jianqing a look that said, ‘You should understand what I mean, right?’
‘What are you looking at? You mean you want me to flatter you?’
“Are you really that clueless, or are you pretending?” Seeing Lin Jianqing’s lack of reaction, Shen Huaixue snorted lightly.
“I don’t know what you mean.” Lin Jianqing resorted to playing dumb.
“What I mean is, I want you to flatter me.”
“In your dreams!”
Shen Huaixue and Lin Jianqing went back and forth like this, exchanging verbal jabs. Meanwhile, the large screen switched to the rules introduction, and the commentator began explaining the ability levels in a very formal tone.
After listening for a moment, Lin Jianqing’s brow furrowed slightly.
Shen Huaixue saw his expression of trying to understand but clearly not being familiar with the topic. She leaned closer, her voice not too loud.
“Simply put, the Federation currently divides ability levels into five grades: D, C, B, A, and S. D level is usually basic awakening, mostly used for everyday assistance; C level has stable training value; B level awakeners can enter professional training, city security, or border support systems.”
“As for A level awakeners, they are city-level key cultivation targets. As for S level, they basically never appear in a local competition like this.”
Lin Jianqing shot her a glance. “And you?”
“I’m the kind that doesn’t appear in local competitions.”
She said it so naturally that Lin Jianqing was momentarily at a loss for how to respond.
Shen Huaixue’s lips curled up slightly. “What’s the matter? Looking at me like that—have you finally realized how amazing I am?”
Lin Jianqing fell silent for two seconds. He didn’t know how to answer. Because he didn’t actually know how big the gap between these levels was.
And Linzhou was also a core city—nothing dangerous was going to happen. Besides, Lin Jianqing didn’t pay much attention to superpowers.
He only knew that supernatural beings were very powerful, and that awakened ones, except for low-level cases, were all monitored by the government.
The commentator soon started introducing ability types. Before Lin Jianqing could continue listening to those overly official terms, Shen Huaixue first broke them down with simpler words.
“Enhancement type is about strengthening the body—running faster, hitting harder, being tough. Elemental type is controlling fire, ice, lightning—these kinds of highly watchable types.”
“Support type handles healing, augmentation, purification, and mental stabilization. Special type depends on luck—spatial, gravity, shadow abilities all count. As for psychic type…”
She paused deliberately there.
Lin Jianqing originally didn’t want to prompt her, but her pause was too obvious. He had to ask along, “What about the psychic type?”
Shen Huaixue looked at him, a hint of a smile in her eyes. “The most troublesome.”
“Why?”
“Because most other abilities hit your body. You feel pain, you get injured—at least you know what happened. Not psychic type. It touches your consciousness, emotions, and judgment.”
“When you’re affected, you might not feel like someone made a move on you—you’ll just think that thought was originally your own.”
After hearing this, Lin Jianqing was silent for a moment. He had roughly guessed why Shen Huaixue said it that way.
“Can you not talk in that kind of self-introduction tone?”
Shen Huaixue’s smile grew broader. “Ho ho, you figured me out? That’s right, I am a psychic type.”
Lin Jianqing: …
Looking at Shen Huaixue’s proud expression, Lin Jianqing felt she was like a black milk dragon.
The brightness of the protective screen over the central venue suddenly intensified. The contestant profiles for the first exhibition match popped up.
On the left was a B-level enhancement type awakener, ability direction: short-distance burst; on the right was an A-level elemental type awakener, ability direction: flame shaping.
Lin Jianqing was just about to watch seriously, but there were people around him whispering. And the subjects of their discussion were him. Even if Lin Jianqing didn’t want to eavesdrop, he couldn’t help it.
Like saying things like: “The female companion Miss Shen brought today is really beautiful…” It sounded like flattery, or maybe it was genuine. But it made Lin Jianqing’s scalp tingle.
Those people were naturally local wealthy people from Linzhou or members of various families. Shen Huaixue was naturally the focus of their attention, but Lin Jianqing, following beside her, was too conspicuous—they couldn’t help but notice him.
His body instantly stiffened. Shen Huaixue of course heard it too.
She didn’t turn around. Instead, she unhurriedly reached out and smoothed the wrinkled cuff of Lin Jianqing’s sleeve that he had crumpled himself. Her voice was soft enough that only the two of them could hear.
“Did you hear that?”
Lin Jianqing said stiffly, “No.”
“They said you’re pretty.”
“They definitely didn’t see clearly, or they’re just flattering you.”
“No, they saw clearly, and I heard clearly. They were praising you for being pretty.”
Lin Jianqing was about to retort, but Shen Huaixue had already leaned a bit closer, with a faint smile as she continued. “Don’t dodge, Lin Jianqing. The more you dodge, the more they’ll look.”
Lin Jianqing’s ears burned. And on top of that, his wrist was still lightly held by her—he couldn’t move and couldn’t stay still.
A countdown sounded in the venue, and the cheers from the audience suddenly rose. But Shen Huaixue didn’t seem in a hurry to watch the match at all. She only looked down at him—his obvious shyness and forced calm—and the corners of her mouth rose bit by bit.
She had brought him here today, and suddenly felt it was even more interesting than she had imagined. Looking at the constantly flashing LED large screen display in the arena and the various cameras panning back and forth…
A vicious hobby gradually emerged in Shen Huaixue’s heart… Since this little thing Lin Jianqing had such thin skin… might as well…
Shen Huaixue’s heart gradually turned dark, while Lin Jianqing, sitting beside her, had no idea at all of what was about to happen.