We're Cooked!

In the classroom, Fu Hua's hand still hung in midair, her fingertips trembling slightly.

The light in the classroom suddenly became dazzling, and the sunlight streaming through the windows cast the silhouettes of the two of them onto the blackboard.

Ye Li suddenly laughed.

He reached out and took hold of Fu Hua's wrist, which had frozen in midair. Warmth passed between them. "My dear class monitor, don't look at me like you owe me something. People might think you dumped me after leading me on."

"But your body..." Fu Hua clasped his pulse in return, the unique perception of a Fusion Warrior spreading outward. "Why is it so weak?"

The noise outside the window suddenly fell silent.

Ye Li lowered his head and looked at their overlapping hands, as though his memories had returned to those years in Shenzhou.

"After the Final Battle ended, I heard an echo from an existence on a level even higher than the Imaginary Tree."

Ye Li bent his arm and turned to look out the window. "As a reward for saving the world, It asked whether I still had any unfulfilled wishes."

Fu Hua's pupils suddenly contracted. She seemed to have anticipated what the man before her was about to say.

"Hua, you should know that no matter how many years pass, no matter how much I experience, I have only ever had one wish..."

As Ye Li spoke, many familiar figures surfaced in Fu Hua's mind, along with that beautiful shade of pink.

"Trading myself for everything we have now—it was a pretty good deal, wasn't it?"

Afterward, Ye Li briefly explained the full story to Fu Hua.

Looking at Ye Li's calm expression, Fu Hua finally understood why the world was forgetting him, and why even people as powerful as Kiana and Kevin had been unable to break through the memory seal.

She suddenly pressed a hand to Ye Li's shoulder and asked excitedly, "How long has this condition of yours lasted?"

"Shh—" Ye Li raised a finger to her pale lips. "Class monitor, don't ask any more. If you keep asking, I'll have to start charging you."

He turned to look toward the back door of the classroom, where Kiana's noisy voice could be heard complaining that she was hungry and wanted to eat.

Fu Hua took a deep breath and looked at the familiar yet unfamiliar boy before her.

Back then, he had also smiled as he shielded her grievously injured self behind him and said, "Leave the rest to me."

"So, is there anything I can do?" She removed her plain glasses, and the flames of Red Kite awakened in her eyes.

"Of course. Pretend nothing happened and keep being my excellent class monitor. And then..." Ye Li produced a crumpled class fee collection form as if by magic. "Help me cover the class fees for the past few months while you're at it. Of course, I'll pay you back once I make some money—as an exchange..."

He suddenly leaned close to Fu Hua's ear, his warm breath brushing over the tip of her reddened ear. "I can tell you some of Kevin's little-known embarrassing history."

Footsteps in the hallway drew closer and closer.

Fu Hua gazed at the boy's reflection in the window. That shadow was becoming strangely transparent beneath the sunlight.

She suddenly grabbed Ye Li by his school uniform tie, using enough force to make him stagger forward.

"If you dare leave without saying goodbye again next time..." Each word she spoke carried the frost and snow from the summit of Taixu Mountain. "I'll let you have a taste of Inch-Punch Sky Splitting!"

The classroom door was shoved open with a bang, and Kiana and the other two saw a sight that made their jaws drop.

The model student in their eyes, Class Monitor Fu Hua, had actually pinned a boy against a desk.

And that boy was sprawled over the desk, howling miserably, "Class Monitor, I was wrong, but I really don't have any money to pay the class fees!"

Fu Hua adjusted her glasses and slapped the collection form onto the top of his head. "Make sure you pay it all by the end of this month."

Sunlight began to flow again. No one saw the half-red feather flickering in and out of sight in the girl's hand behind her back.

The edge of that feather was charred black, like an emblem that had just passed through Fire Chasing.

"So, Class Monitor, you were actually collecting class fees just now?"

Kiana stared in shock at Fu Hua, who was slowly eating beside her, and even lost her appetite.

When she remembered that she herself had also fallen behind on this month's class fees because of her reckless shopping, Kiana felt terrible all over.

"Um... Class Monitor..."

To keep herself from becoming the next person pinned to a desk, Kiana hurriedly explained, "Actually, sometimes people don't delay paying class fees on purpose... Maybe he ran into some kind of trouble?"

After taking a few more bites, Fu Hua set down her bowl and chopsticks, then looked at Kiana.

Kiana grew a little nervous under Fu Hua's gaze and cautiously asked, "Class Monitor, wh-what is it? Is there something on my face?"

Fu Hua shook her head, then turned to look at Raiden Mei and Bronya in turn.

After some probing, Fu Hua had already understood what Ye Li meant by "forgetting."

Even though she had repeatedly told Kiana and the other two Ye Li's name, they would always forget their memories related to him soon afterward.

Moreover, under Fu Hua's initial perception, Kiana and the other two were no different from ordinary people. There was no trace of any extraordinary power within them.

Yet as she probed deeper, Fu Hua still discovered powers sealed away layer upon layer in the deepest parts of their bodies.

Sure enough, aside from you, everyone else is no different from before, Fu Hua thought.

Whenever she thought that the peace and happiness she and everyone else possessed now had been bought with everything Ye Li had given, Fu Hua's heart ached beyond measure.

Remembering every little moment she had spent with Ye Li in the past, Fu Hua decided she had to do something for him.

Even if she could not help him bear the pain of being cursed by the world, she could at least make his life a little easier.

Bang!

Fu Hua abruptly stood up, picked up her tray, and prepared to leave.

The sudden scene left the three girls beside her completely bewildered.

Watching Fu Hua prepare to leave in such a hurry, Kiana timidly asked, "Class Monitor, are you leaving in such a rush because something urgent happened?"

Fu Hua did not look back. She simply cleaned up her tray and turned to leave.

Just as the three looked at one another in confusion, Fu Hua's voice drifted back on the wind. "I'm going to find Ye Li."

After hearing Fu Hua's words, the three fell silent for a moment.

Watching Fu Hua's departing back, Bronya narrowed her eyes. She felt that things were not so simple.

"Based on Bronya's understanding of the class monitor, a bookworm like her would never suddenly take an interest in someone for no reason, especially when that person is a boy."

Therefore, there was only one truth!

That was...

Just then, Kiana suddenly cried out, her face filled with sudden realization. "Ah! I get it! The class monitor must be going to find that boy because she wants to collect his class fees!"

Bronya: ...

Ignoring Bronya's expression as if she were looking at an idiot, Kiana continued talking to herself. "Look, someone as responsible as the class monitor definitely wouldn't forget anything. That's why she rushed off to collect that guy's class fees as soon as she finished eating..."

Thinking of this, Kiana silently mourned for the handsome boy for a few seconds.

"Ah, who told you to owe class fees for no reason?"

As she spoke, Kiana picked a meatball from Raiden Mei's tray and put it into her mouth.

But after only chewing the meatball a few times, Kiana suddenly remembered that the boy was not the only one in the class who owed fees. There was also...

Herself!

Remembering the miserable sight she had seen in the classroom after school, Kiana's wail rang through the cafeteria.

"We're cooked!!!"