Chapter 68
"A girl? Why would you think that..."
Bai Jun put down her chopsticks, looked up curiously, wondering why she would say the other person was a girl.
"Huh? I... I..."
The girl unconsciously twisted the hem of her clothes, stammering as she replied, "It's just... well, it's just a feeling, just a feeling. Think about it, she's clearly a very skilled hacker, but she only asks you to play games with her and has never done anything bad. Maybe in real life she's just a lonely girl who craves recognition."
"I see, that's indeed a great angle. You're truly exceptional; your ideas are always so original."
Bai Jun thought about it for a moment and felt that this speculation was not unreasonable, so he began to look at her with new respect.
"N-nothing, it's nothing. I'm a bit slow, I was just guessing, don't worry about it... W-what's wrong!?"
The girl secretly broke out in a cold sweat, instinctively gathering her stray hairs, and thankfully managed to fool Bai Jun.
Before she could change the subject, she suddenly realized that Bai Jun's gaze was fixed on her, and she instantly became nervous again.
Bai Jun slowly reached out his hand to her, and the girl trembled and closed her eyes tightly upon seeing this.
But the next second, Bai Jun's hand gently touched her slightly messy hair, as carefully and meticulously as if he were handling the finest silk of the Xianzhou.
"Please sit down first. Let me comb your hair so it doesn't fly around and interfere with your meal."
Bai Jun took out a wooden comb from his pocket. It smelled elegantly of sandalwood and was clearly a very old treasure. It was a gift from Yaoqing's pink-furred fox, and he always carried it with him.
However, he wasn't Foxkin, so he didn't have Tail and didn't need to take care of it. His hair wasn't long enough to require a comb either. He thought the comb would just gather dust here forever, but unexpectedly, it found a new purpose today.
"Although your hair is very healthy and looks good even without much styling, wouldn't it be a shame if you didn't take good care of it? Come to think of it, I've never seen you change your hairstyle, but it always looks great."
Bai Jun subconsciously recalled his past experiences combing other people's hair, a faint smile playing on his lips.
Liuying paused for a moment, then slowly opened her eyes. Seeing Bai Jun's gentle expression as he treated her hair, her ears instantly turned red, and her cheeks began to burn.
Strange, my heart is beating so fast, what's going on?
Liuying listened to her heart pounding, she couldn't help but lower her head.
"I've been thinking about it, Samuel, and this is probably the hairstyle that suits you best. Okay, remember to fix your hair next time you go out. It's not that much trouble if it's just loose."
Bai Jun didn't notice the change in Liuying's expression. He simply combed her hair and then withdrew his hand, without touching her body at all.
Even so, the Liuying did not raise its head.
She didn't know why.
She didn't know why her cheeks would burn whenever she saw his face, nor did she know why she couldn't look into those deep blue eyes.
"What's wrong with you?"
Bai Jun noticed her unusual expression and asked her in a worried whisper in her ear.
"No, it's nothing! I have work to do, so I'll be leaving now!"
Finally, the Liuying could no longer bear it, stood up, and ran away.
He abandoned the devastated Bai Jun, not even bothering to take away the unfinished plate.
No matter how hard she ran, the throbbing deep in her chest could not be calmed.
No Liuying were found.
Unbeknownst to her, Bai Jun's presence had become deeply etched into her life.
No one noticed the alluring blush spreading across her fair skin.
I couldn't discern the exact form or shape of the emotions that were welling up inside me.
"Why did it turn out like this...? What should I do with him...?"
However, the thought of what would inevitably happen in a few days made her heart ache as if it were being torn apart.
Chapter 94 This Heavenly Fire is Amazing!
Why did she run away?
Watching the girl flee in panic, Bai Jun couldn't help but feel a sense of unease.
--Did I accidentally hurt her when I was combing her hair?
After all, since arriving in Luofu, Bai Jun hadn't combed anyone's hair for several years, so it was inevitable that his skills would be rusty. Therefore, this explanation sounded quite plausible.
But Bai Jun was more worried about another possibility...
Could it be that... I'm being disliked?
From the girl's perspective, his actions of touching her hair without permission and saying a bunch of nonsensical things seem quite inappropriate, so this explanation seems more reasonable.
Thinking of this, Bai Jun clutched his chest as if struck by a great blow, feeling immense sorrow, as if his entire being had turned ashen.
"Sigh, I really shouldn't have touched someone's hair."
It's too late for regrets now. Bai Jun could only sigh in disappointment, irritably ruffling his hair, preparing to sincerely apologize to her the next time they met.
Looking at the remaining lunch on his plate, he lost his appetite, hastily stuffed the food into his stomach, and then got up and left the cafeteria.
The afternoon's itinerary was supposed to be to travel to a nearby star to enhance his strength by basking in the sunlight, but the enhancement from this method had become increasingly weak as his strength had risen, which made Bai Jun feel somewhat anxious.
For a moment, Bai Jun couldn't think of any way to improve his strength.
In the end, all that could be done was to focus once again on the enigmatic and unpredictable system.
"Noble Moral Acclaim"
85/100
Just a few days after the last time, the required morality points for the system have increased significantly again, making the lottery a certainty.
However, it is obviously unreasonable to place all hopes on this uncertain factor. No one can predict what it will draw next. It may be an extremely powerful ability like "The Favor of the Sun", or it may draw something like "The Mask of a Thousand Faces" that has little practical significance.
So he had to think of other methods... Soon, his attention turned to "Sacred Judgment of Heavenly Fire".
At the same time, Bai Jun remembered something.
--The "strange feeling" that arose when I first used the Sacred Judgment of Heavenly Fire.
Even though the power of the Sacred Judgment of Heavenly Fire was already terrifying, Bai Jun still felt that its true form was far from being revealed.
The most obvious point is that the Sacred Judgment of Heavenly Fire's energy index has never exceeded 80%. No matter how much it tries to increase it, the energy index can only hover around 70-80%. From this tip of the iceberg, we can roughly guess that its whole picture is far more complicated than we imagine.
But the question remains: how can he fully unleash the power of the Heavenly Fire to reveal its true form?
With these questions in mind, Bai Jun returned to the Security Department's training room.
These past few days, no one has dared to challenge Bai Jun to a duel. Even the stubborn brothers, Allen Walker and Eludick, have been swallowing hard and shrinking back a few steps whenever they see Bai Jun in the training room, ever since they were beaten up by Bai Jun with a knife last time.
If they felt this way, then others were even more affected. Upon seeing Bai Jun's arrival, the staff members who were busy exercising gasped. Although they didn't know why Bai Jun had come, they still took a few steps back in unison to show their respect.
"Don't make that pathetic face. I'm not going to eat you. Don't you think so... Arlan?"
Bai Jun pursed his lips and turned to look at Arlan, but unexpectedly, Alan also hid in the back with the others. After noticing Bai Jun's gaze, Alan shook his head like a rattle drum.
The implication is: Don't spar with me! I can't beat you! Go find someone else!
In fact, this phenomenon cannot be entirely blamed on Arlan and the others. It can only be attributed to the terrifying intensity of Bai Jun's sparring. Not only does it cause physical harm, but it can also shatter one's Dao heart at the drop of a hat.
The harm to teenagers is simply immeasurable!
Seeing their pathetic state, Bai Jun shook his head and sighed:
"When I was learning swordsmanship from Flamecourt Lord, I'd get half-dead every time we sparred, then my senior sister would revive me, then I'd get half-dead again, and revive me again. You guys are nothing compared to this! I think I've been gentle enough with you. Looks like I'll treat you the same way next time. By the way, is the space station's healing level high enough? At least enough to immediately revive someone who's half-dead so they can get back to fighting..."
"No way! And please allow us to refuse! We're just ordinary people, we can't be compared to geniuses and monsters!!!"
The response was met with loud complaints from the staff.
"Tch, isn't this the kind of situation you're referring to when you're frustrated that someone isn't living up to their potential?"
Bai Jun was too lazy to argue with them any longer. He found a shooting range and summoned the Sacred Judgment of Heavenly Fire. With a flash of scorching fire, two black and white pistols appeared in his hands.
As the flames heated up, the muzzle unleashed terrifying energy, blasting distant targets to smithereens. Then, it waited quietly for the machine to automatically refill the targets before continuing to fire.
Ignoring the horrified stares of those around him and the rising temperature in the training room, Bai Jun continued firing at the distant target, testing the energy limits of the Sacred Judgment of Heavenly Fire.
40%...55%...64%...69%
As if reaching a certain threshold, the energy index of the Sacred Judgment of Heavenly Fire finally settled at around 70%.
"As expected, it's the same situation again. Is this the limit? Or are there additional conditions required to reach the next stage...?"
Suddenly--
Bai Jun's attention was drawn to the groove on the safety bolt of the Sacred Judgment of Heavenly Fire Double Guns; it looked like a deliberately left space to accommodate something.
Moreover, the design of the double gun grooves is not abrupt at all, as if the two are an integral part of each other.
Like the belt and card slot of Kamen Rider?
Bai Jun seemed to realize something and gradually connected the Herrscher Core at the safety bolts of the double guns.
The moment the two guns made contact, they extended and transformed to form a sword hilt, and intense flames, like molten gold, shot into the sky and condensed into the sword blade.
"This is..."
Bai Jun's eyes widened instantly as he saw flames spreading from the point where his hand touched the sword, engulfing the Heavenly Fire in his hand in the blink of an eye.
The next second, crimson flames appeared along with the sword, and a mighty inferno shot into the sky. The immense heat instantly triggered the fire alarm in the training room.
Arlan, who witnessed the whole thing, felt a chill run down his spine. His sixth sense strongly reminded him of something, but he couldn't suppress the fear in his body. The other staff members around him were even more so, and they were so surprised by what they saw that they didn't know what to do.
"Quickly lie down, or hide behind a wall!!!"
Bai Jun had no choice but to yell at the other staff members around him.
As soon as he finished speaking, a large amount of water gushed out from the switch on the ceiling, enough to flood half of the training room.
Before it even landed, it was instantly swept away by the terrifying heat of the Heavenly Fire, evaporating completely and forming a huge amount of water vapor that enveloped the training room.
It was far from over. Like a volcanic eruption, violent and intense flames burst forth from Bai Jun's body in all directions.
Staring blankly at the Sacred Judgment of Heavenly Fire burning fiercely in his hand, transforming into its true form, an unfamiliar name slowly emerged in Bai Jun's mind.
"Heavenly Fire, unsheathe!"
Bai Jun uttered those four words softly, the words that slipped out unconsciously startling even himself.
Then, as if he had heard his call, the Heavenly Fire boiled over completely, and the stellar flames, powerful enough to incinerate the space station, erupted like a wild horse.
Rumble--!!!
The endless flames and fire instantly destroyed most of the passageway between the training room and the outside, and the commotion was heard throughout the entire space station. The staff members who were busy with their work all looked up and stared at the space station hull that was shaking.
"Aaaaaah! Enemy attack! Is it an enemy attack!?"
"Fire! We're doomed! Security Department personnel, come put out the fire!"
"Waaaaah, help! Help! I don't want to die..."
Soon screams and cries echoed down the corridor. Countless staff members were terrified and tried to vent their fear by shouting, which only exacerbated the panic among the crowd.
"Cough cough cough, my darling, he's gone too far..."
Bai Jun stood in the training room, which had been reduced to ruins by the Heavenly Fire. Although he had managed to contain most of the energy before the Heavenly Fire fully erupted, a bead of cold sweat still trickled down his forehead as he looked at the fallen staff members nearby and the horrific scene around him.
--Is it really better to pack my bags and run away now?
"You idiot! What were you doing in the training room? Making such a commotion, were you trying to destroy my space station?! You're acting like... you're acting like a complete moron!"
After calming the commotion on the space station, Herta angrily grabbed Bai Jun's cheeks and forcefully pulled them apart, brutally squeezing his face.
"I'm sorry, I have no intention of making excuses. Punish me however you want, I will bear all the consequences myself."
Bai Jun sat in the chair with a guilty conscience, letting Herta vent his dissatisfaction on his face.
"Easy for you to say. Do you even know what you've actually done?"
Even so, it was no match for Herta's rage. You see, her and Screwllum's repair work was progressing perfectly well, but because of that moment when the space station shook, a component in the Simulated Universe device was accidentally installed incorrectly!
What angered her the most was that Bai Jun had been hiding such an amazing treasure from her!
I'm so angry, so angry, so angry...
"Aha... Ms. Herta, calm down. Mr. Bai Jun probably didn't do it on purpose, right? Besides, no one was injured in this incident. I just checked the damage to the compartment. The 12% damage rate should be repairable in a day or two. Please calm down."
Asta kept speaking well of Bai Jun, whispering in Herta's ear with a smirk.