Chen Shouyi came to his senses as if waking from a dream, his spirits lifting at once. This time, he looked his opponent directly in the eye. Without a moment's thought, he stepped forward with Basic Footwork and thrust his Long Sword.
The Beautiful Teacher lightly parried his sword, knocking it aside, then counterthrust.
She had deliberately slowed down considerably, giving Chen Shouyi enough time to react.
Chen Shouyi's body swayed like a willow in the breeze, easily dodging the Sting Sword. He didn't stop moving, but slid forward, his body gliding like a fish to the Beautiful Teacher's right side in an unexpected move.
Unfortunately, this little trick didn't work on her. She had already stepped back, and her Long Sword darted toward his waist like a venomous snake.
Chen Shouyi twisted sideways and evaded the attack.
The two traded blows back and forth. The only sound was the hiss of swords slicing through the air.
With the Beautiful Teacher deliberately feeding him openings, he was making rapid, visible progress. His swordsmanship and Basic Footwork gradually blended together, becoming one seamless whole. His swordsmanship was no longer just swordsmanship, nor his Basic Footwork just footwork; the two no longer felt like separate skills forced together.
Even when the lesson ended, he still felt unsatisfied.
After class, he greeted Guo Qianqian. With Lin Feng watching him warily, he didn't say much more and soon left the Youth Martial Arts Training Center.
He still had to visit a bookstore today to buy a few books about the Otherworld.
For one thing, he had always been interested in everything about the Otherworld. For another, ever since his younger sister passed the martial artist examination, he had made up his mind.
He planned to give up the college entrance exam and focus on preparing for the Martial Apprentice examination.
The bookstore was about six or seven kilometers from the Youth Martial Arts Training Center. It took Chen Shouyi just over ten minutes to reach his destination.
Sunday was the bookstore's busiest day, and it was packed with people.
Following the signs, Chen Shouyi quickly found what he was looking for.
"Chen Shouyi, you're here too?"
"Class Monitor, what a coincidence. You're interested in books about the Otherworld too?"
Chen Shouyi turned and saw Zhang Xiaoyue, the class monitor.
She was slender and delicate, with a pair of small eyes that held a shy, alluring charm. She wore a white T-shirt and a short skirt, her legs fair, her waist slim, and her chest full.
Come to think of it, Chen Shouyi had stolen more than a few glances at her—though, of course, that had been in the Memory Space.
"Yeah. I heard there are mysterious creatures there. Besides savages, there are even giants as tall as mountains. Haven't you watched War of the Gods?"
This was the second time Chen Shouyi had heard someone mention that TV series. It seemed it really was popular.
"No, I've been busy studying lately. Unlike you, Class Monitor, who can easily take first or second place. I have to make up for my shortcomings by getting started early," Chen Shouyi said.
In the past, he would have blushed and gotten flustered facing Zhang Xiaoyue, or his heart would have raced. But perhaps because he had seen her so often in the Memory Space, he was surprisingly calm, his expression perfectly natural.
Zhang Xiaoyue covered her mouth and chuckled, her beautiful, limpid eyes gazing gently at Chen Shouyi.
"I've noticed you've changed so much. You never used to talk."
"Maybe I'm just a low-key person."
As they were talking, a commotion suddenly erupted in the crowd. Chen Shouyi turned to look and saw a disheveled, unkempt man, his hair a tangled mess, stuffing books from the shelves into a bundle wrapped in what looked like a bedsheet. Everyone nearby kept their distance.
He seemed extremely wary and anxious.
He kept glancing around. Whenever someone came near, he bared his teeth like a maniac.
Chen Shouyi's first thought was that the man was robbing the place.
Neither the man's behavior nor his state of mind seemed remotely like those of a normal customer.
But he soon realized something was off. No sane person would rob a bookstore.
If he was going to go to the trouble, he might as well rob the cash register.
The man's T-shirt was actually clean; he had simply put it on inside out, and the tag was clearly visible on his chest.
Besides that, Chen Shouyi was surprised to discover that the man was extraordinarily handsome. Even the grime on his face couldn't hide it, especially his pair of jet-black eyes, which gave off a mesmerizing charm.
Chen Shouyi had seen plenty of pretty boys on television and the internet, but he had never seen a man with such perfect features.
He looked as if he had stepped straight out of a painting.
It gave him an unreal feeling.
How could someone like this exist in real life?
More and more people gathered to watch. Quite a few seemed to have noticed the man's astonishing looks and were secretly filming him with their phones.
But this only made him even more nervous.
A deep, beastlike growl rumbled in his throat, as if warning them.
At last, a security guard arrived.
"Sir, please stop damaging the books. Stop what you're doing and come with me to the security office."
The mysterious man's hand froze, and the books clattered to the floor.
Perhaps the uniform frightened him. The mysterious man's body began to tremble slightly.
Yet for some reason, Chen Shouyi felt a chill rise in his heart, as if he had plunged into an ice cellar. He felt a shiver of dread, as though he were facing a ferocious beast.
"There's something wrong with this man. Hurry, let's go!" Chen Shouyi sensed something was off. Cold sweat gradually beaded on his forehead as he tugged at Zhang Xiaoyue and spoke quickly.
Zhang Xiaoyue looked dazed, but still decided to listen to Chen Shouyi.
They had only taken a few steps when the unexpected happened.
There was a muffled BANG!, followed by the eerie sound of sugarcane snapping. Then Chen Shouyi felt as if rain were falling on his head.
He wiped his face and was horrified to find it covered in blood. He couldn't help turning to look.
The security guard was hanging over a bookshelf, his body limp and motionless.
Bright red blood kept trickling down his trouser legs, already pooling on the floor.
The crowd fell silent for a moment, then someone screamed, and everyone began fleeing in all directions.
A jolt ran through Chen Shouyi, and his hair stood on end. He hurriedly grabbed the stunned Zhang Xiaoyue and sprinted with the crowd.
The man's roar came from behind them. It sounded like the bellow of a wild beast, so loud it was like a thunderclap. Even Chen Shouyi, more than ten meters away, felt his ears throb and ring.
Then the man's voice rose and fell, charged with fury. He seemed to be loudly cursing in some mysterious language.
"A savage! That's a savage!" someone in the crowd cried in terror.
But those words only made the crowd panic more. Some people were shoved to the ground, and countless feet trampled over them. They never got back up.
Fortunately, Chen Shouyi was strong and sturdy. He held tightly to Zhang Xiaoyue, and neither of them was knocked down by the crowd.
Another explosive BANG! sounded behind them, horrifying to hear.
Wood splinters and scraps of books flew through the air, mixed with flecks of blood and bits of flesh.
The savage seemed to have gone berserk. He roared and attacked the crowd in a frenzy.
As a creature that lived under three times Earth's gravity, his strength was terrifying. Every attack rang out with an explosive crack.
Under such attacks, fragile human bodies were smashed apart in sprays of blood and flesh.
Chen Shouyi even saw a section of intestine hanging from the head of the person in front of him, but the man seemed oblivious, desperately pushing through the crowd with a look of terror on his face.
Fortunately, the bookstore was on the first floor, and the entrance was only a few dozen meters away. Half a minute later, he and Zhang Xiaoyue finally squeezed out the door with the surging crowd.
"How could there be a savage in the bookstore?" Zhang Xiaoyue asked, her face pale and her expression bewildered.
Chen Shouyi felt relieved. "Don't worry about that now. Let's get away from here first."
Savages didn't look much like humans. Their features were rougher, and perhaps because of the gravity, most of them were short and stocky. This mysterious savage had clearly used supernatural means to alter his appearance.
There was no doubt he had come for a special purpose. Perhaps he had wanted to learn about Earth, or perhaps to gather intelligence.
Either way, he was no ordinary savage.
Before he could finish speaking, a deafening BANG! rang out, and cracks spread across the bookstore wall.
The next instant, with a thunderous BOOM!, a huge hole blasted through the wall. Dust billowed, and fragments flew everywhere.
Amid the clouds of dust, a figure burst out of the bookstore.
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