Back to reality~
Ichinose Kaede, Ichinose Honami—what the hell!!
Once Long Aotian understood, he knew the girl before him was the older sister of that adorable, innocent little girl.
Long Aotian had no intention of telling Ichinose Honami. After all, this had nothing to do with her. The ones who had helped him were her younger sister and her mother, and there was no need for her to thank him.
Long Aotian was simply repaying them for saving his life that night.
So whether he told her or not made no difference. It was no big deal.
"Um..." Long Aotian looked at the girl blocking his way and lifted the cake in his hand. "Could you let me through? I still have something to take care of."
Perhaps realizing she'd been too forward, Ichinose Honami stepped aside, then asked curiously, "Sorry, my name's Ichinose Honami. What's yours, classmate?"
"Long Aotian." Seeing that she'd moved aside, Long Aotian replied and hurried off.
Ichinose Honami murmured, "Long Aotian... Long Aotian! I remember now! It's him!"
But by the time she looked up, Long Aotian was nowhere to be seen.
Meanwhile, Long Aotian was already heading to Sakura Airi's dorm.
When he arrived, he gave Sakura the cake, teased her about the photos for a few moments, then left.
Back in his dorm, Long Aotian lay down to get some sleep. He set his phone alarm for three in the morning and drifted off.
As time passed...
The alarm rang, and Long Aotian got up. First, he warmed up.
He put on his night clothes, left his phone in the dorm, and placed a Flying Thunder God Mark on his bed.
[Ding! Mission: Complete Long Aotian's Redemption] [Reward: Buff increased to 50%, plus points]
Oh, nice! An unexpected bonus!
Long Aotian's redemption plan officially began!
1 → 2 (rest for 5 minutes) → 5 (rest for about 10 minutes) → D Intersection → buy a laptop → dorm (use Flying Thunder God to teleport back)
After teleporting beside the vending machine downstairs, Long Aotian avoided the cameras and ran to position 1. Next came the stretch from position 1 to position 2, which he'd have to cover at a full sprint.
There were two unavoidable cameras along the way, but with his [Speed: S+] and a full-speed sprint, even if they caught him, the footage would only be blurry. And with his night clothes, there was practically no chance of anyone recognizing him.
The night hadn't draped this lively place in a shroud of silence. Instead, it made the red lights of the surveillance cameras stand out all the more, like countless watchful eyes monitoring every corner. Against this backdrop stood Long Aotian, tall and straight in his night clothes, an unruly glint in his eyes. He was at position 1, beside a path partly screened by several towering plane trees. Moonlight filtered through the sparse leaves and dappled his figure, lending him an air of mystery.
Long Aotian's lips curled into a confident smile (Oh no! He's about to smirk!), as if the adventure ahead were one he'd already planned down to the last detail. He looked around, quickly and precisely scanning the position of every camera. He'd already mapped out the best route to avoid them.
With a soft exhale, he set off, moving nimbly and gracefully, like a deer leaping through the woods. His figure slipped deftly between patches of shadow and light. Every turn and every stride kept him just beyond the cameras' view, as if he were performing a silent dance, blending into his surroundings.
At last, after a series of precise, fluid movements, Long Aotian reached position 2 without making a sound. It was a relatively secluded corner, ringed by a row of low bushes and outside the cameras' field of view. He stopped, lay down, and panted softly, his eyes gleaming with excitement and satisfaction.
"Awesome!"
As Long Aotian rested at position 2, he heard footsteps passing by and wondered, What the hell? Someone's still out this late?
Good thing he was lying in the bushes.
Long Aotian patiently ignored his plan to rest for five minutes. Instead, he stayed down for half an hour before peeking out to check. Once he confirmed no one was around, he used the trees for cover and dashed to position 5.
Long Aotian reached position 5 without trouble and continued resting among the bushes. The area was rather secluded, but he didn't let his guard down.
He couldn't celebrate halfway through and risk jinxing it.
And the toughest part was still ahead: he had to swim across. If he ran out of strength along the way, he'd really be risking his life.
He could teleport back to his dorm with Flying Thunder God, so he wouldn't actually die. Still, to be safe, he'd wait until he'd recovered and was back in peak condition before swimming. With [Stamina: SS+], he should be fine.
This time, he rested for a little over half an hour, then got up and warmed up.
He checked the wind direction and the waves on the water. Everything looked fine.
He took a deep breath, then leaped forward and splashed into the water.
His hands swept lightly through the water, his legs pushed him forward in smooth coordination, and he swam with ease. Every so often, he raised his head to breathe. Fresh air filled his lungs, bringing a touch of coolness.
At times, the water was as calm as a mirror; at others, it rushed like an arrow. But Long Aotian's extraordinary stamina and skill let him handle it with ease.
And he swam on~
Suddenly! A hand reached for the steps at D Intersection. A short-haired boy climbed out of the water, soaked from head to toe. He didn't stop to rest, but found a secluded spot and placed a Flying Thunder God Mark.
After checking the mark in his dorm, he activated Flying Thunder God and teleported back. He dried himself off, changed into a different outfit (not his school uniform), then teleported back to D Intersection.
Wearing a mask, Long Aotian set out from D Intersection, planning to find a passerby to target.
He found a secluded spot with no cameras. As luck would have it, a drunk person was lying there, completely motionless.
He felt around for a phone and turned on the screen. Thankfully, there was no passcode; otherwise, he'd have had to find someone else to target.
He downloaded the app and logged into an account using real-name verification. Now he could make payments.
But he had to get everything done before the person woke up. He placed a Flying Thunder God Mark on the passerby, then left the scene at once.
Long Aotian stood in front of a phone store, took a deep breath, and pushed open the door to the next step in his plan. The lighting inside was soft, and phones of all kinds were neatly displayed on the stands. The air was charged with excitement.
"This one looks good." Long Aotian looked at the phone on display, then turned to the employee and said, "I'll take one of these. Please wrap it up for me."
"Sure. Please wait a moment." Seeing which phone Long Aotian had pointed to, the employee went to the storeroom to get a new one and package it.
Just as the employee was about to come out, Long Aotian shook his head. "What a shame."
"Is something wrong, sir?" Seeing him shake his head, the employee hurriedly asked.
"It's a shame this new phone doesn't come with a SIM card. I don't have time to get one, and now I don't want the phone anymore." Long Aotian put the problem to the employee.
"Well..." The employee grew a little anxious. After all, selling a phone meant earning a commission.
Seeing that the employee had taken the bait, Long Aotian made another suggestion.
"I don't have time to get a SIM card, either. How about you give me yours? I'll buy the phone and get a SIM card at the same time. Sounds good, right?" Long Aotian looked at the employee and made his pitch. Before the employee could think it over, he added, "I won't take it for free. I'll pay you 20,000 yen for the time it'd take me to get a SIM card myself."
The employee hesitated for a moment, then agreed. After all, he'd earn a commission, and the SIM card was worth quite a bit. How could he say no?
As far as Long Aotian was concerned, it was a win-win. The employee got paid, and Long Aotian certainly wasn't losing out by making him take the fall.
If anything went wrong, they'd trace the phone number and use technical means to identify the registered owner. It wouldn't be Long Aotian, anyway. The employee would be the one they came after. What did that have to do with Long Aotian?
The employee thought Long Aotian was a rich fool, while Long Aotian was using him as a scapegoat. Both were satisfied.
After leaving the phone store, Long Aotian checked the time. It was 5:30 a.m. Most of the time had gone into escaping the school, and sunrise was approaching. Next, he had to buy a computer.
Buying the laptop went smoothly. It was time to wrap things up.
Finding a secluded spot, Long Aotian put the SIM card into his new phone, downloaded the app, and logged into the account. Then he factory-reset the passerby's phone with a single tap.
Passerby? You really have it easy!
Long Aotian used Flying Thunder God to arrive beside the passerby, set the phone down next to them, and called it a job well done.
Before you continue