Chapter 83: Gray vs. Dairis
Dairis marched over, hands on her hips, and scolded: “You two brats, shut up. You don’t just sleep around with people!”
Chu Feng: …Queen of discipline has arrived. One of her equals two of them.
Gray retorted, lifting his chin: “You say that like you’re so mature.”
Chu Feng: …This brat! Doesn’t know when to stop.
Dairis scoffed. “You idiot, you don’t understand anything!”
Gray puffed out his cheeks: “If I don’t understand, do you?”
Chu Feng: …Is he seriously arguing with a pretty girl like this? Is he trying to ruin his own future?
Dairis: …
Chu Feng glanced at Dairis, noticing her face was flushed. He thought: she probably does understand, but can’t say it out loud. Poor girl.
Gray, smugly: “See? You don’t get it either.”
Dairis’s face turned red as she stomped her foot. “You idiot!”
Gray shouted excitedly: “I’m not an idiot! I can count from 1 to 100 now!”
Chu Feng raised his eyebrows. Lately, he’d been looking for someone to manage the village’s convenience store. The position offered decent benefits, but finding the right person was proving difficult. First, the candidate needed to be good at arithmetic. Second, they had to be honest—no stealing from the store. And third, they had to be upright and unyielding, able to resist bribes and social pressure.
Frankly, just the arithmetic requirement had already eliminated most villagers.
There weren’t many in the village who could do math. Recently, though, a lot of people had started practicing basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Even the children were getting involved.
Now, as Chu Feng walked around the village, he often heard kids reciting multiplication tables.
Delice snapped, “Counting to 100 is nothing! I can count to 1,000!”
Chu Feng glanced at her, thinking, This girl might actually be convenience store manager material.
“One thousand?” Gray squinted at Delice suspiciously. “I don’t believe you. Prove it.”
Delice hesitated. Chu Feng thought, That expression… nervous?
Delice quickly said, “I can count to 1,000, just… not every time.”
Chu Feng: So it depends on your mood, huh?
Gray and Delice glared at each other, neither backing down.
Chu Feng waved his hand. “Alright, alright, go play.”
Delice paused, then handed him a drawing. “Look!”
Chu Feng stared. “What… is this scribble?”
“It’s my cousin,” Delice replied.
Chu Feng was puzzled—he hadn’t heard about her having a cousin.
“She’s a pureblood elf who lives in the elven tribe,” Delice said proudly. “Do you want to sleep with her? If you do, I can introduce you.”
Chu Feng: …Wait, what? If she’s a pureblood elf, she’s probably beautiful, but this drawing…
“Who drew this?”
“I did,” Delice said. “She’s really pretty! The drawing doesn’t do her justice.”
Chu Feng: You’re right about that—because your drawing skills are awful.
“Thanks, but I’m not interested,” he said flatly. “Besides, don’t elves hate humans?”
“True,” Delice nodded. “But you’re not like other humans.”
Chu Feng: …Should I say thank you?
Delice looked up. “So?”
Gray snorted, frowning. “You shouldn’t go looking for your cousin like that. Pureblood elves aren’t like us. If you’re found out, your cousin might get kicked out of the tribe.”
Delice’s expression fell. “Then forget it.”
Chu Feng noticed her disappointment. There’s still such a gap between half-elves and purebloods…
He turned to his motorcycle, tried to start it, and frowned. “Out of gas?”
Gray nodded. “Yep.”
Chu Feng muttered, “Why does this keep happening?”
Gray puffed up his cheeks. “Because you were gone! Everyone’s been secretly using your bike. That’s why the gas is gone.”
Chu Feng: … “Where’s the gasoline?”
Gray shook his head. “Everyone knows the bike needs fuel now, so we’ve been using that too. Big Brother hid the last can. I don’t know where.”
Chu Feng: Gasoline is being hidden now?
Gray looked at him. “Where are you going?”
“To the castle district,” Chu Feng replied.
“Are you moving there officially?”
Chu Feng nodded. “That’s the plan.”
He’d originally wanted to wait, but with everyone in the village eyeing him like they were ready to take queue numbers just to sleep next to him, it was clearly time to go.
“For now, I’ll head to the Highland Tribe area first.”
He had asked the Highland Tribe to prepare a house earlier. He hoped they had done a decent job.
Inside the house, he searched around. It wasn’t big, and there weren’t many hiding spots. He found the fuel quickly.
“You actually found it,” Gray said, surprised.
Chu Feng glanced at him. “Was I not supposed to?”
Gray nodded. “Big Brother used his ability on the barrel. It should’ve been easy to overlook. I couldn’t find it either. Maybe because you’re a power user, you could see through it.”
Chu Feng: … Or maybe it’s because I’ve slept with Illya?
Gray looked at Chu Feng. “You’re smiling weirdly.”
Chu Feng blinked. “I’m smiling?”
Gray nodded seriously. “Yeah, and it’s a really creepy smile. What are you thinking?”
Chu Feng: … This brat… no saving him. Definitely destined to be single forever.
Just then, a loud eagle cry echoed.
Gray looked to the sky. “That must be Big Brother. He’s back.”
Chu Feng’s heart skipped a beat. Finally… he’s back.
Gray turned to him. “Are you going to the Highland Tribe buildings? Uncle Fei Ying can fly you there—for a few work tokens.”
Apparently, Fei Yinghad recently asked Gray how to earn more tokens.
Chu Feng: “…Illya’s already back—what am I going to the castle district for?”
A giant eagle landed on the ground, carrying two passengers.
“Big Brother,” Chu Feng called out, glancing at Illya. His brow furrowed—there were bandages wrapped around Illya’s wrist. He looked injured.
Chu Feng walked over quickly. “Are you alright?”
Illya glanced at him, surprised. “You’re already here?”
Chu Feng nodded. “I came early this time. You’re hurt—didn’t the pistol help?”
Illya shook his head, still a bit shaken. “I used it. If I hadn’t had it, I might not have made it back.”
Chu Feng frowned. “But you have powers, don’t you?”
“We ran into another ability user,” Illya explained. “And human nobles have strange techniques that can suppress powers.” He looked down at the wound on his arm, scowling. The attacker had used shadow daggers—fast, precise, and deadly.
He had to fend off a dozen flying daggers simultaneously. Normally, Illya could’ve handled it, but he’d been protecting Xue Rui at the time.
Chu Feng’s frown deepened. In his mind, Illya had always been unbeatable. Seeing him injured reminded him that even those with powers weren’t invincible.
Illya smiled slightly. “Good thing I had your chocolate.”
Chu Feng blinked. “Chocolate?”
Illya nodded. “Yeah. It’s filling and doesn’t take up much space. Saved a lot of energy.”
Before, Illya had always packed dry rations, which were hard and unappetizing. Chocolate, on the other hand, was tasty and efficient.
“As long as it helped,” Chu Feng said. “Let me take you to the shaman.”
Illya agreed. “Yeah, and maybe some of the supplies you brought will be useful.”
Chu Feng had recently brought medical kits and supplies, which the shaman Qiu Luo was quite interested in. Though food wasn’t lacking in the village, many still hunted, and injuries were common. Chu Feng’s bandages were a hit.
Together, Chu Feng and Illya went to Qiu Luo’s place, along with the rescued Xue Rui.
Illya’s injury was superficial. Qiu Luo treated him quickly and let him go. Xue Rui, however, was in much worse shape—he needed psychological healing.
“How is he?” Chu Feng asked.
Illya shook his head. “Probably traumatized from being sold. He really liked the young master who took him from the merchant house.”
Chu Feng: …
“You’re moving?” Illya asked.
Chu Feng nodded. “The Highland Tribe has prepared a residence. It’s ready, so I’ll be living there now.”
“I see,” Illya replied casually.
“My old place was getting too cramped.”
With all the things Chu Feng had brought over, his room was nearly impassable.
Illya chuckled. Back when he was poor and often starving, he’d dreamed of being surrounded by food. Now that he was, he found it… underwhelming. The mixture of smells made the room unbearable.
