Chapter 30: Chapter 30: He Replied to My Message, He Still Has Me in His Heart

...

"Awesome! That settles it!"

After nearly six hours of lively discussion, both Su Zhi and Liu Junpo’s eyes lit up as they high-fived hard.

Su Zhi paused, only then realizing it was already night.

Yu Bao was asleep, lying on Wanzi’s back. Wanzi, in turn, remained perfectly still, holding a comfortable position for Yu Bao.

Occasionally, a small bug would fly near Yu Bao’s ear, and its ear would give a little *bling-bling* twitch.

Wanzi would then manipulate the air currents to quietly blow the bug away for him.

Liu Junpo scratched his head. "Ha, sorry about that. I get carried away when we talk about building skill sets."

"Not at all! I’ve learned so much!"

Su Zhi said with emotion, cupping his fist.

After an afternoon of discussion, many of Su Zhi’s previous sticking points and frustrations were suddenly resolved, as if a whole new world had opened up to him.

His brain felt warm, clearly enjoying the exhilarating feeling of deep thought.

As if remembering something, Su Zhi checked his phone again.

The notification light was blinking, a clear sign he had missed a lot of messages—

12:53

[Old Ban]: By the way, I forgot to tell you. That kid, Piao, is pretty good, but he’s full of strange ideas. You can listen to what he says, but in the end, you should still listen to me.

[Old Ban]: [Transfer · 20 yuan]

[Old Ban]: Piao’s Cyan Cloud Group likes lemon-flavored Mizone. Buy some for him.

15:32

[Old Ban]: [You have been invited to join "Hair Growth Group"]

[Old Ban]: This is our small training group for the city league. Join it. I’ll contact the three of you directly in the group from now on.

16:00

[Old Ban]: Why aren’t you replying? You got a problem with me or something?

16:03

[Old Ban]: Fine, whatever. You don’t want to join? I don’t want you to join anyway.

16:37

[Old Ban]: What are you doing?

17:01

[Old Ban]: Still not done?

17:15

[Old Ban]: If you don’t message me back, I’m not going to coach you anymore.

17:37

[Old Ban]: U there?

18:01

...

Su Zhi: "..."

’He’s my homeroom teacher and I’m his student... but why does this whole vibe feel so weird?’

His phone buzzed again. This time, the red notification dot was on the Huajing Cat profile picture—

[Shao Ya]: You guys done yet?

[Su Zhi]: We’re done /zipping_up_pants.jpg

"Oho?"

Liu Junpo’s eyes instantly filled with gossip. "Not bad, little bro. You’ve even got a sweet little girlfriend. You’re winning at life."

Su Zhi corrected him, embarrassed, "We have a completely innocent deskmate relationship."

"I get it, I get it. Cooompletely innocent~"

"..." Su Zhi couldn’t be bothered with whether he actually got it or not.

’This senior is clearly not a serious person. How is finding a girlfriend more interesting than Beast Taming? Right now, my studies are the priority!’

’Besides, Emperor Shao is no ’sweet little girlfriend’. She could twist your head off... literally.’

[Shao Ya]: My sparring partner is an adorable senior! She’s tiny and her voice is so soft, I almost feel like *I’m* the senior /smug_face

[Su Zhi]: Is she any good?

[Shao Ya]: Of course she is.

[Shao Ya]: The senior’s Pet Beast is a Nether Flame Spirit. Xiaoyue couldn’t win at all and is totally sulking now, haha.

Su Zhi looked back at Yu Bao. "Your big bro Xiaoyue got beat so bad he’s sulking."

"Pant, pant." Yu Bao wagged its tail happily.

Suddenly, Su Zhi’s eyes widened.

"Crap! We discussed so much, and I didn’t write any of it down!"

"If you didn’t, you didn’t."

Liu Junpo shrugged nonchalantly. "Only by not clinging to lost inspiration can you have a ceaseless gush of new ideas."

"Your skill progression needs more work, and it’s definitely not something you can finish in one or two tries. Whenever you think it looks good, send it to me. I’ll find problems with it until I can’t find any more."

"Alright. I’ll just consider it an early taste of grad student life," Su Zhi said, tucking his hands into his sleeves.

Liu Junpo laughed. "Grad students aren’t as awesome as you, designing their own Skill System."

Su Zhi asked, puzzled, "But aren’t there plenty of Beast Tamers who create their own skill sets instead of following the standard syllabus?"

"There’s a fundamental difference in the approach!"

Liu Junpo made an ’X’ with his hands.

"It’s true that some Beast-Taming Families have their Pet Beasts learn skills outside the syllabus to gain a competitive edge. But fundamentally, they still use a Core Skill as the system’s axis, which is the same approach as the test-oriented syllabus."

"For example, the Yu Dian Farm Dog’s Core Skill is Yanhuang Blessing. All the other skills it learns are built around that Core Skill."

"But you’re using a Pet Beast-centric system. In your case, the Core Skill isn’t the core; the Pet Beast’s own strengths and tendencies are."

"I didn’t even realize I was this awesome until you said it..." Su Zhi muttered to himself.

Liu Junpo tucked his hands in his sleeves. "I wouldn’t say ’awesome’ just yet. What if, in the end, your Pet Beast’s natural strengths aren’t enough to support your system? The whole thing could end up with egg on its face."

"..." Su Zhi nodded.

"Woof." Yu Bao nodded too.

’It didn’t know what they were talking about, but it knew about eggs. It had just eaten one last night.’

"However, this is also your competitive advantage—unpredictability. It’s hard for other Beast Tamers to devise tactics against you, but it’s easy for you to strategize against them."

Halfway through his sentence, Liu Junpo’s expression suddenly turned comical.

"Uh, that’s all I’ll say for now! Just go back and revise the current framework. Send it to me when you’re done!"

"Ah, you’re leaving already? Goodbye, senior—"

Before he could finish, Liu Junpo hopped on Wanzi and vanished in a flash.

’No wonder he flies so fast. He’s been practicing by using his Pet Beast as a ride...’ Su Zhi’s mouth hung open.

Seeing Yu Bao’s eager expression, Su Zhi shook his head, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. "Let’s not."

Just as he was about to ask Shao Ya where she was, Su Zhi suddenly heard soft footsteps behind him.

"Boo!" A girl popped her head out, holding two bottles of cola.

Su Zhi gave a token shiver.

Xiaoyue’s head was hanging low.

Yu Bao trotted over with a *bling-bling*, curiously bending down and lowering its head to see if its big bro was really sulking.

BAM! BAM! Xiaoyue punched it.

The sky was already a deep, dark color. The school was pitch-black, but the blue and purple neon lights dyed the night sky red near the city.

Each holding a bottle of "happy water," the two walked and drank.

"So, was your afternoon productive?"

"Yeah, I discussed the Skill System with the senior. I’m going to head back and strike while the iron is hot to revise it. How was your training?"

"Guess~"

"Seeing how much Xiaoyue is sulking, I’d say it went pretty well."

"Heh."

"Meeeow." (I’m not sulking.)

"By the way, didn’t you forget something?"

"Did I?"

"Joining the group, you idiot!"

"Oh..."

·

On a gridlocked highway, inside a certain Volkswagen. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Zhou Shengfa took a forlorn drag from his cigarette, his eyes lifeless as he stared at the string of messages he’d sent on his phone screen.

Meanwhile, Su Zhi’s last message was still [Got it].

’Why? Why isn’t he messaging me back?’

Zhou Shengfa shook his head and tossed the cigarette out the window, a sigh appearing on his wrinkled face.

’It would be rude to bother him any more.’

’But I’m his homeroom teacher.’

The forty-year-old Teacher Zhou finally clenched his jaw, mustered up his last bit of courage, and typed:

[When My Hair Reaches My Waist]: At least join the group!

[Su Zhi]: Got it

[Hair Growth Group: "Su Zhi" has joined the chat]

’He replied! He still has me in his heart!’

Zhou Shengfa let out a sigh of relief and leaned back in his seat, completely satisfied.

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