Chapter 1043

Zhao Chi didn't know why she was saying all this, so he just nodded instinctively.

But he suddenly realized something.

Li Ruanyu had taught trainees four cohorts above his own, so how old was she this year?

The class had been guessing her age all along, saying all sorts of things, but no one had accurate information.

In the end everyone guessed she was 24, but it looked like the margin of error was huge.

"What's wrong? Is there something you want to ask me?"

Li Ruanyu keenly guessed what Zhao Chi was thinking.

"Instructor Li, how old are you exactly? You're not 24, right? You just mentioned you taught a senior sister four cohorts above me… so I was a bit puzzled."

Li Ruanyu pressed her lips together and laughed, seeming quite pleased: "Hehe, who told you I was 24?"

"We guessed."

"You boys normally just guess about this kind of thing?"

"Uh… mainly out of curiosity."

"Hehe, how old do you think I am?"

"I'm not great at judging, but if you taught a senior sister four cohorts above me… then you should be in your thirties, right?"

"T… thirties?"

Li Ruanyu's smile froze.

Her pretty face tightened.

"Do you even know how to talk? Who's in her thirties? Where do I look like I'm in my thirties? Do I look like I'm in my thirties to you?"

Her brows furrowed slightly, looking at Zhao Chi with a hint of disdain.

Zhao Chi knew he had said the wrong thing.

Li Ruanyu certainly didn't look like she was in her thirties—at most a young woman of 25 or 26.

She looked about the same age as Gu Qing, but didn't have Gu Qing's coquettish air.

It was more a kind of noble air, similar to Zhuang Ya's.

Also, Li Ruanyu always wore light makeup, so Zhao Chi found it hard to judge her age by appearance.

But her way of handling things was very mature, and she was a qualified chief instructor who had even taught a senior sister four years older than Zhao Chi.

So Zhao Chi had used this information to judge she was in her thirties.

But it seemed he was wrong.

"Sorry, Instructor Li, I was just deducing it earlier. If I go by looks, I think you look about 24."

"Hmph!" Li Ruanyu gave a light snort. "That's more like it. Where do I look like I'm in my thirties, honestly…"

"Then how old are you really?"

Li Ruanyu glared at him. "I'm not telling you… but it's definitely not over 30!"

"Oh…"

"But you can keep treating me as 24 if you want."

"Got it…"

After all that talk, Zhao Chi still didn't know why she had called him over.

But it certainly wasn't just to chat.

"Instructor Li, did you call me here for something?"

Li Ruanyu sighed—she really did seem quite annoyed.

She glanced at Zhao Chi again before saying: "I called you here because I wanted to ask about your wishes. Do you have any plans for your future development?"

Hard to imagine running into this kind of question in this world too… like some sort of interview?

Zhao Chi shook his head. "Honestly, no. I just want to develop my territory more and become stronger."

"Mm, but your clan only has one village-level lord in this cohort. Although your development speed is fast, the gap between you and the others is still quite large. So I want to ask—are you willing to come to me?"

"Can you be more specific?"

Li Ruanyu nodded.

She sat up a little straighter.

"Mm, it's like this.

"My identity is the captain of the Jade Squad of the White Tiger Regiment. I have many of our academy's trainees under me, including Lu Yi and the others.

"Everyone's level is about the same—basically village-level and town-level lords—so the problems and tasks everyone runs into are similar.

"If you're willing to come, I can transfer your affiliation over, and then assign you some teammates whose strength is close to yours.

"That way, you'll have more suitable teammates, and you can take on tasks more suited to your current strength. In combat you can also play to your own advantages and accumulate your own battle experience.

"Otherwise, if you're always being carried by higher-level lords, it'll be hard for you to train, and your improvement will be very slow.

"Also, higher-level lords have heavier tasks. Although you're excellent, right now you're a drag on them too.

"That's not good for either side.

"So I suggest you come to my side.

"Also, my side has higher authority, so whatever you do will be more convenient.

"You don't need to worry about your clan either—I've already spoken to your clan leader. Now it only needs your agreement."

"What do you think?"

From her tone, Li Ruanyu seemed very eager to have him join her squad.

Zhao Chi wasn't interested in teammates of similar strength, but he valued Li Ruanyu's authority.

The Zhao clan had just joined the Breaking World Army, so their authority was certainly very basic.

Li Ruanyu's chances here should be much higher.

And since Zhao Shizhang had also agreed, Zhao Chi naturally had no reason to stay in the Zhao family's ranks.

Zhao Chi nodded: "I do agree, but why do you want to transfer us village-level lords? Why not transfer some high-level lords?"

Li Ruanyu smiled: "I'm not short on high-level combatants — my team has plenty of experts. What I'm short on is outstanding reserve talent. Transferring you over is for future plans."

Zhao Chi asked: "Understood. I'm willing to join, but I have some ideas I'd like to ask about — whether they can be realized."

"Having ideas is great. Go ahead and tell me."

"First, I'd like to ask — can I not be assigned any teammates?"

"No teammates?" Li Ruanyu was a bit surprised: "Zhao Chi, teammates are very necessary. Relying on yourself is indeed the foundation of everything, but reliable teammates are indispensable — they raise your combat ceiling and can come to your rescue in time."

"I know, but after all, I'm still in the early stage right now. I still want to rely on myself to deal with enemies more. When it's truly necessary later on, I'll consider team combat."

Li Ruanyu shook her head: "No. Teammates must go through battle after battle to build tacit understanding. If you wait until later to ask for teammates, it'll be far too late."

"Oh…"

"But I can give you some time — about half a year or so — to develop on your own. After that, though, you still have to return to team combat."

"That's fine!"

Zhao Chi agreed readily.

"I haven't finished!" Li Ruanyu glared at him: "Although I'm letting you develop on your own, there are some team missions you must take part in, and you absolutely must come for wars."

"Of course! No problem!"

Li Ruanyu laughed helplessly: "Look at how happy you are. Is that the only request?"

"There are two more…"

"Speak!"

"I want to know — from where we are, is there any accessible spatial rift?"

"Spatial rift? You want to go to another city?"

"Right… I want to go take a look, scout out the market and such."

Li Ruanyu laughed: "You're scouting the market? What do you have to scout? What do you have to sell?"

"I…"

Zhao Chi thought it over and mentioned the two specialty products from Su Qin's territory.

"I can sell some bamboo wine and bamboo-leaf tea."

Li Ruanyu said doubtfully: "Neither of those two specialty products of yours counts as a high-grade specialty, and your output isn't much either, right? You could just sell them right here in Horn Cliff Town — no need to go all the way somewhere else to sell them."

Zhao Chi said helplessly: "Instructor, just tell me whether it's possible or not, will you?"

Li Ruanyu said: "Why are you getting impatient already? It's possible. The cliff right next to our Horn Cliff Town is a spatial rift, but outside is very chaotic right now — plenty of bandits and alien races are inside. You definitely can't go out on your own; you can only go with a merchant caravan."

"Do we have a merchant caravan?"