Chapter 42: Jī Héng

The scene momentarily fell into an awkwardness, especially since Jī Héng was clearly speaking to Chén Chén, but for some reason, based on their positions, she ended up standing opposite Jiāng Jiāng.

I'm really sorry, I might have been a bit presumptuous.

Jī Héng gave a slight bow, showing no trace of arrogance on her person.

Perhaps seeing that the looks of Chén Chén and Jiāng Jiāng to her side were not right, Jī Héng sensibly took back her words.

I have always hoped to find a man stronger than myself as my husband; so far, you are the only one. If you already have someone you love, that would be really unfortunate.

After saying that, she gave a light smile, treating it as just a joke between giving and taking.

From her demeanor and speech, she would be easy to get along with, except that Jiāng Jiāng sensed a hint of falsehood in this woman's portrayal.

Just like a thieving cat that didn't hide the drool at the corner of its mouth, every word this woman spoke seemed as if it were deliberately designed, full of purpose.

Alright, we've already met.

But I really didn't expect that three of the top four are here; what good luck.

One should say, not unworthy of being the Master of Earth; the two people beside him should be his future team; this world really does have a notion of luck.

Jī Héng has never believed in this, but sometimes she can't help but believe it, just like the scene before her.

We also didn't expect to meet Miss Jī Héng, the temporary second place, this afternoon." Jiāng Jiāng especially emphasized the two characters "temporary" with a slightly heavier tone.

This is a rare active counterattack from Jiāng Jiāng, after all, that bad woman number two openly flirted with her future husband—unbearable.

It's just that you got a slight lead in the morning exam and took second place; what's there to show off about? I almost thought you and my husband were both perfect scores.

Jiāng Jiāng still has considerable confidence in overtaking Jī Héng.

One must know that although Bloodstrike is said to be good at group combat, that is only relative to short weapons; it makes up for the short weapon's deficiency in that area, but for Jiāng Jiāng herself, group combat remains her weak point.

And while having lunch at noon, Hóu Gē also secretly hinted to a few people that the afternoon's power fluctuation would use one-on-one staged challenges, which is her strong suit.

That bad woman only won a few thousand points more than me in the morning; the actual base scores are the same, so if I just exceed her by 0.1, I'll have turned things around.

Is that so? I'm also really looking forward to other opponents, after all, this way everyone can be more motivated and work harder.

Jī Héng's reply remained impeccable; seeing that Jiāng Jiāng's gaze held no hostility, but rather a sense of treating her as an opponent.

Then I'll go first; let's get to know each other better later. My cooking is not bad, so I can invite everyone to taste it sometime.

Jiāng Jiāng stared hatefully at Jī Héng's retreating back, 'Is it that her tea art is not bad?' (▼へ▼メ)

Moreover, don't just assume you're a competitor on your own! We've only just met for the first time.

Seeing Jī Héng gradually walk away, Jiāng Jiāng immediately planned to tell Chén Chén her recent intuition; this woman definitely has some strange purpose.

But when the words reached her lips, Jiāng Jiāng suddenly realized something was off; this kind of plot seems familiar...

A frantic recollection flashed in her mind——

Hiss——

Back when they were at the martial arts hall, those sisters who loved to binge-watch dramas often talked about TV drama plots.

In those dramas, the female villain two always used such tactics, making the female lead seem petty and unreasonable, in order to achieve the goal of driving a wedge.

Chén Chén definitely doesn't watch TV, so he wouldn't know these tropes; I certainly can't be taken in, but if I were to speak plainly……

"Jiāng Jiāng, I see you look like you have something to say."

Seeing Jiāng Jiāng lost in thought, Chén Chén instinctively spoke up to stop her; in this situation, what Jiāng Jiāng is thinking about is definitely not anything good.

"Ah? No way (ˇ﹏ˇ)"

(Forcibly holding it in)

Jiāng Jiāng shook her head while avoiding Chén Chén's gaze, forcibly refusing his interruption, pondering a solution.

"This Miss Jī Héng seems quite easy to get along with." Luófeng, unaware of the situation, casually sighed.

Chén Chén subconsciously glanced at Luófeng; for some reason, he had a bad premonition.

Jiāng Jiāng stared intently at Luófeng, as if a lightbulb had lit up above her head.

"Well, why are you all staring at me? Do you think there's something wrong with Miss Jī Héng?"

Luófeng said this before realizing, the two guys in front of him seem to be…… a couple.

Although they said they were siblings when they first met, judging by their living situation, if they don't get married, it seems hard to have a good ending.

And although Miss Jī Héng's earlier remark sounded like a joke, Jiāng Jiāng seemed to really care about it.

In other words…… I seem to have misspoken?

Just as Luófeng was thinking about how to make amends, Chén Chén instead took up his words:

"No, I also think Miss Jī Héng is quite good." Chén Chén said sincerely.

Although she gave herself a little calculation at first, it doesn't hinder Chén Chén's considerable appreciation of Jī Héng.

Someone who, in terms of talent, effort, character, and conduct, has no flaws to speak of.

Jī Héng's proposal of marriage to him is certainly not just a joke; as a hoped-for heavenly prodigy, she also bears the aspiration to shoulder the mission of family and country.

China once petitioned the World Tree to take Jī Héng as the master of Earth for a period of time, whether as a rotation or as a symbol.

The first flag after Earth's unification can confirm the historical status of the Chinese people in a unified Earth.

Faced with this request, Chén Chén naturally could not agree; coincidentally, his identity being what it is, he offered a "compromise solution" that requires no extra cost.

That is, the Chinese will be the first Earthling leader and also the Master of Earth, but this person will not be Jī Héng, whom they have cultivated.

As for the notion of the Master of Earth, Jī Héng naturally knows it too, and based on the information in China's hands, she can roughly narrow down the candidate to Chén Chén.

Since she cannot become the Master of Earth herself, she also wants to become the woman of the Master of Earth; Jī Héng's idea is just that straightforward.

As the woman of the Master of Earth, that is, Earth's First Lady, this position is equally significant.

This can serve as supervision of the future Master of Earth, likewise benefiting China's historical standing, and finally it is another path for Jī Héng to achieve her life goals.

It's not that Jī Héng lacks personal feelings; rather, compared to her life aspirations, she views romantic matters as something that can be sacrificed.

Moreover, what Jī Héng said—hoping to find a husband stronger than herself in the future—is not false.

Using truth to tell a lie, the method isn't particularly clever, but it won't provoke too much dislike—except, of course, for Jiāng Jiāng.

Especially when hearing Chén Chén say that Ji Heng was not bad, Jiāng Jiāng felt that this woman was really too scheming.

But what surprised Chén Chén and Luofeng was that Jiāng Jiāng's timely remark turned out to be unexpected.

"He is indeed a very good person, handsome, strong, well-spoken, and also skilled at cooking."

Chén Chén: ……

Jiāng Jiāng: ……

Is this really your line?!!

Luofeng glanced at Chén Chén somewhat strangely, as if using his eyes to ask: "What's wrong with this person of yours?"

Chén Chén also didn't know what was wrong with Jiāng Jiāng, yet she could give such a fair evaluation of Ji Heng.

You're not Jiāng Jiāng, who are you!!

"Luofeng bro, you just heard it too, she seems to be challenging you—what does it mean to hope to find a man stronger than herself and look down on anyone?"

Chén Chén: ……Treating others as fools is very impolite.

Luofeng: No matter how you think about it, you're challenging me—wait, actually it's you who's challenging me (ー_ー).

"Luofeng bro, do you want a wife or not? As long as you put in some effort this afternoon, if your combat power exceeds hers by a bit, this girl won't be easy to get."

(Chén Chén: The way you're talking is becoming more and more like a villain! Your expression is also turning nasty!)

Luofeng, who saw through it, didn't expose it, and after a dry cough twice said: "Actually, I already have a girlfriend."

Luofeng and Xuxin are currently in the honeymoon phase; Xuxin is also not bad-looking, and it's her first love, so resisting temptation is still quite easy.

"Ah?"

This is actually the first time Jiāng Jiāng has heard of this.

"Eh, nowadays having three wives and four concubines isn't that abnormal, Luofeng bro, you're such a good man—I think marrying two of me is completely fine—taking her home as a little...... mmph."

Jiāng Jiāng, whose mouth was covered by Chén Chén and who was being dragged forward, struggled hard, as if trying to finish her words.

……

Jiāng Jiāng, who was forcibly pushed into the challenge room by Chén Chén, returned to normal.

How could I possibly do something so stupid with my own intelligence?

Cough cough cough, of course I'm doing this to show my sovereignty to the people around me in another way.

Besides, Luofeng bro isn't just for doing this, and it's not a bad thing for him either. That bad woman, although not a good thing, still has decent looks and figure, and would definitely be good at bearing children.

Jiāng Jiāng shook her head, forget it, forget it, I won't think about it for now.

This morning's score made Jiāng Jiāng suddenly realize a problem: she seems to have overestimated the heroes of the world.

I've always heard that this place is the center of elites, only accepting geniuses, absolutely no slackers.

But what Jiāng Jiāng didn't expect was that the geniuses here don't seem as talented as she imagined.

After all, who could have imagined that the three of us who came here would simply take up three of the top four spots—this probability is not scientific at all.

Besides, there isn't even a single bad woman who can fight; if I had known this, I would have hidden a bit more.

But that wouldn't work either—hiding a bit more would only make that bad woman even more arrogant.

Originally, after this morning's scores came out, Jiāng Jiāng planned to hide a bit this afternoon, but since the second bad woman dared to provoke like that, Jiāng Jiāng decided she couldn't tolerate it!

Anyway, the original plan was also to show off talent, and there's still a first bad woman, so just hide the Spiritual Mind Master's ability.

"Beep, please confirm that preparations are complete."

"Confirmed."

"The challenge will start in five seconds, please get ready."

……

Challenge Room 44.

Mo Fan, who also came from the World Tree, had just defeated his fourth opponent.

In ordinary people's rumors, only the World Tree's medical technology is known to be transcendent; the inheritance and martial resources mentioned in the rumors lack persuasive power in the outside world.

After all, the nominally world's top two martial artists come from the two big five groups; the wealthiest is the HR Alliance, and the strongest in regional control are the various countries.

Each has its own signature martial artist, and no one openly admits being inferior to the World Tree; nobody wants their martial artists to massively defect to the World Tree.

Only someone like Mo Fan, who truly experiences the so-called inheritance and training resources of the World Tree, knows how formidable they are.

Mo Fan has always been confident in his talent, but since childhood he had never obtained any excellent resources; after entering the World Tree, he also confirmed this.

From when he first arrived, he wasn't even a martial artist, but now he can compete on the same stage as the world's geniuses.

But even so, among the World Tree companions who came over, Mo Fan is only in the middle; of the top twenty, the World Tree occupies eleven spots.

The only unexpected thing is that the first place is not Ji Heng.

What's more unexpected to Mo Fan is what Ji Heng said in public today. In Mo Fan's heart, Ji Heng is a goal worth pursuing and also the kind of girl he would like.

Ji Heng would say something like "hope to find a man stronger than herself"—Mo Fan was somewhat surprised, yet also not surprised.

After all, up to now Ji Heng hasn't met anyone absolutely stronger than her, so it's natural for her to yearn for things she hasn't encountered; these are all to be expected.

But when Ji Heng says that kind of thing to someone she hasn't even met, Mo Fan inexplicably feels irritable.

Nobody can accept their goddess becoming someone else's sycophant, even though Ji Heng is still far from being a sycophant.

Looking at the monster that's about to refresh, this time it should be a high-level beast commander at the peak level; Mo Fan is not usually a competitive person, but today he wants to move forward as much as possible.

……

Challenge Room 59.

Ji Heng is facing a monster that has truly entered the lord level, and this is probably her limit.

What one decides to do should be done as well as possible; what cannot be done should be abandoned early. Is the lord level something she can challenge now? Ji Heng is not quite sure.

But Ji Heng does not want to lose.

Even if giving her all still wouldn't allow her to catch up, she would still not want to lose.

If Jī Héng knew that someone had gotten full marks by directly skipping a level, they also wouldn't know how angry they'd become.

Because of various reasons, the afternoon competition grew increasingly fierce; those below did not want to lose their chance to enter the Dragon Gate, those in the middle were unwilling to accept being crushed by others, and the few at the top, for various reasons, also gave it their all.

Of course, this time Luofeng is the exception.

Luofeng is also a typical "hide-one's-hand" master; if not for being misled by Jiāng Jiāng and Chén Chén, he wouldn't have planned to go all out this morning.

The standings of the top few were already set; Luofeng also didn't intend to deliberately compete for rankings anymore, especially that Miss Jī Héng—if he truly surpassed her, he'd attract unwanted attention, and besides, he still had to spend the night chatting on the phone with Xuxin.

Let Jiāng Jiāng go compete with her.

Time passed quickly; the evaluation of combat power amplitude became slightly complex. Challengers could repeatedly challenge using entirely virtual bodies, correcting their amplitude deviations by facing random monsters of the same difficulty to obtain the highest possible amplitude.

Chén Chén happened to be in a leisurely mood, so he didn't skip levels again and just set a value directly; he also intended to challenge some limits of this body.

This human body has taken up the best resources currently available on Earth; just how far it has reached, even Chén Chén himself isn't quite sure.