Xiao Chen was holding a notebook, wearing a T-shirt on top and quick-drying pants on the bottom, walking slowly in the second floor of the teaching building. The sun shone through the window, and a breeze blew gently from the porch, giving people a sense of early autumn comfort. In the quiet and pleasant campus, everything seemed to be no different from a few days ago. However, this was just an illusion. There was no bell for class, no playful classmates, and no old professor lecturing endlessly. The whole corridor was so quiet that it made people think wildly.
Xiao Chen thought about the rescue and excavation in the past few days. At first, he felt both depressed and hopeful. However, depression gradually overwhelmed hope. As time went by, the hope of the survivors gradually decreased to zero. Xiao Chen's mind flashed through the tragic scenes of the dead, the screams and wails of the injured, and the scenes of countless rescuers silently shedding tears.
Xiao Chen still remembered the red dress. He had seen that beautiful and energetic figure on his way to the printing shop that morning. He walked behind the unknown girl, admiring the beauty of summer. The next time he saw her was under a pile of rubble. Both the beautiful figure and the red dress were shattered. A strong resentment and anger deeply impacted his heart, and it was hard to forget.
He recalled the conversation that Principal Guo had with him. He had pretended to be a magician in order to save the situation, but it turned out to be a trap that trapped him. For the safety of the school and to deter the locals, he had to overcome his worries and fears and continue to play this role.
Xiao Chen thought about those magic items and his sudden superpowers again. He was in a state of expectation, fear, worry, and excitement. Having been indoctrinated with scientific concepts for half his life, he had a fear of things that were difficult to explain by science. This fear was like a time bomb. He didn't know if it would explode, but it was buried in his heart. However, he also had such an expectation: one day, would he be able to really control this power and realize the superman dream that every boy has in his heart
He had encountered too many things in the past few days. Various scenes appeared in his mind one after another, the strange encounter in the underground palace, the magician's mysterious notes, the shrewd bald man Xi Luo, and the critical moment when exchanging food...
Xiao Chen's heart became more and more confused, and his pace became faster and faster.
But then he slowed down again. He didn't know when a figure that made him feel at ease emerged in his mind: Luo Ling.
When Xiao Chen walked into the classroom at the end of the corridor, he found the door open. He looked inside and was surprised to find that Luo Ling had arrived first. She had changed her previous steady office style and was wearing a purple printed suspender skirt with a silk cardigan on the outside. Her hair was tied into a loose ponytail. She was sitting in the first row of seats by the window, holding her chin with one hand, and staring at the treetops outside the window in a trance.
Xiao Chen looked at her outside the door, his eyes swept across her delicate collarbone and the slightly exposed ravines on her chest, across her eyebrows that seemed a little sleepy due to fatigue, across her long black hair and her hair gently floating in the breeze, and finally stopped at the warm white hand and the red lips beside her hand. Only then did he realize that she was such a feminine woman.
He gently scratched his nose with his fingers, as if criticizing himself for always regarding her as a strong comrade and reliable comrade.
However, this atmosphere and thoughts only lasted for a moment. When Luo Ling heard the sound, turned around, put down her arms, folded them on the desk, and looked at him dignifiedly, everything changed. She smiled slightly, but Xiao Chen did not feel refreshed. The little bit of fantasy he had before was gone. The only thing he felt was... pressure
"You have already attended the briefing, and Principal Guo also talked to you alone. I heard him say that you were a little reluctant to come here. Are you acting like a big shot?" Luo Ling tilted her head slightly, with a hint of mischief in her scrutiny.
"Miss Luo, please understand. I was forced to do this at that time." Xiao Chen clasped his fists in a pretentious manner and sat down on the long table in front of Luo Ling. "I really didn't want to do this every day."
Luo Ling couldn't help laughing. No matter how she looked at him, she felt that he really looked like a monkey begging for money. Xiao Chen sighed and said, "Please don't laugh at me. We all know that those farmers are ignorant. Although Xi Luo has seen some of the world, he has definitely never dealt with magicians. To fool these people, I only need a lighter. I guarantee that they will worship me as a master. But we have to go out eventually. How can we fool those nobles who are really knowledgeable, or real magicians?"
"If a magician really comes and doesn't like me and wants to fight me," Xiao Chen jumped off the table, drew a big circle with his hands, and then pushed forward, "and just throw a big fireball at me, wouldn't I be glorious?"
"You just put up a good name and live in seclusion, so why would anyone bother you?" Luo Ling looked at him with a smile and analyzed, "Look, so many people here have never seen a magician. Even the leader with a scar on his face was scared away by the flaming sword. It's obvious that magicians are rare animals. Your flaming sword, your flying castle, and those rifles have already given so many people the impression that you are a powerful magician. With them adding fuel to the fire, the rumors will only become more and more exaggerated. Whether it's a noble or a real magician, why would they bother with someone who looks so powerful?"
"That's hard to say. Maybe it's just like in a story. One day, you, Miss Luo, are kidnapped by an evil magician, and the righteous Xiao Chen has to come out to save you. That would be the end of the story."
"If that really happens, will you save me?" Luo Ling suddenly stared at him with her big eyes without blinking.
"Of course..." Xiao Chen felt like an idiot, setting a trap for himself.
"I'm serious!" Luo Ling moved closer.
"certainly… "
"That's not something you can just say." She moved closer.
"When... that... if you get too close and stare at me, you'll get cross-eyed..." Xiao Chen moved back uncomfortably, stumbled, and jumped off the table.
"Ha, okay, okay, don't be nervous. You have already passed the first test two days ago." Luo Ling withdrew her aggressive gaze and resumed the posture of supporting her chin with one hand.
"Uh... okay." Xiao Chen felt that he could not keep up with this woman's train of thought at all.
"This is a wonderful world, and there are many things we cannot understand." Luo Ling said, looking at the sky outside the window, "Even the sun seems bigger than in the original world, which reminds us not to look at problems with old ways of thinking. How do you know you can't be a real magician? The fact that you can activate the sword means a miracle has happened to you. This may be caused by the white light, or it may not be. But I think a new door has been opened. What we should do is to walk in bravely."
"You have the same feeling?" Xiao Chen asked excitedly. He hesitated for a moment and decided to tell Luo Ling the truth. "I seem to get a kind of power from the white light... When I want to see clearly, my eyes can see more clearly. When I want to carry you to the hospital, I have more strength. You were there at that time. What changes have occurred in your body?"
When Luo Ling heard this, she jumped up.
"You... your eyesight and strength increased? Then what about me..." Luo Ling's face suddenly turned red, and she quickly crossed her arms over her chest, fearing that Xiao Chen would notice that her figure had suddenly improved.
"You've changed too? I suspect that the white light changes its physique according to our thoughts. How have you changed?"
Luo Ling glared at Xiao Chen and said, "Stop talking about this... these things! Do you want me to say more? Have you thought it through, as a grown man?"
"Alas. Now that I'm on Liangshan, I have no choice but to join."
"Then from today on, you are a member of my foreign affairs team! When all our people are here, you pick two to be your people." Luo Ling waved her hand, showing quite a bit of leadership qualities.
Just as Xiao Chen was secretly trying to figure out what part of Luo Ling had been transformed by the white light, the sound of several footsteps came from the door, and two men and two women came in one after another.
Luo Ling asked them to sit down and walked to the podium.
"Okay, now that everyone is here, our foreign affairs team is officially open. I am your team leader Luo Ling, and the guy next to me is our deputy team leader Xiao Chen, who is also the leading male role in our team. He plays the role of "Mr. Magician" full-time, so he will be needed everywhere in the future."
The others also introduced themselves. One of them was Zhang Hong, the translator of the grain trading team. Xiao Chen didn't like him very much because Li Jia was deeply impressed by his cowardly behavior several times and told Xiao Chen the story.
However, Zhang Hong did not feel that he had lost face. After returning to school, he was very proud of himself. Everyone regarded the people who participated in the grain trading team as heroes, so Zhang Hong walked with his head held high these days. He often boasted about how he remained calm in the face of gunfire and how he successfully transported the grain back, earning a lot of applause from boys and screams from girls. This time, he was assigned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He thought he could at least be a deputy team leader, but he was beaten to the lead by a junior teacher with little experience and a graduate student. He felt very unfair and naturally had no good face for the two of them.
Another sophomore boy named Ding Lunquan, tall and strong, bigger than Xiao Chen in both length and width, said he was from the school football team, because he participated in a football training camp in Spain during high school, so he speaks Spanish well. One of the two women is Liu Wan, who is in her thirties and is a teacher of Spanish. The other is Du Mei, a junior student majoring in Spanish. The two have been teacher-student relationships for a long time.
"Teacher Luo, so, our foreign affairs group is equivalent to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs? Dealing with those natives? You, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, are also a member of the 'Central Standing Committee'? That's awesome! And I am a diplomat now? Haha, this has been my dream since I was a child." The girl named Du Mei asked excitedly after listening to the introduction.
"This disaster has caused 721 of us to come into this world. All work needs someone to take the lead. The Disaster Relief Committee is just a transitional organization. In addition to Principal Guo, the other twelve people are the leaders of various affairs groups. This model is also to facilitate collaboration and communication. We are not some bigwigs in the central government." Luo Ling smiled and began to answer a series of questions from this impatient girl. "Our foreign affairs group currently has only six people. It is the smallest group, but also the one with the heaviest responsibility. You are more important than ordinary diplomats, because sometimes war or peace may depend on a word we say."
The girl's face flushed red, but she heard a sneer. Zhang Hong crossed his legs and said disdainfully: "Why are you so arrogant? The committee obviously doesn't value us. Otherwise, they would let you two young people take charge?"