Proofreader: JSmith
Ling Chen and Shui Ruo walked hand in hand in the biggest shopping heaven in Beijing. Shui Ruo had ice cream in her hand and was lightly licking it. Ever since she was little, some of her favourite desserts had been chocolate, ice cream and fruit candies. The big shopping bag in Ling Chen’s hand was currently filled with such desserts.
In the past, they rarely ever went to crowded places, let alone this place. One reason was because of Shui Ruo’s weak body. The other was because they didn’t want the Isrock disease to be transmitted to others.
Being the political centre and one of the busiest cities in China, naturally, there would be a variety of ladies in this city. However, there were few that could match Shui Ruo’s beauty and everyone who saw her would immediately be stunned by her natural angel-likeness. Her smile was capable of melting any heart. Her pupils glistened like crystals and her tender face was beautiful beyond description. She was almost like an artwork come to life. Her purity and beauty did not belong to this world and the dirty air around her only tainted her.
Along the way, Shui Ruo caught the attention of many. They were all stunned and marvelled by her looks. This meant the jealousy of many girls, whereas Ling Chen received mostly envious looks from the guys. However, they were both very used to this as she had been more beautiful than others even as a child. Even her parents had joked about her beauty being disastrous.
“Brother, I think that’s all I want to buy. Let’s go for a walk, okay?”
“Sure,” he held onto her hand as they walked towards home.
In the distance, a fat guy picked up his phone and directed its camera towards Shui Ruo. A light snap could barely be heard coming from the camera. Ling Chen glared in that direction but continued walking. As the fatty was about to put his phone away, someone came along and knocked his phone out of his hand and onto the ground. He then continued walking and stepping on the phone as he went. Whether it was because of the quality of the phone, or just because the person had impressive leg strength, the phone shattered into pieces where he stood on it.
The fatty was about to act on his fury before the person stopped and turned around to look at him. It was such a hot day but he was wearing a black cap. The fatty was faced with a guy full of ferocious scars on his face. They were a pair of triangular eyes, not unlike that of a viper. With these eyes glaring at him, the fatty couldn’t help but break out in a cold sweat. Almost as if something was on his throat, breathing became uncomfortable.
“Sorry,” The mysterious man apologised with a sharp look, as if he were about stab into the fatty.
“It… it’s okay,” and without even picking up the pieces of his phone, the fatty turned and left as quickly as possible, almost tripping in his attempt to do so.
Watching him, the man let out a cold chuckle before he walked slowly back into the crowd.
Up ahead, a soft hustling sound could be heard. Soon enough, the source of the sound became visible. A wine-red maglev (magnetic levitation) sports car was moving with pretty fast speed. This was supposed to be one of the biggest pedestrians-only streets in Beijing, which meant that cars were not allowed in. A sports car coming in would therefore cause a disturbance. However, in this world, the rules were very flexible and as long as you had enough money and power, they pretty much didn’t apply to you. Someone who had the guts to drive a car in here obviously had to be someone of great background. The maglev sports car only supported this. Already being quite advanced, a maglev sports car was considered a luxury item. Even in Beijing, there were only a couple of people rich enough to drive one of those.
The maglev car slowed down and stopped a few metres in front of Ling Chen, where the main entrance was located. Shui Ruo smiled, exclaiming, “Brother look, what a beautiful car!”
“Indeed it is beautiful,” Ling Chen nodded and thought to himself if he should buy one for her. But he would have to teach her how to drive first.
Three more luxury business cars followed after the maglev sports car. They were escorting the sports car and covering up the busiest walkway in the city. Everyone started to chatter, wondering who it was that was able to hold such a spectacle.
The doors open and a long and beautiful leg came out of the car door. It was a girl that appeared, taking off her sunglasses and throwing them back into the car as she stepped out. Most men thereafter diverted their attention away from the car and onto the women that.
She was merely a girl of 16 or 17 years, at the peak of her beauty. Face as tender as snow, bright red lips, a charming nose and a pair of starlight eyes underneath black eyelashes. The combination of all this created a look that could charm hundreds and thousands of men. She had smooth skin, a vibrant appearance, and uniquely lively, youthful aura. The fitting light-blue sleeveless T-shirt she wore revealed her snow-white shoulders, and complimented her S-shaped, curvy body. As for her legs, she wore long, bleached skinny jeans that served well to emphasise their length.
She was only so young, but appeared to have matured already. She possessed such an attractive body and was able to bring out the lust in many men without even thinking about it. A faint smile complimented her lively and youthful charm but couldn’t hide her natural noble background.
Coincidentally bumping into Xiao Qi in the real world was a good thing. The Xiao Qi before his eyes was no longer the long robed elementalist he was used to.
Although they could tell that it was Xiao Qi, she may not recognise them as she had never seen them in real world. That being said, Ling Shui Ruo’s appearance was just too hard to ignore. If she was to be noticed by this young mistress, it could bring trouble. So he directed Shui Ruo in a different direction and continued walking.
Being able to have the attention of everyone was a usual thing for Princess Xiao. She closed the door and walked towards the shopping entrance. Behind her were several men on full alert, dressed in black suits, black sunglasses and carrying invisible microphones. Their appearance screamed ‘body guard’. Their footsteps behind her made her turn around. With a fierce look that was unfortunately too cute to be threatening, she demanded, “Didn’t I say I only want three men? Why did so many come?!”
“It’s just, we’re worried!”
“Seriously! I am just here to buy some things. All I needed were two men to hold things and one to look after the car. Why did so many people follow me to go shopping? You, and you come with me, the rest of you look after the car and don’t follow me!”
“Yes ma’am,” they didn’t dare defy Princess Xiao’s commands because in the Battle Alliance, the person with the most power was not the guild leader, not the young master but this princess! It was ultimately because both guild master and young master adored this princess. Almost everything she said went, as they didn’t want to wrong her.
And so, the two men who were legendary figures went to be Princess Xiao’s personal movers while the others could only crowd around her beloved car. They guarded it closely, not even allowing a fly to get close.
As she was about to turn around, she caught a glimpse of two people walking together hand in hand up ahead. Something about them felt familiar to her but she couldn’t recall where the feeling came from. Quickly, the back of these two people disappeared into the distance. Not thinking any more about it, she began her shopping day. She did all the shopping for Heart’s Dream.
After buying things, Ling Chen and Shui Ruo came straight to this place. This was their favourite and most visited spot. Every time they came here, their mood would become lightened. They looked afar, at the horizon of an endless green field. A place without the noises of the busy city.
Walking on the soft land, the feeling of a fresh breeze came upon them. They walked and walked until Shui Ruo became tired. Ling Chen then sat on the ground with Shui Ruo on his knees, so her clothes didn’t become dirty.
“This time we walked for so long until we reached a place we’ve never been before,” Shui Ruo smiled. She could still remember the last time. It was the first time she came here after she recovered. She didn’t have to lean on her big brother and walked about 500 metres by herself. Although a bit tired, she was really happy. And this time, she walked much further than she ever did before. She really had fully recovered, even if she was still weaker than the others physically.
Ling Chen looked towards the distance, “In the future, if you’d like, we can walk to anywhere. When I finish the promise with Yun Feng, we can leave Beijing and go to anywhere you want.”
He thought to himself at the same time, In the next 10 years we will find the cure to the disease. As the medical world was becoming more and more advanced, 10 years would be more than enough time to find the cure.
“Wherever brother goes, I’ll follow,” Shui Ruo declared, sitting in his arms. She smiled lightly, asking, “Hehe, brother, do you think sister Qi Qi is really pretty? When you first saw her, you looked at her secretly for so long.”
“Beautiful things always force people to take a couple of looks,” Ling Chen smiled.
“So, brother likes sister Qi Qi then?” She blinked her eyes.
“Of course not! It was only admiration,” Ling Chen shook his head.
“If brother has an interest, he should pursue it. Otherwise, Sister Qi Qi might get stolen by other boys. If that time comes you will regret it. I support brother 100 percent,” Shui Ruo said seriously, again with a light smile.
“Ha, who pushes the person she likes onto other girls?”
As the conversation continued, Ling Chen felt something in the air. This was the feeling of danger around them!
Ling Chen scanned the area quickly. It was a broad field and other than the occasional birds and insects, no one else could be seen. At last, Ling Chen looked upward and saw something extremely small. So small that it was almost invisible to the naked eye. It was a black dot that was gradually becoming bigger. Around him he could also hear a sound closing in on them.
“Brother? What’s wrong?” Shui Ruo sensed his uneasiness and asked nervously.
“Close your eyes, cover your ears!!” Ling Chen yelled without explanation. Then he picked her up and ran forward as fast as he could.
