Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
When the other people in the bar still looked at that bearded man, who was covered in soot, in a daze, Zhang Lisheng and the three girls had already quietly walked out of the bar.
The moment they walked out of the door, the young man stopped in the cold wind under the bright streetlights and smiled as he said, “Tina, I’m leaving Noah World to New York with my mum and Uncle Lavin tomorrow. This time, after I go back and spend my new year there, I’ll continue to play the ‘Aborigine Hegemony’ game in Shrimp World No. 2. I’m afraid we’d have to wait one more year before we can finally meet again.”
“No matter how long it is, I’ll always wait for you to come to find me, baby,” Tina looked at her boyfriend with tears gradually filling her eyes as she said softly.
“I’ll do my best to make it as fast as possible.” Upon hearing her girlfriend’s words, the young man nodded before looking at the other two girls by the side. Waving, he said, “Bye, Trish, Sheila.”
“Oh, baby. I’ll miss you!” With a hand placed on her chest, Sheila went up to hug Zhang Lisheng and placed a kiss on his cheek as she said longingly. After she let go, Trish also suddenly went up to hug the young man and whispered in his ears solemnly, “No matter what other people or what you think, you’ll always be a knight and not a selfish bastard in my heart.”
After that, the girl bit her lips and took a last good look at Zhang Lisheng before saying loudly, “Bye, Lisheng.”
Just like that, after bidding goodbye with the young man one by one, the three girls turned around at the same time, not turning around to look at him anymore, as though their tears would fall uncontrollably if they did, as they stopped a taxi by the street before taking off.
Zhang Lisheng watched the girls leave and stood on the street for a while. He took a deep breath of the cold air and when he was just about to reach out a hand to stop the taxi, a large grey SUV stopped at his side.
The young man was taken aback by surprise. The car’s window was winded down and a beautiful face appeared. “Get in the car, Lisheng. I’ll send you home.”
“Maddie, what are you doing here?” Zhang Lisheng was astonished. Frowning, he said in annoyance, “Don’t take me as an idiot and tell me that this is a coincidence. Are you following me?”
“Of course not.” The girl shook her head and looked at the young man with a smile. “You’ve booked three tickets for yourself, Miss Lili and Mr. Lavin for a 10 o’clock flight tomorrow morning through the company so I figured that you may go back home to sleep this evening since you’ll be leaving this early. Because of this, I just drove around in the city, trying to see whether I can encounter you or not.”
“Oh, I see! Then you must be hella lucky!” Zhang Lisheng was stunned again. When he thought about the trouble that Maddie purposely went through for this, the anger in his heart disappeared without a trace as he muttered, “But is it worth it to do so?”
“Of course, it’s worth it to see you!” Maddie smiled. “LS’ new factories have been launched in Noah in recent months and I can’t even go back to New York this Christmas, so I must bid goodbye to you. Can you get in the car first? It’s too cold with the window down.”
“Just call me directly if you want to contact me. Don’t tell me that you don’t know that New Washington A has already been installed with cellphone towers now?” Zhang Lisheng walked over the car and went to sit in the passenger seat before looking at the girl and asked.
“But I was afraid that it was not convenient for you to pick up my phone and I didn’t want to make things difficult for you…” Maddie started the car and said in a light voice.
“If you really think so, I wouldn’t have fallen into such a predicament right now,” the young man fell into a moment of silence before saying coldly. Then, he sighed and said in a low voice, “Please don’t do such a stupid thing anymore next time. It’s impossible for you to be so lucky and win the lottery every time. Just calling me directly will do.”
“B-But, I want to say goodbye to you personally…” The girl said in a low voice. Before she could finish her words, Zhang Lisheng suddenly shouted loudly like the raging sound made by a trapped beast. “Then, just call me out to meet! What the hell! Can’t you turn your brain a little?”
“Then what else will we do after meeting up?” Maddie was not afraid of the young man’s anger. With one hand on the steering wheel turning the SUV into a dark alley, another hand of hers slipped gently and quickly under Zhang Lisheng’s belt. As she gently caressed him, she asked.
The young man suddenly felt heat and slipperiness at the lower half of his body. His body turned stiff, he wanted to curse but not knowing what should he curse.
At this time, the car had already stopped. The girl pressed the button of the center console and put down the backrest of the passenger seat. Extending her body softly, he kissed Zhang Lisheng’s lower abdomen and slowly moved down, and down. With a hoarse yrt enticing voice, she said, “You don’t have to do anything. You don’t have to do anything, baby. You only need to slowly savor it. Just leave it all to me. I’ll make you remember this beautiful night forever…”
Not long after, the SUV began to rock in a slow rhythm.
After a bout of passion, it was already more than one hour later when the car finally started its engine again. After driving for more than twenty minutes on the empty urban road, the jeep entered a street that had white single-story wooden houses built on both sides of the streets, it was already 11 o’clock in the middle of the night.
Compared to the bustling cities on Earth, the quiet streets of the foreign world’s oasis was already basically vacated when it was near midnight, with only the sounds of wind being heard.
The SUV stopped by the street. Maddie, whose face was still flushed with a peach-red color, whispered lightly, “We’ve reached, Lisheng. Please send my regards to your mother and Mr. Lavin according to the Chinese etiquette.”
Then, wisely, she no longer said anything more.
When the girl was speaking, Zhang Lisheng jumped out of the car expressionless as though he did not hear anything. He strolled up to the front of a wooden house on the roadside, he suddenly stood still and said loudly, “It’s late now. Call my phone now and keep the line connected when you drive back.”
“A-Alright.” Maddie was stunned in the car. She took out her phone and dialed Zhang Lisheng’s number, as tears spilled from her eyes out of the blue. Loudly, she shouted, “I’ll hang up the phone when I reach my place and send you a text message to tell you that I’ve arrived safely.”
The young man raised a hand over his head and silently waved. After picking up the call, he took out his key from his pocket and opened the door.
The wooden house was not big in size. Apart from a kitchen that also served as a living room, there was only one utility room, one master bedroom, one guest room and two connected garages.
Quietly entering the door, Zhang Lisheng found that his mother and Lavin were still awake, watching an unknown documentary on the sofa in the living room. Astounded, he asked in bafflement, “Mom, you and Uncle Lavin are not sleeping yet? We need to catch an early flight tomorrow, y’know?”
“Oh baby, come here. I want to talk to you.” Upon hearing this, Lili turned off the TV, turned on the light, and walked up apologetically to his son, who was standing at the door.
“What’s wrong?”Zhang Lisheng hugged his mother and asked in confusion.
“Sorry baby, I can’t go back to New York with you,” Lili said with a guilty conscience. “Seven children transferred to school today and both of their parents were killed in the typhoon two months ago. As the principal, I don’t think I can leave them alone during Christmas…”
“Oh mom, stop saying anything else. I understand,” the young man sighed and nodded as he interrupted his mother. “But can’t you just bring those children back to New York?”
“No baby, many teachers are planning to accompany the poor children in the school’s auditorium during Christmas Eve.”
“That’s really compassionate. How about Uncle Lavin then? Is he staying with you in Noah?”
“Yes, Lisheng, since your mother can’t leave New Washington A, I plan to stay as well,” Lavin with a big build, who was standing by the side, nodded.
“Then I guess I’ll go back alone,” Zhang Lisheng said with a shrug. “I’ve never spent my Christmas alone before. I guess it would be not bad for me to try it as well.”
“Perhaps you should stay too, baby.” When Lili imagined how his son would have to spend the Christmas Eve alone, her eyes started to brim with tears. “Or perhaps you can spend the holiday together with your brothers and sisters in New York, you should not be alone during Christmas Eve.”
“Hey, mom, don’t worry, I have my plans,” the young man said with a smile and kissed his mother’s cheek. “It’s late now, I’ll go to sleep first.”
Looking at her son, who had long become independent, Lili seemed to want to say something as she opened her mouth. However, no words left her mouth at all. Nodding silently, she watched her son say “Goodnight, Uncle Lavin” to her lover before he walked into the guest room.
On the next morning, Zhang Lisheng walked out of the room early. When he saw that Lili was already busy preparing for a hearty breakfast, he sweetly praised the delicious pie while chowing down on the food. After that, he bid goodbye to his mother and got on the desert jeep by the street, before heading to the world channel connecting Noah and Earth.
The jeep drove fast in the desert, kicking off fine sand on both sides. About an hour later, when the car was approaching the world’s fence that was about to crumble under the strange white sunshine, a red light curtain appeared in front of the young man.
“Hayde, is that the defensive device set up by the Atlanteans to prevent invasion from the foreign world’s creatures?” Looking at the red brilliance that resembled flowing lava in the distance, Zhang Lisheng, who was sitting at the co-driver seat, asked the sturdy middle-aged man, who was driving a special nine-seater jeep agilely as though he was driving a kart.
“Yes, sir.” The driver misunderstood the young man and quickly smiled as he explained, “I’ve traveled through it many times and even though the light curtain looks horrifying, it’s actually just one thin layer that can be crossed by just half a step. As long as we don’t secretly smuggle any Noah World animal, we won’t feel a thing at all.”
“What would happen if an animal was smuggled?”
Zhang Lisheng’s question caused Hayde’s expression to turn awkward. Swallowing his saliva, he answered, “It’d turn into ashes, sir. I’ve personally seen it before. Even though there’s no physical harm to the smuggler, the scene was extremely terrifying. I must say that the Atlanteans has a hell of a lot of ways to do things.”
When the driver was speaking, the speed of the Jeep did not slow down and he quickly came to the world channel.
Although many of the new immigrants of Noah planned to go back to Earth for Christmas, due to the harsh conditions in Feren City, nobody was willing to go there to wait for the plane. They would pre-plan their time well before they departed so there were not many people lining up to cross the passage. After waiting for three to five minutes, it was the turn of the jeep that Zhang Lisheng was sitting on.
