Chapter 19: A Burden?

After afternoon classes began, students streamed in and out of the Secret Realm entrance, all eager to make one last push to improve their scores before the College Entrance Examination.

The Secret Realm was the perfect training ground, honing both combat skills and reaction time in dangerous environments—an unparalleled choice for preparation.

For a full half-hour, Ke Lu and Su Rou waited among the bustling crowd, but their teammates remained conspicuously absent.

The weather in March wasn't particularly hot, and Martial Artists benefited from enhanced physical resilience, but anyone would be furious after being stood up like this.

Su Rou's cheeks puffed up with fury as her fingers jabbed furiously at her phone screen, nearly piercing the glass.

"Seriously?! What the hell? He's the one who's so late, and he still has the nerve to act so self-righteous?"

So enraged she nearly threw her phone, Su Rou pulled up the chat interface and showed it to Ke Lu:

"Look at this guy—so arrogant!"

The WeChat chat displayed a single message:

Busy. Do not disturb.

"I'm reporting him to Teacher Liu!" Su Rou snapped, about to open Teacher Liu's WeChat contact when Ke Lu's hand stopped her.

"What's wrong?" Su Rou asked, puzzled by Ke Lu's gesture to stop her.

Ke Lu raised a finger to her lips, gesturing for silence. "Look around. They're nearby."

"Where?" Su Rou jumped up in alarm. "I'm going to give them a piece of my mind!"

Ke Lu shook her head and pointed to the nearby convenience store. "Let's go inside and rest for a bit."

They each bought drinks and snacks and found a table to sit at.

Ke Lu had suspected something was amiss for a while. Being this late without even a proper explanation meant they were almost certainly doing it on purpose.

Her gaze, sharp as a hawk's, swept discreetly across the bustling crowd.

Sure enough, she spotted several furtive figures lurking nearby, their heads bobbing in and out of view.

It was Shi Lei and two teammates, glancing in their direction while whispering to each other, their faces wearing mocking grins.

"Their team probably doesn't want to take us newbies along," Ke Lu explained, "so they're pulling this stunt on purpose."

Su Rou punched the air with a clenched fist. "Why couldn't they just say so instead of making us wait around?"

Ke Lu took a small sip of her cola. "Exactly what Teacher Liu warned us about—their team's difficult personalities."

"Then let's find someone else. I'm not teaming up with them."

Ke Lu rejected the idea again. "Actually, no one likes taking on newbies, especially without any rewards. Besides, we're in the final stretch before the College Entrance Examination. Everyone's already under immense pressure."

"Moreover," a glint flashed in Ke Lu's eyes, "he possesses something I need."

Just as she finished speaking, the door to the convenience store's break room burst open from the outside. Three tall boys swaggered in, radiating arrogance.

The leader, towering at an estimated 1.9 meters, strode in with his hands casually shoved into his pockets. His skin bore the distinctive patterns unique to the Demon Race, and two prominent horns curved upward from his head.

Such striking demonic features were rare, only seen on the few Demon Race exchange students at the school.

The other two members of the group were human students.

Shi Lei whistled loudly through two fingers in his mouth, calling out to Ke Lu and Su Rou, "Yo, beauties! Been waiting long?"

His gaze swept over Ke Lu, feigning exaggerated shock—a performance through and through. "Such a tiny thing! The enemies in the Secret Realm would probably gobble you up in one bite!"

"If you ask me, you should hurry home and find your mommy."

The other two boys burst into raucous laughter.

Some students in the lounge left to avoid the noise, while others stayed to watch the drama unfold.

The scene left Ke Lu and Su Rou deeply embarrassed.

Su Rou's fists clenched so tightly her knuckles cracked.

Ke Lu restrained her, looked up at the group, and said calmly, "Since everyone's here, let's get going."

Ke Lu's calm reaction left the trio staring at each other in disbelief. They had expected her to yell, fly into a rage, or even run crying to a teacher. None of them had anticipated such a detached and indifferent attitude.

Shi Lei felt like he was hitting a cotton ball—his punches landing with no impact.

Is this girl just stupid, or does she have some kind of delayed reaction? he wondered.

Raising his voice and sneering, Shi Lei taunted, "Hey, you two bookworms! You probably don't even know what a Secret Realm is. You'd be better off playing in the mud at home."

He fully expected this insult to provoke Ke Lu, eagerly awaiting her response.

But Ke Lu remained composed, calmly reciting verbatim from her textbook: "A Secret Realm is a reflection of memory. Each Secret Realm corresponds to a real historical event, transformed through processes currently beyond human comprehension."

"Materials, equipment, and Spirit Artifacts obtained by humans from Secret Realms can be collectively referred to as Relics or Holy Relics," Ke Lu answered.

Shi Lei was speechless. I was just trying to humiliate you, not actually get an answer!

Ke Lu glanced at the group. "Still wasting time here? Aren't you going to practice?"

To Ke Lu, Shi Lei's words were utterly harmless. In her previous life, she had grown accustomed to the cutthroat world of business, where deceit and betrayal were commonplace. In A City, her primary target had been Ke Zhan, a formidable opponent of similar caliber. Suddenly being tasked with dealing with a childish brat felt awkward, even... comical.

One of Shi Lei's teammates nudged his arm and mouthed silently, "Captain, what do we do? This woman's impervious to reason."

Shi Lei forced a thin smile, dripping with sarcasm. "No wonder Old Liu thinks so highly of you. You really are a good little girl, aren't you?"

Ignoring the venom in his tone, Ke Lu pulled out the booklet Teacher Liu had given her and pointed to a Secret Realm on the map. "Let's go here: Lost Woods."

She then grabbed Su Rou's hand and strode past the group, leaving behind a parting shot:

"Hurry up. Or is dawdling and breaking promises your hobby?"

Su Rou still wore an indignant expression. "Seeing how condescending he is, I really want to punch him."

Ke Lu took her hand. "Actually, people like him are the easiest to deal with. Everything's written all over their faces. Just show them enough strength, and they'll fall in line."

Meanwhile,

Shi Lei stared blankly at Ke Lu's completely calm demeanor, completely bewildered.

This isn't going according to plan at all.

Their team already had five members. Secret Realms came in two types: Instance Secret Realms and Exploration Secret Realms.

Instance Secret Realms adjusted their difficulty based on the number of participants—the more players, the harder the challenge. Exploration Secret Realms, on the other hand, functioned like real miniature worlds with finite resources that vanished once used.

Shi Lei and his team didn't want to bring Ke Lu and Su Rou for several reasons. Besides their inexperience, adding them would increase the Instance Secret Realm's difficulty. Teaching rookies while facing greater challenges seemed like a troublesome and unprofitable endeavor to the team.

With the College Entrance Examination fast approaching, they couldn't afford to waste energy. Teacher Liu had a responsibility to the entire class, and Shi Lei needed to look out for his team members.

This time, he had only allowed two teammates to join.

As for the other two, Shi Lei sent them off to practice on their own to minimize wasted time.

However, since this was a teacher's request, the group couldn't refuse outright. Instead, they hoped this approach would make the two girls realize the difficulty and give up on their own.

One teammate nudged Shi Lei with his elbow, his face twisted into a bitter grimace. "Captain, are we really stuck dragging these two deadweights around?"

Shi Lei snapped out of his daze at the teammate's nudge.

He glanced at Ke Lu, who had already walked to the Secret Realm's shimmering barrier, her back radiating an unnerving calm. He clicked his tongue in annoyance.

Rubbing his devil horns vigorously, he declared, "Stick with me, brats. I won't let you get hurt."

"Since Old Liu assigned this mission, we'll take them along this once."

"After we exit the Secret Realm, we'll tell him they couldn't keep up with our pace at all, their combat awareness is zero, they're completely out of sync with our team, and they're nothing but liabilities! What can Old Liu do then?"

Another teammate voiced his concern: "Captain, they both have S-Rank Talents. Won't it be bad to offend them?"

Shi Lei waved it off dismissively. "So what if they're S-Rank? Can that help us on the College Entrance Examination?"

"That's settled then."