Chapter 27: A New Mission
There were still two days left before classes officially started.
After the holiday, the RSNDM team gathered again and resumed their intense training.
The university qualifying tournament in March was about to begin. They needed to get themselves into their best condition because this time they would be facing top players from across the province and even the whole country.
That evening, training ended earlier than usual. At the suggestion of coach Chen Jie and captain Zhuo Feng, everyone went out for dinner together again.
Of course, this time Chen Jie did not dare to spend too much. They went to an all-you-can-eat personal hot pot restaurant.
He told everyone that after graduating, his parents now considered him a real adult, so all the New Year red envelopes he gave to his younger relatives came out of his own pocket.
After coming back from the holiday, he was practically broke.
He told everyone not to complain about this meal and to forget the fancy dinner before the holiday. Being able to eat hot pot now was already good enough!
The freeloaders naturally had no objections. One after another, they thanked him with cheerful cries of, "Thank you, Coach!" and "Thank you, rich boss!"
Inside the hot pot restaurant, after a storm of spoons and chopsticks, everyone had finished eating except Yu Sen, who was still fighting on.
He finished an entire fish in three bites, patted his stomach, and ordered another plate of shrimp.
"The battle has only just begun!"
When the restaurant owner heard that, he turned to look at him. Seeing that Yu Sen kept choosing the most expensive dishes, the owner's eyelids twitched, and he quietly lit another cigarette.
Sitting beside Zhuo Feng, Lin Wan lightly tapped him on the waist with the back of his hand.
"Zhuo Feng, is there anything you really like?"
Zhuo Feng turned and looked at him in confusion.
"Something I like?"
"Yeah." Lin Wan could not think of what gift to give him in return, so he decided to ask directly.
"Money!"
Lin Wan rolled his eyes.
Who doesn't like money?
"Besides money. Is there anything you want right now?"
"An RTX 4090 White ROG Strix."
Lin Wan searched for it on his phone. The moment he saw the price, he immediately closed the webpage.
"Pick something else. Something more realistic."
"Uh..." Zhuo Feng finally understood that Lin Wan wanted to give him a gift. "Anything is fine."
If it could be a pair of eyes, that would be even better.
"Alright."
If anything was fine, then that made it easy. You gave me food, so I'll give you food too.
Didn't I bring some homemade Chinese sausages from home? Those would make a good return gift.
After Yu Sen finally finished eating, Zhuo Feng suggested taking a group photo to remember what everyone looked like before going into the tournament.
Everyone happily agreed and took a group picture together.
After that, Zhuo Feng held his phone and took individual photos with every teammate. He even said he was worried the pictures might not turn out well, so he insisted on taking several with each person.
Especially when taking photos with Lin Wan, he made all kinds of extra requests under the excuse of "making memories."
"Move your head a little closer."
"Smile."
"Don't keep your shoulders so far apart."
He made so many requests that Lin Wan, who disliked taking pictures, was almost getting impatient before Zhuo Feng finally put away his phone.
Back in the dormitory, Zhuo Feng climbed onto his bed and secretly uploaded the photos with Lin Wan to his Moments, setting the privacy so that only he could see them.
Then he stared blankly at the eyes in the photos.
No one knew what he was thinking, but a little drool slowly appeared at the corner of his mouth.
Young people are often like this.
If you want a photo with one special person, then the easiest excuse is to take a photo with the whole team.
That night...
Lin Wan opened his eyes after being woken up by a series of noisy "meow, meow" sounds.
Seeing the Spirit floating in the air, he asked weakly,
"Spirit, it's so late. Aren't you going to sleep?"
"I don't need to go to school or work~"
Well...
He could not argue with that.
"Spirit, did you wake me up because something happened?"
"There's a new mission~"
His sleepiness disappeared instantly. His eyes seemed to shine in the darkness.
"Tell me!"
"Mission: Life depends on exercise. Proper exercise makes the body stronger and healthier. To better support the healing process, the host must complete a 1,000-meter run within 8 minutes. After accumulating a total of 10 kilometers, the reward will be 1% disease recovery."
"Complete a 1,000-meter run within 7 minutes and 30 seconds. After accumulating a total of 20 kilometers, the reward will be another 1% disease recovery."
"Following the same pattern, complete a 1,000-meter run within 4 minutes. After accumulating a total of 80 kilometers, the reward will be 1% disease recovery."
"Each run must be at least 1,000 meters without stopping for it to count toward the total~"
"If you complete all the missions, you can receive a total of 8% disease recovery~"
Although the rewards this time were generous, Lin Wan looked troubled.
"Running? Can my body even handle running?"
"Trust my judgment~"
"Alright, I'll accept it!"
Lin Wan closed his eyes again, but after lying down for only a moment, he suddenly opened them wide.
"By the way, Spirit, why can I still see you when the dorm is so dark? Do you glow?"
"It's your brain that's seeing me, not your eyes~"
"Really?"
"Here's how it works: @#￥%%……&!"
Lin Wan: "Snore... zZZ~"
The next day.
At Maple Internet Cafe.
Whenever the team took a break from training, Lin Wan would take out his phone and watch videos about running. He carefully remembered the techniques and the things he needed to pay attention to.
Zhuo Feng narrowed his eyes when he saw this. He leaned close to Lin Wan's phone screen.
"What are you watching?"
"A running video."
"What's so interesting about that?"
Lin Wan's phone screen was a little blurry, so Zhuo Feng leaned even closer to get a better look.
"Hey, you're blocking my view."
Lin Wan pushed his head away.
Just then, the instructor appeared in the video. He was wearing a tight tank top that clearly showed off his muscles.
Zhuo Feng's eyes shifted slightly.
"You want to start running for exercise?"
"Yeah."
"Then what's the point of just watching videos? Why not find someone to teach you directly?"
Lin Wan blinked.
"I can't afford to hire a coach."
Zhuo Feng pointed at himself.
"Me! I'll teach you. Free of charge. Besides, I want to lose the weight I gained during the New Year holiday."
He lied with a perfectly straight face. Lin Wan looked him up and down suspiciously.
"Can you really do it?"
"Hey! Who are you looking down on? I used to have abs, okay?"
"Alright then. I'll leave it to you, Coach Zhuo."
"No problem. It's much easier when you have a running partner."
"Can we start tonight?"
"Sure. Tonight we won't ride our bikes. We'll just run back to school and get used to it first."
"Okay."
When training ended that evening...
As soon as Lin Wan walked out of the internet cafe and saw the crowded street, he froze.
There were so many people.
Were they really going to start running right here?
Wouldn't everyone stare at them?
Wouldn't he look like a monkey on display?
He immediately lost his courage. One look at his hesitation, and Zhuo Feng understood. Social anxiety was making him afraid.
"How about we go back to school and run there instead?"
"Yeah, okay. The school has a running track, so it should be easier."
Before Zhuo Feng could say anything else, Lin Wan had already climbed onto the back seat of the bicycle.
"But the school track has plenty of people too. There are people taking walks, people running, and couples on dates."
Hearing that, Lin Wan frowned so hard that his whole face wrinkled up.
Maybe... he should just find an empty place and run in circles by himself?
Seeing that he stayed silent, Zhuo Feng spoke again.
"But if you don't like crowded places, I do know somewhere that's much quieter."
"Where?"
"There's a river southeast of the school. Along the riverbank is a tree-lined path, and there are very few people there at night."
"Alright, let's go there."
"Okay, let's go."
Zhuo Feng turned his bicycle and headed toward the quiet tree-lined path with Lin Wan riding behind him.