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Chapter 18: The Old Shadow Remains in My Heart

The tenth round lasted from 8:00 to 9:20 and each venue was used four times.

This time, Mu Zhengguang's opponent is: Zhang Chengming.

Zhang Chengming was holding a folding fan, the ribs of which were about a foot long. The fan surface, made of rice paper, was completely white.

Mu Zhengguang guessed that this person's ability was probably more towards the wind. The power of wind? He immediately rejected this guess: pure elemental power was rare in the world, and it was unlikely to be exposed so early. In addition, the fan was not an excellent carrier of the wind element, and it was very limited.

He was sizing up his opponent, and his opponent was sizing up him.

This man was holding an hourglass, looking very unserious. But to be able to enter the tenth round, he must be no ordinary person. The golden sand flowing in the hourglass represented some kind of changing force?

Zhang Chengming rushed forward with all his might. He swung his folding fan forward, creating a strong gust of wind.

Mu Zhengguang bent his knees and lowered his center of gravity. The strong wind blew past him, and he was enveloped by the icy cold. At this time, he was more certain of his guess: My ability to resist cold is "very strong". The low temperature you created can affect me. This is not due to the nature of the wind power itself, but mixed with other factors.

Zhang Chengming stood 20 meters away and waved his hand, and the cold wind whistled and swept over, driven by him, exploring the way for him. The gusts of wind were just a slight test, if he wanted to use it to blow his opponent away from the field, it would be too fantastic.

He folded the fan, leaped forward and ran wildly, raising his hand. A green air wave like a blade slashed out at a high speed, like ten thousand green leaves being blown into pieces by the wind, carried forward by the wind, and blown into a crescent shape by the wind, fluctuating rapidly in the air and dissipating rapidly.

The air wave can only hit opponents within five meters, and it is out of reach beyond five meters. Zhang Chengming's control of distance is quite accurate, and he launched the air wave from three meters away. Logically, this sudden attack should have swept the opponent away, but the subsequent results were not satisfactory.

Mu Zhengguang's tactics were always similar, with the advantage of attributes and the right timing, the combination of the two would lead to victory. This time was no different, just in a slightly different form.

Mu Zhengguang had long guessed that the opponent could attack from a distance, so once the distance was close, he accelerated and deviated from the original direction, just avoiding the air wave. Through this test, he roughly understood the strength of the air wave. The asymptotic range of his side was much larger than the attack range of the opponent's air wave, so he could fight a protracted war.

There was no suspense in the game afterwards. The wind blew outwards one after another, as if it was free. The strong wind blew in gusts, but it could not knock anyone down, nor could it bring victory.

Zhang Chengming chased his opponent all over the field, and the more he ran, the more confused he became: I am the hunter and you are the prey. The prey will definitely run at full speed when being chased. However, a person can only run at full speed for three to five minutes at most. Before the asymptote was obtained, some people were exhausted after running a thousand meters. If they speeded up a little, they would be out of breath, dizzy, and the sky would be dark and the ground would be dark. I have experienced this feeling. And you ran for at least six minutes without slowing down at all?
The two of them ran around the four sides and diagonals, and Zhang Chengming was almost dizzy. He vaguely felt that his speed had slowed down, but fortunately the opponent's speed had also slowed down, but the distance between the two was still as large as before, ten meters away, twenty meters away.

The chase continued for a while. In the twelfth minute, Zhang Chengming saw no hope of winning and took the initiative to cross the red cordon and leave the field. He had never fought such a difficult battle before. His physical strength and perseverance were almost exhausted. If he hadn't been quick-witted and realized that the opponent was always leading him, he might have continued to chase.

The relationship between hunter and prey is not unique. If you think about it from another perspective, it is not that he is chasing others, but that others are chasing him. It is just that from his perspective, the chaser is behind and the chased is in front. To overturn and reverse all this is the real battle situation.

Mu Zhengguang won the game and left the stadium with satisfaction.

"I won, what about you?"

"It's been five minutes. Are you not hurt?"

"It's been ten minutes. Send me a message if you win."

"Which stadium are you at? Do you want me to come find you?"

……

Xu Ying sent a series of messages to Guang, but received no reply. She was worried and no longer rational: the hourglass can measure time, but it does not mean that the longer the game is, the better it is for you. It is unbelievable that the battle cannot be finished in ten minutes. Your friend was injured and went to the hospital yesterday. Will you also be hospitalized?

After the game, Mu Zhengguang sent her a message: "I'm fine, I won without any injury. It took a little time, I'm sorry for making you worry."

"I'm glad you're okay. I'm at the gym entrance, on the right."

Mu Zhengguang straightened his clothes, wiped his sweat with a tissue, and smoothed his hair in front of the phone screen. He went downstairs and walked out after confirming that everything was normal. He did this not to hide the truth, but because he didn't want her to worry too much.

The road in front of the gymnasium was built on the lawn, and Xu Ying was standing on the side of the road, holding two bags in her hands. Mu Zhengguang raised his left hand and waved to her, "Hi, friend, I'm here."

Xu Ying walked towards him with a smile on her face and handed him the bag in her left hand: "Yangzhi Ganlu, room temperature."

"Thanks."

The two walked side by side, their sleeves linked, and she said, "Classmate, I find that you are really ignorant."

Mu Zhengguang was horrified: Did I do something to hurt you?
He was nervous, anxious, and uneasy, like a student who was called into the teacher's office alone. Although the teacher hadn't spoken yet, he was already anxious and frightened because of his "mistake". He pretended to be calm and said four rather awkward words: "What do you mean?"

"I care about you and pick up food for you. I am willing to do this for you. You can accept it without any burden. This will also make me feel relaxed, happy and cheerful."

Mu Zhengguang was moved when he heard this and agreed with it deeply.

For a moment, past events emerged and old images came to mind.

Your feelings for me and my feelings for you are the same. You didn't say it, and I didn't say it, but the joy and enthusiasm we had when we were together during that long time were irrefutable evidence.

He answered briskly, "I know!"

Xu Ying slightly opened her lips, clenched her teeth, and said "huh", which was a bit cute. There was a friendly and shy "disdain" in her voice, not that she really disliked this person, but just a joke between friends.

"That's good to know. It doesn't matter if you are sensible or not. There are still four rounds to go in the semi-finals, so keep up the good work."

Even earlier, Xu Ying sensed from him the tangled emotions that were difficult to sort out. Neither of them said anything deliberately about this matter, but everything they did was to fulfill and supplement the silent promise. Both sides knew this very well.

Although the relationship between the two seemed unclear to others, they never concealed, disguised or denied their concern, longing and love for each other.

Mu Zhengguang and Xu Ying parted ways on the second floor of the hotel, each doing their own thing. When he returned to the room, he was surprised to find Lu Hao there too: "Are you discharged from the hospital?"

Lu Hao returned to the hotel for two purposes. One was to pack up and prepare to go back, and the other was to see Mu Zhengguang before going back to avoid leaving without saying goodbye.

"Dong Chuang called me this morning and asked me why I didn't go to school. I said I was injured and was in the hospital. He asked me to continue to recover, but I said no."

"Ah? I forgot to ask for leave for you yesterday. Why don't you take leave and stay for two more days? The game will be over tomorrow night, and I'll treat you to dinner."

"No, I won't bother you. If I don't go to school, my classmates will think I've won 14 games in a row and made it to the finals."

Lu Hao had such concerns, and Mu Zhengguang could understand: asking for leave at this time was too sensitive and would easily make people think too much. If it was a normal game, winning all the way, and not going to school for four days, no one would say anything, but asking for leave to recuperate or asking for leave without reason seemed a little unexpected.

"That makes sense. Could you please bring some snacks to school for me? Just put them in my desk. If there's too much to put in, you can keep them for me."

The desks in the first semester of the second year of high school were not too full. There were nothing more than textbooks, homework, test papers, and a few tutorial books. There was enough space to put a bookshelf on the desk. Even so, the desks could only hold two bottles of Coke and two buckets of potato chips. He asked Lu Hao to bring a lot of food, saying that he would keep it for him, which meant that he would eat it for him.

Lu Hao did not refuse. He had already owed the big favor of sending him to the hospital and paying the medical bills. Although small favors like snacks were not insignificant, they were not difficult to return. In that case, why should he refuse?
There was still some time before lunch, and Mu Zhengguang replied to messages from his friends and family, then lay on the bed, opened the video app, turned on the volume, and watched Ultraman Zeta. This is a special drama that premiered on June 2020, 6 and is updated every Saturday. Today is not Saturday, but he still has one episode left to watch.

Ever since that summer vacation four years ago, when Mu Zhengguang watched a video clip of Ultraman with special effects every time he attacked, he became very interested in it. Later, he learned that it was the fifth episode of Ultraman Orb. At that time, Ultraman Orb was being updated, and while waiting for the update, he also watched Ultraman X and Ultraman Ginga... As time passed, watching Ultraman every year has become a habit.

After watching an episode, he would do something else, lie down for a while, be in a daze for a while, go downstairs to gather, go to the restaurant, and prepare to eat. Today's "banquet" only has four tables left. The number of teachers is still 19, and the number of students has been reduced to 1/10, barely enough to make up a table. During the meal, Xu Ying picked up food for him, and he enjoyed it.

(End of this chapter)