Chapter 120: Awakened’s Love

The silence from breakfast continued all the way to the car. Xiao Fen did not know what to say to the former classmate beside him, Liu Xinyao, who could be considered his childhood sweetheart. Similarly, although Liu Xinyao looked like she had many things she wanted to say to Xiao Fen, she also did not know how to start.

The hotel arranged for an Audi A6. The rear compartment was very spacious, and there was a soundproof panel that could be raised between the front and rear seats. As long as this soundproof panel was raised, the driver could not hear what the people in the back were saying.

Liu Xinyao got into the car first. Xiao Fen sat in the seat directly behind the driver, following her in. Without any unnecessary chatter with Du Juan, the car left the hotel’s underground parking lot and started driving towards the highway.

Xiao Fen habitually checked the standard equipment he had before going to school. Well, this could also be considered a “starter pack” for “adventuring” in a place like a university in the Real World.

A tablet computer, a laptop, a mobile phone, a student ID, an admission letter, and a bank gold card opened in Xiao Fen’s name. It was said that quite a lot of money had already been deposited in it, but exactly how much “quite a lot” was, Xiao Fen could not know for the time being. In short, the Council of Elders had always been generous regarding the Mortal World needs of a Trialist.

This was everything, and for Xiao Fen, it was enough.

Beside him, Liu Xinyao looked at Xiao Fen’s equipment with a touch of envy. Compared to Xiao Fen, the things Liu Xinyao could get were much fewer—just an admission letter, and the scholarship could only be collected after arriving at the Academy in the Imperial Capital.

Although she was not clear why there was such a big difference between herself and Xiao Fen, after observing the interaction between Du Juan and Xiao Fen this morning, Liu Xinyao vaguely knew that her ability to go to the Imperial Capital for school and enjoy the scholarship and other benefits was most likely closely related to Xiao Fen.

“He still remembers me; he still remembers the original agreement.”

Liu Xinyao thought this and glanced at Xiao Fen again, wanting to say something, but with a thousand tangled thoughts, she did not know what to say.

Xiao Fen turned his head to look at Liu Xinyao and asked, “What is it?”

Liu Xinyao’s hands tightened slightly. Her right hand tapped lightly on the leather surface of the back seat. After looking at Xiao Fen for a while, she said in a low voice, “Can you tell me a story? Just like when we were little. Whenever I was alone at home and scared, you would come outside my door and tell me stories—stories about those strange dragons, Elves, and Dwarves.”

Xiao Fen looked up at the rearview mirror. The driver silently raised the soundproof panel. In the back row, it became a space for just the two of them.

Xiao Fen looked at Liu Xinyao and said in a low voice, “I thought you never liked listening to stories like that.”

“How could that be?”

Liu Xinyao said, “My parents were busy with work back then. As soon as they left, they would lock me inside the house. I was only a few years old; how scared do you think I was? You told me stories outside our security door every day. I was so happy then; how could I not like listening?”

“Those were just crazy things I said randomly. Doesn’t everyone in the courtyard say that?”

Liu Xinyao laughed, gently wiped her cheek, and said softly, “Even if they are crazy words, I want to hear them. When no one remembered me, you remembered me. So, when no one believes you, I will definitely believe you.”

Xiao Fen smiled and subconsciously rubbed Liu Xinyao’s head. He was just about to say something when he suddenly saw his own well-fitted suit. His heart suddenly sank, and he did not know how to speak again.

When he was very young, when he saw those strange worlds, only one person was willing to listen, and that was Liu Xinyao.

By the time they reached elementary school and middle school, the apparent distance between the two seemed to be growing. However, Xiao Fen knew that whenever he was frustrated, mocked, or teased, there was always someone watching him silently from not far away. That person was still Liu Xinyao.

In a certain sense, although Xiao Fen gave Liu Xinyao a lot of care during her childhood, had Xiao Fen, who was tortured by huge pressure, not also treated Liu Xinyao as a spiritual support? He told Liu Xinyao the worlds he saw with his own eyes, and hearing her joy or anger allowed his own soul to get a little release.

But that was in the past, not now.

The Xiao Fen of the past was an ignorant child who could tell Liu Xinyao many stories without any worries.

However, the current Xiao Fen was no longer an ordinary person. He was a Trialist who might die at any time in the Trial World or even the Real World. Death might already be numb to Xiao Fen, but he could not drag Liu Xinyao into this whirlpool.

And now, this whirlpool was actually already swirling around Xiao Fen. His parents had already been swept into this whirlpool. Liu Xinyao was next. If he could not completely cut off the source here, Liu Xinyao would be in more and more danger in the future.

An Awakened cannot enjoy Mortal World love; an Awakened can only survive in the world of the Awakened.

Thinking of this, Xiao Fen withdrew his hand and said in a low voice, “I haven’t seen those worlds for a long time now. Even if you want me to tell you, I don’t know what I could say. I’m sorry.”

Liu Xinyao looked quietly at Xiao Fen. As the vehicle drove over the speed bump before entering the highway, something completely different suddenly appeared in the eyes of this girl with long black hair. It was not tears, but a kind of determination.

“I know,” Liu Xinyao said. “I know you still hate me. That’s right, when my parents left back then, I could have chosen to live at school and stay with you. But I was too weak and too fragile at that time. Hearing others always say you were crazy, I started to waver myself, and finally, I gave in and left with my parents.”

Staring at Xiao Fen, Liu Xinyao continued, “But now, it is different. I am an adult now. I am already able to bravely face the things I need to face. I know what those things are. The most important one is to find you. No matter where you are, I will chase you and listen to you tell me stories every day.”

Xiao Fen scratched his head, raised his hand to turn on the small TV behind the driver’s headrest, and said in a low voice, “Some things, once they pass, they pass. Do you think I would hold a grudge against someone?”

“Others are others, and I am me. In your heart, can I be equated with others?”

Xiao Fen put on his headphones, let out a long breath, and said, “Alright, we both need to calm down a bit. Watch some TV. It will take a long time to reach the Imperial Capital.”

In his pupils, the person in the LCD TV was laughing loudly, but he did not find it funny at all.

No matter how far the Imperial Capital was, it could always be reached. But how could the distant distance between the Awakened and the Mortal World be reached?