Chapter 20

Room 702.

Xu Tianyun came out of the room and yawned.

"For the competition, I had to wake up early during the holiday, sigh... Why can't the competition time be adjusted to the afternoon..."

Xu Tianyun glanced at Zhou Xian's room and was about to wake him up.

Before the holiday, it was usually Zhou Xian who woke Xu Tianyun up, but for some reason, perhaps due to the excitement of the competition, Xu Tianyun had been waking up early these days, even earlier than Zhou Xian.

"Hehe~"

Thinking of Zhou Xian still sleeping, Xu Tianyun decided to wake him up in a surprising way.

Xu Tianyun rubbed his face and immediately started to chuckle evilly.

However, just as Xu Tianyun was about to start his prank, Zhou Xian suddenly opened the door and walked out.

"Hey, Old Zhou, good morning."

Xu Tianyun looked at Zhou Xian with a bit of regret.

"Get dressed quickly, don't always think about silly pranks, it will make people's hands hurt. And hurry up and go wash up, or the water will be cut off later."

After saying that, Zhou Xian left with his toothbrush and towel, leaving Xu Tianyun standing there, puzzled: "Strange, how did he know what I was going to do? And what does he mean by 'it will make people's hands hurt'..."

It was already summer vacation, and although the students had not left the school, the washroom was now very quiet.

With no one around, Zhou Xian suddenly shouted, "Open the save file interface."

In an instant, a magical interface appeared in front of Zhou Xian.

"I see."

Zhou Xian seemed to understand something.

"In other words, if I use this 'load save' ability within a day, the countdown won't increase, and I can save again. But if the time passes midnight, the countdown in the game will take effect... and I won't be able to save again until the day before I loaded the save."

Zhou Xian understood the function of his ability.

Could this... be the change that his father mentioned?

Of course, this ability was not without limits.

If he used it repeatedly within a day, he would lose 10% of his experience. If it exceeded a day, he would lose a level in the game.

Moreover, each save would cost 10% of his experience. Although he could overwrite the save, the experience already consumed would not be returned to Zhou Xian.

Zhou Xian had already experienced this deeply.

Because his current level had dropped to 64.

"It seems this is not an ability to be used recklessly..."

At least for now, this ability seemed not as good as Zhou Xian initially expected. If he used it continuously, Zhou Xian even suspected his level might drop even lower.

In the game world, Zhou Xian's Hundred Flowers City had not yet developed. If his strength became weaker now, the problems he would face would be significant.

"Unless it's a critical moment, I shouldn't use this ability recklessly."

This was simply unbelievable.

He looked at his right hand. There should have been a red swelling from hitting Xu Tianyun in a moment of excitement, but after using his ability to rewind, the injury had also been restored.

It was as if everything had truly returned to the past.

No, it was as if he had returned to the time he "saved."

The only difference was the experience he had consumed in the game.

After confirming that this ability would consume experience, Zhou Xian was even more convinced that this ability was related to his antique helmet and the Emperor's quest.

"After the competition, the top priority should be to contact the Emperor players, try to gather intelligence from them, and even unite them..."

In Zhou Xian's view, the only ones who could help him solve his confusion were the Emperor players. Although he didn't know why they received the Emperor's quest, since they were all Emperor players, they should know some information.

After discovering this ability, Zhou Xian was no longer as afraid of the possible conspiracies in the competition.

The only thing that troubled Zhou Xian was the sense of temporal disarray. Even though he knew some things had already happened, the people around him were completely unaware, which sometimes made him feel a bit strange.

"But the competition today has been confirmed to have no problems, so that's fine."

Today was July 7th, the day of the 32-strong competition.

"Let's go to the venue first..."

Xu Tianyun and Taoshan would not encounter any accidents this time, which was probably the best news for Zhou Xian. However, perhaps because this problem was resolved, Zhou Xian suddenly felt a bit at a loss.

He strolled to the venue. Since it was only around seven in the morning, there was no one at the venue, and even the entrance for the players had not been opened.

But Zhou Xian didn't want to go back, so he walked over to the spectator stands.

"You will be here, holding this sign..."

"Huh? Someone's here?"

At that moment, Zhou Xian suddenly noticed that a group of girls had already entered the spectator stands early in the morning.

"Could this be... Zhang Taihao's fan club?"

Seeing those girls, Zhou Xian immediately decided to retreat.

Coming here was a wrong decision.

"Mr. Zhou Xian?"

At that moment, someone from the fan club walked out, wearing a distinctive... uh... maid outfit.

"Ah, hello, Miss Liuli."

It was Zhang Taihao's maid, Liuli.

"Yes, Mr. Zhou Xian, I didn't expect to see you here." Liuli smiled at Zhou Xian.

"Cough, calling me 'Mr.' makes me feel awkward, just call me Zhou Xian."

"Okay, then please call me Liuli as well."

Zhou Xian glanced at the group of girls behind Liuli, who seemed to be in a fangirl state, and asked, "Why are you at our school today?"

"You're joking, since the competition started, I've been coming to the school every day. Didn't you know? I've been organizing the fan club to cheer for Master every day..."

It turned out that the group of girls Zhou Xian saw every day, who were either being cute or engaging in embarrassing plays, were all arranged by Zhang Taihao's maid. Zhou Xian felt a lot of pressure.

"Zhou Xian, please keep this a secret, Master doesn't know about these things." Liuli suddenly whispered to Zhou Xian.

"I think Zhang Taihao wouldn't like such a fan club..."

In fact, Zhou Xian suspected that these girls might not have noticed the extremely high level of embarrassment during each competition.

"Of course, I know. But I'm not doing it for Master. I'm doing it for the audience. I want them to know how charming our Master is~"

It turned out Liuli's purpose was this.

"Then... good luck."

Standing with Zhang Taihao's fan club, Zhou Xian already felt a bit overwhelmed. After saying goodbye to Liuli, Zhou Xian wiped the sweat from his forehead.

"Whatever, I'll just wander around for the next two hours."

Since he knew the water would be cut off and the teaching building would be under maintenance, Zhou Xian didn't go to the activity room.

He went to a shop at the school gate and ordered a cup of iced soy milk to sit there.

"Boy, if you keep being idle like this, your family and friends will cry over your lazy attitude!" Another voice Zhou Xian absolutely did not want to hear.

"... Are you a middle-aged man from a热血 (hot-blooded) anime, Beidou?"

The girl sat down next to Zhou Xian without any hesitation.

For Zhou Xian, the overly familiar girl from another school was probably the most difficult person to deal with.

"I'm really looking forward to your competition, Zhou Xian. The Dragon Tomb Club is very strong."

"Of course." Although he found it hard to deal with her, Zhou Xian still felt good about being praised.

"Um, still a bit short of me, though."

"..." Alright, Zhou Xian took back his previous words. This girl was indeed a bit thick-skinned, self-centered, and hard to get along with.

"Do you want to spar?" Zhou Xian couldn't help but ask.

"Let's wait until we meet in the game world, I'll teach you a few moves. I'm not good at competitive mode." Beidou seemed completely unaware of the contradiction in her words.

"Ah... you really are a strange person."

"Am I? I think I'm pretty good. I watched 30 to 40 anime to specifically train my social skills."

"Uh—cough, cough, cough..."

Hearing this, Zhou Xian finally gave up.

Could this girl really be so peculiar? It seemed she learned social skills from anime. Classmate, wake up, this will only make you more distant from society!

"Um, Beidou... I think you could work part-time at a restaurant near the school to train yourself." Zhou Xian suggested tactfully.

"I do work, you know, I work at a maid café every night. But because I'm transferring to Zhongzhou Academy, I've already quit that job."

Zhou Xian was concerned about Beidou's environment.

But at that moment, looking at her, Zhou Xian suddenly felt a strange sensation. Talking to her, he seemed to relax unconsciously. Although Beidou always seemed a bit clumsy, for some reason, Zhou Xian found it easy to talk to her. Talking to her was a rare experience of relaxation.

"Alright, just be yourself."

He said in the end.