"Everyone, please turn on your caras."
Su Xing aid the computer’s cara at the empty training hall. After turning it on and ensuring the students could see the training area, he slowly began to speak.
Many of the students obediently turned on their caras, revealing their sowhat disheveled, at-ho appearances.
But a good number of caras remained dark. Su Xing had to repeat himself, and only under Coach Su’s stern authority did they all finally switch their caras on. Face after reluctant face appeared, staring back at him.
To be honest,
he didn’t like turning on his cara for online classes when he was a student, either. There was always a strange sense of awkwardness seeing his own head on the screen.
But as a coach, having students turn on their caras was a perfectly normal, even necessary, request. Otherwise, he couldn’t see what they were doing and would just be talking to himself.
Still, it wasn’t so bad. This was the last class of the day.
After this class,
he’d have today’s three Sword Dao Points in the bag. At that thought, a smile touched Su Xing’s lips. He began to do a head count, checking for any absent students.
"Hm?"
"Liu Shiyu? Why isn’t Student Liu here?"
Su Xing wondered aloud. Liu Shiyu was always well-behaved in class and had never skipped a single in-person session. For her to be absent from an online class was strange.
’Could sothing have happened to her?’
Su Xing asked the other students, including so of the girls she was close with. Amidst a cacophony of overlapping voices, he didn’t get a clear answer, only that she had apparently gone out for so reason.
"All right, all right. I’ll contact her parents after class to find out. For now, let’s begin."
Su Xing muted everyone with a single click.
He then took up a sword, walked in front of the cara, and began today’s online Sword Dao lesson.
Soon, the class ca to an end.
Although online classes weren’t as effective as in-person ones, Su Xing saw the system notification that he had received his Sword Dao Points, so all was forgiven.
[Sword Dao Points: 3]
As students and the coach exchanged goodbyes, the number of people in the online session dropped rapidly. Soon, only Su Xing remained.
Su Xing quickly packed up his streaming equipnt, then took out his phone and dialed the number Liu Shiyu had registered at the Sword Hall. It was likely her father’s.
This was the first ti Su Xing had ever taken the initiative to call a student’s parent. But after waiting a mont, his brow furrowed.
A voice on the other end said:
"BEEP BEEP BEEP... The number you have dialed is not in service. Please check the number and try again."
"Not in service?"
Su Xing murmured in surprise. He then tried her mother’s number, only to find it was also out of service.
’How strange.’
’The chances of both parents changing their numbers at the sa ti are incredibly low.’
’Either Liu Shiyu gave a fake number from the start.’
’Or...’
’No, there’s only one possibility. She gave the Sword Hall a fake number from the very beginning.’ Su Xing’s mind worked fast, and he realized this instantly.
’But what was her reason for doing that?’
Just as Su Xing was pondering this, a voice suddenly called out from outside the Sword Hall’s wooden door, not far behind him, "Coach Su."
The tone was faint and soft, yet very familiar.
An image of Liu Shiyu imdiately flashed through Su Xing’s mind.
Su Xing pressed the side button, turning his phone screen dark. He then walked slowly to the entrance, pulled open the wooden door with a RATTLE, and Liu Shiyu’s lovely face appeared before him.
However,
she wasn’t wearing her usual white t-shirt and jeans.
Today, Liu Shiyu wore a long, crimson dress. Her makeup was heavy, her lips as red as fresh blood, and her hair was perfectly arranged, as if she were about to attend so grand ceremony.
"Student Liu, why did you miss class today?"
Su Xing glanced at her appearance, a flicker of vigilance rising in his heart. Although Liu Shiyu looked like nothing more than an ordinary young girl, he was a firm believer in the saying that where there’s smoke, there’s fire.
"Coach Su, I have sothing I’d like your help with. Could you co with for a little bit?"
Despite her grand attire, Liu Shiyu’s voice was as timid as ever. She kept her head down, her eyes peeking up to gauge Su Xing’s reaction.
"No problem. Where are we going?"
Su Xing smiled and nodded, but his eyes narrowed instinctively. If they weren’t at the Sword Hall, he would have been tempted to draw his sword and test her. The sense of crisis in his heart was ringing like an alarm bell.
"It’s very close. You just need to walk a short way with , Coach Su... I’m so sorry to trouble you."
Liu Shiyu bowed her head deeply.
Then, with a gesture from Su Xing, she turned and began to lead the way, taking tiny, mincing steps.
Before leaving the Sword Hall, Su Xing considered grabbing a sword for self-defense, but he felt it might be too obvious. In the end, he didn’t take one. ’After all, with my skill, can’t any long object serve as a sword?’
It was just a matter of how well it would handle.
And so, Su Xing followed Liu Shiyu out of the Sword Hall empty-handed, heading toward the woods to the left of the lake.
This area was rarely visited. Su Xing himself seldom ca here, so he wasn’t familiar with the environnt. The only upside was that things like tree branches were everywhere, so he wouldn’t have to worry about being unard.
Along the way, Liu Shiyu kept up a stream of pointless chatter. Su Xing maintained a steady tone, giving vague, one-sentence replies. He’d occasionally ask, "Are we almost there? I have things to do later," but would, of course, only receive Liu Shiyu’s reply of, "We’re almost there, Coach Su, almost there."
He didn’t know if it was his imagination,
but as Su Xing watched Liu Shiyu’s back, he could almost sense her happiness. It was as if she was so happy she was about to burst out laughing, as though sothing was finally about to be accomplished.
All sorts of thoughts swirled through Su Xing’s mind.
’The first thing I can rule out is that I’m her target. At least, on the surface, I’m just an ordinary Swordsmanship coach. She has no reason to want dead.’
’Besides, she could make a move on right now. There’s no one around. There’s no need to go through all this trouble to lead sowhere specific.’
’If we absolutely have to go to a certain place... then perhaps soone wants to see .’
’But why would that person want to see ?’
’Could they be trying to use to get to Su Yu?’
’So, is Liu Shiyu actually a mber of the Spiritual Sect?’
Su Xing’s eyes narrowed, a hint of killing intent flickering within them. He watched Liu Shiyu ahead of him, her long skirt trailing as she led the way. She was on the shorter side, maybe five-foot-one or two, but she exuded an indescribable aura. It was as if she were a completely different person from the cute, well-behaved Liu Shiyu he knew from class.
Su Xing suddenly found it amusing. The student he had always considered his most well-behaved turned out to be the one hiding the deepest secrets. ’Too bad for her,’ he thought, ’she picked the wrong person.’
Soon, they finally arrived at their destination.
An abandoned factory deep in the woods.
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