Chapter 445: Chapter 444 Bin City University Second Team

“Really?”

Hearing Shao Zifeng’s reply, Hu Zhongwei’s tone was brimming with surprise.

“Mhm.”

“But wouldn’t this expose our trump card?”

This was the very contradiction troubling Hu Zhongwei: on one hand, he couldn’t bear to give up the promises from Bin City University, and on the other, he feared Shao Zifeng might become a target.

Shao Zifeng said with a smile, “No, actually, I have a new pet beast that needs training.”

“That’s good, that’s good.”

After discussing the important matters, Hu Zhongwei started to show his concern for Shao Zifeng, asking if he had enough living expenses and whether he needed the school to send a special car to pick him up and so on.

The care he showed was meticulous to the finest detail.

After hanging up the phone, Shao Zifeng rubbed his forehead.

His principal was quite the character, just a bit too long-winded for his taste.

With new arrangements made, Shao Zifeng, who had originally planned to buy some Northeastern specialties for his family, returned to the hotel.

He was actually very much looking forward to tomorrow’s fight.

The reason he had turned down Tong Lili was because her invitation was inappropriate, and had he accepted it, the aftermath would have been problematic.

Now that the two schools had reached an agreement, he no longer had so many reservations.

Besides, he wanted Yaya to become more accustomed to the combat mode of competitions; only through constant combat practice could he learn how many times Yaya could trigger Fierce Teeth before completely losing control, and whether his empathy could play a mitigating role during the battles, which was important for the upcoming national competition.

Moreover, Yaya’s shortcoming was obvious: it severely lacked combat experience.

Although it became strong after triggering Fierce Teeth, the out-of-control beast would only act recklessly, without gaining any real combat experience.

Therefore, Shao Zifeng decided to give Yaya a crash course to understand when and where to release its abilities.

He wanted to avoid a repeat of last time, when using Rockslide resulted in bringing himself down as well.

But before that…

Shao Zifeng sat cross-legged on the hotel room floor, and when he saw the tiles cracked under Yaya’s claws, a flicker of relief crossed his heart.

Thank goodness he had wisely chosen a first-floor room; otherwise, that swipe of the paw…

He was likely going to be invited for tea, if not a permanent stay.

…

Ding-ling-ling~

The insistent ringing shattered the tranquility of the morning.

Shao Zifeng frowned, turned over, and buried his head under the pillow.

The phone kept ringing relentlessly, and he listlessly sat up from the bed, raked his disheveled hair with his hand, and revealed unfocused eyes.

“Hello.”

Fighting against drowsiness, he answered the video call, and Qiqi’s little head immediately appeared on the screen.

“Zifeng, Zifeng, where’s your car?”

“Car?” he repeated, still groggy.

“Yeah, didn’t you say you were taking the car home today? Where are you now~ When will you arrive~”

Qiqi’s little paws were stacked together, and her long tail swished back and forth–it seemed she was in a good mood.

“Home…” Shao Zifeng’s eyes instantly regained focus: “Right, I need to go home today.”

With those words, he leaped out of bed and began to scramble into his clothes in a fluster.

“Ahh!!!” Qiqi couldn’t believe what she was seeing and let out an exasperated scream, “You haven’t even got up yet? Weren’t you supposed to take the six o’clock bus, it’s already eight!!!”

Facing the roaring Qiqi, Shao Zifeng didn’t have time to respond; he threw on his slippers and dashed out.

Suddenly, he felt his foot caught and he looked down to see the shattered tiles on the floor. The events of the previous day flashed through his mind.

Shao Zifeng blinked his eyes.

It seemed that there was no need to go home today?

The moment Shao Zifeng felt as though all his bones had been sucked out; he flopped onto the bed, turned his face towards the phone, and said to Qiqi, “I forgot to tell you… I have a sudden match to play today, tomorrow, tomorrow… zzz~”

He didn’t finish his sentence before he fell asleep again.

Qiqi’s eyes widened, and she whined resentfully, “Shao Zifeng, you big liar! I’m not going to bother with you anymore!!”

As the video call ended, only Shao Zifeng’s snoring remained in the room.

…

“Did you find out who we’re playing against this afternoon?”

Inside the indoor training facility of the Bin City University team, a group of young people in their twenties huddled together, whispering among themselves.

“We found out, we found out.”

The bespectacled guy holding a tablet pushed up his glasses, his face showing excitement.

The other youths perked up, urging their companion on with constant prodding, “Come on, tell us who it is from which school and how strong they are.”

“Ahem.” The bespectacled guy cleared his throat, “I’ve scoured the list of qualifiers for the national competition this year, and there’s only one captain from Su City University named Shao Zifeng.”

“Su City University? What kind of fly-by-night school is that?”

“Let me see, stop dawdling.” Another guy elbowed the bespectacled one aside, grabbed the tablet from his hand, and read aloud, “Su City University, located in Su City at the edge of the Yundu Region, the university is established…”

“Forget that nonsense, look at the honors the school has received,” the others urged impatiently.

“Let’s see, let’s see.” The young man with the laptop scrolled down, then said with some uncertainty, “School honors… earned a spot in this year’s national cup.”

“That’s it?”

“That’s all…” the person flipped through the tablet, pointing at the honors section, “Nothing else besides that.”

The atmosphere suddenly became a bit muted, the young men looked at each other, at a loss for words.

Early that day, the team’s coach had approached them, saying that there would be a friendly match with a university team that had qualified for the nationals, stressing that the opponent was the captain of their team and telling them to give their best in the game.

To show their skill, style, and friendship in the match.

Inspired by this, the members of the second team were filled with anticipation for the game and even a bit of nervousness; after all, their opponent was supposed to be a captain.

The outcome.

Was this it?

“Is Coach Sun sure he’s not joking with us?” After a moment, one of the boys was the first to break the silence.

He felt utterly bemused right now.

Who were they?

The second team from a top fifty national institution!

To put it bluntly, in a regular university, they would be the main players and guaranteed to qualify for the next round.

And now you’re telling me to play a friendly match with some backwater school?

What kind of international joke is this?

“Ahem, regardless, the other party is still a team captain.” The bespectacled guy reclaimed his tablet, “I’ve looked him up and in their local forums, he’s called the ‘Dragon Series Combat Training Master.’ Wait for me to dig a little deeper…”

“Pfft–” One of them scoffed with disdain, “Bullshit Dragon Series Combat Training Master, what have those country bumpkins ever seen?”

“Haha, Old Zhong has a point. Those yokels would probably call a snake a dragon series mutant creature.”

“Hehe, my starter Black-browed Snake might as well be a dragon series then.”

“You guys are brutal… but I like it.”

The bespectacled guy looked up at his teammates. He was going to dig for more information, but everything about Shao Zifeng seemed to be six months old, and thorough research would take time.

Plus, he thought his teammates might have a point, so he chose not to bother about this person anymore.