Sword Among Us

Panda Novel

In the residential area outside the University of South China were Happy, Bai Lang, Chen Fan, Qi Ci, and Xu Xin, who had rushed over later. The five of them sat together and held a ceremony for the University of South China Martial Arts Assembly, which was about to be successfully launched!

Qi Ci had suggested to rent this small house, because Xu Xin was a girl, and it would not be convenient for her to frequently go to and fro alone to the boys’ dorm. Besides, South China Martial Arts Ranking Board would definitely be developed further in the future, and they would inevitably need to launch others events. Hence, they might need to convince more people to join their ranks.

So, from that day on, that house would become the quintet’s working space. It was a house with three rooms and one living room. Once their lectures were over, they could gather, think about how to raise money, and plan how to develop the website. After all, they were only about three hundred and fifty feet away from the entrance to the University of South China, so they would not need much time to come.

Once he drank a glass of beer, Bai Lang, whose alcohol tolerance was really low, started to speak loudly. “Happy, once you had your heart broken, you started to have more and more wicked cool ideas… I, Bai Lang, will now officially announce on behalf of our organization that from today onwards, you are our damn military adviser!”

“Thank you for your trust and how much you have taught me, my dear organization. I’ll drink to this toast. My dear leaders, do whatever you want,” Happy said with a smile. He enjoyed being enveloped in this sort of atmosphere. Hence, he did not bother himself with Bai Lang’s chatter. He just filled his glass with beer and drank it all in one go.

“Alright!” The whole group laughed.

Xu Xin watched the four people with her cheeks flushed. She took tiny little sips of her beer.

Once Bai Lang was done with his drunken prattles, Chen Fan took over.

“Hey, did you hear? Puffy and Rascal had been persistently persuading the people at the top of the ranking board to not join the martial arts tournament. Even Tea Words was nearly convinced by them. Yet Happy’s one move swept away all the obstacles! Not only did he dissolve their ‘army’, even the two bastards themselves fell from their high horses!

“An hour ago, I received Puffy and Rascal’s registration forms, and at that time, I was really ecstatic! Everyone!” When he reached the end of his speech, he lifted his beer glass. Bai Lang and Qi Ci stood up at the same time, and their gazes went to Happy.

“Let’s cut to the chase, once we finish our drinks, we won’t let you try to weasel your way out of not drinking the entire cup!”

Once they downed their bear in one go, they glared at Happy viciously, and only when Happy obediently drank his wine did the two of them sit down, as if they had won a battle.

“Ahem.” Qi Ci looked around and cleared his throat. “My turn.”

When he spoke, he lifted his beer glass. Happy’s expression changed, and he rolled his eyes. He refused to drink this time and said as much. “Hey, hey, hey, dude, will you stop? Ah! No matter what, I made a contribution, right? With how you’re behaving, this doesn’t look like a commendation ceremony, but like you’re publicly criticizing me or something.”

“You brat, let me tell you. Right now, we made the arrangements for Xu Xin to sit beside you. Are you going to drink or not when you have something so good going for you?”

Happy was speechless. He turned his head to the side to cast a glance at Xu Xin. The latter only smiled and did not say a thing. She just watched him in trouble with her arms folded and smile on her lips.

‘This girl… Doesn’t she understand she should say something to clear things up? Does she want to watch me make a fool of myself?’

“If I have to drink, then I will! If I get drunk and do something inappropriate, even if you scream yourself hoarse, it’ll be useless for you.” Happy glared at Xu Xin “viciously”. He gritted his teeth and downed the beer in one go!

Xu Xin’s face finally turned red. She glared at Happy in embarrassment and rage, but still took the initiative to fill his glass. Then, she said something that made Happy incredibly regretful. “Hmph. It’s my turn now. As the only girl in the South China quintet, I’ll take my sweet time drinking my beer. You, on the other hand, have to drink it all in one go!”

Happy was instantly overwhelmed with the urge to cry despite having no tears. He did not expect that his threat would only show up to be arrogance on his part and lead to an even stronger attack from the enemy. He did not even have a chance to catch his breath.

“Big sis… I’m sorry, I was wrong.”

“Oh, look at you. Drink three glasses of beer as punishment, and I’ll forgive you.”

Happy could say nothing about that. He finally got to know Xu Xin’s real personality. This girl was a veteran when it came to drinking! She was the type that would incite others to drink, but not drink herself!

‘You witch.’

With “tears of humiliation” in his eyes, Happy drank the beer furiously, threw his glass away, and ran to the toilet.

‘Darn it… I haven’t even started eating yet, and you lot already started bullying people? My stomach is protesting!’

When he returned to the dining table, the Three Lonely Wolves had “slaughtering” each other after losing their original target. They finished around twelve bottles of beer in high spirits. The trio were slumped over the table, incredibly drunk.

“You sure returned late.” Xu Xin’s facial color was the same as before. When she saw Happy return, she cast a glance at his pale face, and a hint of worry flashed through her eyes. Her next words had a slightly apologetic tone. “I heard them say that you’re actually quite good at drinking. Why were you defeated with just two bottles?”

“That’s utter nonsense.” Happy smiled wryly. “The last time I became drunk, it was because of you, and that was the first time I drank.”

Since the Three Lonely Wolves were already unconscious, there was no need for him to even think about lying. While he started grumbling about how they treated him in a rebellious fit, he extended his hand to pick up the teapot. “I haven’t even started eating, and each of you toasted me twice. And… you’re the worst. You’re a girl, but you didn’t even take pity on me and just added insult to injury.”

His complaints about his suffering were successfully heard. Xu Xin stuck out her tongue and took the initiative to pour warm tea for him.

“Sorry. I didn’t want to be a wet blanket. Besides, I heard that you could really drink. They said you drank white wine and beer in one go, that’s why I… I’m really sorry. Treat this cup of tea as my apology to you.”

Happy sighed. He turned his head around to cast a glance at the trio, who were now slumped over the table, completely unconscious. He took the cup of tea Xu Xin handed to him. “Our celebration has almost reached its end, I guess. Let’s eat some stuff, and I’ll send you back.”

“Okay,” Xu Xun obediently replied.

When they finished the celebration, Xu Xin suddenly thought of cancelling Puffy God and NotaRascal’s right to enter the martial arts tournament, but Happy rejected the idea.

“But…” Xu Xin was a little reluctant to give up. “I don’t have any thoughts about giving other people the money we gained, but if we have to give it to them, I’ll just! Hmph! I’m so frustrated just thinking about it!”

“They’ll have to have the ability to get it before anything else,” Happy said with a soft chuckle.

Xu Xin stopped picking up food with her chopsticks and looked at Happy with a strange expression. “Puffy and Rascal are very powerful. They’re currently placed second and third on the influence ranking board. I heard that they have a martial art that has already reached Grandmaster Realm.”

“So what?” Happy said, unmoved. “That ranking board is not accurate…”

He did not forget that the top five people on South China’s influence ranking board had been utterly defeated by him, a nameless player, and he was not the first one to do so!

Those people had not truly registered as members of South China Martial Arts Ranking Board as of then, and while their currently abilities were lower than those of Tea Words and the others, their fighting power was not weak. They had already made a name for themselves in the game.

Hence, what truly mattered was a person’s experience and methods when it came to fighting against an enemy. Qi realm could not determine everything.

When she heard Happy’s steadfast tone, the sensitive girl finally noticed something. She blinked and drew closer to him to whisper to him with a face full of curiosity and anticipation.

“Happy, do you mean that you’re going to join this martial arts tournament?”

“Of course.” Once he finished speaking, Happy’s face suddenly turned unnaturally pale!

A pretty figure entered his mind against his will.

He suddenly remembered something. Once he became famous in the University of South China, a woman had appeared beside him and stayed with him for around two years. If he joined the martial arts assembly and gained a ranking, would he attract her attention once more?