Chapter 47: This Is Not a Request (1/2)
Chapter 47: This Is Not a Request
Translator: OneshotwonderEditor: Tehrn
”Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.” Samantha clenched his jaws at the feeling of being humiliated.
Ma Xiaoru cracked a smile after noticing Samantha's taut face. ”You are the one that makes the rules in Ayrlarng. It is only a matter of time before he came under your thumb.”
”True that.” Samantha loosened her jaw slightly and hissed: ”We have to remind him who he is messing with. Time to give him the wake-up call.”
”Which trick in your bag are you going to pull out this time?”
”Come closer.” A dim light gleamed in Samantha's eyes as she whispered in Ma Xiaoru's ear.
Ma Xiaoru hesitated: ”Are you sure?”
”Why not? It's also a rare opportunity to see who he really is. Two birds, one stone!” Samantha pressed on. As an expert in psychology, she understood that road blocks in a love affair were bound to inflame desire and torment the infatuated soul, but it would also drive them to work harder. It was necessary for an insolent teenager like Wang Tong to gain some degree of respect and appreciation for the love that was otherwise too easy to obtain.
It had been a relaxing and joyful weekend for Wang Tong. Well rested, he sauntered toward his classroom on Monday morning. Just like every other day, the fans of Ma Xiaoru and Hu Yangxuan had already been waiting outside of the classroom. They let out a wave of screams in fits of uncontrollable excitement after seeing their adored idols.
Wang Tong heaved a sigh at the sight of the mindless craze. Should these students spent half their zeal on their study instead of pointless teenage-crushes, Ayrlarng would have already restored its former glory. Wang Tong reckoned that the problem at Ayrlarng was with the students. Thinking of Samantha's strenuous and unfaltering effort toward a difficult if not impossible goal, Wang Tong felt sympathetic toward her for the first time. ”Perhaps, I had misunderstood her,” Wang Tong thought to himself.
Ma Xiaoru sat down beside Wang Tong. She smiled broadly at him and looked at him as if an old friend. But something behind her smile nagged at Wang Tong, making him feel disquieting. He told himself that perhaps he was thinking too much and then dived into his study. Wang Tong understood that he had to study hard and work his way up to avoid becoming a cannon fodder after graduation. Unlike the METAL fighters, Battlefield Commanders required a vast amount of knowledge, the ability to make decisions, and above all, control over their emotions. Engrossed in his study, Wang Tong had hardly realized it when the first class was over. He stretched his arms and was ready to take a short break when a classmate approached him and announced that his presence was requested again in the principal's office. His classmates shook their heads as they watched Wang Tong walked out of the classroom. They pondered as to why this seemingly meek Wang Tong would have required the principal's attention for so many times.
Samantha hung up the intercom with Martyrus, principal of the Bernabeu Academy and was perturbed by the conversation, not because of the latter's arrogant and patronizing demeanor, but the real intent behind the message he had brought up to her.
His message was clear: Bernabeu had officially challenged Ayrlarng to a METAL-combat tournament. But it came with stakes that were too high to Samantha's liking. Martyrus had asked for the transferring of two of Samantha's best students: Ma Xiaoru and Hu Yangxuan to Bernabeu in the case of Bernabeu's victory. On the other hand, should Ayrlarng win the tournament, Bernabeu would renounce its prerogative of competing with S-Class Academies, a privilege that was rightfully Ayrlarng's before Martyrus stole it decades ago in a similar ill-intended tournament. To make the matter worse, Martyrus had wrapped his intention in a blatantly unconvincing excuse: ”To encourage the students, we need to raise the stakes,” as he put it.