Seeing Ash climb the stairs with a determined expression, Wuxing heart almost froze. He thought she wouldn't actually do it but it seemed he misjudged her. He knew she was willing to sacrifice a lot for him but he didn't expect her to go this far.
Wuxing quickly chased after her, entering the platform but he was too late. When he was mid-way on the stairs, Ash was already whispering into Dongmei's ear, taking his spot on the bench.
To his surprise, Dongmei turned to her right after and smiled cheerfully, nodding at her.
Wuxing's mind officially exploded.
What did she agree to? Did Ash ask her directly? Did Dongmei watch them secretly and knew everything? Would Dongmei even agree to such deal?
Multiple questions troubled him but there was nothing else he could do other than facing his problems directly.
"Welcome back," Dongmei called out to him first, showing a bright smile. "Did you two have a nice chat?"
Just based on Dongmei's reaction Wuxing could confirm that she still didn't knew anything. She wouldn't be so calm in such complicated situation.
"We did…" Wuxing nodded, squeezing the hand she reached out to him. "She knows everything now."
"It's for the better. We don't need to hide it anymore," Dongmei assured, rubbing his palm only to ask confused, "Are you good? You don't look well."
She stared at his face and noticed his worry that was hard for him to hide. After all, it involved their future.
Taking advantage of the situation, Anna stood up and grabbed onto his arm, asking concerned, "Maybe you should sit down?"
It wasn't exactly a question as Anna then proceeded to pull him to sit down next to her on the other side of the table, giving him no chance to resist. She even poured him water into her cup and passed it to him. "Drink, you should feel better."
Wuxing didn't reject it and assured after taking a sip, "I'm fine. It's just that revealing my secret was more stressful than I thought it would."
He glanced at Ash and saw her already getting physical with Dongmei, sitting close to her while placing her hand on Dongmei's shoulder. It was obvious she wanted to become friends with Dongmei as she rarely touched other people.
The conclusion was clear.
Ash wasn't joking. She really wanted to do what she said and become his girlfriend while sharing him with Dongmei.
He didn't have time to think about it deeper when Ash disturbed his thoughts, winking at him as she explained, "Don't worry, I won't talk about your secret in public so I asked Dongmei to meet in the evening for a small chat instead."
Dongmei nodded and confirmed while looking at him, "I don't mind. I also have some questions. I'm interested to know more about your past."
"Can we come too? We can have a girls' night," Anna proposed right after to which Dongmei immediately nodded before Ash even said anything, "Sure, the more the merrier."
Wuxing noticed the slight change in Ash expression as if she wasn't fond of that idea but she quickly masked it with a smile. Only he knew she wanted to have Dongmei for herself to talk about their dating. The other three girls tagging along would for sure stall Ash but for how long?
This wasn't an everyday situation. If he could choose, he would rather face an army of enemies by himself than to fight in the battles of love. On one hand, he wanted to be only for Dongmei, give her hundred percent of his love but on the other, he knew he will lose Ash once he rejects her which he didn't want.
It was like making him choose who would he prefer to kill, Dongmei or Ash. Obviously he would do anything to keep both of them alive.
Just as he rubbed his eyes, getting a headache from the whole situation, Katherine voiced out her suggestion, "How about we invite Chameleon for the night? I'm sure he would love to come."
Wuxing quickly countered, asking, "Why you act like I wasn't invited from the start? There is no way I'm leaving Dongmei alone with you. I'm coming even if you don't want me. It is not even a question."
There was no way he could even leave Dongmei for a second, recalling what happened just earlier. He was immediately assaulted by Katherine which started this whole mess. He didn't have a habit of escaping from problems so even if Katherine liked him, he wouldn't just kick her out from his life.
"Then tonight after the challenge?" Ash asked to set up the date and everyone nodded, agreeing.
There was nothing else to do in the evening other than socializing anyway.
Just then, something on Ash started beeping and her smile disappeared. She reached out towards her pants and pulled out a walkie-talkie. Wuxing knew this beeping very well and it usually announced work or an emergency.
"What happened?" She asked swiftly and they heard General Clark's voice calling for her, "Ash, there were some deaths already outside the base. Can you come to the entrance?"
"Someone battled?" Ash figured, letting out a sigh as if she already expected it.
"Yeah, a group of eight people from the top ten were stealing prey from other participants. At first many gave in, giving up one beast to be allowed to hunt but after a while others grouped up and wanted to fight. It seemed they thought they can win with a number advantage but they miscalculated. Now we have twenty deaths.
The bodies can be left for beasts but we still need to list them down for later reports," General Clark explained briefly.
"I will be there in a moment," Ash answered and kept her walkie-talkie, standing up from the table. "I guess I need to go back to work. Scarlet, can you stay with the rest till the challenge begins? It will take me some time to finish all the paperwork."
"Don't worry, take care of your work," Scarlet assured, waving at her cutely.
Ash glanced at the rest, giving them a smile and walked towards the stairs, keeping a longer eye contact with Wuxing.
"Watch out," Wuxing suddenly called out, seeing a bunch of people walking up the stairs behind her.
She stopped, almost knocking into someone, but to her surprise, the person didn't see her as well, busy chatting and did it on her stead, walking into her.
"Hey! Where are yo— Miss Ash! How are you doing?" The man's attitude changed drastically when he saw who he knocked into, immediately apologizing, "I'm sorry, I didn't pay attention."
Although Wuxing didn't take a good look at them earlier, he could tell they were the group of eight from the top ten.
The one bothering Ash was actually quite eye catching because of his beefy body and a black skull tattoo on the side of his trimmed hair.
"What's your name?" Ash asked sternly, pulling out her card with the rankings and he reported, "I'm Black Skull, Miss."
"Seems like you are first in the ranking," Ash pointed out which made the man smile, bragging, "Yes! Total twenty thousand points. We still have time till the challenge starts so we will grind more points for sure."
"I didn't ask," Ash said coldly and turned back to Scarlet, "Sis, I forgot to give you points for our training. Can you pass me your card?"
"Sure," Scarlet nodded, not really knowing Ash's hidden intentions but Wuxing already knew, familiar with that gaze.
When someone pissed Ash off, this was exactly how she looked.
Ash tapped on her card before nearing it next to Scarlet's, sending her points. Being done, she passed the card back to her and walked towards the stairs. When she reached the group, she stopped for a second and commented to Black Skull, "I guess you are no longer top one now. At least one of you will drop from the top ten. I wonder who that will be."
The group froze in confusion and Wuxing got surprised as well, not expecting her to go all out on them. He quickly checked the ranking and just as she said, Black Skull wasn't top one anymore and instead it was Scarlet, having exactly fifty thousand points. No matter what they did, it would be impossible for them to beat her today.
"Miss Ash! I already apologi—" Black Skull called out after Ash but she didn't turn around, replying coldly as she slowly walked down instead.
"Being proud of cheating and killing is what I despise. Even if you win against other players, you can't win against a Game Master. Next time you cheat to get points, I will make your life here a living hell."