Chapter Forty-Four: Humanity and Impulse

With the aid of the "urine escape," he fled back to the dimensional space.

Seaside villa. First floor. Living room.

"Does any heroine have time to come and rescue me?" Hao Ren called out for help to the group of girls.

And so...

The girls exchanged glances.

The usual rule: rock-paper-scissors!

"What is rock-paper-scissors?" Shirley and Tia Yu, the two unconventional lady knights, tilted their heads in confusion.

"Shiina, you're not allowed to go," Hao Ren said resolutely, looking at Shiina with visible distress.

"Master, is there something wrong with me?" Shiina protested, clearly dissatisfied. There was nothing that disqualified her—unless one counted the broom held in her left hand.

How long is this joke going to last?

"Shirley, you can't go either!"

"Why not?" Shirley stood there in full knight attire. Was she planning to terrify his classmates with her cosplay in the dead of night?

"Kanade, Dark, Nemesis, Mea, you’re not exactly suitable either."

Kanade tilted her head, puzzled. Dark blushed furiously and glared at Hao Ren.

"This sounds too fun to miss, doesn’t it, Master?" Mea pulled Nemesis over to protest before Hao Ren.

"If you pick me, there will be a special reward," Nemesis tried to tempt him.

"I just don’t want to spend the rest of my life under the shadow of, ‘Ah, that guy’s a lolicon!’” Suppressing his turbulent thoughts, Hao Ren gazed up at the ceiling at a forty-five degree angle.

Their transformation abilities were conveniently ignored.

"Shizuka, you’d better not go either."

"Ah~ why not~?" Shizuka bounced as she spoke, her ample figure making it impossible to ignore.

Hao Ren averted his gaze. That was exactly the problem—too conspicuous!

Tia Yu, Saeko, Shiki, Saya—the final four candidates.

Rock, paper, scissors!

Saeko won!

"Master, please wait a moment, I’ll go change," Saeko called out as she dashed back to her room.

"Damn, why did I pick scissors?" Shiki muttered, staring at her hand.

Tia Yu looked at her two slender fingers, relieved yet slightly regretful.

"Hmph! It’s not like I’m interested in this sort of thing anyway!" Saya pouted, her eyes misty with regret over playing scissors.

Facing all these reactions, Hao Ren could only play dumb and give an awkward laugh.

Saeko emerged!

A white knit hat, a black-brown plaid scarf, a long pink turtleneck, a reddish-brown wool miniskirt, and thick black leggings.

A miniskirt...

Did all women from the Eleventh District have maxed-out cold resistance? Even in the dead of winter, they still braved bare legs and stockings. Winters here reached minus twenty degrees!

Well, it was just for show; they’d slip into the dimensional space once they found a quiet spot.

"Let’s go," Saeko urged Hao Ren.

Under a barrage of resentful stares, Hao Ren led Saeko back to the real world.

Yuanlong Hotel. Second floor. Outside the men’s restroom.

"In two minutes, come to room 207—Maple Grove—and get me out of there."

"Leave it to me."

"Sorry, sorry, I drank too much and can’t handle it," Hao Ren returned to the table, feigning discomfort.

"That’s not fair! Come, drink three more cups," a girl named Xu Chun pressed relentlessly.

She stood barely five feet tall, weighed over one-fifty, and radiated less than five points of femininity. Just looking at her made him queasy.

The admission standards here really were lax!

Knock, knock, knock—

Someone tapped at the door.

"Excuse me, is Hao Ren here?" (A summoner’s latent skill—enabling communication with summoned beings.)

Hao Ren’s savior, Saeko, arrived.

The entire dining hall fell instantly silent.

Saeko, only seventeen, exuded the aura of a mature beauty, her flawless, anime-like looks stunning everyone present, regardless of gender.

"Ah, Ren-kun," Saeko smiled as she walked over and took Hao Ren’s arm.

"Second Bro, who’s this?" Yuan Ziqiang, still sober, asked, trembling with awe.

"This is my girlfriend," Hao Ren replied, almost bursting with pride.

"Hello, everyone. My name is Saya—Ren-kun’s girlfriend. Please take care of me," she said, hands crossed demurely before her waist, bowing deeply at a perfect ninety degrees.

The men who still had their wits about them blushed and instinctively straightened their clothes.

Most of the women shot Saeko looks filled with envy, jealousy, and spite.

"Second Bro, your girlfriend’s Japanese?" someone asked.

"Yes."

"So how did you two meet?"

"None of your business!"

"That’s how it is. My girlfriend’s here for me, so I’ll be leaving now," Hao Ren grabbed Saeko’s hand and headed for the door.

Trying to slip away? Not a chance!

The class monitor stared at Saeko, jealousy burning in his heart. Why should this loser land such a perfect woman when the class beauty he’d managed to pick up yesterday had already cost him an iPhone 5 and was still stringing him along?

A woman this perfect should belong only to someone like me—the neighbor of a friend of an underling of the boss’s son at Yuanlong Seven Nights!

A beauty is always trouble.

Drunk men—especially men—have a tendency to think a little crookedly.

"Since your girlfriend’s here, let her stay and party with us!" The class monitor’s eyes locked onto Saeko as he walked over, deliberately draping an arm around her shoulder and giving it a squeeze.

Hao Ren narrowed his eyes at the approaching hand, about to react.

A scream rang out. The class monitor clutched his hand, stepping back.

There’d been the sound of bones breaking.

"I don’t want any man except Ren-kun to touch me. Please mind yourself," Saeko said, still smiling, though her eyes were ice-cold.

"Your girlfriend’s too much! The class monitor only touched her—she should apologize!" blustered the class monitor’s lackey, Cheng Long.

"Her meaning is my meaning," Hao Ren replied coolly. He didn’t think Saeko had done anything wrong; if she hadn’t acted, he would have.

"What do you mean by that? We’re all classmates here. Have her apologize, and come with us to the club to dance with the class monitor—then we’ll let it go," said the second lackey, Cheng Hu.

"He’s lucky she only broke one hand. Let’s go, Saya," Hao Ren said, his eyes flashing a hint of menace as he looked at the sweating class monitor and his two lackeys.

"Don’t you understand words?" Cheng Hu, a boxing major, charged over in anger, throwing a punch at Hao Ren.

With all his stats—strength, agility, stamina—maxed at 100, Hao Ren turned, caught Cheng Hu’s fist in his left hand, and with his right, seized his throat, lifting him off the ground.

Cheng Hu’s legs kicked helplessly as he struggled to breathe.

The others were stunned, in every possible way.

"Let him go, Second Bro. No need to make it worse," Dayue, still surprisingly calm despite Hao Ren’s show of strength, tried to mediate.

"Take care of yourself," Hao Ren said, tossing Cheng Hu against the wall, then turned and left with Saeko.