Chapter 285: 285

Chapter 285 Forming a Team

After enduring two back to back lessons, the meeting room was more of a crematorium’s atmosphere . Each player felt extremely drained and fatigued . Luckily, the bald man did not drag the lesson . At 8 . 30 p . m . sharp, the captain came to the meeting room and clapped his hands .

“I know that you are tired of lessons . Next up, physical training might just help you unwind your brains . ”

This time, all moaned and wailed at the same time . Earlier, all the players wanted to question the captain when he told them that there was a three and a half-hour gap between the second and third class . When they were told that they needed to attend class at midnight, they realized it didn’t make sense to have such a long gap .

As expected, the captain ignored their groans .

“I will see you in seven minutes . The last to arrive will have to do five sets of pull-ups!”

Even before he was done talking, the players scurried out of the classroom to the meet-up point . Shortly after they started running, the girl tripped and fell . The plump man was running in front of her, and turned around to help her up . Suddenly, something crossed his mind, and he quickly retrieved his hand . However, he did stop to show his concern . “Are you okay?” “I’m fine . I must have tripped over something . You go on ahead first . ” The girl put on a shallow smile, took off one of her shoes, and leaned on the wall to check her feet . The plump man knew that it was inappropriate for him to keep staring at her legs . So, he gulped, mustered some courage, and asked her, “Do you want me to carry you?”

“You are so nice . I’m fine . You should get to the gym now . Don’t fall behind!” the girl replied with concern .

“Sigh… I don’t think I can outrun them anyway . ”

It was rare for the plump guy to get this close to a girl, especially someone as attractive as this one . He was so nervous; he had to wipe off his sweaty palms on his pants .

“Let me help you over to the gym . ” “Thank you . ”

The girl then put her arms over tubby’s shoulder .

“Zhen Xiong,” said the girl softly . “Ah?!”

The plump man was startled upon hearing the girl speak out her name .

“That’s my name . ”

“Oh, oh, oh… Sorry… Sorry!”

His face started flushing, his heart fluttering a little . He had no idea why he even apologized to her .

“My real name is Jia Lai . I’m an employee of JD Corporation in the real world . ”

“That’s one of the top 500 corporations in the world!” exclaimed Zhen Xiong with her eyes wide open .

“No… no… I’m just an owner of a grocery . It’s now part of JD’s franchise stores . All I did is change the name of my store . I still have to do everything myself . I’ve only seen JD’s CEO on TV before . ”

“Anyway, I think it’s not that easy to manage the whole place . Can I visit your shop next time if I’m in the mood for some snacks…” Zhen Xiong did not look down on Jia Lai; every word she uttered was sincere and truthful . Suddenly, she lowered her voice .

“Bro Jia, do you have a mission failure exemption card?”

“That item costs 800 game points . Nobody would buy something so expensive except for those top-tier factions,” Jia Lai replied while shaking his head .

After he figured out what Zhen Xiong had in mind, he was sad and dejected .

“It seems like both of us will be eliminated,” she said . “I know my limits and how far I can go . This is the end of the road for me . You, however, are different . There’s still hope for you . Don’t give up! Perhaps they were trying to scare you when they told you that women were looked down upon in this era . We always say that foreigners value their freedom a lot . Besides, the Soviets have just sent their first female cosmonaut to outer space! I believe America wouldn’t want to fall behind them . ”

“Bro Jia . You are so kind . What did you do to your previous team? Why did they give up on someone like you?”

“It’s no use being kind nowadays . In my very first quest, I managed to learn a bit of first aid . My quest also required me to keep delivering items, and soon, I acquired Level 1 in my driving skills . I’m also a good cook, and now, I’m learning Russian . It appears these skills aren’t very useful in this quest . ”

“Who told you that they are useless? Bro Jia, can I put my faith in you?”

Zhen Xiong looked at him in the most serious way possible .

“Of course,” replied Jai Lai without hesitation .

He felt a surge of passion rushing through his spine . “Let’s team up if you don’t mind me dragging your feet . We will move forward together . Either we both get on Apollo 11, or we quit this together . ”

“Of course, I don’t mind, but… I believe you can find someone better than me, right?”

“You are right about me joining a single-player game with competitive mode for the first time . Usually, it’s tough to trust anyone in this mode, and I’d rather team up with someone kind instead of those who seek to take advantage of me every chance they get . This advice applies to multiplayer mode as well . I stopped playing this mode since my teammates betrayed me . I don’t want to go through something like that again . So, I’m going to ask you one more time . Look me in the eye and tell me, can I trust you?”

Jia Lai nodded vigorously, staring into Zhen Xiong’s eyes to show that he was sincere . At first, he just wanted to let Zhen Xiong know that he wasn’t messing around, but after a few seconds, a different kind of feeling started blooming in his heart . He started to move from staring into Zhen Xiong’s eyes to her nose and lips . They were curved charmingly, and there was a touch of luster to them . Both of their faces started to move closer to each other . Then, right before their lips touched, Zhen Xiong gasped, pushed him away, then quickly took a step back .

Jia Lai felt lost and quickly explained himself .

“No… no… I didn’t intend to…”

Zhen Xiong bit her lips, lowered her head, and didn’t speak another word . They had arrived at the gym . Jia Lai didn’t know how they even made it there .

“Bro Jia, please go in first . ”

“No . You go first . I’m pretty sure the other players are here now . Besides, your leg is hurt . How are you supposed to do pull-ups?”

“We use our upper body strength and waist muscles to do pull-ups . Those have nothing to do with the leg . ” “Anyway, you should go in first . After all, we are teammates now; I’m supposed to take care of you . Don’t worry about me . ”

“Bro Jia . Just let me be the last to go in . I hurt my leg anyway, and I won’t be able to train . I don’t really care about the punishment as well . ”

Zhang Heng and the rest took only five minutes to get to the gym located on the second floor . NASA’s gym was no different than the ordinary gym of the sixties . Compared to modern-day fitness franchises, this one wasn’t that big . Other than the equipment, a half-sized basketball court and a rock climbing wall could be seen as well .

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief when they reached the gym .