Otherworld Advance Team
Chapter 163 - 159: Return

Chapter 163: Chapter 159: Return

After finishing the collaboration with Melia, Wang Xu disappeared. According to the staff, he had hurried back to Earth to report his work. It seems that the issue of Marsya’s cannon’s origin was truly severe.

As there was nothing much left for the pair to do at their station, they set off for the training base. In the three long days without seeing their companions, they missed them greatly.

Finally, on the road back, they didn’t need to rush anymore and, moving at a normal pace, took two days to return to the training base.

"I’ve missed you, Chief!" As soon as he arrived at the base, Luo’er found himself in the fervent embrace of Hu Daoke, which squeezed him so hard he almost ran out of breath.

"Luo’er, did you run into any trouble?" asked Tangmo, who looked at Luo’er with excitement upon his safe return.

"No, why would you ask?" Luo’er was taken aback by the question.

"That Melia is sneaky; I’m afraid she might have tricked you two," Tangmo pouted as she spoke, although it seemed she wasn’t genuinely worried about this.

"That might be a bit of an exaggeration," Luo’er scratched his head and laughed, his mind drifting to Melia for a fleeting moment that made him inexplicably unsettled.

He glanced over at Cheng Ziang, who was bearing a profound smile. Clearly, he would not gossip with others; he only showed such openness around Luo’er.

"Luo’er, welcome back," said Shangguan Jiu with a cheerful grin.

Tangmo and Baiyue, the instructors in charge of training, as well as the Hunter Squad, who were in the middle of training, all came over. After completing basic magic sensing, only Shangguan Jiu needed special training for magic application. The others, lacking the aptitude, would gain nothing from further training despite their efforts.

Seeing Shangguan Jiu, Luo’er was momentarily taken aback. Shangguan Jiu’s sunny and sweet smile was indeed breathtaking, like a beautiful girl from the neighborhood. Her pretty face held a warm smile, and her deep purple eyes added a hint of allure to her innocence.

The sight of Shangguan Jiu immediately took Luo’er’s thoughts to Melia, then to Tangmo and Baiyue. Cheng Ziang coughed beside him, disrupting his strange fantasy.

"Don’t forget your initial resolution," Cheng Ziang said indifferently.

Seeing Luo’er and company return, Li Si was clearly delighted as well, since according to the earlier arrangements, Wang Xu was to report back to Earth, and Li Si, as his assistant and the future station commander, had to stay behind at the station.

According to Wang Xu’s plan, if Li Si was to stay at the station, the affairs of the training base would be handed over to Luo’er. Although Luo’er was just a member of the Advance Team, Wang Xu had complete faith in his abilities.

"Now that you’re back, I should be leaving," Li Si stepped forward and said with a grin upon their arrival.

"Brother Li, where are you off to?" Hu Daoke asked.

"Our leader is reporting back to Earth, so I need to stay at our station." Li Si answered.

"And what about this place?" Hu Daoke pointed his finger to the ground.

"Everything’s settled here. If I’m absent, Luo’er will be fully in charge," Li Si replied.

"Oh, then I’ve got no problem with that." Upon hearing this reply, Hu Daoke immediately grinned. Luo’er, known to be agreeable, would always give in to anyone who treated him with affection among the team. So, nominally Luo’er was in charge, but in effect, it was a laissez-faire situation.

"I object!"

Before the person in question, Luo’er, could express his views, a roar of anger erupted from the crowd. Zhuan Zhu emerged with a gloomy face, loudly questioning, "Why should Luo’er lead us? Just because he’s on good terms with Instructor Wang? In terms of leadership, I think Murong is not far behind. Why does it have to Luo’er and not Murong? Why didn’t you even consider our opinions when deciding?"

His words not only left Li Si stunned but also rendered the usually calm Luo’er speechless. To Luo’er, Zhuan Zhu was not picking a fight this time, but discussing the matter objectively. Luo’er was brought up by Wang Xu, so Wang Xu naturally had a closer relationship with him. Hence, Wang Xu made the appointment naturally, but he didn’t take the feelings of the people below into account.

The Advance Team and the Hunter Squad were not in a superior-subordinate relationship. Although the Advance Team was currently under the headquarters, and the Hunter Squad was still under the academy, they were essentially peers. Why should the members of the Advance Team lead the members of the Hunter Squad?

"Zhuan Zhu, enough!" Murong stepped forward, his face stern, and admonished him. Unlike usual, he was genuinely angry this time, as Zhuan Zhu’s actions were indeed out of his expectations.

"What’s there to endure? I simply don’t like the idea of Luo’er leading us. Is it because they have more experience in Otherworld? Don’t forget, we were the champions!" Although he stepped back, Zhuan Zhu still retorted loudly, obviously not pleased.

"Uh..." Faced with this situation, Li Si was at a loss for words, standing frozen on the spot.

"If Luo’er doesn’t cut it, then there should be no problem if I take over, right?" Unexpectedly, Tangmo stepped forward at this moment. The usually naïve and friendly girl now radiated an intimidating chill.

She took a step forward, scanned the crowd, and then said coldly, "As the captain of the Advance Team and your chief magic training instructor, I should have the qualifications to lead everyone, right?"

"I object. In the end, you’re still..." Zhuanzhu’s next words were abruptly covered by Murong’s hand.

Murong knew what he wanted to say. From their initial meeting until now, they had already observed that, nominally, Tangmo was the captain of the Advance Team, but the actual control of the whole team was really in Luo’er’s hands. As the captain, Tangmo assigned everything to Luo’er to handle. Letting her run the training camp meant that the leadership would ultimately still fall into Luo’er’s hands.

Murong muzzled him and gave him a hard push. He was immediately steadied by the two young guys behind him, Wu Tairan and Xuzhong Qi. Murong shot him a stern look, signaling him not to show off any further.

How could he not know about Luo’er and Tangmo’s relationship? But it wasn’t appropriate to speak about it at this time. Luo’er and Tangmo’s relationship was indeed strange, but it was not their place to make comments. Moreover, he didn’t want the position of the camp leader.

He didn’t want to admit it, but he had to say that Luo’er had become more mature and responsible after these few months of adventures. It was no comparison to them who were still in school. Although he was upset about the change in leadership in the Advance Team, he honestly didn’t mind if Luo’er was his leader. He would rather Luo’er than anyone else.

After coughing, Murong awkwardly said, "Well, since Sister Moumou has said so, let’s let Sister Moumou be in charge here."

Although Tangmo was older than him, he usually did not want to call her Sister Moumou, so even this was a concession.

"Oh, if that is what everyone thinks, then let Moumou take charge, haha." Li Si said with a bit of awkwardness, he didn’t realize his words would change the mood this way.

After a brief celebration, Li Si set off for the camp. The hunters also had to return to the training ground to continue their training. Soon, only the three big shots of the Advance Team were left.

"That guy, can’t he go through one day without fighting!" The three walked side by side; Hu Daoke couldn’t help complaining.

"He’s not wrong, it does seem predetermined." Cheng Ziang said with a glance at him.

"Mmm," before Hu Daoke could voice his opinion, Luo’er nodded and said, "It’s better to avoid such things. It’s not worth messing up the entire atmosphere over this."

"Tsk, that guy just loves poking the beehive. If it weren’t for Murong, who could handle him?" Hearing Luo’er’s words, Hu Daoke said disgruntledly.

"Has he stopped his verbal tirades recently?" Luo’er asked, looking at him.

"No, not really," Hu Daoke shook his head and said, "According to Jiu’er, Murong scolded him all night because of this, so he’s been a lot better."

"Isn’t that good?" Luo’er shrugged, laughing nonchalantly. Although Zhuanzhu was arrogant and domineering, what Luo’er disliked most about him was his foul mouth.

"Let’s not talk about this, have you seen Melia?" Hu Daoke asked.

"Melia has already reached a cooperation agreement with the frontline headquarters. Now she’s liaising with those merchant capitalists to raise funds to build an army." Luo’er answered tersely.

"Cooperating with us?" Hu Daoke asked, pointing at himself.

"Mmm." Luo’er nodded.

"Oh, then aren’t we getting involved in Masaya’s aristocratic infighting." Hu Daoke scratched his head; despite his appearance, he had a good head on his shoulders.

"You can’t really say that." Luo’er said, "We only provide weapons; how Melia builds her army and pulls the strings has nothing to do with us."

"Speaking of which, when you went to see Melia, did she try to seduce you?" Hu Daoke abruptly changed the topic.

"Why are you also asking the same thing?" Luo’er looked at him, inexplicably feeling a little nervous.

"No, after you left, Sister Moumou lost her appetite for tea and meals. Not only her, Yue’er became restless too. I was wondering if they sensed some crisis?" Hu Daoke scratched his head.

"What is this called, telepathy or women’s intuition?" Cheng Ziang chuckled in the sidelines.

"Really?" Hu Daoke leaned in and asked.

Before Luo’er could answer, Hu Daoke saw Cheng Ziang winking frantically at him from the side. He looked at Luo’er suspiciously, then at Cheng Ziang, and finally nodded with relief.