Book Synopsis
Book Tags
Donation Rankings
Comment
0 Comments
You May Also Like
墨書 Inktalez
According to calculations, if taking the northern sea route, Mi Xiaonan could return to Dawn City in about a month. Now Beiyue needed to address the final target, Li Qing. How should Beiyue approach Li Qing? Feeling somewhat frustrated, Beiyue realized that her social skills were nowhere near as strong as Cui Ming's. She believed Cui Ming could persuade Li Qing, but as the captain, she didn’t want this matter to be handled by Cui Ming.
The day after sending Mi Xiaonan off, Cui Ming went to the kitchen after work to prepare dinner while Ding Ze retreated to his room. Finally, Beiyue had the opportunity to talk privately with Li Qing.
In the backyard of the villa, they sat down, boiled water for tea, and exchanged a few pleasantries before Beiyue got straight to the point: “Li Qing, are you interested in joining our team to challenge the Force Alliance assessment?”
Li Qing pondered for a moment, resting her chin on her hand. “I’m surprised it’s you asking and not Cui Ming. Let me ask you a question first: what do you think of Cui Ming?”
“In what way?” Beiyue countered.
“Well… let’s put it this way: your strength is decent, but you lack practical experience; your tactical awareness is good. Ding Ze is an irreplaceable attacker with solid foundations and extensive knowledge. The Ding Family pays great attention to gathering information on both outstanding and mediocre practitioners. With Ding Ze around, our team is secure. Mi Xiaonan has seen it; that little one is indeed impressive—quick on her feet with excellent tactical awareness and decisive when it comes to timing.” Li Qing paused before continuing, “But I have to be honest: if this team consists of you, me, Ding Ze, Mi Xiaonan, and Cui Ming, we won’t get far. Cui Ming focuses on strategy and support enhancement; he can’t be considered an attacker. As for strategy? He’s only half-prepared; after one move, he loses combat effectiveness, can’t run fast, and lacks self-defense capabilities.”
Beiyue questioned, “What do you mean?”
“If your goal is to enter the Force Alliance, I have a friend who is a classmate from Alliance Academy and quite capable. A few months ago, he wrote to me expressing interest in challenging the Assessment Match and asked if I knew of any teams looking for members.” Li Qing explained. “The reason I previously declined your invitation was due to strength issues. After staying at the villa and understanding Ding Ze’s value better—and being surprised by your performance—I must admit that while I have a good relationship with Cui Ming, I have to be honest: he’s a liability. I won’t join a team with him. Simply put, enemies don’t need any tactics; they just need to focus on Cui Ming. Will we save him or not? If not, he doesn’t even have self-defense capabilities. Relying on chance cards? You saw during training that he can draw color cards, but now he can’t get the cards he wants. For instance, wanting to borrow a knife with a Black Card but ending up drawing golden cards twice in a row instead.”
Beiyue asked, “Are you testing me?”
“No,” Li Qing replied seriously. “A gentleman’s word is his bond; as long as you’re willing to replace Cui Ming, I can write to my friend. At the same time, I can swear by Buddha that I will definitely join your team for the assessment. Beiyue, friends are friends, but work is work. Cui Ming will understand; I’ll talk to him about it—he doesn’t have much desire to join the Force Alliance anyway.”
Beiyue closed her eyes in contemplation for a moment. “You’re right; in the Assessment Match, Cui Ming doesn’t contribute much and could become a burden and weakness for our team. But replacing him doesn’t sit well with me. No matter his motives, he has been helping me all along—let’s not even mention Mi Xiaonan joining the team. I didn’t like him before; I found him quite annoying and felt forced into bringing someone into the fold when things seemed bleak and somewhat tragic at that time. However, after these months of interaction, I believe bringing him into the team was the best decision.”
"Like what?"
"For example, it used to be quite dull, and I got used to the monotony. He always manages to do something interesting—adventures, truth or dare, food, and cold jokes. Every day, seeing his smile on his face lifts my spirits a bit; his carefree attitude can be infectious. Besides, when we talk about the Assessment Match, Cui Ming might be a burden, but he could also be a control master," Beiyue said. "You might not know this, but Cui Ming talked to me this afternoon. He made it clear about his abilities and said he would convince you to join the team. He believes this lineup is quite good, and if we recruit one more strong player, it shouldn't be a problem."
Li Qing nodded. "He mentioned it to me at noon too. He thought he was impressive while in prison, but turned out to be quite weak. He practiced Six Elements and felt he had great potential, yet still found himself lacking. He tried to break through his limitations and thought he could step onto the stage, so he specifically challenged Zhao Wei to test his strength but ended up getting beaten badly. Plus, after watching Wu Mi's performance last night, he didn't sleep well. He used to be an optimist, but the deeper he delves into the cultivation world, the weaker he feels. His confidence has been repeatedly shattered... To put it bluntly, Cui Ming is self-aware. I can't say for sure if he has a future, but looking at the next year or two, unless he encounters some fortuitous event, it's unlikely he'll become a master."
Beiyue said, "Li Qing might be a bit stubborn. I really hope you can join the team, but not at the cost of replacing Cui Ming. I'm quite stubborn myself; once I've made a decision, I won't change it."
Li Qing pondered for a long time before saying, "Then give me some time to think about it."
"Alright, I'll head back upstairs first." Beiyue left. She wasn't sure if Li Qing was testing her or not, but she had already made her decision. Regardless of whether it was a test or not, it didn't matter to Beiyue. However, she felt that Cui Ming was unworthy; in her eyes, Cui Ming and Li Qing were good friends. Although work is work and friends are friends, if she were Cui Ming, she wouldn't want to be friends with someone who looked down on her.
Of course, this assumption held only if Li Qing wasn't testing her. Beiyue found Li Qing somewhat unpredictable; what Li Qing said earlier was very straightforward—he swore to join as long as he could abandon Cui Ming. That couldn't be fake. So Beiyue leaned more towards believing that Li Qing genuinely thought this way rather than testing her.
There was an event tonight where everyone was going to meet with the professor for one-on-one discussions about their views on Force and their progress; the professor would record these sessions as important research material.
After dinner, the four of them got into a car to head out. Li Qing was the first to have his meeting; Ding Ze didn't care much and avoided secondhand smoke by pretending to nap in the car downstairs. In the professor's living room were just Beiyue and Cui Ming left. Cui Ming felt Beiyue's gaze was strange and shyly said, "Boss, please don't stare at me like that; I don't have a girlfriend yet."
Sometimes he could be so offbeat; however, this was his way of indicating that he had something to say and guiding himself into conversation. Beiyue thought for a moment and found it somewhat difficult: "Shall I tell you a story?"
Cui Ming was taken aback: "Boss is telling a story? I think TV news is more interesting than your stories."
"Shut up."
"..." It seems that this story cannot be ignored.
Comment 0 Comment Count