Chapter 58 - Shadow Moment

Hayase Asuka was intrigued by Zhang Heng. For the most part, having been in China for so long, this was the first time she had come across a Chinese who was so fluent in Japanese, one who even spoke with an authentic Tokyo accent, which she had found very comforting.

Perhaps this poor child had been ignored for too long, not leaving the moment she got her phone back, but stayed by Zhang Heng instead, bombarding him with questions.

Chen Huadong nudged Wei Jiangyang on the shoulder and gave him a look.

The latter understood immediately and quickly said, “Xiaoxiao needs my help with something urgent. I have to go first!”

Chen Huadong chimed in, “I’ll come with you. I should be chatting on QQ 1with Xujing too.”

Ma Wei was the only one a little clueless, still caught up in that moment of furor. Based on his understanding, this was the moment to order two more large bottles of beer! Why did everyone have to leave suddenly?

Wei Jiangyang coughed twice and said, “Hey, Old Ma, you haven’t memorized the TOEFL words yet, right?”

Only then did Ma Wei suddenly get the message. They were all so focused on the two black exchange students that they did not pay much attention to Hayase Asuka. Now that they did, he realized that this girl was quite a looker with an exotic appeal so dissimilar to the likes of Chinese girls with a small face, delicate features, and short chestnut hair.

Brothers needed to create opportunities for each other!

Ma Wei nodded, “Yes, yes! I have to go back and memorize all the words. CET-6 is coming soon.”

After that, the three boys vanished without so much as a goodbye, leaving in such a hurry that the owner of the food stall thought they were trying to avoid paying for the meal!

…

Zhang Heng paid for the food, then sent Hayase Asuka back to her school. Coincidentally, the foreign university she was studying in was right next to Zhang Heng’s campus.

Hayase Asuka looked rather happy as they stood outside of the student dorm. “Can I come hang out with you for fun next time?”

Zhang Heng found this request hard to refuse, and so, the both of them exchanged phone numbers before saying goodbye. When he returned to his dorm, the atmosphere in the room seemed a little strange. All three of his housemates were there. Chen Huadong even borrowed a mahjong table from next door and set it in the center of the room with a 30,000 yuan banknote on the table. “The Court is in session! Someone! Bring me the suspect!”

“…”

“Come, Childe Zhang. You either take the initiative to confess first, or we can do it for you!” Chen Huadong wore this jealous look on his face. “Oh, how wicked of you! I’ve always asked why you never date, and it turns out you’ve been learning Japanese secretly so that you could woo Japanese girls, huh? So, has she given herself to you? Where do the both of you plan to stay in the future? China or Japan? Do you want to have a son or a daughter?”

Wei Jiangyang was also very keen. “Are all Japanese girls very gentle?”

“You guys are overthinking! We were just making friends,” Zhang Heng said.

“Ask your conscience! You think what you did is worthy of Shen Xixi waiting for you for years?” asked Chen Huadong.

When Shen Xixi’s name was mentioned, Wei Jiangyang suddenly had this strange expression on his face. He thought about it before deciding to ask Zhang Heng, “Have you been in contact with Shen Xixi recently?”

Zhang Heng raised an eyebrow at that question. “Why?”

“There’s been a not-so-good rumor about her recently …” Wei Jiangyang answered hesitantly. “Apparently, some time ago, someone saw her get into a black Mercedes after curfew.”

“No way. She doesn’t look like that kind of person. She comes from a pretty good family and probably shouldn’t be short on money to spend.” Gossip really was the most irresistible. Chen Huadong’s attention quickly turned away from Zhang Heng and his new Japanese friend. “Wasn’t she very cool towards Chen Cheng?”

Ma Wei turned around from his books to say, “I heard about that too! Some people say she was just pretending, playing hard to get.” Although he always focused on his studies, he was not a lone wolf like Zhang Heng. Shen Xixi was the prettiest girl in the Public Relations department, the dream lover of many boys, so naturally, rumors about her would spread really quickly.

“It’s probably a relative or friend.” Zhang Heng did not know Shen Xixi that well and was not in the position to comment. But ever since that camping trip, she left quite an impression on him—she was a brilliant girl. He did not quite believe this rumor.

“Who knows?” When Chen Huadong saw that he was not going to squeeze any valuable information out of Zhang Heng, he returned the mahjong table to their neighbor and returned to playing games on his computer, sulking. The others also returned to their respective areas in the room.

Zhang Heng decided to take shower. When he opened his closet, a wooden carving sitting in the corner caught his eye. This thing was returned to him 4 days ago, also sent by post.

[Name: Shadow Moment]

[Grade: D]

[Usage: Could place the user in shadow form, lasting for 3 minutes. Can only be used under conditions where shadows can be manifested. Number of uses: 3]

This was the second supernatural item that Zhang Heng had found. In reality, it could only be used 2 more times. He had no choice, at least needing to try it out once.

Unlike the lucky rabbit’s foot, the Shadow Moment was the kind of item that needed to be first activated. He had to carve his name at the bottom of the statue and focus his mind on visualizing a crow for the thing to take effect. According to Zhang Heng’s experiment, this transition into shadow form actually made the person’s physical body disappear, leaving only a shadow.

As for the conditions stated at the end, it merely meant that it could only be used when he had a shadow.

The way to get out of shadow form was also very simple. He just needed to turn off the lights, and he would reappear again. Or, he could also install spotlights on all four corners of the room to stop the effect.

Even though there were a lot of restrictions, its effects were also pretty pronounced. In shadow form, it would be difficult for anyone to inflict damage on him. Characteristically, shadows could reach places that were not usually easily accessible and could be used to avoid notice.

So, Zhang Heng decided to keep it for himself. Other than that, he also had a piece of Moresby bone. Unable to reveal its source, he could not ask the bartender lady to identify it for the time being.

Mid-December came quickly. Zhang Heng thought that he had done pretty well in his CET-6. The listening test at this level was pretty easy for him, also completing the reading, understanding, and translation part pretty quickly. The only part he needed to spend a little more time and effort was filling in the blanks and composition—these were also the areas in which he focused on these two weeks.

After he penned down the last word, he looked at the time. There was still an hour left. Not wanting to make such a dramatic exit or adding too much pressure to his fellow comrades in the battlefield of exams, he remained in his seat for another half an hour and checked his paper twice.

Even so, when he got up from his seat, the frustrated Xujing, who was sitting behind him inhaled nervously.

She had only just shaded in the answer sheets, not even writing a single word for the essay.

Footnotes:

Ch 58 Footnote 1

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