Zhao Xue slid Meng Hao a condescending glare before directing her attention back to that delicious food. Obviously, she knew that he was interested in her.
Technically, Meng Hao was quite a catch based on normal societal standards. He looked normal, had great results, had a decent background and was simply a decent all-around individual. Furthermore, he was an apostle with tens of cats back at home.
Winning a girl"s heart was as easy as ABC for a guy of his standards.
However, it was just his luck to meet Zhao Xue who had zero interest in guys. She just remained completely indifferent to Meng Hao"s acts of kindness. She even turned a deaf ear to everything he did and chose to focus her attention on food.
Meng Hao was no stranger to Zhao Xue"s coolness and indifference. A smile crept up his face as he reminded her, "Zhao Xue, don"t just focus on all the meat. This restaurant is particularly famous for its stir-fry, you should save your stomach for that."
He reached his arm forward and scooped a spoonful of the famous stir-fry beef with broccoli for Zhao Xue.
Zhao Xue lifted her head and immediately intercepted the kind gesture by blocking him with her forearm. Her forehead began to furrow slightly as her tone turned somewhat irritated, "I already told you that I prefer meat."
Despite her nonchalant and unpleasant att.i.tude, Meng Hao still nodded with that same smile on his face. He scooped the food into his own bowl and remarked, "It"s okay, I"ll have it instead."
Zhao Xue could only roll her eyes at his unwavering determination. She couldn"t help but feel a wave of helplessness sweeping over her when faced with such people.
She wanted to tell him so badly, "Bro, you are focusing your attention on the wrong person. I am interested in women, not men."
However, she dismissed the thought after some consideration. She did not want her unique s.e.xual orientation to be a new gossip material for all these college students. It would be disastrous if it actually spread beyond the school and into the ears of her parents and Zhao Yao.
Hence, she could only maintain her aloofness when faced against Meng Hao"s incessant courting.
Meanwhile, the remaining half of the table suddenly had their eyes all fixed on Meng Hao.
Even though Meng Hao"s performance in the compet.i.tion was average at best, he was still an outstanding individual amongst these students because of his background and results. Furthermore, he was the pioneer of this organization, granting him significant authority and power over the members.
A few guys looked towards him and exclaimed, "Meng Hao, I owe you my entire life for establis.h.i.+ng this organization and bringing all of us together. If not for you, I would still be stuck in my house thinking that I"ve gone crazy!"
"That peer-to-peer lending platform is truly evil. I heard that some girls ended up in hospitals after taking up numerous part-time jobs to pay their debts. Some of them even resorted to selling their house."
"These loan sharks are truly despicable. Meng Hao, as the leader of our group, do you have anything to say about them?"
"Meng Hao, say something!"
An amiable smile appeared on Meng Hao"s handsome face. He slowly got to his feet before making his inspiring speech. Every word he uttered was music to the audience"s ears. For those 10 minutes, they truly believed that they were the physical embodiment of the word justice.
His eyes swept across the audience at the end of his speech. The sea of wide-eyed college students was evidence that he had earned their full-fledged respect and admiration. Joy bubbled up in him as he whispered to himself, "College students plus apostle … this is the easiest group of individuals to take advantage of."
While Meng Hao was still reveling in his flawless speech, the noise of a dragging chair erupted in his ears and broke his train of thought. It was none other than Zhao Xue. She had already stood up and was ready to leave the restaurant.
"I"ve finished eating and I have something to attend to. Enjoy your dinner."
The rest of the students stared with disgust as they watched Zhao Xue disappearing behind that huge wooden door. Half a minute later, a guy jumped to his feet and retorted, "That Zhao Xue … how can she behave like this?"
"I agree. She wasn"t even serious during our rally just now. I didn"t even see her distribute a single pamphlet throughout those five hours."
"What can we do about that? She can do anything she wants with that pretty face of hers. All we can do is to tolerate her foul temper."
"Alright, alright, don"t get angry over such useless stuff." Meng Hao even attempted to put in some good words for her, "Zhao Xue is just a little shy and introverted. I will talk to her about it. We are all students of the same college. It is destiny that brought us together. We should cherish this bond that we share and give each other a chance to better understand one another."
"I"m sure you guys will know that I"m nothing but a lucky person. I just happened to be born into a well-to-do family and have some spare cash."
Somehow, these arrogant words received a round of applause amongst those gullible college students.
"Hence, if you guys need anything in school, just feel free to find me. I will do whatever I can to help you solve your problem."
Meanwhile, Zhao Xue was not the least bit worried about what others might say behind her back. She was only worried about a single thing - to make it in time for training.
It sounded as if there was a tornado in the forest as Zhao Xue"s slender frame traversed across the dense forest in the blink of an eye.
Zhao Yao"s eyes were glued to Zhao Xue"s every single movement. With his acute eyesight, he even noticed the minor distortion in the s.p.a.ce surrounding Zhao Xue"s body. This was only possible when traveling at such blazing speed.
"This improvement is truly remarkable," Zhao Yao remarked, "If she continues improving at this rate, she"ll be able to catch up to Butcher in two months" time. I guess upgrading Sphynx Cat has truly taken effect. The power of training has improved significantly."
One hour later, Zhao Xue collapsed to the seat next to Zhao Yao as her chest rose and fell with rapid breaths. Suddenly, she took a deep breath and asked, "King George, what do you think will happen to this world with the advent of superpower? Do you think that it will be very different?"
"Hmph?" Zhao Yao was caught off guard by this question as he muttered, "Why did Zhao Xue suddenly ask me such a philosophical question? Did she fail her exams? Or did she fail her re-exams? Or did she run out of money for her tuition fees?"
However, Zhao Xue didn"t even bother to wait for King George"s response as she continued, "I mean just look at our world. Internet clips of supercats, apostles, and supernatural happenings have proliferated indefinitely throughout the net.
Isn"t this just like how the industrial revolution began with the invention of the steam engine? What will happen to our world with the birth of superpowers? Will our society change because of it?"
Zhao Yao nodded his heads to her words but deep down he was thinking, "Did she just break up?"
"What will happen to the ordinary humans from now on? Are they in danger?" Zhao Xue suddenly swept her head towards King George and asked, "Should I alert my parents and brother to this entire world of superpower?"
"Tell my a.s.s! I spent so much time just to protect them from this! It"s a disaster if you actually told them the truth! At the end of the day, I"ll be the one taking care of all the mess you created!" Zhao Yao was screaming in his head. However, he managed to keep his cool and continued lending her a listening ear.
Meanwhile, Zhao Xue shook her head and muttered, "No, I can"t do that to them. They are just ordinary people. Nothing good will come out of it if I told them the truth. They will simply worry about nothing. The only solution is for me to get stronger. Only then will I be able to protect them."
Some rea.s.suring words finally came out of Zhao Xue"s mouth as he whispered to himself, "That"s the correct mentality. Continue to train harder to protect your loved ones."
"King George, where do you think I"ll stand amongst all apostles with my current abilities? Am I among the top 10% or 20%?" In her eyes, King George was an omnipotent and omniscient figure.
Naturally, Zhao Yao hoped that she would continue keeping a low profile and persevere in her relentless training. Hopefully, she won"t attract any unwanted attention to herself.
Hence, he blurted out, "You are amongst the bottom 30% of apostles. You still have a long way to go."
A frown crept up Zhao Xue"s face as she muttered, "Why am I still so weak? From today onwards, I will increase my training time by another two hours!"
Before King George could even open his mouth, she had already disappeared into the thick forests and carried on with her training.
Zhao Yao could only let out a sigh of helplessness, "I guess I have to wait for another two hours … I just wanna go back for my chicken dinner."
Roly Poly which had grown restless from all the waiting tapped Zhao Yao on his shoulder and whispered into his ears, "Zhao Yao, how about I return to ..."
"No!" Zhao Yao threw Roly Poly against the ground and left him a death threat, "You can bid farewell to all the delicious food if you return to the belly now."