Chapter 11 - [Trigger protection]
A man dressed in a pristine white robe hovered in the air, his garments fluttering as if caught in an invisible breeze—a magnificent ice bow materialised in his hands, its transparency reflecting the light with a mesmerising glow.
With deliberate precision, he pulled back the bowstring, causing an ice arrow to materialise and take form. The arrow’s body possessed a captivating shade of blue, so intense that a mere glimpse induced a sense of dizziness.
Eternal Night’s Ice Prison!
The man dressed in pristine white let go of the bowstring, sending the arrow hurtling towards an imposing gate.
Suddenly, a strange sound came from the man’s waist—yes, it was the sound of his phone ringing.
With an unsettling noise interrupting his dream, Ling Fan’s pleasant reverie was ruthlessly shattered. “Damn it, even in my dream, I have to be interrupted. What a miserable life! I want to see if I hit the target or not!” Ling Fan let out a tired sigh, not dwelling on it any further. After all, he was the man in white and was well aware of what would unfold next.
Ling Fan enjoyed playing games because of the awe-inspiring abilities and impressive moves of the game characters, which stirred a sense of longing within him.
Although he can’t use them now, it’s still no problem to get a bit of enjoyment by playing games.
After giving himself a firm wake-up slap, Ling Fan promptly rose from his bed and proceeded to follow his usual routine of showering and preparing for the day ahead.
If there was sufficient time in the morning, a refreshing shower could work wonders for the body, helping it bounce back from sleep and also improve his appearance, as his hair after waking up looked terrible.
That’s how Ling Fan thought.
“There are quite a few tasks today…”
Ling Fan, with a carton of milk in hand and enjoying a hearty meat bun, flagged down a taxi and provided the destination of JunHao Garden.
Ling Fan didn’t let the Su family pick him up. Since the day he started tutoring Su MoRan, he had only given Su Wen a vague address.
The reason was partly due to Ling Fan’s pride; he felt that his living place was too ordinary, and he wanted to maintain some semblance of dignity.
In addition, Ling Fan felt it would be better to keep his precise whereabouts a secret. With his past as a wizard and his high intelligence in the present, Ling Fan had a certain level of trust in his instinct.
While Ling Fan was daydreaming in the taxi, his status panel suddenly appeared before him.
Huh?!
Ling Fan examined the panel carefully.
The panel started flashing, with lines of text appearing rapidly.
Analysing Ling Fan’s stats…
Analysing Ling Fan’s skills…
Analysing Ling Fan’s surrounding environment…
Choosing the protection method based on stats and conditions…
This panel is only visible to him, but Ling Fan has no idea what’s going on right now; he decides to wait patiently.
Soon, the panel starts flashing, and a string of text appears before Ling Fan’s eyes.
[Survive the weekend (Saturday and Sunday) without taking any man-made damage. Settlement time is Sunday at midnight.]
[Reward: Spirit of Sanctuary (Weakened), bound to Ling Fan. Effect: After use, one instance of any physical damage will be blocked within ten seconds.]
After Ling Fan finished reading, the panel automatically disappeared. Ling Fan, forcing himself to hold back a torrent of questions, first tried to see if he could manually pull out the panel for viewing. Seeing he could, he let out a sigh of relief.
Then…
Huh?!! What the hell is this?
Ling Fan’s jaw nearly dislocated. After finally getting his jaw back in place, he glanced at the taxi driver and noticed that the driver hadn’t paid any attention to him in the back seat.
Ling Fan could confirm that the so-called ‘system’ in this world wasn’t misleading him; if it said something existed, then it surely did.
Ling Fan estimated that the current status panel was somewhat linked to his past life as a wizard. The so-called intelligence would affect the total and quality of his mana. In contrast, charm should affect elemental affinity and release.
But damn it, these are not useful right now! What he needs now are strength, agility, and stamina!
Looking at the other status on the panel, all set to 6, Ling Fan was almost in tears. If he had known things would turn out like this, he would have chosen to be a knight or warrior back then, no matter what.
At least that would be better than being a fifth-rate fighter trash.
But now wasn’t the time for self-pity.
Ling Fan thought to himself. Based on the previous information, the protection method was selected, considering his current situation. If his melee stats were high right now, he would likely face a different set of options. Instead of being offered protection, he would be presented with intense and challenging choices.
For instance, the system might send him to an underground boxing ring to engage in illegal matches or participate in street brawls, where he would take on an entire gang to demonstrate his skills.
After some contemplation, Ling Fan drew a few key conclusions.
First, since the objective is to avoid human harm, it’s clear that someone is out to get him. If he could fight them off, he probably wouldn’t have been given the option to evade. The text clearly indicated he needed to avoid combat.
Ling Fan took another look at his panel and shook his head. Hand-to-hand combat was simply not his strong suit.
Given that the choice was based on his current status, Ling Fan figured that everyone he interacted with over the weekend could be a potential threat.
Ling Fan suddenly remembered: “Analyzing Ling Fan’s surrounding environment…”
If so, it was highly likely that people he had interacted with over the years, even those he had only met once, could be suspects.
Ling Fan believed that there was no such thing as love or hatred without reason in the world.
Getting unexpectedly assaulted and thrown to the ground by a complete stranger was an incredibly unlikely occurrence.
Similarly, if a transfer student joined his school, and despite not knowing her at all, she confessed her feelings to him shortly after, Ling Fan would think that was nonsense, something straight out of a novel.
Everything should have a cause and effect, at least for most events.
Ling Fan wasn’t a rigid person. Although the chance of being attacked by someone unrelated was not impossible, he preferred to focus on more likely possibilities.
With this thought in mind, Ling Fan began to reflect on whether he had done anything particularly unusual over the years that might have affected someone’s interests.
When he passed the school’s teaching test, did it negatively impact someone? Ling Fan started to recall everyone involved at that time.
There weren’t many participants, and Ling Fan quickly thought through them all.
Liu SiYu!
It can’t be. She’s the one targeting him?
But then why has she always helped him then? Could it be because he used Xue LingYun’s handkerchief yesterday, and Liu SiYu concluded that he was a pervert and decided to take action?
Ling Fan considered a few more people, each of whom appeared suspicious. For example, the big guy who sat next to him in class frequently fixed his gaze on Liu SiYu.
Given that Liu SiYu had spoken with him many times because of official matters, was it possible that the big guy thought he was a love rival and wanted to eliminate him?
Su Wen?
Xu ZhongHao?
Constantly being suspicious isn’t going to solve anything. If everyone were this scheming, his grave would have been covered in grass long ago.
He couldn’t fight back against an unknown opponent. Since nothing had happened to him before, it meant he hadn’t made any significant mistakes. From now on, he just needed to stay more vigilant.
Ling Fan concluded: one word—survive! If he could make it through Sunday, he would naturally turn the crisis into safety without having to rack his brain over many troublesome issues, and he’d also secure a reward.
The Spirit of Sanctuary effect was very tempting; it was practically a divine artifact.
In games, such consumable items are typically cheap since you have the convenience of respawning after death. However, there’s nothing like that in real life.
So, Ling Fan understood the value of the Spirit of Sanctuary.
Using it well could mean an extra life!
Desire drives progress!
With this in mind, Ling Fan gathered his focus. The countdown likely began as soon as he received the notification.
He pulled up the panel, and, as expected, there was a timer in the upper right corner.
Seeing this made Ling Fan a bit nervous. He was now in a stranger’s car, although it was just a taxi.
Ling Fan quickly glanced out the window, and, fortunately, the route hadn’t changed.
He needed to keep calm and ensure that the driver didn’t make any sudden moves. Ling Fan’s mind raced as he considered his next steps.
While discreetly entering the emergency number into his phone, ready to call for help at the first sign of trouble, he started to casually chat with the driver, using his high intelligence to keep the conversation going.