Quadruple split.

Chapter 2689: Giving and receiving without being intimate

Chapter 2689: Giving and receiving without being intimate
"Huh...huh..."

Somewhere in the Blood Barbarian region, on a wasteland quite far from Skolke Stronghold, the girl Juechen Tianping was panting heavily, leaning on a bone cane that she didn't actually like. Her face was covered in cold sweat, and she looked like she was not far from death.

Avery, standing next to her, turned to look at Libra and hesitated before asking, "Um, are you alright, Libra?"

"What...what do you think?"

Unlike his companions, Juechen Tianping, who showed no respect for His Highness the Holy Son, rolled his eyes and said irritably, "Do I look like I'm alright?"

Avery gave an awkward laugh and didn't dare to continue the conversation. After all, as we mentioned before, from any perspective, Juechen Tianping looked like he was not far from death at this moment.

Admittedly, necromancers are a profession that is very close to 'death', but to almost die from exhaustion while traveling, and thus get even closer to death, is definitely an oddity even in this relatively unconventional group.

"To be honest, Miss Ping."

Although they were both players, Romeo and Pig Overnight looked perfectly normal, showing no signs of fatigue. Romeo smiled slightly and said, "You can have His Highness Avery carry you. After all, for him, the burden of carrying you is negligible."

Juechen Tianping sighed, then chuckled dryly before turning to Avery and beckoning, "Come on, try to pick me up."

"Ah... ah?"

Avery paused for a moment, then blushed slightly as he walked up to the rather beautiful, slender necromancer in front of him and hesitated, "I... hug you?"

"Ugh."

Seeing his expression, Libra sighed helplessly and shook her head, saying, "It's alright, you can't carry him."

Avery was taken aback again, and asked in confusion, "Why is that?"

"Don't believe me? Then try it and see."

The white-haired, beautiful necromancer turned to face Avery, who was a few years younger than her, and calmly opened her arms: "A regular princess carry will do, come on."

"Hmm, well, I'll give it a try."

Avery took a deep breath, then walked nervously to the front of the Sky-Piercing Scales, blushing as he said, "Excuse me, Miss Sky-Piercing Scales."

Juechen Tianping twitched the corners of his mouth and said with a forced smile, "Don't worry, you won't offend anyone."

"What do you mean I can't afford to offend...? Huh?"

As Avery spoke, he tried to lift Tianping in a princess carry as she had just described, but found his hands suddenly freeze just before touching her shoulders and the back of her legs. He was immediately shocked and exclaimed, "What's going on? What did you do, Tianping?"

Juechen Tianping looked up at the sky and sighed, "It's a pity, young man, I didn't actually do anything."

"Then...how could this be?"

Avery Davidson, an undisputed genius of the Justice Church who advanced to the Epic rank at a young age and possessed the strength of a Knight Lord, frowned and then once again channeled his power, unleashing a burst of battle aura to counter the invisible barrier surrounding the Scales of Heaven.

Then the scales were blown away.

"I go!"

Because he was prepared, the Scales of Heaven, who had just been thrown into the air by Avery's burst of battle aura, pulled out a steampunk-style propulsion device and slowly landed on the ground. He clicked his tongue, casually threw the already destroyed disposable propulsion device on the ground, walked back to the Holy Son of Justice, and chuckled, "See, what did I tell you?"

"Uh, I'm so sorry, I'm really sorry."

Avery first apologized profusely for his outburst of anger, then asked, puzzled, "So why can't I lift you, Libra?"

Juechen Tianping shrugged and said calmly, "Because you have improper thoughts about me."

[Unreasonable desires?]

[Thinking of dividing it?]

[Thoughts?]

【think?】

【? 】

The next instant, Avery stood frozen in place as if struck by lightning, as if he had been stared at by a reinforced company of Medusas for three days and three nights. He was completely stunned, his mind filled with the other party's deafening words—"You have improper thoughts about me."

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no!!"

Finally, after a full half-minute of stunned silence, Avery suddenly jumped back at least two meters, his face flushed red as he frantically waved his hands, saying, "No, no, no, no! How could I have such improper thoughts about Libra! I just... I... no, I really didn't..."

"Don't explain, kid. This has nothing to do with your own subjective thoughts. Well, it might have a little bit to do with it, but it's really not that much."

Juechen Tianping covered his mouth and chuckled, unable to suppress his amusement, and said, "Let me put it this way, we otherworldly beings, although we can fight and even die in battle, are protected by a function called 'sexual harassment protection' in any situation. This function will not enhance our strength, nor will it protect us from harm, but in certain situations, even legendary-level powerhouses will not be able to gain the upper hand in the slightest."

Avery swallowed hard, repeating dryly, "Take...take advantage?"

"Yeah, it's about taking advantage. For example, if you just wanted to stab me to death with your sword, I would be a dead balance by now. But the problem is, your goal is to pick me up."

Juechen Tianping crossed his arms and explained in a light tone, "In this situation, you might find yourself having inappropriate thoughts..."

Avery stared dumbfounded at the composed Juechen Tianping, then repeated as if his computer had crashed, "Wanting...wishful thinking?"

"Hahaha, to put it simply—"

Romeo and the Pig Overnight walked over, put his arm around Avery's shoulder, and said with a wicked grin, "You have some kind of idea about carrying our Libra girl... other than saving her some energy."

Avery, his face flushed, shook off the man's arm and shouted defiantly, "I didn't!"

“You do, young man, you definitely do. There’s nothing to be ashamed of. After all, Libra is a pretty young girl, and you are a young man full of vigor. It’s perfectly normal for you to have some faint, imperceptible, and even unconscious thoughts when you think about picking her up.”

Boss Luo shook his head, then changed the subject with a wicked smile, "Of course, if your orientation is a bit unusual, like liking men, then you certainly won't have any impure thoughts about Libra girls. On the contrary, if you try to pick up a handsome middle-aged man like me, you'll definitely be stopped."

"..."

The next instant, Avery teleported behind Luo as if by magic, then expressionlessly scooped him up in his arms, gritting his teeth as he said, "I don't like men!"

"It's obvious, young man, you've proven yourself."

Mr. Luo, who was being carried horizontally by Avery, chuckled and winked, saying, "So you have to admit that you had some extra thoughts about Libra just now... Ugh!"

Outside the game, the revered entrepreneur, Boss Luo, the founder and controlling shareholder of the Crimson Constellation Club, was mercilessly thrown to the ground, letting out a painful groan. "Um, Libra girl..."

Avery didn't even glance at Luo Ou, whom he had tossed on the ground like trash, and turned to Juechen Tianping, who had been watching the spectacle from the sidelines, with a wry smile: "I'm sorry."

"It's nothing. I knew it would turn out like this. If Uncle Romeo hadn't insisted on bringing it up, I wouldn't have even wanted you to try it."

Juechen Tianping waved his hand dismissively and laughed, "I should thank you instead for thinking I'm a pretty woman."

Avery: "Ah, this..."

"Don't overthink it. I'm not being sarcastic. To be honest, if you asked me to hug a handsome, intelligent, stylish, young, single guy who's also my type, I probably wouldn't be able to. But that doesn't mean I like that guy."

Juechen Tianping cleared his throat and said in a serious tone, "So it's really nothing. Rather, the way you were flustered just now, you probably already have a girl you like, right?"

"!!!"

And so, Avery was once again petrified.

"Yo ho!"

Romeo, who had somehow gotten up from the ground, chuckled mischievously and said, "Really?"

"I……."

Avery opened his mouth, seemingly wanting to explain something, but in the end, under the gossipy gaze of Juechen Tianping, he sighed and lowered his voice, saying, "I might actually have a bit of a soft spot for a certain stingy, immoral, and inhuman miser. Anyway, please keep it a secret."

"stingy person?"

Boss Luo blinked, reacting before the scales of despair could be lifted, and said with a smile, "Could it be Her Highness Fialy Graham of the Wealth Cult?"

"..."

Avery didn't speak, but lowered his head in sorrow, his silence revealing a deep sense of shame that he liked Fialy Graham.

"Hehe, that's great, don't worry, we'll definitely keep it a secret for you."

Juechen Tianping, whose gossip-loving heart had been satisfied, breathed a sigh of relief and said with a smile while stretching his arms and legs, "I'm actually fine here. Anyway, we'll be there soon, and this little bit of time to catch my breath is enough."

What she said was true. After all, she was a specialist in engineering and necromancy, specializing in bone manipulation. Although she was indeed 'useless' in terms of physical strength, after putting on the exoskeleton and using the bone-strengthening skill on herself, Libra was still able to keep up with the main group. The reason she looked so tired just now was mainly because she didn't care much about her image. If it were Yu Ying, who liked to pose in front of outsiders, she probably wouldn't have been discovered until she was exhausted.

"anyway!"

Boss Luo suddenly turned his head and glanced at the neatly lined, silent, composed, and perfectly steady skeleton soldiers at the back of the column, and asked abruptly, "Ping, these guys you summoned shouldn't have any stamina limitations or puberty issues (Ever's face turned red again), right? In that case..."

"Shut up, Lao Luo!"

Before Luo Ou could finish speaking, Libra let out a scream, staring intently at him as if possessed by some evil spirit, and said through gritted teeth, "Don't make me think about those terrible scenes!"

"Ok!"

Startled by the bristling Libra girl, Boss Luo immediately raised his hands in surrender, indicating that he would absolutely not say another word of nonsense.

"Oh right, I've always been curious, why did Black Vane let us bring the whole force over?"

Avery asked, half changing the subject and half genuinely, "I can understand not involving Skolke because of the trust relationship, but instead of sending a small group of elites to harass, why not bring all the resources of our Dunbua City and launch a full-scale attack on this gorge surrounded by enemies on three sides? If the Cliff of Heads leads their main force and pushes us through, we definitely won't be able to hold out."

Romeo blinked and asked curiously, "Didn't you ask Black Van before you came? I remember he explained it to Elgar, there's no reason he wouldn't tell you."

"without……"

Avery scratched his head sheepishly and said awkwardly, "Mainly, I wanted to figure out Black Van's thoughts on my own. After all, I know our operational patterns and personnel allocation, so I thought that as long as I tried hard, I could guess his thoughts."

Romeo clicked his tongue and asked again, "So? Any clues?"

"Absolutely not!"

Avery clutched his forehead in despair and said with a wry smile, "I've racked my brains trying to figure out why this is happening. All I can think about is that if the Blood Barbarians charge in, our main force in Dunbua City will be wiped out!"

"Not that much."

The Libra girl, who also didn't know Hei Fan's purpose and hadn't asked the former, frowned slightly and hesitated, saying, "He's not the type to send everyone to their deaths pointlessly."

"I know, that's why I can't figure it out!"

Avery pinched his brow hard and said with a wry smile, "In my opinion, our greatest advantage should be our flexibility. If we really want to fight, we should play hide-and-seek with those Blood Barbarians and use our superior combat strength, such as mine, Philip's, and Knight Jellette's, to defeat them one by one and wear down their manpower. So I can't understand why Black Van would gather his troops in a place like this."

"That must be because he considers things from several more perspectives than you do."

"I know that, but for example?"

"For example, even if we gather together, the Blood Barbarians won't be able to wipe us out."

Does that kind of thinking really exist?

"Yes, young people, yes."

"So what is it?"

"It's the survey team from Gospel Mountain City."

"Uh……"

"You don't actually think they came here just to watch the show, do you?"

"what do you mean?"

"Haha, you're still too young. Is it possible that Black Fan prefers to apply psychological pressure to the enemy rather than military pressure?"

"So why is this... wait, so you came up with all of this yourself, Brother Luo?"