Hello, Arknights

"One hundred, zero one." A few beads of sweat shook off his elbows and his brows were soaked with saltiness. Ling Dengxian supported his upper body with all his strength, took a deep breath for a while, and felt much more at ease than in the previous few days.

It's not an illusion. This time I should be able to do more than twenty more than yesterday. Should I tie something to my body next time? Ling Dengxian thought so.

"Ling boy! Where is that girl with bagpipe?" Ling Dengxian stood up upon hearing the voice, and saw leopard-printed Film and gray-haired Kuranta standing outside the fence. It was the former who was calling out, and the latter was looking at him with an ambiguous gaze, but with a smile on her brow, which did not make him feel uneasy.

"Bagpipe went to Dick Town to buy parts. He may be back later."

"Old Duva?" Bruno looked at Duva and asked for his opinion.

"Give it to him the same."

It was only then that Ling Dengxian discovered that the two men had brought some things, which seemed to be two stacks of toilet paper.

"Ling boy, when Bagpipe comes back, give this to her and tell her that the test results of everyone in the town are here. There is not enough copy paper in the town, so we have to use straw paper. Please understand." Duva handed two stacks of straw paper to him, while Bruno looked around and didn't want to stay here any longer: "Old Duva, is it almost done? I have to go back to fishing after the things are delivered. Wright said he brought some wine today..." The rest of Filin's words were forced back by Kuranta's eyes.

"What were you doing just now, Ling?" Duva turned to look at Ling Dengxian, who had just finished typing the report carefully and caught a glimpse of a few key words in Victoria's sentence right above the rough paper.

"Ah? I'm exercising and want to learn some self-defense skills. After all, there seem to be a lot of wild beasts appearing recently, and it's not good to rely on everyone for protection all the time." Ling Dengxian said, looked at the dust on his hands, and clenched his fists with some confidence.

"..." Duva and Bruno looked at each other and he nodded. Bruno's thoughts of leaving disappeared immediately: "Then Ling boy... do you want to try to fight with me?"

"Eh? Compare, gesture?"

"Don't look at me like this. Uncle Buno was a mounted policeman for a while. He's not bad at boxing and kicking. I can teach him a little bit."

"Ah... then, Uncle Bunuo, how do you teach me?" Ling Dengxian was a little surprised, but because of his progress in the past few days, he was still very interested in such suggestions.

"Well, if I want to preach, I'm not very professional. How about you take action and I'll respond, and you can feel it yourself?" Bruno said, scratching his head.

"…Well, that's troublesome." It sounds a bit unreliable.

Through his interactions with the townspeople over the past few days, Ling Dengxian knew that they were not cunning people and just meant what they said, so he quickly became friends with them. However, Victorian was still a barrier that often separated Ling Dengxian. Bagpipe had already been teaching him this, but language was a skill that could not be mastered so easily, otherwise his English scores in the monthly exams would not have just reached the average. The previous conversation took Ling Dengxian a long time to complete.

The two of them agreed and distanced themselves. Ling Dengxian stood about five meters away from Bu Nuo, while the latter stood there with his arms folded, his tail swishing behind him. Du Wa retreated to a distance and watched attentively: "Stop it."

Ling Dengxian took a deep breath, bent over and rushed towards Bruno. He wanted to punch him in the face, but his final punch was aimed at the chest again. Bruno was stunned, and just as his fist was about to fall, he seemed to react.

For a moment, Ling Dengxian only felt his wrist being grabbed and lifted, and the force dissipated. Then there was a pressure and a pull. Feilin's wrist flipped, and the boy was lifted into the air.

What, what's going on? Ling Dengxian didn't even see the movements of his hands clearly. Before he could even scream, he was smashed to the ground.

"...Hmm, hm? Doesn't it hurt?" Ling Dengxian opened his eyes. It turned out that Duva quickly stepped forward and supported his shoulder with one hand to prevent him from making close contact with the ground, while with the other hand he slapped Bruno's hand away and helped him stand firmly.

"Didn't I tell you to stop at that point? What's wrong with you, Buno?"

"Ahhh, I'm used to taking apart the net when fishing, and subconsciously... I'm sorry, I'm sorry, haha. Is Ling kid hurt? Uncle Bunuo will treat you to some fish fish to make amends, or some drinks later." Bunuo looked very embarrassed and apologized repeatedly.

The thought that was echoing in Ling Dengxian's mind was: Are the humans on Terra so terrible? What on earth was he so proud of before?

He couldn't react at all just now. If it was serious, he...

Learning never stops, and you have to work hard! Ling Dengxian was ashamed of his previous complacency after making such a progress that he lost sight of his own limitations.

"Do you want to learn how to use the city-breaking spear?" Fengpi's face popped out from under the straw hat. He was not very surprised by Ling Dengxian's request. After all, the yearning in his eyes was quite obvious in his usual actions.

“Yes, of course!

"But why did you suddenly have this idea?" Bagpipe was puzzled, but did not put down the work in his hands.

"Because I want to protect myself. You can see that I can't even beat a bigger claw beast now." Ling Dengxian handed her the tools and wiped the sweat off his hands. The oil on his hands climbed up to his forehead.

After interrupting Bruno's attack, Duva did not let the two continue "fighting", and also gave up the idea of ​​letting Bruno teach him.

"Bunuo doesn't have the talent to teach, nor does he have the patience - but if you really want to learn some real skills, why not ask Bagpipe for advice? She's from the Storm Commandos, and I heard she's a top student who graduated from the Victoria Royal Guards Academy. She should be more than capable of teaching you."

So after Fengdi came back, Ling Dengxian asked to learn how to use the city-breaking spear.

"Well, is that so? But it's still safe to stay in town." Bagpipe was busy under the hood, and took off his straw hat because it was too troublesome.

"There will always be a time when I need to stay alone. I won't stay in the town forever." Ling Dengxian said sincerely.

"...Okay, but it's getting late today. I'll teach you how to use a city-breaking spear starting tomorrow." Feng Di still didn't look up. Through the hood of the car, Ling Dengxian couldn't see her expression.

"Okay, thank you!" Being able to speak Yan language to Fengpi, the brief relaxation of language was simply salvation, which made Ling Dengxian very relieved.

"Then I'll go back first!" Ling Dengxian turned back and said before leaving, "By the way, Uncle Bu Nuo and Uncle Du Wa came to deliver the inspection report today. I put it on the cabinet in the house for you. Oh, and Uncle Du Wa said that there is not enough copy paper in town. Please understand."

After a moment, the Vaifan woman put down her tools, straightened up, and looked in the direction the boy had left. Her shadow was very long, and her orange-red bangs obscured her expression under the setting sun, making it unclear.