A Young Woman's Heart

The leader's shadow stopped on a hilltop, tiptoeing to look into the distance.

In the distance, I saw the sky seemed to brighten a little, and then the distant sky became brighter and brighter than before, as if light was shining from afar.

Is that the sun?

A child asked.

"...Perhaps."

The adults who answered were no longer so certain.

"That must be the sun."

"definitely is."

……

Chapter 199 Come On, Rainy Sky Mayhem! (Part 1)

After seeing Duanmu Ji off, Mo Xueyao felt a surge of pride and walked off the stage amidst applause that was hard to tell whether it was a victory or just jeering.

She waited backstage to determine the remaining winners, after which the semi-finals would begin.

There were simple chairs set up backstage for the contestants to rest, but everyone's attention was mostly on Mo Xueyao, who was dressed in all black.

She used to feel awkward around girls, but now, sitting among a group of boys, she feels a little uncomfortable.

She looked around, pretending to admire the scenery, but unfortunately there was really nothing to see in this enclosed backstage area.

There was no one else I knew to greet.

Feeling somewhat helpless at the stares and furtive glances, she finally stood up and looked at Yao Gugu, the chemistry teacher maintaining order backstage, and asked, "Teacher, may I go to the restroom?"

"Okay, but you have to be back before the next round of matches starts, preferably no more than five minutes later."

"Okay!" Mo Xueyao nodded quickly and hurriedly, escaping the awkward atmosphere backstage.

"Xiaoyao~!" As soon as she stepped out, she felt a light tap on her shoulder, and then she saw Wang Jiale's round, cute little face and her two ponytails swinging back and forth.

"Hey, Lele, you're wandering around here alone?"

"No, I was tired from walking, so I sent that idiot to buy soda from the vending machine." Wang Jiale leaned against Mo Xueyao, pressing her entire weight onto her. She had a candied hawthorn in her mouth, her cheeks puffed out, and she was gurgling it around with her tongue, pushing it from left to right and then from right to left. In her hand, she held a wooden skewer with some red sugar stains on it.

"Oh... I came out for some fresh air, it's too stuffy inside," Mo Xueyao muttered, making up an excuse for herself.

"Tch, is it because there are too many guys inside, and they're all staring at you, so you can't stand it?"

"Cough... a little." She touched her forehead and chuckled sheepishly. "How did you know?"

"Well, I can guess. Xiaoyao is wearing a black dress and black stockings, and her skin is so fair, she stands out wherever she goes. Isn't it normal for boys to stare at her?" Wang Jiale crunched a candied hawthorn, then frowned because of the sour hawthorn inside. "Speaking of which, if you were stared at by a group of girls or a group of boys, who would you choose?"

"..." Mo Xueyao's little nose twitched, as if she was stumped by the question. "Uh... I choose... I choose... Okay, that depends on what kind of boy it is."

"Are they all like Liu Xiaowei?"

"Then we should definitely choose Hua Yinyin."

"Ah, who called me?" Hua Yinyin's shout came from afar. Although it was far away, it still clearly reached Mo Xueyao's ears, making her smile involuntarily.

"Does Yinyin have a machine that automatically responds to your voice? It's like she can always appear near you whenever you say 'Hua Yinyin'." Wang Jiale couldn't help but chuckle. "If Xiaoyao likes girls, why don't he just get together with Yinyin? Pfft."

"Hey, who wants to be with a nasty girl like that? I'll have nightmares every night!"

"Well, just kidding. Speaking of which, doesn't Haruka have a boy she likes?"

“Not at all.” Mo Xueyao’s eyelids drooped as she saw Lu Bolun running over with a bottle of Sprite in his hand.

"Lele." Lu Bolun finally called her by her name as a nickname. After all, calling her 'wife' or 'baby' was too cheesy, and Wang Jiale was a shy person who definitely couldn't stand such a title. "There's only one bottle of Sprite left. The convenience store is sold out too."

"Isn't that perfect? ​​Hmm...would you like some?"

"You drink first, just give me the rest." Lu Bolun scratched his head and smiled at Mo Xueyao. "Mo Xueyao, I saw you go on stage just now, did you win?"

"Hmph, my strength is beyond doubt. I can take care of a nobody like Duanmu Ji in no time."

"Duanmu Ji?" Lu Bolun had no recollection of this name.

"Oh, he's a boy from our club."

Wang Jiale glanced sideways and leaned closer, lowering his voice to ask, "Xiao Yao, he didn't let you have it on purpose, did he?"

"Tch, deliberately letting me win? Do I need him to let me win?" Mo Xueyao was very confident in her abilities—at least she wouldn't doubt them when dealing with Duanmu Ji. "I almost lost, but he got too nervous at the last moment and made a mistake. And what I do best is seize on those mistakes!"

Mo Xueyao rattled off a whole bunch of things, but unfortunately Wang Jiale couldn't understand a word of it. Even Lu Bolun, who was usually considered a model student, didn't know anything about it—after all, in this day and age, video games seemed to be something only bad students liked.

It's already surprising that she, as a good student and a girl, knows how to do this.

"Next, we will proceed with the semi-finals of the hybrid video game competition. Please come to the stage, the following contestants—"

Teacher Qiu Yi's voice rang out on the stage again.

Mo Xueyao waved to Wang Jiale and Lü Bolun, then quickly pushed open the backstage door and went inside. Soon, her name was announced.

There are now 28 contestants left, and the first batch of 14 will go on stage.

The game consoles on the stage are arranged to face each other, so now everyone can have their own console to play on instead of sharing one with others.

This way, their arms won't bump into each other.

"Now everyone can familiarize themselves with the game. You have ten minutes." Qiu Yi glanced at his watch. "The official battles will begin in ten minutes."

Next to the game machine, there was a basket of game tokens; they certainly wouldn't be used up in ten minutes.

Wearing a long black dress, Mo Xueyao sat down on the round stool and curiously examined the game.

She had never played this game before, and most other people probably hadn't either...

Because the characters on the game screen are actually school teachers!

Yes, and most of them were teachers she knew who taught first-year high school students.

"This is... a game made by the teacher herself? Using herself as the subject?" Mo Xueyao's eyes widened with excitement as she tried pressing different buttons and finally entered the game.

There are about ten characters to choose from in the game. The graphics look a bit rough, as if they were just cropped photos and pasted in as characters. The transitions between actions always seem very stiff, but it still makes the game quite fun.

Online multiplayer hasn't started yet; we can only deal with bots.

Mo Xueyao randomly picked a red-haired teacher from a bunch of characters, and only when the image was enlarged did she realize that it was actually the chemistry teacher, Yao Gugu.

The image of the medicine goo goo here is also cut out from a photo, but the clothes it wears are real, not drawn on.

She wore a witch's outfit with purple and gold stripes, based on white and black, and a pointed black hat. She had a 'wicked' smile on her face. Some potions of different colors could be vaguely seen in her open robe, and she was also holding a bottle in her hand.

After selecting a character, she will drink the potion in her hand, then cover her face with her hands, making her smile even more 'evil'.

It's a wonder the teacher was able to take the picture...

Such a shameful action.

Speaking of which, the most difficult part must be how Teacher Qiuyi persuaded the other teachers to help.

It's probably... that they were all won over one by one by using things that each of them liked?

Yao Gugu's skills are quite flashy, but she seems to be a ranged attacker. In battles against the computer, her combat ability isn't strong when she gets into close combat; Mo Xueyao can currently only perform three moves.

One is an over-the-shoulder throw, another is a reverse joint lock, and the last is eye gouging.

The skills are cool, but... Mo Xueyao still prefers melee skills.

Men should fight with their fists and bodies!

With about eight minutes left, she quickly returned to the character selection screen, wanting to choose a character to quickly familiarize herself with.

Physical education teacher Ye Ran must be a melee fighter, right?

However, he probably didn't have any remote control methods, so Mo Xueyao hesitated for a moment and didn't choose him.

In the end, they chose Ye Yu, a physics teacher with slightly dark skin.

Just as she expected, this is a character who can fight both at long and close range. The range of her normal attacks is medium, and the controls feel very comfortable.

In the game, Ye Yu's hair stands on end, and when he is identified, part of his shirt will burst open, revealing his muscular physique.

In the game, his weapon is a crowbar, and his attack style is wide and powerful, which is very much in line with Mo Xueyao's aesthetic.

He could also throw his weapon out for ranged attacks, and then pull it out from under his buttocks two seconds after ceasing his attack.

During this process, he will be unarmed, and his attack method will change—from melee to ranged, and it will be the kind of attack that controls the area of ​​effect.

The only drawback is that it causes a freeze when drawing the weapon again, which is a major vulnerability.

However, rolling can cancel some of the stun, compressing the time to within half a second...

Mo Xueyao figured these out in eight minutes. She didn't know what other operating methods there were, but it was enough. Presumably, others could only figure out most of the usage of a character. Many people, like her, probably hadn't seen what other people's skills were like.

We can only react to each situation as it arises.

But it was precisely this sense of the unknown that made Mo Xueyao's blood flow rapidly.

This is not something you can win by experience alone; you also need a certain amount of luck.

Perhaps she can really win the championship this time?

"Alright, ten minutes are up. The rules are best two out of three, with three rounds per round. Each character has three lives per round. Winning two out of three rounds counts as a win of the round. You can choose the same character for the first two rounds. If the match goes to the third round, the characters must be randomly selected."

The rules aren't complicated, just a bit convoluted, and they're slightly different from the rules in King of Fighters.

"Come on!" Mo Xueyao glanced at the boy who had been assigned to sit opposite her according to the draw order and said with a hint of provocation.

This is an overweight boy, about 1.7 meters tall, but his weight... is probably 180 pounds.

He wore thick glasses, which made Mo Xueyao feel no pressure in the battle.

Dealing with him is a piece of cake!

She thought to herself with smug satisfaction.

……

Chapter 200: Come On, Rain and Sky Mayhem! (Part 2)