"Hey, what's wrong? Do you think Flying Dragonmon is cool?" Long Teng, noticing Xie Sen stopped talking, reached out and patted his shoulder.
Xie Sen, regaining his composure, nodded perfunctorily, "Very cool."
He looked at the beaming Long Teng with a complex expression. Long Teng did resemble the protagonist in the book, but Maine…
He hadn't finished the book yet, just when the villain appeared. At that time, Long Teng defended Star City with his formidable strength, thwarting Maine's plans and ultimately leading to a clash of kings.
He remembered clearly the author's heavy descriptions of Maine's unparalleled handsomeness, a sentiment he greatly admired.
But the Maine in the book had a gloomy aura and ruthless methods, completely unlike the one he knew.
And… Maine Cos's contracted beast was Flying Lionmon, just like the protagonist, Long Teng, both S-ranked contracted beast masters, while the handsome guy's contracted beast was Giant Lionmon, an A-ranked one.
Could it be that he had misunderstood, and the Maine Coss Ah Meng was talking about wasn't the handsome guy he knew?
There were too many spectators at the time, and maybe Maine happened to be standing in the same place as the handsome guy, so he misunderstood.
Xie Sen felt relieved when he thought of this. The handsome guy was the first friend he had ever met, and he didn't want the handsome guy to be a bad guy who would bring disaster to the Beast Star.
The Beast Star invaded by alien beasts is not much better than the Earth in the end of the world. Corpses are everywhere and people are displaced. The living people are in great panic every day.
He likes the peaceful days now. He doesn't want to go through the days of being worried all day long and hearing wailing in his ears.
The story in the book has not yet begun. Maine Cos is still in Star City, and everything that is going to happen can be prevented.
Xie Sen made a decision to nip everything in the bud! The first step is to get all the information about Maine Cos.
He asked Long Teng, "Do you know Maine Kes?"
"Of course," Long Teng said, his hands dancing with joy. "He's very powerful. I fought him, but it ended in a draw. Later, when I challenged him to a fight again, he refused."
Long Teng looked at Xie Sen expectantly, "Do you know him? Can you ask him to fight me?"
"No," Xie Sen said, his face darkening. Was there nothing else on this man's mind except fighting?
He asked more carefully, "Do you know where he lives? Who are his friends?"
Long Teng scratched the back of his head. "I don't know. He's always alone. No one who sees him approaches him. It's like he doesn't have many friends."
Xie Sen frowned. There were three people in the audience, and no one was approaching them: the handsome guy, Long Teng, and another one...
"He has long white hair?" Xie Sen thought of that elegant, quiet boy.
"No, it's blonde," Long Teng looked at him bewilderedly. "The long white hair is Bai Jiao, don't you remember?"
He jumped in place. "I told you, with such a serious injury, he couldn't be alright. Turns out he had a broken head!"
Xie Sen's heart skipped a beat and he hurried out. "I'm fine. I'm going home first. Bye."
Long Teng didn't continue to pester him, but called after him, "Remember to fight me after you've rested up!"
Xie Sen nodded randomly and dialed the handsome guy's number. The call was connected after two rings. Without waiting for the other party to speak, Xie Sen quickly asked, "Where are you?" "
The school parking lot."
"Wait a minute, I'll be there soon. I need to talk to you," Xie Sen said quickly.
"You don't have to pay me back. I made a lot of money betting with you," Maine said with a hint of laughter.
Xie Sen thought, how could such a good person do something to take revenge on society!
"It's something else. Just wait a minute."
"Okay," Maine replied.
Three minutes later, Xie Sen appeared panting before Maine. Maine's shuttle had stopped in the corner. He leaned against it. Seeing Xie Sen's expression, he raised an eyebrow. "What's the rush?"
Xie Sen took a deep breath and stared at Maine for a long moment. He looked handsome, no matter how you looked at him. Perhaps not as cheerful as Long Teng, but certainly not gloomy.
"What's your name?" he asked.
Maine paused, then replied, "Maine Cox."
Xie Sen took a deep breath. "How could you be Maine Cox?"
Maine's faint smile faded, and he lowered his eyes. "I thought you knew who I was. So, you regret being my friend after hearing I'm a bastard?"
He had always hated crowded places at school. He had heard people talking about him, and he knew that whenever he was in public, there would always be talk about him after he left.
The words of disdain, pity, and regret filled him with both disgust and amusement.
He hadn't planned to watch the competition, but when the time came, he somehow made his way to the venue and only left after making sure Xie Sen had won.
Even though he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he knew Xie Sen must have heard others discussing him.
"Of course not!" Xie Sen was astonished. He hadn't expected Maine to think that way. Then, a second thought tinged with heartache. Was this the reason he had no friends?
He felt a mixture of emotions, unable to explain his shock. Could it be that they were saying, 'You'll bring disaster to Beast Star in the future?'
What now? Xie Sen was torn. He had made his decision, but Maine was his handsome friend. While achieving his goal would be easier with him than with a stranger, how could he bring himself to do it?
"Isn't that so?" Maine tilted his head to assess his expression. "So what do you mean?"
Xie Sen laughed heartily to mask his emotion. "You're a campus celebrity! I was so shocked. I just ran into a classmate named Long Teng, whose contracted beast is an S-rank. He said he couldn't beat you either. You're amazing!"
Maine's lips curled slightly. "You're a celebrity too, a celebrity who made the campus headlines twice in a week. Long Teng is amazing, and I'm no match for him."
Xie Sen grumbled, "It's not a good thing. I don't want to be famous for that."
"Same here," Maine said flatly.
Xie Sen decided not to mention his celebrity status in front of him. He was about to say something when both his and Maine's wristbands started to chime.
He opened it to see a balance notification: over 230,000 in forum bets, minus the 10% handling fee.
He excitedly exclaimed, "I really paid! I feel like I'm dreaming! The school forum is so fast!" He then transferred 4,000 star coins to Maine and changed the note from 'handsome guy' to 'Maine'.
Maine received the transfer and looked at him, "Didn't you say I didn't have to pay it back?"
Xie Sen chuckled, "Brothers should settle accounts clearly. By the way, do you have an exam this afternoon?"
"Yes, it's not until tomorrow,"
Xie Sen said. "I'm done and going home to rest. I'll contact you later. I'll come visit you after your exams."
Maine nodded, and they both went home.
Xie Sen returned home, sighed, and lay on the sofa, his face troubled by Maine's matter. Finally, he decided to put it aside for the time being and search online for welfare homes and refugee camps on Beast Star.
These two places were the easiest places he could think of to obtain energy.
He had no money before, so it would have been useless even if he had gone there. Now that he had money, he naturally wanted to check it out.
He checked for a while, identified one in each of the two places, marked them, and then went to take a nap.
While Xie Sen was sleeping, the video of his sparring with Ah Meng was uploaded to the Internet, causing a huge sensation. He is now not only a celebrity at Star City University, but also a celebrity in the entire Star City.
Xie Sen was awakened by the continuous bombardment of knocks on the door and the ringing of his bracelet. He squinted his eyes to check the time. He had slept for less than an hour, and it was only half past two.
He rubbed his face and opened the door depressedly: "Who is it?"
There were two middle-aged men standing at the door, one tall and one short. The shorter one raised his hand and pointed at him when he saw him, his voice sharp: "You money-losing guy, you actually opened the door now!"
Xie Sen was confused: "?" He frowned and slammed the door shut. He must have knocked on the wrong door.