That Damn Woman!

In a lavishly appointed western restaurant, Dongfang Lie finished the last of his dessert at a leisurely pace, dabbed his lips with a napkin, and turned to the man beside him with a languid smile. "Oh? They lost in the very first match?"

"It seems we gave him too much credit. This so-called 'inside candidate' clearly doesn't have much to him." Zhou Shuming sat across from Dongfang Ming, a dismissive smirk on his face.

"I never gave him much credit to begin with. You, on the other hand — the woman you've set your sights on happens to be living under the same roof as him. Who knows what might happen." Dongfang Lie said.

Zhou Shuming's face darkened. He shot Dongfang Lie a sharp glare.

Both of them did care, in their own way, whether Mo Fan secured a nomination slot. If he did, it would mean this person was almost certainly slated to compete in the World Academy Tournament.

Still, the news was encouraging — word had come that Mo Fan lost his very first team match.

A loss didn't register on the scoreboard, but without a win, climbing to a high score was nearly impossible.

All in all, they had vastly overestimated him.

Just as Dongfang Lie had said before — in a real fight, he'd need only one or two exchanges to put Mo Fan down for good.

"What about his next match? Who's he going up against?" Dongfang Lie asked.

"Bai Yulang from Association's side, plus three others — nothing special, though anyone ranked in their element's top twenty is no pushover."

"Bai Yulang. That one's a handful."

That same night. That same sports field.

Team 11's four members sat on the grass after their first team match, every face wearing a shade of gloom.

Their opponents hadn't included anyone exceptional — and they'd still lost. With the defeat on record, it was hard to imagine anyone on the team walking away with a respectable score.

Gu Jian's expression was thunderous. He'd assumed his three teammates, each ranked in their respective elements' top twenty, would be genuinely capable. Instead, the lot of them could hold their ground in a one-on-one but fell apart the moment coordinated teamwork was required — dead weight dragging him backward.

He was Lightning Element. His destructive magic alone should have been enough to keep the enemy pinned down under relentless pressure. If his teammates had contributed even a fraction of what they were capable of, losing would have been impossible.

Two more matches left with this same team. Gu Jian was already suffocating under the frustration.

"Mo Fan," he said, his tone cutting as he fixed his gaze on Ai Tutu, "what exactly were you thinking with Kun Grove? The target was a Shadow Element mage. How were you ever going to trap him with that?"

Ai Tutu kept her head down and said nothing.

She couldn't deny that a large share of the blame was hers. Had Kun Grove managed to restrain the Water Element student — stopping him from unleashing Tidal Surge — their formation would never have been scattered.

Instead, she'd used it on a Shadow Element mage.

Plant Element had almost no effect on Shadow Element users; a single Shadow Fade was all it took to slip free without a scratch.

"Come to think of it, I didn't even know we had a female student named Mo Fan in this group," Liu Xin said, his expression puzzled.

"The inside-pick Mo Fan?" Ah Li Jie didn't bother being polite. "My take is that guy runs on luck and nothing else. At least he's not on our team. But this female Mo Fan of ours..." He let the pause speak for him. "Not exactly impressive, is she."

"Enough. Let's not have any more slip-ups in the next match." Gu Jian cut it off.

No one pushed further.

Ai Tutu vowed, with great conviction, that she absolutely would not make another mistake next time.

Ai Tutu returned to the apartment in a thoroughly foul mood, muttering to herself without pause.

She admitted she wasn't the strongest — there was a real gap between her and the top-twenty rankers — but she refused to accept that tonight's loss rested entirely on her shoulders.

"Tomorrow, I'll make them eat their words!" she declared.

"Make who eat their words?" Mo Fan came wandering in from the balcony with a puzzled look, gnawing on a chicken cutlet.

He'd barely taken one bite when the little Flame Queen, drawn by the scent, came streaking out of the bedroom at full speed. Mo Fan went to bite down again — and his teeth closed on nothing but air. The Flame Queen had snatched the cutlet clean out of his hand and retreated to a corner, where she crouched happily gnawing away, making tiny squeaking sounds like a little mouse.

"N-nothing! You must've heard wrong. Ha ha!" There was absolutely no way Ai Tutu could let Mo Fan find out the truth. She waved it off in a hurry.

"You're acting strange. By the way — I heard the nomination battles have already started. How come I haven't been scheduled yet?"

"Oh, your number is farther back in the draw," Ai Tutu said.

Mo Fan studied her, the nagging feeling that she was hiding something from him refusing to go away. Then again, this woman was erratic on her best days — chasing it down was never worth the effort.

Early the next morning, Ai Tutu was up before dawn.

With time running short, the academy had started scheduling two matches per day. This morning alone had two consecutive bouts with barely a gap between them.

Of course, opponents faced the same back-to-back format — so competitors had to decide their own strategy: go all-out in the first match, or hold something in reserve and strike decisively in the second.

Ai Tutu had arranged for a piece of Slash Enchanted Gear to be sent from home, determined to put on a dazzling display today.

She hadn't been gone long before Mo Fan woke. From his room upstairs, he caught a glimpse of her heading out the door — no elaborate outfit, no high heels, for once in her life.

*That's clearly battle attire...*

He rubbed his chin, thinking it over. After a moment's hesitation, he decided to follow her. Something about this woman had felt off lately.

He trailed her outside, only to lose track of her almost immediately. The campus was enormous, and he had genuinely no idea where to begin looking.

What made it worse: he'd been at Pearl Academy for nearly two years, and today of all days, he found himself completely lost. He wandered in circles, going nowhere.

Dead trees. Winding paths. Classrooms. Research halls. Training grounds. *Where the hell am I?*

"Oh — there's the library. Finally, a landmark." He pushed through a stretch of artificial woodland and found his bearings at last.

Coming around to the library's main entrance, Mo Fan looked up — and saw a young woman drifting out through the doors. Her dark hair was hung with delicate crystal ornaments, and she moved like a wisp of pure white cloud, unhurried and effortless, cradling a few books gently against her chest, her steps light, her figure graceful.

"Mo Fan?" She spotted him first, blinking at him with open curiosity.

"Ding Yumian — you're always at the library..." Mo Fan managed an awkward laugh.

"Don't you have a match today?" she asked, her large eyes wide.

"Do I? This afternoon, or tonight?" He raised an eyebrow.

Ding Yumian shook her head, glanced up at the large clock mounted on the library wall, and said calmly, "Right now. Oh — it started ten minutes ago."

"..."

Mo Fan's mouth opened and closed without a sound. He couldn't find a single thing to say.

*Ai Tutu!!!!*

*That damn woman!!*