Chapter 50 – Loyal! Faithful!

Lin Xi had been part of ZERO for several days now, and Shi Yu said that, according to the rules, they had to throw a Welcome Party for the newcomer.

As it happened, Lin Xi had also managed to extract some useful intel and earned herself a bit of credit, so they could combine the welcome party and the celebration into one.

There would be food and drinks, and it would all be free, so Lin Xi was more than happy to go. “So in our group, it’s me, you, Lu Yi… Zheng Mo will be there too, right?”

Lin Xi was rather curious to meet this as-yet-unseen teammate of hers, a young lady from a wealthy family who attended the prestigious Lanfeng Academy.

“Zheng Mo will attend, of course,” Shi Yu said. “In fact, we’ve already agreed to hold your welcome party and victory banquet at her huge villa.”

“Huh?!” Lin Xi was startled. This young lady was definitely a great teammate!

“Shi Yu, I have a question.”

“Ask.”

“How did a rich young lady like Zheng Mo get tricked into joining ZERO?”

“Tricked? I think you’ve got a hole in your head! Zheng Mo joined ZERO even earlier than Lu Yi and me.”

That was completely unexpected. Lin Xi had assumed Zheng Mo, like herself, had been conned into ZERO.

Shi Yu continued, “I joined ZERO because ZERO can help me take revenge on Shuguang Technology. Lu Yi joined because the organization provides food and drink. Zheng Mo has the highest level of awareness among us-she’s here to uphold justice!”

“Ohhh-” Lin Xi understood. Zheng Mo was their Batman equivalent!

In Z City, a place practically on par with Gotham City, she fought crime and upheld justice!

Lin Xi thought about herself for a moment. There was nothing to say. She really had just been tricked into ZERO by Shi Yu.

If she hadn’t met Shi Yu, she still wouldn’t even know what ZERO was.

“Will Sister Lin come?” Lin Xi asked. She was also quite eager to meet this direct superior of hers.

The last time she had spoken to Sister Lin on the phone, Sister Lin had seemed like a gentle, kind person.

“No,” Shi Yu said. “Sister Lin isn’t in Z City.”

“Where is she?”

“S City.”

“S City? Wasn’t S City destroyed by a Special-Grade Disaster, the Calamity Witch?”

“It was destroyed. Sister Lin is there helping the survivors rebuild their homes.”

“Whoa. What is Sister Lin, some goddess of mercy?!”

“Other members of ZERO are in S City too, helping the survivors. What’s there to be surprised about? I’ve told you so many times-ZERO is an organization of justice.”

“Fine…” Lin Xi asked Shi Yu to tell her more about ZERO, treating it like a bedtime story.

As Shi Yu talked and talked, she ended up falling asleep first.

Lin Xi turned onto her side, and Shi Yu’s sleeping face was right in front of her.

“Such an adorable sleeping face. If I punched it…”

Sometimes, Lin Xi really did want to give that bastard Shi Yu a punch.

“There definitely aren’t any cockroaches left in the guest room, right? You jerk, why did you have to come over here?”

Shi Yu did not say, so Lin Xi would never know.

“Forget it.”

“Good night, bastard.”

…

The next day.

As soon as Lin Xi entered the classroom, she was surrounded by enthusiastic classmates.

Sure enough, “getting popular” was not necessarily a good thing.

“Miss Lin Xi-no, Goddess Lin Xi, I bow before you!” One classmate actually bowed to Lin Xi on the spot.

Lin Xi: “…”

“No, what are you doing?”

When someone buttered her up like this, they had to want something from her, right???

Being showered with flattery was not necessarily good news.

“If you have something to say, just say it. There’s no need for all this, classmate!”

The classmate straightened up and spoke properly.

“Here’s what happened, Goddess Lin Xi-“

“Don’t. I’m not some goddess.”

“You’re so humble, Miss Lin Xi. The thing is, I made a tiny mistake earlier and got caught by the Discipline Committee. But the moment they saw I was in the same class as you, they let me go.”

“Any idiot can tell the Discipline Committee let us off out of respect for you, Lady Goddess!”

“Exactly, exactly-” another classmate chimed in. “Same here.”

“Me too!” said someone else.

Lin Xi thought to herself that Senior Chu Wenmu was actually pretty decent.

“Lady Goddess, we’ll never be able to repay your kindness! From now on, we’ll take care of all your classroom duty!” The classmate who said this raised a hand, and all the students who had escaped punishment from the Discipline Committee snapped to attention and shouted in unison:

“Your greatness is like the sun in the sky!”

“Loyal! Faithful!-“

Lin Xi: “…”

“No, no, no. Seriously, don’t give me that routine. Let me ask first-what little mistakes did you even make?”

Lin Xi needed to make sure the things they’d done really were just minor mistakes.

After listening to them explain, Lin Xi nodded. “They really are all trivial little things. I’ll suggest to Senior Chu Wenmu that they stop being so strict.”

“Whoa! Lady Goddess, have you become the grand emperor behind the Discipline Committee? The empress dowager ruling from behind the curtain?”

“Nothing else to say. Loyal! Faithful!-“

Lin Xi: “…”

And just like that, Lin Xi went from being practically invisible in class to the person with the highest status in the room.

She even overshadowed the gentle pretty girl Shi Yu.

That was right-Shi Yu’s image in class was that of a gentle pretty girl. No matter which classmate was in trouble, she would lend a helping hand.

Lin Xi returned to her “throne” by the window in the back row. For someone with social anxiety, being too popular was actually very uncomfortable.

“Miss Lin Xi…”

A very faint voice came from behind her.

Lin Xi turned around.

She wasn’t in the very last row. Behind her sat Yang Shanshan, a girl with short hair and black-rimmed glasses.

Lin Xi had previously considered herself half-transparent in class, because there was someone even more transparent than her. That fully transparent person was Yang Shanshan.

An inconspicuous girl.

Lin Xi thought she was actually pretty cute. It was just that her personality was too introverted, too quiet-the socially anxious among the socially anxious.

The reason Yang Shanshan and Lin Xi, two socially anxious people, were able to talk was because Lin Xi could teach Yang Shanshan how to solve problems.

Lin Xi’s academic level was a whole floor higher than that Cuddle Witch who only thought about snuggling up to people!

She and Yang Shanshan had already become a pair of “study buddies.”

“Miss Lin Xi-ah, no, Lady Goddess Lin Xi, this problem-“

“Miss Shanshan, you’re joining in on the nonsense too, huh? I’m not teaching you anymore.”

“Don’t! I’m sorry-I’m not just messing around. I really do think you’re amazing, Miss Lin Xi. Whether it’s studying or anything else, you’re super amazing!”

Yang Shanshan looked at Lin Xi with sincere eyes, and Lin Xi knew she meant it from the heart.

“All right, all right. For this problem, first…” Lin Xi began teaching her patiently.

In this class, Lin Xi’s first friend wasn’t Shi Yu, but Yang Shanshan.

When social anxiety met social anxiety, two negatives made a positive. The two of them got along pretty well…

…

After school, the gentle pretty girl Shi Yu called out to Lin Xi, “Miss Lin Xi, can we walk together?”

Lin Xi: “???”

Wait, that wasn’t right. Weren’t they supposed to pretend they were just normal classmates at school?

Why was she suddenly asking to walk home together after school?

Lin Xi had no idea what was going on. Shi Yu came to her side and said quietly:

“The butler from Zheng Mo’s home is here to pick us up in a Maybach.”

“Huh? You’re throwing me a welcome party and victory banquet today?”

“What? You don’t want to go? Then I’ll message her right now and cancel it.”

“Don’t! Of course I want to go! I’ve never ridden in a Maybach or been inside a villa before!”