Chapter 158 : Chapter 158
158. Falling From the Sky
“Waaahhh—”
Even someone like Lu Zheng, trained professionally, couldn’t help but cry out when suddenly hurled from tens of thousands of meters in the sky.
But training was training. After the initial panic, he quickly stabilized himself, spreading his limbs and using standard skydiving posture to reduce his descent speed.
Beside him, the culprit Yi Ning had already adjusted her body and was tilting herself to draw closer to him.
Poke poke.
Feeling something at his side, Lu Zheng turned his head and rolled his eyes at Yi Ning.
“What is it?”
They were plummeting from an unknown altitude. If they opened their mouths, the rushing air would flood in.
To avoid drinking his fill of northwest wind, Lu Zheng used one of Yi Ning’s psychic communication gadgets.
Yi Ning, too, replied using the same device.
“Mr. Lu Zheng, hurry and use your invincible superpower to think of something!”
The psychic link was strong—it even carried her inner emotions of panic.
But why did her face look so excited?
Yi Ning’s expression was practically radiant, her smile stretching as wide as the horizon.
“Sigh…”
Lu Zheng’s eyes went dead.
He turned his head away, not wanting to bother with her.
Poke poke.
The familiar sensation came again.
“Hey hey hey, Mr. Lu Zheng, if you don’t use your invincible Star Platinum, we’ll end up becoming Ning-chan and Zheng-chan splattered on the ground!”
“Since Lord Lu Zheng is so calm, he must think that for a gloomy rat like himself, fusing flesh and blood with a Super High School Level Beautiful Girl like me is the highest honor, right?”
“What a small fry you are~”
Lu Zheng cracked. His only response to Yi Ning was—
“(Sweating soybean)”
He rolled his eyes at her again.
There was no way Yi Ning had no backup plan.
But since she refused to act herself…
Lu Zheng pulled out his die, wondering what ability he’d roll this time.
Truly, this was his lot in life…
But perhaps due to his inexperience with high-altitude freefall, his grip slipped. The violent updraft blew the die away into the unknown.
“Uh…”
This time, it was Yi Ning who sent him a sweating soybean through psychic speech.
“Does that count as rolling?”
“…Yes!”
After two seconds of silence, Lu Zheng nodded quickly and activated his power.
After all, rolling the die was mostly a cover—whether it “counted” was up to him.
“Give me your hand!”
“?”
When Yi Ning didn’t react in time, Lu Zheng simply grabbed her hand himself, pulling hard and clutching her against his chest.
Falling Into Water Without Injury.
The ability he drew this time didn’t necessarily cover two people.
To be safe, Lu Zheng shielded Yi Ning with his own body.
“This ability might not protect you. Be ready.”
“?!”
But perhaps because his move was too sudden, Yi Ning only sent back a startled exclamation.
When Lu Zheng pulled her into his arms, her body stiffened—but the next second, she went boneless, curling slightly like a small animal and going limp against him.
Unfortunately, Lu Zheng failed to notice these details.
He was busy punching through cloud layers, preparing to use his super-vision to find a river or lake to land in.
Bad news.
Below them stretched dense forest. There might be water somewhere inside, but thick branches and leaves completely blocked his view.
“Hey! I might not be able to handle this—pull out your gadgets! Do you have a bamboo-copter, a parachute, anything?”
Lu Zheng poked the limp Yi Ning in his arms. Now it was her turn to act.
But after a long pause, she only let out a soft, delayed sound.
“…Hm?”
“?”
“Your stuff?”
“…What stuff?”
“Your landing gear!”
Lu Zheng’s head throbbed.
They were in freefall!
Yet Yi Ning curled against him like she hadn’t even woken up, sluggishly lost in thought.
Watching the ground rush closer, Lu Zheng abandoned any concern for modesty.
He shoved his hand straight into Yi Ning’s lab coat pockets.
Out came toys he hadn’t seen before, a familiar remote, the translator baton she once bonked him with, a random teapot, a mystery potion, a bizarre radish…
Why was there a pair of panties?!
Lu Zheng hastily shoved the white cloth back into her pocket.
Wait!
Wasn’t one of those items liquid?
He reached in again, pulled out the bottle of potion, checked it carefully—no label. Then he looked at the forest rapidly approaching.
Potion or life—life came first!
To hell with it!
Lu Zheng twisted midair, shielding Yi Ning, uncorked the bottle, and flung the liquid behind them.
In some games, touching even a drop of water negated fall damage.
Potion was liquid too. Maybe splashing it would trigger the ability?
He shut his eyes, angling himself toward dense branches to slow them further if it failed.
Luckily, his power triggered.
The instant his back touched the liquid, the immense kinetic energy vanished.
Lu Zheng’s eyes lit. Holding Yi Ning tight, he twisted in the air, landed lightly on a branch, bounced along a few more, then dropped into a clearing.
He scanned the surroundings, then tried to set Yi Ning down.
But strangely, she still clung to him, arms tight around his neck, her face buried against his throat, unmoving.
Lu Zheng: “?”
He pried her hands off and set her by the waist on the ground.
A moment later, Yi Ning snapped back to herself, blinking awake.
She looked around at the forest, then at Lu Zheng barely a meter away.
With a shudder, she crossed her arms over her chest, stepped back reflexively, and stared at him with wary eyes.
Lu Zheng: “?”
Why was she looking at him like he was some pervert?