48 Hours a Day - Chapter 542
Chapter 542 Presumption
After Zhang Heng returned to school, he sent Shen Xixi a WeChat message to make sure she was safe.
Shen Xixi replied with a “Negotiating” after a quarter of an hour. “Thank you, don’t worry,” she added after a pause.
Zhang Heng knew that Shen Xixi was no longer in danger but he didn’t know what her discussion with Arc of Light was all about. With her personality, it was obviously impossible to make her hand over her people to them just like that. Otherwise, the war wouldn’t have even happened in the first place.
Zhang Heng was wrong this time. Shen Xixi and Arc of Light had completed negotiations quicker than expected. Before the war even began, Arc of Light have achieved its goal. After the union’s collapse, they no longer cared about the four “murderers,” the excuse they used to start the war. They had to make sure that they put a good ending to the show, on the surface at least.
Zhang Heng killed heaps of enemies last night. He intended increase the price that Arc of Light had to pay-everything he had done was to force Arc of Light and Eryue Weichang to sit down and negotiate with Shen Xixi. Amid the war, he crossed paths with Justitia, and amid the battle, the old man in the Tang suit pulled him to a random grassland. But since Justitia started the war between the union and the Arc of Light, she should also clean up the mess after that.
Zhang Heng was right. The ending, however, wasn’t something Justitia expected. “You don’t want to be my agent? But last night, you mentioned The Scales of Justice, proof that you and I chose the same path,” Justitia frowned, “Don’t you want to expand and spread this path to others? The reason why you formed the union was to help more ordinary people, right? Together, not only can we rebuild it, but we can also expel evil and rekindle the torch of justice!”
“Do you want to light the torch of justice, or do you want more people to worship you?” Shen Xixi asked calmly. “You want me to be your agent just to help you win this game.” “Is there any difference between the two?” Justitia’s frown got deeper. “If more people believe in justice, more of them will fight for justice! I have countless lawyers and judges working with me, but I didn’t choose any of them as my agent. I chose you because I see myself within you.”
Shen Xixi shook her head. “You are wrong. We believe in justice itself, not you. Even if you are gone one day, justice will still be here.”
Those words threw Justitia into silence. After a while, she looked up. “Let’s put my matter aside first. The final reward for this game is amazing. It’s great that even the gods are jealous. No one can refuse how tempting this is. Only players chosen as agents will be eligible to participate in the final game. I really need you to help me win this round, and you need me to appoint you as an agent.” Shen Xixi remained unmoved. “If you have been observing me for that long as you have claimed, you should know that I never care about rewards.”
“No, you can make good use of that reward. Even if it’s not for yourself,” said Justitia with adamance, but after a short pause, there was a smile on her face. Cronos thought I didn’t know he was the one who saved the kid, right before my Sword of Judgement landed on him. He looks down, patronizes me… by the way, I haven’t seen him for half a year, and it seems he’s getting weaker and weaker. He was still forced to use his time-stopping skill to rescue that kid, though. This shows that an unprecedented evil must be hidden in that child! Interesting. I couldn’t feel the existence of evil at all when I spoke to that kid. Why did Cronos, the god of time, choose him as his agent?” Justitia muttered to herself.
After a while, she looked at Shen Xixi again, “Anyway, the kid came last night. He risked his life to fight Arc of Light for you. He should be your friend, right? In that case, can you bear to watch evil swallow him one day? And now, you have an opportunity to save him right in front of you.”
Shen Xixi raised her eyebrows, this time, seemingly moved.
Zhang Heng had gone through numerous battles tonight. He drove from the grasslands for the whole night back to his city. And he did not expect that he actually made it in time to attend the accounting principles class at 9:45 in the morning. Having no time to wash up, he rinsed his mouth quickly, headed to the cafeteria for some steamed buns, and walked into the classroom half a minute before class started.
The bell rang right after he sat down, and Chen Huadong, who had already occupied the golden seat at the third row at the back by the window, gave him a thumbs-up, an indication he admired Zhang Heng’s guts to enter class right on time. Zhang Heng then quickly walked to Chen Huadong and sat beside him. The latter moved the book on the seat and whispered in a low voice.
“I thought you are not coming. Everyone said that you were sitting on Han Lu’s thigh, and you have disregarded your credits.”
On the other hand, Wei Jiangyang shook his head and said, “After experiencing the previous Level 6 incident, I think the young master, Zhang Heng, just doesn’t want his usual grades anymore. Anyway, with his wittiness and knowledge, as long as he gets more than 90 points in the final exam, he can still proceed with his study.”
The accounting lecturer coughed twice, and he glared at them with hawks eyes. The two students stopped talking immediately. After they made sure that the teacher forgot about them, one started to look at an NBA match, and the other used his mobile phone to read light novels.
Zhang Heng opened the textbook in front of him, but his thoughts weren’t on it. He noticed that the old man in the Tang suit was still pretending to be innocent. However, he looked much older than when he met him last time. In just six months, he already had more wrinkles on his face and grey hair on his head, but he was still in good spirits, even hooking up with the female streamer on TikTok. When he bid farewell, Zhang Heng noticed that his back was now a lot more hunched than the last time they met.
Zhang Heng didn’t know what he had gone through during that period, but it was obvious he wasn’t in good health. Zhang Heng was reminded of the weak ancient Celtic god he encountered in the Black Sail dungeon and now knew that even deities would die, be forgotten, or even getting killed. However, the difference was that Zhang Heng did not think that the old man in the Tang suit would allow himself to be forgotten by others. There was no doubt that he’d been executing some plan all along. Zhang Heng did not know his role in this plan and what role he’d play in the future. Would the two become enemies eventually?