#Gus is trying so hard to get his degree in four years

[dragonpyre]

Psych au where everything’s the same but Shawn and Gus are early early twenties and Gus is in college but Shawn keeps dragging him out of lectures and internships to solve crimes.

[novel-reader]

71-80

71-80

71 Earning money faster than a money printer After the night, dawn. Luo Feng stood on the balcony of the 12th floor. The winter chill of the morning touched his face, startling Luo Feng's spirit. "It's around 5 or 6 degrees below 0 today" laughed Gao Feng. "It is a bit cold". Luo  Feng looked down from the balcony and saw a monster hunting for prey,  "But right in the morning, there are already quite a bit of monsters in  the area! Look, there are around 12 monsters in my field of vision, and  three of them are commander level! Hmhm, #003 city is indeed the camp of  the monsters". Gao Feng laughed. Indeed, in a regular city, a  commander usually leads around a few hundred regular monsters; they have  lots of authority! And in the city that Luo Feng stayed in to train his  blade technique, a commander level monster had around a few hundred to  even a few thousand monsters under its control! In a city, the fewer the commanders, the more monsters each one can lead! But  in #003 city, even in the outskirts, a commander level monster only has  around two to three soldiers with it. Sometimes they have none,  becoming a leader without any followers. "These are all weaker  commanders, they don't have many followers! As for the stronger  commanders and even horde leaders, they'll have tens of thousands of  followers!" Gao Feng turned his head to look at the others, "Everyone,  wake up, let's go hunt the monsters below!". "Let's go brothers, let's earn some money" Chen Gu couldn't help but to laugh as he said. "This #003 city is full of opportunity! Commanders are everywhere!" the eyes of Wei Qing and Wei Tie flashed. #003 city is dangerous! But  chances exist together with danger. There are many powerful monsters  here, and if you don't have enough skill, you'll easily die. Even if  you're powerful, once you get surrounded by a horde, you're also  finished..... however! The commanders here don't have many followers, so  it's much easier to hunt these commanders! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Luo  Feng was in front of the staircase, and after using his spiritual force  to scan the corners, waved his hand: "No problem, no monsters in a 20  meter radius". Monsters usually lie in ambush from the corners! And Luo Feng's spiritual force is the best detector. "Being with a spirit reader is fantastic" smiled Chen Gu. "Everyone  watch yourselves, don't make a sound. Monsters ears' are very  sensitive" Gao Feng glared at Chen Gu, and Chen Gu immediately shut up. Luo Feng was leading while Gao Feng was in the back. Wei Tie and Wei Qing were on the two sides, and Chen Gu was in the middle! "Hm?"  Luo Feng's gaze landed on a three horned boars around 100 meters away.  One of the horned boars was extremely large and its horn was black.  Unlike the usual gray fur, its needle-like fur was black. All of this  pointed to its identity--Low level commander! "It's that" Luo Feng said quietly, "I'll take care of that horned boar ahead. Everyone watch the surroundings". Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Luo  Feng charged ahead while the four in the back naturally spread out  according to the formation. They were watching for other commander  monsters, or if there were other human fighters trying to interfere. "HOWL~~"  the commander level horned boar saw the human Luo Feng rushing alone  and immediately howled. Its speed shot to 100 m/s, which is around 360  km/h. And that horned boar was charging straight at Luo Feng! With its  body size, the force of impact would be enough to even smash open a  truck. Luo Feng held his ghost blade and kept his regular speed of around 60 to 70 m/s. The two met! Luo  Feng's speed instantly rose, and with a step, he accurately dodged to  the centimeter. Meanwhile, Luo Feng's blade was drawing up! As the blade  went, it increased in speed twice, making the blade blurry! It became a  blinding light! The cold light of the blade was like a thunderbolt,  and it drew across the neck of the horned boar. The light of the blade  was like a mist from a dream, and instantly dispersed! Blade technique--Thunderbolt! First success! PUCHI! PUCHI! The  two seemingly simple slashes from Luo Feng's ghost blade instantly  slashed across the necks of the other two soldier level horned boars. "RUMBLE~~"  the commander level horned boar who lost its life continued to sprint  for around 10 more meters before falling to the ground with a rumble. It  slid on the ground for a few dozen meters before smashing into a large,  tough tree that has been growing on the side for dozens of years,  causing the entire tree to shake a bit before stopping. "Hmhm, nice job, destroying a commander level monster with just blade technique alone" Chen Gu and the others huddled around. "You've improved quite a bit" Gao Feng was also happy, and he was already heading over to dissect the corpse of the monster. "My  technique, along with my blade technique and bountiful experience, made  killing a low level commander so easy" Luo Feng was amazed inside.  Since he killed over 10,000 monsters, Luo Feng was able to remain  perfectly calm when dealing with these monsters, enabling him to use his  blade technique and technique to their maximum. Using the smallest amount of strength to instantly get rid of the opponent! "Alright, dissection complete" Gao Feng let out a smile, "Let's see, we can hunt quite a bit of commander level monsters today". "Go, to the next one" Luo Feng also let out a smile. Everyone in the fire hammer squad were in high spirits. In  #003 city, even though they knew that they were going to be able to  hunt many monsters, once they actually started fighting, Luo Feng  realized..... Holy shit. They weren't killing monsters. They were  basically printing money! Even a money printer wouldn't be able to make  as much money as Luo Feng and the others were making right now! The materials of a low level commander are worth around 5 million ~ 15 million. The materials of a medium level commander are worth around 10 million ~ 100 million. The materials of a high level commander are worth around 50 million ~ 600 to 700 million. Of  course, there are some exceptions, like some extremely rare monster, or  some high level commander that's approaching the horde leader level.  Naturally, the prices for their materials will be higher. But most of  the monsters fit the price range above. The fire hammer squad killed  around 10 commanders a day! Of course, most of them were low level  commanders! The amount of money they made was simply shocking! After  fighting for 10 days, Luo Feng and the others killed 92 low level  commanders and 3 medium level commanders. The estimated price for them  is probably a billion! Since they fought hard for 10 days, Luo Feng and  the others were quite tired, so they took a good day to rest. After  that, they kept hunting monsters and oh..... it's just that the monsters  in the area have clearly decreased by a significant amount. The 15th day. On the 12th floor of the 18 story apartment building, Luo Feng and the others were resting. "Captain, we rarely see any low level commanders near this area anymore" said Chen Gu hopelessly. "It  can't be helped. We've been killing quite cruelly recently" laughed Gao  Feng, "But no need to rush, monsters come in groups..... According to  my estimations, the amount of monsters here will start increasing within  10 days! All we have to do is quietly defend here, since we're familiar  with the area". Luo Feng also nodded. Even though this area was big, Luo Feng and the others memorized it completely these past few days. "Looks like #003 city is still the best for making money" Wei Tie couldn't help but to be amazed. Even  though Luo Feng and Gao Feng mainly did all the work, Wei Tie, Wei  Qing, and Chen Gu still benefit greatly. After dividing the money, each  of them will get over 100 million! Before, in the small cities,  commanders were rare. Wei Qing and Wei Tie probably couldn't earn 100  million in a year. But now they passed that amount in just 15 days. Of course-- The  bigger the gain, the bigger the risks! In these past few days, Luo Feng  and the others also encountered an assault from a flying monster.  Thankfully, they hid in the house and relied on Luo Feng's throwing  knives to scare them away. "Tons of money? It's not a lot at all"  laughed Gao Feng, "It's normal for a spirit reader to earn billions a  year. The only reason we're able to stay here is mainly thanks to Luo  Feng". "Haha" Chen Gu, Wei Qing, and Wei Tie couldn't help but to start laughing. "Captain,  don't say that. It's because of your help that killing these monsters  became that much easier". Luo Feng was telling the truth when he said  that. It's impossible for one person to pay attention to all of his  surroundings. Some squads have three members responsible for keeping  watch and to remove potential dangers. And only with the help of an 'intermediate warlord' like Gao Feng will Luo Feng's efficiency be high. Luo Feng and the others talked in a relaxed manner, but their voices weren't raised high. "Hm?" Chen Gu looked down through the laser aimer of his heavy sniper rifle and suddenly said, "****, a big one's here!". "What?" Luo Feng and the others basically immediately came over and looked through their binoculars. Luo Feng looked carefully..... In  a apartment building faraway, the corners were filled with vines and  moss. And in these vines was a gigantic snake that was 20 meters long  and as thick as a person's waist. The snake's body had black stripes and  the closer they got to its head, the thicker they became. The very  end of the gigantic snake split into two triangular snake heads, and  both of these heads had a bulge on their foreheads. "****, is this  the snake type monster, 'black striped', that has lethal poison?" cursed  Gao Feng under his voice, "And this is even a mutated snake type  monster, 'twin headed black striped snake'. And it's almost growing a  horn and becoming a dragon". Luo Feng also took in a deep breath. A mutated black striped snake that's almost a dragon? This thing shouldn't be messed with! 72 Twin Headed Black Striped Snake "A  black striped snake that's about to become a dragon; it's surely a high  level commander and nearing the horde leader level!" Gao Feng's  expression was extremely serious, and he said in a small voice, "And  since it's a mutated twin headed black striped snake, its venom is many  times more powerful than a regular black striped snake! It also has two  venom sacs, and each of those venom sacs are worth double the amount of a  non-mutated black striped snake". "In other words--" "This twin  headed black striped snake is worth the same amount as four black  striped snakes of the same level! A black striped snake that's about to  become a dragon is worth around 400 million, so this twin headed black  striped snake is worth 1.6 billion! The price is comparable to a regular  low level horde leader monster" after Gao Feng said these numbers, the  heart rate of the others started increasing rapidly...... they have  killed hundreds of commander level monsters over the past few days. But  all of that is not even close to the amount of money that the twin  headed black striped snake is worth! Obviously, killing stronger  monsters earns money at a higher rate. "Of course, this twin headed  black striped snake is extremely dangerous, once you get bit by it or  get poisoned by it in any way, it's certain death!" Gao Feng said lowly,  "And it has two brains, so both heads can attack the enemy together". "Are we doing this?" Gao Feng looked towards the other members of the squad and finally laid his eyes on Luo Feng. Everyone was silent as they looked at Luo Feng. Luo Feng was the one to make the decision! A twin headed black striped snake would make them tons of money! But at the same time, it's extremely dangerous! "I'm in!" Luo Feng clenched his teeth, "Captain, what about you?". With his spiritual force, his dodging would be unpredictable! "Luo  Feng, help me a bit if there's trouble" Gao Feng clenched his teeth,  "Fighters are supposed to walk on the border of life and death. Wei Tie,  give me your shield". "Here, captain". Wei Tie had no hesitation  as he gave his shield to Gao Feng. And Gao Feng put one of his hammers  on the ground. He had a shield in his left hand and a hammer in his  right. He laughed at himself: "After all this time, I still rarely use a  shield in combat. However, this twin headed black striped snake is just  too dangerous. If I don't use a shield, I'll actually be quite scared". "Captain,  I'll attack from afar and you attack up close" said Luo Feng quietly,  "If something happens, I'll use my spiritual force on your shield or  hammer and you can use that force to dodge away". "Understood" Gao Feng nodded. Luo  Feng looked at the other three and said: "I'll go down with the  captain, you guys stay here. Oh yea, brother Chen, aim with your sniper  rifle...... and make sure nobody tries to take advantage of us and steal  the kill!". "No worries, I'll keep aiming below" laughed Chen Gu slightly, "If you want me to fire, just notify me directly". "Okay" Through the tactical communications watch, members of a squad can keep in touch any time. "Captain,  let's go". Luo Feng and Gao Feng speeded down the stairs. Against a  monster of this level, Chen Gu and the others could do nothing to help. Luo  Feng and Gao Feng reached the ground and, using their memory, went  along a ruined, stony path towards the location of the twin headed black  striped snake. "BOOM!" "HISS~" the ear piercing hiss of the snake carried over from far away. Luo  Feng and Gao Feng exchanged glances, and the tactical communications  watch slightly vibrated at the same time. Luo Feng lowered his head to  look, and a line of words appeared on the tactical communications  watch--"three people suddenly appeared and are currently in an intense  battle with the twin headed black striped snake". Gao Feng also  received the news and said quietly: "Didn't think that some other group  would get to it first. However, let's go take a look". "Let's go" Luo Feng also nodded. The  two of them rapidly got close and quickly arrived at the corner of a  residential apartment. Past the corner, Luo Feng caught a glimpse of the  three men currently fighting against the twin headed black striped  snake around a few dozen meters away. The three men looked like they  were from Western or Southern Asia. Their hair was slightly curly and  their skin color was slightly dark. The bald man who seemed to be the leader of these three men held a dark, golden bo staff around three meters long. The  staff in his hand was like a swimming dragon. Every time the triangular  head of the twin headed black striped snake hissed as it flew over to  him, the bo staff would always be quick enough to smash the snake. Even  if it couldn't smash the head, it would still smash the body of the twin  headed black striped snake. Sometimes, the 'point' on the head of the  bo staff would connect, causing the twin headed black striped snake to  hiss in rage! As for the other two, they both held a rectangular  shield in one hand and a gigantic scimitar in the other. These two were  close together and attacked as a team: their coordination was amazing. "PENG!" The  rusty fitness machines that filled the sector from long ago were all  smashed open by the swinging tail of the twin headed black striped  snake, and the bald brute also retreated rapidly. The bo staff turned  and formed a whirlwind that blocked all of the scrap metal, and the  master of the staff retreated rapidly. "Great bo staff technique" Gao  Feng couldn't help but to say quietly, "This bald guy is probably an  advanced level warlord. The other two are probably medium level  warlords". Luo Feng nodded. This brute dared to go head to head with the twin headed black striped snake, so it's easy to tell that he's strong. "SI SI~~" The  twin headed black striped snake was enraged, and the cold eyes of the  two gigantic snake heads were enough to send chills down your spine. It  repeatedly widely opened its mouth as it attacked. Under the attack of  the twin headed black striped snake, the three of them retreated rapidly  and started to exchange words. After hearing the conversation between  the three, Luo Feng and Gao Feng instantly determined--Indians! After  the battle, one of the heads of the twin headed black striped snake was  bleeding. It was smashed by the bo staff of the bald brute! However,  this wound was clearly not fatal. WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH! The three Indians swiftly headed towards the direction of Luo Feng and Gao Feng. "Feel  free to fight it if you can" the bald brute squeezed out some chinese.  At this time, the twin headed black snake was hissing as it charged  over. Luo Feng and Gao Feng laughed coldly and didn't say much, and  then swiftly dodged to the side. They weren't stupid enough to charge  directly at a twin headed black striped snake. The leader of the three  Indians, the bald brute, couldn't help but to curse under his voice and  then shot his three meter long bo staff at the twin headed black striped  snake. "Now is the time" Luo Feng already grabbed his black  throwing knife as he dodged, and this was a 9th series throwing knife!  He threw it with lightning speed! The throwing knife formed a cold  light as it shot towards the left head of the twin headed black striped  snake. As an existence that is almost a dragon, the twin headed black  striped snake is extremely intelligent. It saw that the insignificant  human threw a throwing knife, so its left head swiftly waved. The brain  of a snake has always worked extremely quickly! The left head of the twin headed black striped snake instantly became blurred. "Its intellect was used against itself" laughed Luo Feng coldly, "Change!" He  purposefully threw his throwing knife to make the wiseacre twin headed  black striped snake to think he used hidden weapons. Using common sense,  throwing knives can't change direction in the air. Sadly..... Luo Feng  wasn't some hidden weapons expert, but was tens to hundreds of times  stronger than a hidden weapons expert. When there was just barely a  meter left between the throwing knife and the twin headed black striped  snake, the knife slightly changed direction. Just this slight change  caused the knife to charge towards one of the eyes of the twin headed  black striped snake's left head. "HISS~" the twin headed black  striped snake hissed out of rage, and in that short moment, actually  made an dodging movement with its left head! Know that, Luo Feng's  throwing knife was already going at a few times faster than the speed of  sound, even faster than a sniper bullet! A distance of one meter and a speed several times the speed of sound, not even a thousandth of a second! And  since the throwing knife was moving so quickly, even Luo Feng couldn't  be sure that he changed it at 1 meter or 1.5 meters. Since the throwing  knife was so fast, a slight delay means that the knife could've moved  forward by 10 meters already. Even if he reacts quickly, in that short  moment, Luo Feng can only change the knife's direction once! And in  just that short moment, not only did the twin headed black striped snake  react, but it also dodged! Of course, since it was such a short moment,  the twin headed black striped snake dodged under extreme circumstances. "PU!"  the throwing knife shot at the mouth of the twin headed black striped  snake and drew out a gap, and grazed the twin headed black striped  snake's scales. CHI CHI~~ It only left a white mark, and the throwing knife directly reflected into the ground. "Such  horrifying defense" Luo Feng was startled, "Such amazing dodging  capabilities. It changed direction in such a short distance, and this  twin headed black striped snake was still able to dodge? This is going  to be a problem!" Luo Feng knew that getting rid of this twin headed  black striped snake by himself would be extremely difficult. "Hiss~"  the two heads of the twin headed black striped snake both turned towards  Luo Feng. Its left head had a huge gap in its mouth, and a deep, green  colored blood flowed out continuously. The bald brute who wielded the  long bo staff laughed loudly, and as he retreated, he yelled in his  awkward chinese, "Team up, split half?". His gaze was on Luo Feng. Luo Feng and Gao Feng exchanged glances. "Alright" said Luo Feng. "OK!" Gao Feng even purposefully made a gesture. The  three Indians and Luo Feng and Gao Feng, both groups instantly made  their decision to cooperate. The bald brute's strength earned Luo Feng  and Gao Feng's recognition while Luo Feng's throwing knives earned the  three Indian's recognition! Only with strength can you earn others'  attention and respect! And outside of Wan-Ke dream city was a fighter  squad of nine that was currently slowly heading forward. In this squad  of nine were the members of the tiger fang squad. "Hm? That's the sound of a snake, and an extremely powerful one at that". Out of the nine, a veteran whose hair was white spoke. 73 A steal In Wan-Ke dream city's ruined, barren land was a sound of rumbling. A  snake as thick as a person's waist charged like lightning towards the  two scimitar-wielding Indians. The two Indians leaped with a 'WHOOSH'  five or six meters high and grabbed the window railing of an apartment  building. The snake's tail then cruelly smashed into a tree on the side.  From around five or six meters up the tree was a 'KACHA' sound as it  directly split open and rumbled as it fell. "Haha, trying to kill me?" at this time, Luo Feng was sprinting quickly with a shield in one hand. The two heads of the twin headed black striped snake were crazily chasing after Luo Feng! Whoosh! Whoosh! He  swung his arm and two throwing knives came out. It seemed like Luo Feng  used his arm to throw them, but actually, the throwing knives were  completely controlled by spiritual force right when they were thrown,  causing the two throwing knives to accelerate to an amazing speed. An  eye would barely be able to see two blurred, cold lights headed towards  the twin headed black striped snake! "HISS~~" the twin headed black striped snake roared as it tried to dodge. "Change!" Luo Feng's gaze was cold. The  two throwing knives slightly changed direction, but not by a large  amount. Since the throwing knives were way faster than bullets fired  from a sniper rifle, the others couldn't even tell that the throwing  knives changed direction. "PUCHI!" "CHI!" One of the two throwing  knives grazed the left head of the snake as it flew by, but the other  throwing knife hit the left head. Ever since they started fighting, Luo  Feng already let out six throwing knives, and all six of these throwing  knives were attacking the snake's left head. At this time, the snake's  left head was covered with fresh blood, and its wounds were shocking. "Hu!" Luo Feng's body was extremely light, and his sprinting speed was startling. The  bo staff-wielding leader of the Indian group made an excited shout and  chased the snake, as if it was a running dog, while it was chasing after  Luo Feng. One hit after another, he fiercely shot his staff towards the  twin headed black striped snake's right head. The twin headed black  striped snake didn't dare to use its head to block the alloyed staff, so  it could only dodge. Know that, even though this staff doesn't seem powerful and isn't sharp like a spear... Once  it makes contact, all of its power will be focused on the tip. The area  of the tip isn't large, so that small tip is like a blunt weapon! "Come on Indian, keep at it!" howled Gao Feng. The  other two large scimitar and shield wielding Indian fighters, with Gao  Feng, closely attacked the body of the twin headed black striped snake.  First, doing this prevented the twin headed black striped snake from  using its tail to attack Luo Feng and the Indian leader. Second, they  also wanted to attack this giant snake at around 7 inches! The snake's weak point is at 7 inches. Of course 7 inches is an abstract number; the main point is to attack its vital organs.* TL note: Refer to the end for more information. Even  though the snake was confident in its defense, it still didn't want to  let Gao Feng and the other two aim for its vitals. So the snake  retracted its tail and wrapped it..... as it tried to think of a way to  deal with Gao Feng and the other two. "Whoosh!" The shield in Luo  Feng's left hand was affected by spiritual force and, after Luo Feng  exerted force in his foot, he intensely flew straight towards captain  Gao Feng's position. When he was near Gao Feng, Luo Feng whispered:  "Captain, when you get near the snake to attack, use your hammer and  smash right towards this snake's left head!". "Hehe, understood" Gao Feng immediately understood what Luo Feng meant. Luo  Feng's movements on the battlefield were strange and erratic. He never  got close to the snake; he just relied on his amazing speed to hover  around the battlefield. "YA!" The Indian leader suddenly shouted and  his face reddened; the blood in his body was pumping to its limit. For a  moment, his body looked like a legendary buddhist arhat. The bo staff  in his body rapidly and ferociously increased in speed and, as if he was  throwing away his life, he charged straight towards the twin headed  black striped snake. The speed of the bo staff reached its limit and, in  a blink of an eye, dozens of shadows were smashing towards the snake! BANG! BANG! Two  of the dozens of shadows smashed directly into the snake's right head.  The right head of the gigantic snake couldn't help but to shake, as if  it was going to faint. With a rumble, the snake's right head directly  fell onto the ground. "HISS~" the left head of the twin headed black  striped snake immediately let out a horrifying growl and its large, soft  body suddenly moved. It actually shot up and speedily ran in a wavy  motion. "Hurry!" the Indian leader, the bald brute, quickly roared. Gao  Feng, who always stuck close to the twin headed black striped snake,  roared: "Die!". He used all of the power in his body to ferociously  swing the heavy hammer in his hand. The heavy hammer was like an  artillery shell as it cruelly smashed towards the left head of the twin  headed black striped snake. The left head of the twin headed black  striped snake immediately dodged away. Luo Feng, who wasn't too far  away, saw this and concentrated all of his spiritual force on the heavy  hammer, instantly accelerating it by a huge margin! "PENG!" The  twin headed black striped snake instantly dodged away. But even though  the heavy hammer didn't directly hit its head, it still hit the neck! With  Gao Feng's extreme power and Luo Feng's spiritual force as support, the  force of impact of this hammer was unrivaled. The left head of the twin  headed black striped snake also couldn't help but to fall to the ground  with a dizzy motion. But right when it regained consciousness and was  going to raise its head back up! Luo Feng let out a smile! "PUCHI!"  a black knife instantly came out of the ground, went along the face of  the left head of the snake, and directly shot into the head! The left head didn't rise up again. "PU!"  The alloyed bo staff of the bald brute Indian leader shot like  lightning towards the eye of the right head, destroyed it, and then  pierced the right head of the twin headed black striped snake! The twin  headed black stripe snake already lost its life, but its gigantic body  was still twisting around unconsciously. The movements slowed down and  then it never moved again! "Haha!" The Indian leader couldn't help but to laugh loudly. "Beautiful"  Gao Feng was also happy as he went to pick up his hammer. Luo Feng was  also smiling as he went to pick up his throwing knives. From beginning to end, the Indians probably never realized that their weapons were being controlled by spiritual force! Especially  the last hit. Only until the head of the twin headed black striped  snake fell on the ground did Luo Feng's throwing knife come out of the  ground to pierce its head. "Friend" the bald brute smiled towards Luo Feng and Gao Feng and made a greeting, "Good!*" TL note: He said "good" in english. "You  aren't so bad either" laughed Luo Feng as he said. He could tell that  the Indian staked his life on his final move. Even now, the bald brute's  face was completely flushed and his veins were still bursting. "You guys get half, we get half!" spoke the bald brute. Luo Feng pointed at the left head of the snake and slightly smiled: "The scales are half half too". Both  sides felt each other's strength. Whether Luo Feng's squad or the  Indian squad, both probably have heated weapons aiming from a hidden  area. That, and both parties are powerful. So both of them were in a  good mood. Luo Feng and Gao Feng started dissecting the left head of the  twin headed black striped snake! And the Indians dissected the right head. "Luo Feng, that blade was cruel" whispered Gao Feng. Luo  Feng laughed as he took out the black throwing knife from the head of  the snake after dissecting it. It was indeed that strike that killed the  left head. Suddenly-- "Hm?" Luo Feng and Gao Feng quickly  turned over to look, and the faces of the three members of the Indian  squad also changed as they looked. Nine human fighters from not too  far away started walking towards them; most of them were yellow. When  these nine people came and saw the gigantic snake in front of them, they  instantly determined the price of it--a few billion dollars. With such a  huge amount of wealth, quite a few people would show their inner greed. "Please go away!" the bald brute leader of the Indian group squeezed out some chinese. "Who  would've thought that we'd meet the tiger fang squad here too. You sure  linger around us" Gao Feng's gaze scanned across the group in front of  him. Luo Feng looked silently. Out of the nine people in front of  them, other than the six members of the tiger fang squad, there was an  old veteran, a huge white brute, and a mixed youth. "Haha, Gao Feng,  you guys actually teamed up with Indians. Hmhm..... but for you guys to  kill this twin headed black striped snake, how rare" the captain of the  tiger fang squad laughed coldly, "If you're wise, you'd hurry up and  **** off. If so, our thunderbolt squad might spare your lives, or  else..... hmhm, don't blame us. Oh, senior Liu here is the captain of  our thunderbolt squad. Mr. Ka Long here is our vice captain". Senior Liu was that old veteran, and Ka Long was that white brute. Luo Feng's gaze was cold. "This is my first time here in #003 city, this prey is mine. You guys can leave" said the mixed youth as he smiled. The old veteran and the white brute stood on the two sides of the mixed youth as they scanned Luo Feng's group. "Whoever  dares to steal my prey..... dies!" said the bald brute leader of the  Indian group. The two scimitar wielding Indians beside him were also  displaying their killing intent. Do you think killing this twin headed  black striped snake was easy? First of all, this valuable, mutated  monster was already rare in the first place, and the battle was bitter  too. Gao Feng also held his twin hammers with a fearsome gaze. "If  you want to steal it, then come" Luo Feng stepped on the head of the  snake and gave out a cold laugh as he looked at the group in front of  him, "If we can kill this twin headed black striped snake, then your  group..... oh yea, our brother's sniper rifle is aimed right at your  group!" "Our sniper rifle is also aimed at you!" said one of the scimitar wielding men of the Indian group coldly. "Sniper?" Quite  a few of the nine couldn't help but to raise their heads to the  surrounding residential apartments, but not even a shadow could be seen  in these ruined buildings. But because they couldn't see them, they  became even more afraid. The tiger fang squad was clear: the fire hammer  squad had Chen Gu as their sniper. And would the Indian group not bring  their own professional snipers too? ---- TL note (for the 7  inches part): Okay, for those interested/want more information, this is  actually a saying: ߴߴ (if you want to attack a snake, attack at 7  inches). I heard there are variations like 3 inches too, but there are  two meanings for this saying. First, don't attack a snake if it isn't at  least 7 inches long. Next, 7 inches is the best spot to attack a snake.  Refer to the photos below (although I'm not sure if these photos are  exactly correct. I'm sure that it varies for different types of snakes). 74 Solo Usually,  a heavy sniper rifle can barely threaten a 'low level commander level'  monster. But monsters are different from humans. Humans are powerful,  but the defense of their skin and muscle is much lower than the defense  of the monsters' fur and scales. This is also why human fighters have to  wear battle uniforms! If an intermediate level warlord fighter gets shot, even if he doesn't die, he would still suffer a heavy wound. However,  a sniper rifle is much less threatening to an advanced level warlord  level fighter, and as for a wargod? A sniper rifle can't even threaten a  wargod at all. "It looks like the old veteran and the white brute  are protecting the mixed youth, so he's the most important member of the  squad" Luo Feng's gaze scanned across the thunderbolt squad. Some of  the members of the thunderbolt squad were raised towards the residential  apartments, searching for the snipers' locations. And some of them  exchanged glances. Silence. Luo Feng, Gao Feng, the Indians, and the thunderbolt squad were all silent for a bit. "Senior  Liu" the tiger fang captain looked towards the indifferent, balding  veteran. This balding veteran frowned and looked at him, and the tiger  fang captain immediately shut up. The old, balding veteran then said  quietly to the mixed youth's ear: "Young master, since you want to come  here to train, you should fight against the monsters personally". The mixed youth looked at the veteran and then turned his head to the white brute. The white brute also slightly nodded. "Alright, let's go!" ordered the mixed youth helplessly. His father has seriously warned him-- After entering the wilderness, he must listen to his two bodyguards. Even  though the leader of the squad is technically the old veteran, but the  actual leader is this mixed youth. And now that the mixed youth gave his  order, the members of the tiger fang squad stared at Gao Feng and Luo  Feng with a look of dissatisfaction. Zhang Ze Hu even cursed under his  breath: "Luo Feng kid, you got lucky this time!". Zhang Ze Hu didn't  even try to hide his hatred for Luo Feng. It has always been clear that the tiger fang squad and the fire hammer squad weren't on good terms. Very quickly, the nine members of the thunderbolt squad left. Wan-Ke Dream city is gigantic in area, and the thunderbolt squad continued to move forward in this small sector. "Pan Ya" as they walked on the road, the old veteran frowned as he spoke. "Senior Liu" the captain of the tiger fang squad neared and lowered himself. The  old veteran named Liu spoke solemnly: "Since you tiger fang squad  members accepted this mission, you should know that the young master's  safety takes priority over everything! That twin headed black striped  snake is indeed a treasure, but is not even close to the importance of  young master's safety. If something happened to the young master, not  only will I not be able to escape, but all of you tiger fang squad  members will die too!". The tiger fang squad captain froze, and soon nodded: "Understood!". "Ok,  as long as you understand" said the old veteran named Liu coldly,  "We'll soon arrive at a ruined JJ liquor chain store. The young master  will then kill the monsters in that area. If you guys want to steal  others' prey, do it yourselves. Don't drag in the young master". "I understand". The captain of the tiger fang squad replied that, but was cursing in his heart. Which  fighter squad in the vicinity of #003 city is weak? If it wasn't for  the two 'advanced level warlords', the old veteran named Liu and the  white brute, the tiger fang squad doesn't even have the power to steal  prey. The tiger fang captain slightly nodded: "I understand. The fire  hammer squad dared to enter #003 city, so I understand that their skill  has increased". "Captain, we can't delay anymore. Especially that  Luo Feng, he just became a fighter not too recently. I heard he's  already a beginner level warlord" said Zhang Ze Hu hurriedly. Zhang Ze  Hu is clearly the one who holds the most hatred for Luo Feng. "This kid, does have surprising potential". The  tiger fang captain said lowly, "Leaving our enemies like that will just  make their threat to us larger and larger! Since we met them in the  wilderness this time, well good, I'll think of a way in these few days  to kill them directly! Or else..... I'll spend some money and ask senior  Liu and the other senior to help". On the grass of the residential  apartments filled with the scent of blood, Luo Feng, Gao Feng, and the  three Indians were dissecting the gigantic snake. Not only did they take  out the poison sacs, but they also took out things like the bladder. Of  course, they'll have to skin it. The skin of this twin headed black  striped snake is worth quite a bit. "Half!" "Half!" The Indian group and Luo Feng's group quickly split apart the large amounts of material. "No  matter toughness or hardness, the scales of this snake is amazing" Gao  Feng couldn't help but to say as he touched the scales, "These scales  are definitely important materials for battle uniform production!". The  most important invention by man--Ke Luo Alloy, is mainly made from all  sorts of monsters' material. Of course, it was the 'Blue Gold' metal  found on the moon that finally made the Ke Luo alloy! Ke Luo alloy  allows human fighters to wear battle uniforms with extremely high  defense and wield blades that are unrivaled in sharpness! Even some  heated weapons gain a huge increase in power. "Cooperate, great!" the Indian leader, the bald brute, squeezed out some Chinese as he greeted Luo Feng and Gao Feng. "Haha, great" Gao Feng also laughed. Luo  Feng and Gao Feng both carried their bulging bags and headed upstairs.  The snake's scales seemed to have a huge area, but they were actually  very thin. Half of the snakes' scales stacked together can't even fill  up one bag! And fighter's bags already had amazing elasticity. With the  bag's mechanism, you can adjust the size of the bag. At its largest, you can make it as large as a regular man. However, that size isn't needed for these scales. They quickly arrived at the 12th floor of the residential building. Right when they entered, they were greeted with cheering. "Warm welcome, warm welcome" shouted Wei Tie purposefully. "Welcome  back, captain and Luo Feng, from your battle" Chen Gu also said  purposefully. Of course they were happy. Since Luo Feng and Gao Feng  came back successfully, they would get quite a bit of money too. Gao Feng didn't have such a happy look on his face: "You guys saw the members of the tiger fang squad right?". "We  saw them" the faces of Chen Gu, Wei Tie, and Wei Qing immediately sank.  Chen Gu even grit his teeth: "I even wanted to shoot them in revenge  for old Zhang!". Out of the entire squad, Chen Gu was clearly the  closest to Zhang Ke, since they were both from Ming-Yue sector. Together throughout the life threatening times, together as they went back home. All  these years, they're even closer than brothers! But Chen Gu knew he  couldn't fire back them. Even if he was able to kill someone, the  thunderbolt squad would certainly immediately take action..... at that  point, there's no turning back. "Chen Gu, where's the tiger fang squad right now?" asked Luo Feng. "We've been watching them the whole time" At  the northern window, Wei Qing held his binoculars as he looked down,  "that group just walked out of the dream city sector and are walking  east along that street!". Whoosh! Whoosh! Luo Feng and the others  immediately went. Luo Feng first took the binoculars and looked  downwards. Indeed..... the nine members of the thunderbolt squad were  walking along a street a few miles away. Thankfully, Luo Feng and the  others picked a good residential building, a tall building that was  farthest up north in their sector. In front of their residential  building towards the northern sector were just some short buildings, so  they could freely look towards the northern area. "Captain, brother Chen" spoke Luo Feng. "Hm?" the members of the fire hammer squad all looked towards Luo Feng. Luo  Feng couldn't help but to clench his fists and say with his teeth  clenched: "I'll never forget what they did to brother Zhang. I swore  long ago..... once I meet the trash of the tiger fang squad in the  wilderness, I'll destroy them!" "Luo Feng, your point is?" said Gao Feng in a surprised tone. "I'll  go after them secretly and find a chance to kill all the members of the  tiger fang squad! Since they were prepared to kill all of us, of course  we have to strike first!". Luo Feng will never forget the two sniper  rifle bullets. One of them was barely dodged thanks to his spiritual  force. But the other one handicapped brother Zhang! "Luo Feng, I'll go with you. We have to avenge brother Zhang" said Chen Gu with his teeth clenched. "Brother  Chen, going alone is best for me" Luo Feng said in a low tone, "With my  spiritual force, I can escape even from a wargod just by flying!". This is why spirit readers are horrifying! Even  if a wargod fighter is tens to hundreds of times stronger than them,  even a weak spirit reader can fly! Other than spirit readers, only  existences that surpass the wargod level can fly. "Chen Gu, Luo Feng is right. You'll just be a burden" commanded Gao Feng. Chen Gu clenched his teeth. The captain said it in a bad way, but he knew the captain said it for his own good. "And  if we want to destroy the tiger fang squad, then wouldn't they try to  destroy us too?" said Gao Feng, "Ever since their scheme from last time,  of course they wouldn't want us to live. However, they just haven't met  us in the wilderness. Now that they've met us..... they'll take action  for sure". Everyone there was surprised. Indeed..... With the way the tiger fang squad handles things, they'll definitely do something like this. "We  killed enough monsters this time anyway and our bags are almost full.  The other members of the squad will first return to the resupplying  base" said Gao Feng, and then looked towards Luo Feng, "Luo Feng, you're  a spirit reader. No one knows how many times better you are at escaping  than us, but you still have to be careful and not let your guard down". Luo Feng nodded. As they talked, the members took up their binoculars and observed where the thunderbolt squad was headed. "They entered the JJ liquor chain store" said Chen Gu excitedly, "Looks like that'll be their temporary base". "No delay, let's go now" said Gao Feng clearly. Luo Feng also stood up and saw the captain and the others off. This  was already the border of the city, so Luo Feng saw the captain and the  others off in just two to three miles on the highway. After leaving the  #003 city section, there were barely any monsters. It'll be weird if  something happens to the fire hammer squad on the highway with their  current strength. "Luo Feng, be careful" Gao Feng and the other members of the fire hammer squad looked towards Luo Feng. This time, Luo Feng is going to take up the fire hammer squad's task alone. "Captain,  don't worry, none of the members of the tiger fang squad will make it  out alive!" laughed Luo Feng, and then he became a shadow and  disappeared into the distance and towards the city densely filled with  buildings far away. 75 Can’t wait anymore At times, Luo Feng would  sprint, and at times, Luo Feng would suddenly hide behind a wall,  waiting for the hungry monsters to pass by. Only until they pass does  Luo Feng start moving forward again! With his spiritual force scanning the area, Luo Feng can correctly determine whether or not there's danger ahead. "This house then!" like a cannonball, Luo Feng directly flew into the third story's window of a three story villa. Since  no one has lived here for dozens of years, the room was long filled  with dust. However, a few electronic household appliances could be  discerned with just a look. It's just that most of them were already  split apart and broken. Luo Feng quickly flipped the Simmons mattress,  since the opposite side was much cleaner. After a bit of cleaning up, he  can sleep on it. After putting his bag down, Luo Feng took out his binoculars and went to the northern window. The  window had tons of dust all over it, making the once transparent window  seem like a black window. After opening the window halfway, Luo Feng  took his binoculars and looked towards the north. His current position  is within Wan-Ke dream city's inner sector. From here, he can clearly  see the northern JJ liquor chain store. He can also see the street in  front of the liquor store. Since there's only a difference of two miles  between the street and his villa, with Luo Feng's eyesight, he doesn't  even need binoculars to see what's happening on the street. But with the  binoculars, he can see more clearly. "JJ" Luo Feng stood in front of the window and watched silently. 5 minutes later. "Hm?"  Luo Feng let out a face of happiness, "It was originally that  building!". Through the binoculars, Luo Feng could see two people  standing on the rooftop of the six story liquor chain store five miles  away. They were both currently holding binoculars, and the two were  Zhang Ze Hu and a gunner named Li Xiao. "I have to wait for my chance" Luo Feng put down his binoculars and started his days of observation. At this time, inside the JJ liquor chain store. The  tiger fang captain said coldly: "Tiger, Xiao, both of you look closely!  We must find out where the fire hammer squad is hiding! Since their  team's Chen Gu has to use his sniper rifle, then they must be at a high  location! So you guys look towards the higher levels of the tall  buildings and search for them". "Yes, captain" Zhang Ze Hu and Xiao  stood on the rooftop and, through their binoculars, continuously  searched the tall buildings in Wan-Ke dream city. "Pan Ya, the  information you told me about the fire hammer squad is correct, right?"  the old veteran, whose hair was gray, frowned. The tiger fang captain  followed: "There is definitely no problem. The information for these  six people are extremely accurate..... only this Luo Feng's info is  changing. He was scouted by the Dojo of Limits and is extremely  talented. His strength has already reached the beginner warlord level". "Okay". The old veteran named Liu slightly nodded, "If so, Pan Ya, find me after you have located the fire hammer squad's position". "Okay" the tiger fang captain responded as he smiled. Unfortunately, the tiger fang squad couldn't even find the fire hammer squad's shadow. Dawn of the next day. "Young  master, according to the plan, young master's goal at dawn today is  that low level commander monster. That monster is high in power but low  in speed. At that time, Ka Long and I won't help" smiled the old veteran  Liu. The mixed youth laughed: "Okay, you and Ka Long watch on the side.  I'll take care of it myself". The white brute also smiled. "Pan  Ya" the old veteran named Liu turned his head and commanded, "The two  members of the tiger fang squad that were on night watch can rest today,  the rest of the members will come with us". "Understood" the tiger fang captain, Pan Ya, smiled. As of now, the tiger fang squad consists of two intermediate level and four beginner level warlords! "Steel  head, Dong. You two were on watch last night, so rest here today"  commanded Pan Ya. Protecting that young master is their first priority,  so naturally, the members they leave behind are the weakest two..... and  of course, the two are picked from the four beginner warlords. Today it was steel head and Dong. Tomorrow it'll be tiger and Xiao. Taking turns. "Understood" the bald brute and Dong, who was cleaning his gun, smiled. "Let's go" commanded the old veteran named Liu. The  mixed youth, the old veteran named Liu, the white brute, and the four  members of the tiger fang squad. The seven of them left the liquor  store, leaving behind the bald brute and Dong in the spacious room. "Damn,  having a powerful father is just great" the bald brute couldn't help  but to say, "To gain experience with fighting against monsters, two  advanced level warlords can be summoned as bodyguards. Even our whole  squad is here to cover him. Hmhm..... when I came out here in the  wilderness the other year, I had to bring out everything I had with my  life on the line". Dong laughed: "How can we compare with him? Didn't  you hear him..... that senior Liu or whatever. He even said in a tone  of a butler--'The young master's goal for today is a low level commander  monster who is high in power and low in speed'. ****, he even has the  training session all scheduled out! Which monster to kill first and  which monster to kill next!". In a dangerous place like the wilderness. When does the fighter ever have the chance to decide anything! If  you encounter a powerful monster, can you just immediately shout 'I'm  not fighting this monster'? If you don't fight, then the monster will  chase after you and force you to act. "But that young master is  different. If they encounter a powerful monster, then that senior Liu  can just take care of it. They'll especially wait for a low level  commander monster for their young master to practice on" laughed the  bald brute as he shook his head. Luo Feng, who woke up early in the  morning and was already squatting in wait, quickly saw the seven members  of the thunderbolt squad walk out the liquor store. "Seven? Wasn't there nine in total?". Luo Feng immediately thought, "Then the other two must still be inside the liquor store!". Luo Feng understood his strength well. Against  an 'intermediate level warlord', he can certainly wipe the floor with  them. However, it's hard to say about what will happen if he fights  against an 'advanced level warlord'. For example, he might be able to  instantly kill his opponent if he attacks them by surprise, but if that  fails..... then there'll be a problem. Since in a frontal fight, an  advanced level warlord can immediately dodge away from a sniper rifle  bullet. An advanced level warlord's reaction speed is much higher than his own. "Out  of the nine members of the thunderbolt squad, that white brute and the  old veteran named Liu are most likely advanced level warlords. Or else  they wouldn't have been so arrogant and have tried to steal the twin  headed black striped snake's corpse". "Let's say that I go alone and  face all nine of them! With a surprise attack and some luck, I might be  able to succeed. However..... only one of them has to spread the word  that I'm the murderer to the world via their communications watch and,  once that happens, I'll be in huge trouble". Luo Feng understood that,  from the old veteran named Liu and the white brute's attitude towards  that mixed youth and how they call him 'young master'..... That mixed youth's background is extremely horrifying! Since  that person can get two advanced warlords as bodyguards, then that big  person behind the mixed youth is at least a wargod! Or maybe even a  position higher than a wargod! "Right now, there are only two people in the liquor store, should I kill them?". Luo Feng hesitated, and then decided against it. "I  can't kill them. If I kill these two, then the other seven will be on  guard. If so, then it'll be much more troublesome to kill the tiger fang  captain and Zhang Ze Hu". "I don't believe that my chance won't come!" Day  after day passed, and the thunderbolt squad never found the fire hammer  squad. And Luo Feng never found a good chance to strike! Everytime the  thunderbolt squad left the liquor store, only the two people who were on  night watch remain. First it's steel head and Dong, then it's Tiger and  Xiao. And they took turns..... Luo Feng waited for nine whole days! "****!" "They're  too systematic!" Luo Feng had a bitter face on, "This thunderbolt squad  is just that young master's nanny squad!". Not only did Luo Feng watch  the liquor store, but he also watched the seven people that came out to  hunt these past few days. He tried to see if he could find a moment  where the tiger fang squad was separated from the old veteran named Liu  and the white brute. But, not even one moment was found! The thunderbolt squad was always protecting that mixed youth and never strayed too far, giving Luo Feng no chance at all. The tenth day! "If  I keep waiting like this, then I'll probably never get a chance by the  time they start to return to the headquarter city! I can't wait  anymore!" Luo Feng clenched his teeth and a cold light flashed across  his eyes, "Today is the tenth day, so it should be Zhang Ze Hu and that  gunner Li Xiao guarding the liquor store..... Zhang Ze Hu, hmph, I'll  destroy both of you two today!". At the JJ liquor chain store. "Tiger, Xiao, you two haven't slept all night so take a good rest now" said the tiger fang captain and he smiled. "Understood, captain". Zhang Ze Hu and Li Xiao both smiled as they replied. "Let's go" With  a command from the old veteran named Liu, the tiger fang squad and the  others followed him. A total of seven people left the liquor store. And  Luo Feng, who saw that the seven people have left the store, quietly  left his own spot and went along another road headed towards the liquor  store. 76 Zhang Ze Hu, Die! The dawn of winter was quite cold, and  some of the monsters' corpses on the ground were freezing up. Luo Feng  slowly walked on this road, and there were two shadow cats enjoyably  feasting on a wild boar's flesh. However, right when they realized  someone was coming, they quickly hid. Monsters had some intelligence  too. In #003 city, all the humans meddling around here were very  powerful, so one or two soldier level monsters can't stop them at all. "Those two shadow cats probably went to summon the other shadow cats". Luo  Feng swiftly went through the road and continued going forward, going  around in a huge circle on purpose to waste some time. He slowly moved  forward, and took around half an hour to arrive at the northern door of  the liquor store. The door to the liquor store was extremely dirty,  and there was some black colored blood that not even rain can wash away  on the ground. Luo Feng stood alone there. "It's been half an hour  already, so the seven members of the thunderbolt squad have probably  walked far away by now". Luo Feng looked at the door in front of him  that has been long broken, and immediately focused his spiritual force  onto his armbands, the shield on his back, and his blade. This powerful  force made Luo Feng's body extremely light; every one of his steps  became light. "Upstairs!" He went along the staircase step by step without making even the slightest sound. Luo  Feng was extremely careful, but right when he reached the third floor,  with a glance, he saw that there was a huge mastiff tiger that was  slowly moving forward. That mastiff tiger also instantly found this  human fighter, Luo Feng! Both of them practically noticed each other at  the exact same time, and Luo Feng was so scared he immediately broke out  in a cold sweat! Whoosh! Whoosh! Two black shadows basically  instantly drew across the mastiff tiger monster, and its gigantic head  fell off before it even had the chance to roar. The two throwing knives  flew around in a circle and then landed in the outer pockets of his  pants. "Phew, no problem" Luo Feng was relieved, "Thankfully this  monster didn't remember to roar. If it attracted Zhang Ze Hu and Li  Xiao's attention, then there would be some trouble". Even though killing Zhang Ze Hu and Li Xiao is as easy as killing chickens. But  if Zhang Ze Hu and Li Xiao were cautious, then they might be able to  contact the other members of the thunderbolt squad right before they  die..... once the other members of the thunderbolt squad know that  there's a human fighter targeting them, then Luo Feng's next action  would be tens to hundreds of times harder to carry out. "Sixth floor!" Luo  Feng couldn't help but to let out a smile when he reached the sixth  floor, luckily he only encountered one monster on the way to the sixth  floor. The thunderbolt squad probably quickly scanned the building the  first time they came here, and that mastiff tiger monster probably just  entered the liquor store not too long ago. On the hallway of the sixth floor, Luo Feng slowly moved forward. "In  the room with the window pointed towards the south, the eighth window  from east to west". Luo Feng couldn't be sure as to which room this  eighth window corresponded to. "It's probably one of these three or four rooms". Luo  Feng held his breath and his light body made no sound. He walked into  one of the rooms and stopped, then put his ear near the wall and  listened carefully. Indeed, he could slightly hear some chatting sounds,  which made Luo Feng determine that those two were in that room. He then  quietly walked outside the room. "It should be this room" Luo Feng scanned the situation of the room with his spiritual force. "They're just chatting there?" Luo Feng laughed. Inside the room. Zhang  Ze Hu was currently sitting against the broken sofa, while Li Xiao was  cleaning the machine gun in his hand. Both of them were nonchalantly  chatting. "That fire hammer squad sure has no balls. Last time they  met us, they directly ran straight back to the resupplying base. No  wonder we couldn't find them no matter how long we searched" insulted  Zhang Ze Hu as he said. Li Xiao laughed coldly: "They can escape for  now, but not forever. Since we're enemies now, they're dead for sure". Zhang Ze Hu sneered: "They think they can fight against us with just them? Hm?". Zhang Ze Hu's face slightly changed, and Li Xiao's face also slightly changed. "I  felt like there was something just now" Zhang Ze Hu looked towards Li  Xiao. Li Xiao also frowned as he said: "I also, felt something". Since  fighters are always on the border of life and death, they'll have some  feeling in their heart when they encounter danger. And they had such an  obvious feeling because..... Luo Feng scanned the room with his  spiritual force. When this spiritual force spreads out, regular people  have a hard time noticing it, but powerful fighters will still have some  feeling of it. "Could there be a monster outside?" said Zhang Ze Hu quietly. "Probably"  Li Xiao nodded, "Even though we cleaned up all the monsters in the  entire liquor store when we first came, there could still be some  monster horde that just entered the store". "KA!" Li Xiao held his  machine gun while Zhang Ze Hu held his machete. Both of them stood up  and headed towards the door. After several dozen years of corrosion, the  locks of these doors were long broken. With a light pull from Zhang Ze  Hu, the door easily opened. And outside of the door was neither a  human's shadow nor a monster's shadow. "Not many sounds" Zhang Ze Hu  and Li Xiao exchanged glances. Zhang Ze Hu then took in a deep breath  and cautiously started to exit the room. And then! Whoosh! Whoosh! Two  eerie, black lights instantly appeared in front of Zhang Ze Hu and Li  Xiao. One of the eerie, black lights instantly drew across Zhang Ze Hu's  left arm and instantly cut his left arm off. After cutting the arm off,  without slowing down, it instantly drew across gunner 'Li Xiao"s neck,  causing Li Xiao's head to fly up. And the second eerie, black light instantly drew across Zhang Ze Hu's throat! PUCHI! PUCHI! Fresh blood poured out. "Eh--eh--"Zhang Ze Hu's eyes were wide open, but he couldn't make a sound. These  two black lights were way too fast. There was probably only one or two  meters between Zhang Ze Hu and the black light, and Li Xiao was only  three or four meters away from it. In such a short distance......  against a speed even faster than a bullet fired from a sniper rifle, how  could they dodge? Maybe an advanced level warlord would have a chance of survival but, as for them, they didn't even have the tiniest chance. "Eh--"Zhang  Ze Hu wanted to speak, but he couldn't make a sound. He wanted to press  his tactical communications watch, but his left arm was already cut off  and the tactical communications watch was on the ground. "I'm going to die? How, how could I die?" Zhang  Ze Hu grabbed his throat with his right hand. As fresh blood crazily  poured outside from his throat, he could clearly feel his life slowly  fading away, "How could this happen? HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN!!!" Suddenly-- A  shadow appeared at the door, wearing a fighter's battle uniform,  alloyed boots, and had a shield and blade on his back. His two eyes were  coldly staring at him. "Eh!" Zhang Ze Hu's eyes instantly became round as he stared, as he couldn't believe which fighter was in front of him! Luo Feng! It was actually Luo Feng! It was actually that rookie Luo Feng who he didn't take seriously at all??? "You  go on first, the other members of the tiger fang squad will join you  soon enough" Luo Feng's voice rang. Zhang Ze Hu's mouth was wide open,  but with his throat slit, he couldn't say anything at all. And as Zhang  Ze Hu felt his vision starting to fade, the two eerie, black lights  returned to Luo Feng and hovered in front of him. Clearly, they were two  throwing knives. The two throwing knives just hovered like this, and then landed inside Luo Feng's thigh's pockets. "Ah,  ah!" Zhang Ze Hu's eyes were wide open as if he wanted to say  something, but his body froze and instantly, lifelessly fell to the  ground. Before dying..... He finally realized Luo Feng's biggest  secret--Luo Feng was actually a spirit reader!!! Before dying, Zhang Ze  Hu saw the grave, nightmarish future of all the members of his tiger  fang squad. Silence! Only the 'DRIP' sound from the blood hitting  the ground rang throughout the room; there was no other sound. The two  corpses just lay there, and Luo Feng silently stood there as he looked. "Zhang Ze Hu" Luo Feng lowered his head as he looked at the person in front of him. Right  from the start, Zhang Ze Hu thought he was a seasoned veteran while Luo  Feng was just a rookie. So that's why he didn't lower his head at all  when they were discussing about Zhang Hao Bai's case. And it was then  that Luo Feng's spiritual force awakened. That argument was just a small case. If  you want a reason, then blame the time where the tiger fang squad tried  to kill everyone in the fire hammer squad. Thankfully, Luo Feng managed  to save everyone in the end, but even so, Zhang Ke still lost his arm. Because of that, the fire hammer squad clenched their teeth as they swore for revenge. The  tiger fang squad also feared that the enemy would grow strong, so they  tried to destroy them completely! Both of squads wouldn't rest until one  side was dead! "With Zhang Ze Hu and Li Xiao's death, there are  still four members of the six tiger fang squad members remaining" Luo  Feng stood at the door as he thought to himself, "Once they come back  here and realize that these two have been killed, they'll certainly get  cautious and think about the various possibilities! Then..... I have to  decorate this scene and trick them. It's up to the heavens whether or  not this works". 77 Making the scene Luo Feng swiftly rushed down  the stairs, all the way from the sixth floor to the first floor, to the  entrance of the liquor store. "Hm?" Luo Feng looked around the area. "There  aren't many large monster packs nearby, how annoying" Luo Feng frowned  as he could see a few monsters around with just a glance, but there  weren't enough monsters. For his plan, he wants to trick the other seven  members of the thunderbolt squad into thinking that Zhang Ze Hu and Li  Xiao were killed by monsters. After that, Luo Feng sprinted along the  alley towards the outer area. After leaving the alley, with a glance,  he noticed a large horde of horned boars. There were at least one  hundred of them. If a regular fighter saw this, they probably wouldn't  even have time to run away, but Luo Feng let out a smile. "It'll be them" Luo Feng swiftly got closer to them. "HOWL~~" Quite  a few horned boars were staring at this human fighter. One enraged roar  carried from the horde, which was from the leader of this horned boar  horde! Suddenly, all the horned boars spread out and crazily rushed  towards Luo Feng. In an instant, the entire street started rumbling. RUMBLE~~ The horned boar horde came rushing! "****,  I was going to kill one or two monsters first to make them hate me  first. I didn't know it would be this easy to get them to chase after  me" Luo Feng turned around and started running away. He quickly headed  towards the alley and started running in there. RUMBLE~~ The alley  was quite wide, so two horned boars could run in it side by side. Luo  Feng was sprinting ahead while the horde of horned boars were crazily  chasing from behind. "PUCHI!" "PUCHI!" Two eerie black lights flew  around a circle and returned to Luo Feng. The two horned boars in front  of the horde instantly died, and another horned boar behind them also  had a gigantic wound. At this time, the horned boars' enraged howls  became even louder, showing that they were clearly even more enraged. "The angrier the better!" Luo Feng, like lightning, went up the stairs past the backdoor of the liquor store. RUMBLE~~ The  horned boars crazily flew up the stairs one by one. The quality of the  concrete making up the stairs was pretty good; even after a dozen years,  it can still support the running of the horned boars. Luo Feng  purposefully ran ahead the horde by around 10 meters and rushed to his  destination--sixth floor! After arriving at the sixth floor, under  the effects of Luo Feng's spiritual force, Zhang Ze Hu's machete and Li  Xiao's machine gun started hovering. The machine gun even dragged along  the long, long bullet chain with it. The machine gun floated in front of Luo Feng, and so did the machete. "HOWL~~"  the monsters, like a flood, rushed into the sixth floor. Each of them  went along the hallway as they crazily charged towards Luo Feng. "Come at me!" Luo  Feng sneered and a crazed light appeared in his eye. His spiritual  force pulled the trigger, and the large barrel of the machine gun  started roaring as it crazily fired bullets out one by one. The force of  each boar's charge was absurd, so even though the bullets crazily shot  into the horned boars, they couldn't make them stop! Puchi! Puchi! The  floating machete started crazily dancing around, drawing across the  throats of the horned boars one after another. The bodies of the boars  that lost control started slamming into the walls, "RUMBLE~~" , the  walls started splitting apart after getting slammed into so many times.  With the power of both the machine gun and the machete, dozens of horned  boars were killed in a breath. The hallway was filled with corpses. "HOWL~~" an enraged roar came. A huge horned boar with black spots and shining silver fur appeared. However,  the machete and machine gun already fell beside the two corpses in the  room, and Luo Feng himself has long jumped out the northern window! Whoosh! Luo  Feng shot down the window like lightning and, using his spiritual force  on both of his arm guards, created an uplifting force which slowed him  down. Luo Feng easily landed on the roof of a two story building,  sprinted right into an alley, and quickly disappeared. ...... "HOWL~~" The  horned boar horde, which lost a couple dozen monsters, madly rammed the  insides of the liquor store as they tried to find that damned human  fighter. They didn't find that human fighter, but they did find two  fresh human fighter corpses. These horned boars then immediately crazily  chewed up the flesh of these corpses. To horned boars, the flesh of humans is indeed a delicacy. Even  more horned boars went for the corpses of the dead horned boars! For  the monsters that live in such cruel environments, they are rarely able  to eat any humans, so they mostly eat other monsters' corpses..... for  especially savage monsters, eating corpses from the same species is very  normal. Whether the human corpses or the horned boar corpses, they quickly became a pile of crushed bones. Luo Feng snuck back to his original spot and watched silently. "The  seven members of the thunderbolt squad will probably come back in  around two hours". Luo Feng finally saw the seven people in his field of  vision, "Well yeah, you could hear the roars of the monsters everywhere  in #003 city, and the battle just now occurred in the liquor store.....  since the thunderbolt squad is only a few miles away, it'll be weird if  they didn't notice". ...... In front of the liquor store, the seven high-spirited members of the thunderbolt squad laughed as they returned. "Young  master's blade just now was beautiful, it so accurately drew across the  throat of that commander level monster, 'Rapid Wolf'" the captain of  the tiger fang squad smiled as he praised, but his expression suddenly  froze. "Hm?" The tiger fang captain looked towards the interior of  the liquor store, and the other members of the thunderbolt squad did  the same. "The scent of blood!" the old veteran named Liu directly  walked into the liquor store, and the others followed, "The scent of  blood became stronger". "A large scale battle happened here, one or  two monsters can't have such a heavy scent of blood" the tiger fang  captain frowned, and the one eyed middle aged man beside him immediately  pressed his tactical communications watch and yelled: "Tiger, Xiao!  Tiger, Xiao, both of you hurry and respond. What happened?". The faces of the four members of the tiger fang squad all changed. "Captain, they didn't reply" the one eyed middle aged man looked towards his captain. "Maybe they didn't notice that their watches were vibrating" the bald brute couldn't help but to say. Fighters are all extremely sensitive, how can they not notice? The tiger fang captain said quietly: "Let's go take a look upstairs". "Go,  let's go see" the old veteran named Liu also commanded. Soon, the seven  of them all arrived at the staircase, but after seeing the marks on the  staircase in front of them, all of their faces changed slightly.  Clearly, this staircase was just stomped on by a huge amount of  monsters; quite a bit of the concrete was already split open. "Everyone be careful" The seven of them carefully and slowly moved forward. Even though they went slowly, they arrived at the sixth floor without spending too much time. "Hu!"  the seven members of the thunderbolt squad all took in a deep breath.  The entire sixth floor of the liquor store was clearly a huge mess. The  walls of the rooms of the liquor store were smashed to pieces, the floor  was filled with marks of blood, and there were large amounts of crushed  bones from corpses, most of them being from monsters. All the hearts  of the seven members of the thunderbolt squad sank, they knew..... that  Zhang Ze Hu and Li Xiao weren't lucky today. "Look, there are even bullet holes on the wall" "There  are quite a few bullet shells on the ground. Xiao probably fired his  machine gun to try and stop the monster horde. Sadly, there were just  too many of them". Everyone quickly found various marks. Soon  after, everyone looked at the ripped up battle uniform, the slightly  deformed machete, the completely smashed up machine gun, and a few human  bones. "Tiger's machete and Xiao's gun" "These two battle uniforms......" The  battle uniforms were extremely sturdy. Even though they were chewed up  by the horned boars and were in tatters, they could still be made out.  They were precisely Zhang Ze Hu and Li Xiao's battle uniforms. "How  could this happen?" the bald brute couldn't help but to clench his teeth  as he said, "Tiger and Xiao were in their room. How could they be so  unlucky to meet a hungry monster horde?" "Go, let's go downstairs!" the old veteran named Liu suddenly ordered. "Downstairs?" the one eyed middle aged man, the bald brute, and Dong were all shocked, and then were slightly angry. The  tiger fang captain frowned as he ordered: "Alright, tidy up Tiger and  Xiao's remains and then go downstairs!". Since their captain gave an  order, of course they wouldn't dare to refuse. ...... Moments later, the seven members of the thunderbolt squad stood in the lobby of the liquor store's first floor. "Everyone  should know" the tiger fang captain, 'Pan Ya', said quietly, "With  Tiger and Xiao being as cautious as they are, even if a monster horde  enters the liquor store, they should have had over a 50% chance of  escaping! Even if they couldn't escape, they should have been able to  contact us once they noticed danger!". The faces of the other members slightly changed and couldn't help but to nod their heads. "Indeed"  the old veteran named Liu nodded and said, "It's suspicious because  these two didn't contact us at all before dying. So I'm worried that  someone purposefully set up the scene and left a listening device at the  scene. That's why I brought everyone downstairs to discuss about this". The other members of the tiger fang squad couldn't help but to respect the old veteran named Liu even more. To be able to instantly find the problem and make his decision, old veterans are clearly more experienced. "This  is one possibility, the other possibility is...... the commander level  monster in the monster horde! Once they found the traces of those two,  they sneakily attacked them. Huge amounts of monsters rushing  upstairs...... under such an urgent situation, the two of them didn't  have the chance to contact us" the old veteran named Liu continued  speaking. The four members of the tiger fang squad exchanged glances. The  mixed youth let out a worried expression, and the old veteran named Liu  laughed as he quietly said: "Don't worry, young master. Even if someone  made this scene, he isn't necessarily targeting you. Wargod fighters  wouldn't use such tactics and warlord fighters wouldn't dare mess with  you". "Senior Liu, taking the young master's safety into  consideration, we should return back to the headquarter city" spoke the  tiger fang captain, 'Pan Ya'. 78 Phone call with his little brother The  scent of blood that emanated around the liquor store filled the heart  of Pan Ya, the tiger fang captain, with anxiety: "Their death could've  been caused by monsters. But it's even more likely that a fighter was  behind this! And what kind of regular fighter would dare to go against  young master Li Wei? They most likely have a grudge against my tiger  fang squad!". He was clear of this young master's identity. Even though he's a mixed youth, his father is Chinese. Whether  the strength of the young master's father, or his background..... few  fighters would dare to anger this young master Li Wei. "No need" the old veteran Liu waved his hand, "With me and Ka Long here, the young master's safety is guaranteed". The white brute also looked at the few members of the tiger fang squad and laughed coldly. "Young master Li" Pan ya couldn't help but to look at the mixed youth. "My training schedule isn't over yet" frowned the mixed youth. Senior  Liu slightly frowned as he said, "Fighters always walk on the border  between life and death. How can you be so afraid about some  uncertainties? If you're always so afraid, how can you ever accomplish  anything in the future?". Pan Ya and the others said nothing. "You  guys can just keep following us. Wouldn't that work?" when senior Liu  said this, Pan Ya and the other members of the tiger fang exchanged  glances. All of them abandoned the thought of returning to the  headquarter city. They were clear..... that following two advanced  warlords was indeed very safe. "Senior Liu is right. If we're always  so afraid, can we even be considered as fighters? Even if someone is  actually after us, right when we find him, we'll kill him directly" a  cold light flashed across Pan Ya's eyes. "We'll listen to senior Liu" the one eyed middle aged man laughed as he said. The members of the tiger fang squad all signalled that they'll listen to senior Liu. "This place is full of the scent of blood, let's switch a location" said senior Liu. Immediately, the seven members of the thunderbolt squad left the JJ liquor chain store. Luo Feng silently watched with his binoculars from his original location. "They  indeed left the JJ liquor chain store" the seven members of the  thunderbolt squad left the store and went along the street for quite a  bit, and then disappeared from Luo Feng's field of vision. "Shit, this villa isn't high enough so I can't see that far". Luo  Feng swiftly got his backpack, shield, and blade and flew out the villa  like a jaguar. He sprinted at an astounding speed and directly rushed  into the tall apartment building across the street. This apartment  building was 18 stories tall. With Luo Feng's shield and blade all  affected by his spiritual force, Luo Feng's speed was shocking. A shadow continuously dashed up the stairs. Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Within  a few seconds, he went from the first floor to the 18th floor! In one  of the rooms on the 18th floor, Luo Feng stood beside the northern  window and looked down through his binoculars. From such a high  location, he was able to see further. He quickly found the seven members  of the thunderbolt squad walking along the street. These seven people  walked along for quite a bit, and then finally entered a broken  residential apartment that was six stories tall. "I wonder if the scene I made had any effect" Luo Feng squinted, "Whether it works or not is up to the heavens". "I'll keep waiting for my chance!". Luo Feng started his days of watching again. As  a fighter, you first need enough patience and determination! Without  either of them, how could you ever achieve astonishing power? Naturally,  Luo Feng was fine with watching alone. On the first day, the thunderbolt squad went hunting during the afternoon. This time, all seven of them left together. The  second day, the thunderbolt squad went out in the morning and  afternoon, allowing their mixed youth young master to train. Like  before, the seven of them left together, giving Luo Feng no chance. The third day, they still went out in the morning and afternoon, and they still went out with all seven members together. "Looks  like this tiger fang squad is actually suspicious" Luo Feng sat on the  bed that he already slightly cleaned and silently looked through the  window. As of now, the sky was dark and filled with stars. The starlight  shone into the room through the window. The air was slightly filled  with the scent of blood. "What should I do?" Luo Feng frowned. If  it keeps going on like this, then that mixed youth young master's  training schedule will finish and might return back to the headquarter  city. "Ring~~" Luo Feng felt the tactical communications watch on  his wrist vibrate slightly. When he looked down, he saw that it was a  phone call from his brother. "Recall" commanded Luo Feng. "Beep--beep--beep--Hello, bro!" Luo Hua's voice came from the watch. "Luo  Hua, how come you're calling me?" a smile filled Luo Feng's face, as he  was extremely happy. Hunting down other people in the wilderness all  alone is lonely..... to be able to chat with his family, his entire  heart felt warm. "I've just been thinking about you bro" Luo Hua was  clearly relaxed and happy, "Bro, I've recently made a ton of money from  my stocks again, it feels great". "Oh?" How did you get the money?" laughed Luo Feng as he asked. Luo  Hua excitedly said: "Six of the eight stocks that I've been dealing  with are quality stocks, while the other two are investment ones. The  quality stocks are great and earn me lots of money every year. But out  of these six stocks, one of them started plunging in value rapidly! I  was so scared and thought something went wrong with the company. After  looking into it, I didn't find anything wrong with it! Jeez, if this  happened to my investment stocks, then I would probably cut my flesh  off". "But I have faith in these quality stocks and I'd rather hold  on to them for a long period of time. And since I didn't find anything  wrong with the company, there's nothing for me to be afraid of" "If it drops, I'll buy it!" "It  kept falling continuously, ****, it dropped for like a dozen days and  lost 50% of its value. I virtually took 80% of all my money and threw it  at those stocks. Who could've knew that it would start flying up in  value these past few days. Within 20 days, not only did it return to its  original value, but it even went a bit higher! Jeez, just from this, I  basically doubled my money. Haha, feels great". Luo Feng could feel his brother's excitement from the tone coming from the watch. "Nice, way better than your brother" Luo Feng laughed as he complimented, "Don't you have around 100 million right now?". He gave his brother 50 million last time, so Luo Hua should have around 80 million. "Yea,  now it's around 170 million" laughed Luo Hua, "Bro, this is all thanks  to the money you gave me. If my principal wasn't great enough, how could  I earn so much money?". Since he doubled the money. If he only had 10 thousand, he would only have 20 thousand in total. But  since he had around 80 to 90 million, he turned it into 170 to 180  million. This is also why people say that your first 100 million is the  hardest to earn, while your second 100 million is way easier to earn. "You're  good. Your brother has been hunting in the wilderness for around two  months, but I only earned around 100 million" said Luo Feng, but in his  heart, he was amazed..... Playing around with stocks earns tons of  money. You're making money with money; the more money you have, the more  money you earn! Of course, you could potentially lose tons of money  too. "However, bro, these chances don't come around often" laughed Luo Hua. Luo  Hua has been playing around with stocks for years already, so making  this much money in such a short time is indeed quite rare. "Hm" Luo  Feng thought to himself while he operated his tactical communications  watch. He entered his bank account and transferred 180 million to his  brother's account. "Ah!" exclaimed Luo Hua in a surprised tone, "Bro, my account....." "Your  brother just made a ton of money recently, so that's for you. Work hard  and use them in the stock market. If, one day, you reach 15 billion,  your brother will give you a huge surprise!" said Luo Feng as he  laughed. Luo Feng never told his brother about the 'elixir of life'. Since that thing is too expensive. But according to Luo Feng's plan, if he and his brother both earn money..... He  can give some of his money to his brother, and his brother can use that  money to make even more money. If they keep making money out of money,  then maybe reaching 30 billion isn't impossible! "15 billion" exclaimed Luo Hua. "Don't  worry, I'll keep lending you money" laughed Luo Feng. Maybe then, his  money and Luo Hua's money combined will reach 30 billion. After he gets the money, he'll think of a way to purchase the 'elixir of life' so that his brother can stand up again! "Okay, bro, I'll work hard" said Luo Hua in a confident tone. "Okay" laughed Luo Feng, "well, you should rest earlier". "Okay, bro, be careful in the wilderness". The two brothers quickly finished their call. ...... Ming-Yue  sector, Luo Feng's home. In his brother's room on the first floor, Luo  Hua excitedly closed his phone and started chatting on his computer. "Hua, look's like you're having fun" smiled a young girl on the screen. "Hehe,  of course I'm happy" Luo Hua excitedly chatted with this young girl on  the screen. This young girl's cheeks were like a baby's and had small  ears and short hair. She seemed like a very bright and pure girl. She is  Luo Hua's girlfriend, 'Xiao Nan'. ...... Since Xiao Nan's college is right here, even if she's a college student, she's still sleeping at home. Xiao Nan was currently in her bedroom chatting with Luo Hua through her computer. And outside of her room, in the living room. A  middle-aged couple was currently sitting on the sofas in the living  room. Even though they were watching TV, neither of them were focusing  on it. "What should we do?" the middle-aged woman said hurriedly,  "You know Xiao Nan's temper, if we split them apart by force, she'll  surely hate us". "If she wants to hate us, then let her. This is for her own good!". The  middle-aged man couldn't help but to angrily say, "She never went  through any sort of hardship since she was young. Does she still think  she's living in a fairytale? We aren't extremely rich, but we are still  living a good life. Our girl has nice looks, so why is she with a  handicapped person? That handicapped person's brother is a fighter! But  so what if he's a fighter? It's not like his brother is in a  relationship with our girl". "No matter what, I can't watch our girl jump into a fiery pit like this!" "If  it wasn't for old Li, I never would've known that our girl was dating  that Ming-Yue sector's handicapped person behind our backs. I'm so  infuriated right now" the middle-aged man's face was livid. 79 Huge Chance The  middle-aged woman hurriedly said: "Don't be angry. No matter how angry  you get, it's no use. You only have this one daughter, so what can you  do? Most importantly, we should think of a way to separate our daughter  with that handicapped person, and try our best not to hurt our  daughter's feelings". "I UNDERSTAND!" The middle-aged man was then silent with a frown on his face as he smoked. The  smoke from the cigarette emanated around the room, and the room  remained silent for a while. The only sound was the "Tick, Tock" from  the mechanical clock. The second morning, #003 city was filled with a  deathly, cold air as usual. And the usual heart-chilling monster roar  carried from the city from time to time. If we say Jiang-Nan city is a  technologically advanced city teeming with life, then this city that  used to be the greatest city of China a few decades ago is now a  playground for the monsters. Here, you could see the stains of blood and  corpses anywhere and everywhere. This is the monster den! In that  18 story apartment that was filled with dust, Luo Feng, in his battle  uniform, held his binoculars as he looked down in one hand and ate a  skewer of meat on another hand, taking a bite and chewing twice before  he swallowed. Chew, swallow. In the aged room, it was clearly quiet: there was only the sound of Luo Feng's chewing. "Gulp gulp~~" Luo Feng took out his water sack and drank a bit. After a moment, he took another drink. Luo Feng didn't bring too much food and water to the wilderness, so he has to conserve a bit every day. "All  seven of them together again!" Luo Feng looked through his binoculars  and clearly saw that the seven of them left the six story apartment  building together under the morning mist. Luo Feng frowned as he angrily  threw his binoculars on top of the bed on the side. Luo Feng massaged his temples and spent the whole day stooping; his eyes were extremely tired. "All  seven of them together every day. They don't give me even the slightest  chance" frowned Luo Feng, "At this rate, I'll have to keep waiting  until that young master finishes his training plan. When that happens, I  would've wasted all my time waiting! What should I do?" Luo Feng  quickly started thinking, since he hasn't even had a single chance to  take action. Is he just going to wait like this? "There are no chances" Luo Feng's eyes flashed and he clenched his teeth, "Since there aren't any chances, then I can make them!" "Aren't they always together? I'll force them to separate!" Luo Feng lightly tightened the cap on the water sack. ...... Around  three hours later, the seven members of the thunderbolt squad carefully  treaded forward in the old den of the monsters. Sometimes they move  forward, sometimes they walk around, and finally they arrived at the six  story residential apartment from before. "Time to act!" Luo Feng,  who was fully equipped, slightly smiled as he left his room and ran  down the stairs like a swift monkey. Even Luo Feng can't be too cocky  after leaving this 18 story residential building, so he carefully moved  forward while searching the area. Avoiding monsters is hard, but finding them is easy! 15  minutes later, Luo Feng arrived at a dog-type monster horde that had  around two to three thousand monsters. This dog-type monster horde was  staying in a gigantic factory that manufactured home appliances.  Usually, no human fighter would even try to challenge such a horde,  since the threat of two to three thousand monsters is too great. "Roar~~" The roars of the large monsters echoed around the factory and the smell of urine emanated around the area. "Heh, what a strong monster horde" Luo Feng looked through the cap of the wall, "Let's begin!". Soon after-- "Roar~" "Roar Roar Roar~~" The  monsters in the factory howled madly. The death of a few dozen monsters  caused this huge monster horde to become enraged, because they have  never suffered such shame before. Even the leader of the monster horde  and two high leveled commander level lion mastiffs started howling. The  entire monster horde crazily chased after. "They sure run fast!" The  hexagonal shield on Luo Feng's back was under effects of the powerful  force of his spiritual force; in an instant, Luo Feng became a flying  hurricane. RUMBLE~~ Some tiger mastiffs were mixed into the lion  mastiff horde. The tiger mastiffs ran just as quickly as the lion  mastiffs as they chased after Luo Feng. The ones in the front of the  horde were sprinting at a rate of 70 to 80 m/s! Under such astonishing  speed, it would take only 30 seconds for them to cover the 4 miles  between the factory and the six story residential building! Just 30 seconds! And Luo Feng ran towards the six story residential building like lightning. In  one of the suite rooms on the sixth floor of the six story residential  apartment, the seven members of thunderbolt squad were resting.  Actually, when the entire monster horde was howling as they chased after  Luo Feng, the seven members of the thunderbolt squad weren't alerted at  all.... because what kind of place in the city doesn't have a monster  howling in a four mile radius? But after around 10 seconds. "Seems like a battle has occurred to our east" laughed the one eyed middle aged man. "Who  cares, there's always a fight going on between fighters and monster  hordes here in #003 city. This time, a fighter probably enraged some  monster horde" the tiger fang captain, Pan Ya, was completely calm.  Since he has dozens of years of experience as a fighter, he has seen  this type of scenario way too many times. But in the time that these words were passed around. "The monster horde seems to be really close to us now!" "Even the building is shaking a bit" Within  an instant, the seven members of the thunderbolt squad rushed towards  the northern window and looked down, and saw that there were large  amounts of mastiff monsters near the entrance to the staircase of the  six story residential apartment. Some of the lion mastiff monsters were  even charging into the staircase. In just these few seconds, the entire  residential apartment started shaking, like an earthquake was occurring.  The roars of many monsters also echoed around. "BOOM!" The door to the room where the seven members of the thunderbolt squad were in was blasted open. The  lion mastiffs with their SUV sized bodies charged in the room one by  one. Not only was the door directly smashed into smithereens, but even  the walls were startling to crumble. The over a thousand monsters were  continuously smashing the residential building up. It seemed like the  building could fall down at any moment. And outside of the  residential building were around one to two thousand more lion mastiff  monsters. These lion mastiff monsters can't even enter the building, so  they just surrounded the residential apartment completely. If you can  imagine a scene where one to two thousand SUVs are surrounding a  building, then you can imagine how scary it'll be for so many monsters  to surround a residential apartment. "WHAT'S GOING ON!!!" the mixed youth immediately started screaming as his face turned pale. Anyone  would panic after witnessing the apartment building that has shook so  much that it's on the verge of collapse, the large amounts of monsters  pouring into the room, and the densely packed horde of monsters  surrounding the residential apartment building below. "Protect the young master! Tiger fang squad, protect the rear!" roared the old veteran named Liu. "DADADADA~~~" Dong  Zi's machine gun was crazily roaring and the bullet shells crazily flew  around. The powerful bullets shot into the bodies of the lion mastiff  monsters one by one. The monsters were charging so quickly that even  when they were hit by the bullets, they would continue charging  forwards. The bald brute, the one eyed man, and the tiger fang captain  Pan Ya relied on their cold weapons to smash the monsters to the side  one by one. "PENG!" "PENG!" "PENG!" The old veteran named Liu and  the white brute already brought the mixed youth along with them as they  directly jumped out the window. "Let's go!" The tiger fang captain roared and was the first to follow as he jumped from the window. "Dong Zi, hurry!" roared the one eyed man. When  comparing physical fitness, gunners are the weakest. The gunner, Dong  Zi, also clenched his teeth as he jumped out the window. Finally, the  one eyed middle aged man and the bald brute also jumped out the window.  Even if a beginner level warlord fighter is carrying several hundred kg  of things on him, they wouldn't suffer any injury from jumping from a  height of six stories. However, the thing awaiting them below isn't a flat ground, but over a thousand monsters! ...... The  walls of the second floor of the residential apartment were already  smashed into pieces. And Luo Feng was hiding in the corner of a room on  the second floor! When Luo Feng rushed into this room, he used his  spiritual force to control the concrete walls, the stone tables, etc. to  completely seal the bathroom he is in, and he even broke the ceiling.  After the concrete fell down, the room was completely ruined, so even  after the monsters charged in, they wouldn't be able to find Luo Feng. After that, the monster horde spotted the thunderbolt squad on the sixth floor and directed all their attention onto them. Standing beside the bathroom's window, Luo Feng stared outside and his ears were listening closely. "They're fighting!" Luo Feng heard a few faint roars from the sixth floor. After that, three shadows quickly fell from above. "They jumped" Luo Feng's eyes flashed and two black throwing knives immediately hovered beside him. 80 Arrival of the Wargod Out  of the three shadows, the first to fall was the old veteran named Liu  and the mixed youth, followed by the white brute. Closely following them  was the captain of the tiger fang squad, 'Pan Ya'. "HOWL~~" "Protect  the young master, charge out!" right when the old veteran named Liu  landed, his legs smashed onto two nearby lion mastiff monsters like two  war axes. The two lion mastiff monsters howled in pain as they flew away  and smashed into seven or eight nearby lion mastiff lion and tigers,  causing chaos in the area for a moment. The white brute had a  gigantic two handed sword in hand as he crazily charged forward! The  tiger captain, 'Pan Ya', supported the white brute beside him. One of  them had unrivaled strength while the other was sinister and  unpredictable. The two of them combined were like a bulldozer, sweeping  away the monsters in front of them. "HOWL~~" A low, thunder-like  sound started rumbling. Not too far away, a huge body that was around  four to five meters tall and even larger than an average truck appeared.  It's whole body was silver and was even slightly reflecting light,  since there were some silver scales on it's fur. There was a small bump  on it's huge forehead, as if it was going to break it's fur open. This is one of the two high level commander level monsters in the whole horde! A high level commander lion mastiff! "BOOM!"  With just a leap, the commander lion mastiff flew a distance of 20  meters like a silver light and shot straight towards the thunderbolt  squad. "Pan Ya, you protect the young master and hurry up and run"  roared the old veteran named Liu. With a blade in hand, he howled, "KA  LONG!". "UNDERSTOOD!" The white brute also roared. The old veteran  named Liu and the white brute engaged the commander lion mastiff at  virtually the same time. There was no helping it; if they didn't engage  it..... then the mixed youth would be in grave danger. "HOWL~~" The  commander lion mastiff roared and it's body started to blur a bit as  it's claws headed straight towards the two humans in front of it. "QIANG!" "KUANG!" "BOOM!"  The clash between the two advanced level warlords and the high level  commander level monster caused chaos. The surrounding lion mastiffs were  caught in and blown away. Even the surrounding walls and the floor was  affected and messed up. With large amounts of lion mastiff monsters  supporting, the commander lion mastiff was practically even with the  veteran named Liu and the white brute. PENG! PENG! PENG! The gunner Dong Zi, the bald brute, and the one eyed middle aged man also jumped out at this time. However,  the one eyed middle aged man, the bald brute, and the gunner Dong Zi  were all panicking. The group of the old veteran named Liu, the white  brute, the mixed youth, and Pan Ya were able to mess around in the  monster horde, but the one eyed middle aged man and the others were  clearly having a hard time. "Hurry, let's go" said the one eyed middle aged man. "Hurry!" "DADADADA~~" Dong Zi dragged his machine gun along as he freely fired at the surrounding monsters. At this time-- "HOWL~~" After  the heart shuddering howl, another huge body that was also completely  silver came jumping down from the six story apartment. Suddenly, the  lion mastiff leader that was fighting against the old veteran named Liu  and the white brute immediately started roaring excitedly as it  conversed with the huge shadow coming from above. Another lion mastiff leader! Also a high level commander! The  faces of the old veteran named Liu and the white brute changed  drastically. They glanced at the tiger fang captain 'Pan Ya' and the  mixed youth who were already far away..... when the two of them were  stalling the large amounts of monsters, Pan Ya and the mixed youth were  able to get away. "Hurry, go!" "Go" The white brute and the old  veteran named Liu didn't dare to delay at all. Even without the monster  horde, they couldn't go head to head with two high level commander  monsters..... and there's a gigantic monster horde surrounding them! "HOWL~" "HOWL~" The  two high level commander level lion mastiff leaders roared as they  charged; would they allow these two damned humans to get away? ...... On  the second floor of the ruined six story residential apartment, Luo  Feng watched what was going on outside through the window silently. The  white brute and the old veteran named Liu ran away while the one eyed  middle aged man, the bald brute, and Dong Zi were still bitterly  charging out, Luo Feng let out a smile on his face. "Now's the time!" Two  black throwing knives instantly flew out from the window towards the  one eyed middle aged man and the bald brute in the horde of the lion  mastiff monsters. It's better like this! If he fought out in the  open, then the one eyed middle aged man who has reached the intermediate  warlord level could put up a bit of a fight, but under this ambush..... "PU!" "PU!" The  brains of the one eyed middle aged man and the bald brute were  instantly pierced and blew up like watermelons. Soon after, the two  eerie black lights virtually instantly pierced through the head of the  gunner Dong Zi, who was currently crazily shooting his machine gun! When  the three of them died, they were filled with fear, question, and  dissatisfaction. They didn't even know what killed them. "RUMBLE~~"  the three human corpses were instantly charged at by the large amounts  of monsters. The lion mastiff and tiger mastiff monsters excitedly  ripped apart their flesh. In the bathroom on the second floor, Luo  Feng quietly watched the two lion mastiff leaders charge after the old  veteran named Liu and the white brute. "Out of the six members of the tiger fang squad, five of them are already dead!" "Good,  all according to plan. Even though I was the one behind this, they're  clueless" Luo Feng was satisfied with what he has done so far, since he  doesn't want to hurt that mixed youth. As long as you aren't dumb, you  can figure out that..... the power behind the mixed youth is great! So-- Luo Feng didn't attack the members of the tiger fang squad when they were with the young master! However,  because of the monster horde's attack, the seven members of the squad  split into three. Running in front was the mixed youth and Pan Ya, being  chased by the two high level commander monsters was the old veteran  named Liu and the white brute, while the last section was the one eyed  middle aged man and the others! Because the mixed youth, the old  veteran named Liu, and the white brute have ran far away already, they  couldn't see what was going on with the one eyed middle aged man and the  others at all, which was why Luo Feng chose that time to strike! "However, the young master is probably in big trouble this time" Luo Feng thought to himself. However, suddenly-- A  blurry shadow of a human appeared in Luo Feng's field of vision. This  human was carrying some type of staff-type weapon. With a flash, he  covered a few hundred meters and charged straight into the monster  horde. "RUMBLE~~" A shocking blasting sound carried out, and the  dozens of lion mastiffs and tiger mastiffs around Pan Ya and the mixed  youth instantly turned into piles of flesh. The speed that surpassed the  speed of sound caused the blasting sound. The shadow moved again! It  directly arrived in front of the two lion mastiff leaders. The two lion  mastiff leaders immediately let out an astonished howl and,  surprisingly, started to run away! "BOOM!" The staff-type weapon  harshly smashed onto the body of one of the lion mastiff leaders like  lightning. The silver lion mastiff leader was launched up by around  twenty meters, and all the scales on its body completely split open.  Fresh blood sprayed around in the air, and while this lion mastiff was  launched up by around twenty meters-- "BOOM!" The shadow instantly chased after the other lion mastiff leader and also gave it a ferocious smash! The  lion mastiff leader was like a thrown bowling ball as it was launched  away and then smashed into the large amounts of lion mastiffs and tiger  mastiffs behind it. The lion mastiffs that were near were directly  shocked to death, while the other large amounts of lion mastiffs and  tiger mastiffs were smashed away. As for the high level commander  level lion mastiff leader, it rolled on the ground a few times and then  stopped moving completely. Large amounts of blood came pouring from it's  nose and ears. "BOOM!" And at this time, the lion mastiff leader  that was launched high up into the air came crashing down onto the  ground, not moving an inch. In an instant! Two high level commander level monsters instantly dead! "AO  WU~" All the lion mastiffs, tiger mastiffs, and some other low level  commander level monsters were completely shocked. All of them wailed as  they all started running away. Only at this time did the shadow start to take up more of a form.. Luo  Feng just saw what the guy looked like: a huge brute that was around  2.3 to 2.4 meters tall and a face that looked like it was sculpted. He  wore a completely gray battle uniform and held a gigantic..... mace! One  can't help but to shiver after seeing the spikes on that mace! "Too messed up" Luo  Feng looked at the two lifeless lion mastiff leaders' corpses and was  completely stunned. He was so shocked that he didn't even dare to  breathe loudly, "This is a wargod level fighter! It must be! I should be  careful. If he finds me here, then there'll be trouble". Even the  throwing knives that were originally shot out, under Luo Feng's will,  dug into the ground. Luo Feng was too scared to retrieve them. "Uncle Li!" The mixed youth came running over and thanked him repeatedly. "Mr. Lee" The old veteran named Liu and the white brute respectfully bowed. The  large brute laughed as he looked at the mixed youth: "Li Wei, when your  dad received your SOS signal and found your location, there were two  wargods nearby: me and brother Wang. He quickly contacted me first.  Luckily, I wasn't too far away..... so I could make it in time". "Uncle Wang is here too?" the eyes of the mixed youth flashed with light. At this time..... As  if a wind blew past, a blurry shadow appeared in the vicinity. After  stabilizing, a handsome person who seemed to be around 20 to 30 years  old wearing a blue battle uniform appeared. "Uncle Wang" The mixed youth yelled. "Look at your shameful self" said the man as he slightly laughed. The  white brute and the old veteran named Liu didn't dare to make a sound  on the side, while the tiger fang captain Pan Ya was looking around the  area. When he saw that there were some battle uniforms, remains from  corpses, and a machine gun lying on the ground, his eyes couldn't help  but to turn red.

[stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale]

[checkmate] [3]

Summary: After ten years of fighting and surviving their way through the apocalypse in search of their son, Hugo and Isabel Sulieman finally find Ericson’s Boarding School for Troubled Youth and are ready to reunite with Louis.

Notes: After many hours of writing and rewriting this story, I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s going to be way longer than I anticipated [what else is new]. I want to keep the all chapters around the same length [about 5k] so there’s a lot of splitting being done. I think it’s safe to say that there will be more than four parts to this like I had originally planned. 

Anyway, I hope y’all enjoy it! Thank you for reading and for all the positive feedback!

As I’ve said before, this is a part of the contest prize story for @bluebutterfly1​!

Read on AO3

---

Through the crack of the walker’s skull, blood oozes dark, dripping down the handle of the hatchet and onto his hand. Cold, clotted, and disgusting. 

Hugo pushes the dead walker down with a huff just as Isabel finishes off the last one a few steps away. 

They’re repulsive, the walkers. Even now, Hugo can’t over their decaying stench and peeling flesh. These walkers, in particular, are more disgusting- fresher walkers usually are. 

Older walkers- years and years older- are slower, nothing but leathery skin and bone, weak from muscle deterioration and perhaps even hunger. 

Newer walkers are what scare Hugo. Not only are the remains of a humane appearance more present, but they’re stronger, quicker, hungrier.  

Killing them is such a normal thing now, he thinks. It’s easier when he considers it as a prevention of more chaos with every walker he kills. One less fresh walker. One less to wander around and devour innocent, unsuspecting survivors. There’s been too much of that. 

“All clear,” Isabel says, wiping her knife off on the dirty rag attached to her belt. “Can we make this quick?” 

Up close on the pier, the boat is an absolute wreck. Stray pieces of wood jut out of the water, metal stuck swaying with the waves, knocking into the boat. From what he can see, there isn’t a safe enough way for him to climb inside. 

“Yep, it’s terrible. A real mess,” Isabel says. “Worst boat I’ve ever stood before in my life.”

Hugo raises a brow, elbowing her with a smirk. 

“Worse than The Nauti Buoy?”

Isabel wrinkles her nose. “Ugh. I hated that damn thing.”

The Nauti Buoy was the clever name of his brother’s boat, one Stephen prided himself on, even though he stole the name from another boat he came across in his travels to pass off as his own. 

Hugo used to say, “You know how people end up looking like their animals? Well, Stephen looks like his boat.”

Gaudy decor inside and out, painted a terrible antique gold color, much bigger than necessary. 

Well, he thought so at the time. After Stephen’s second divorce, he ended up living in the damn thing. Oh, how proud their mother was. At least he was able to keep his prized watch collection safe and secure, because that’s all that really mattered. 

Hugo only ever brought his family onto that boat once. Isabel grew so sick an hour in that they had to turn the damn thing around and head back to shore. 

Not Louis, though. 

Louis loved being on that boat. Not once did he ever get sick, except Hugo had to warn him about leaning too far over the railing to get a better look at the dolphins he spotted. Nearly fell overboard and gave Hugo a heart attack. 

Seeing Louis’ glowing face as he marveled at the waves and salty air was what inspired Hugo to invest in a boat of his own. 

Louis named it Gus. 

Didn’t really have a reason, he just thought the boat looked like a Gus. 

Hugo smiles. 

“It wasn’t that bad, just ugly,” he says. “What do you think happened?.” 

“I told you, someone blew it to shit,” Isabel says. “What exactly are you expecting to find?”

“Something useful,” Hugo kneels down, pressing a hand against the boat to steady himself as he leans in through a gaping hole. “Clothes, weapons, maybe food.”

“Hey, careful-”

“Look, through there? I can see a couple of crates floating inside. Worth checking out. Here, why don't you go check along the shore, I’ll see if I can grab one.”

“How about I stay right here and help you? I know you’re gonna fall in and I’ll have to fish you out.” 

“I’m not gonna fall in,” Hugo rolls his eyes. “Have some faith in me.”

“It’s not that I don’t have faith in you, Hugh,” Isabel frowns. “I’d just rather prevent a disaster than try and fix one. Who knows what’s lurking around in these waters.”

“What, you think a shark’s going to gobble me up?”

“No, a walker,” Isabel kneels down beside him. “They can move under there much better than we can, and they don’t gotta breathe. If this ship crashed, odds are there were people on it who were thrown into the water. Hence, walkers.”

Well, damn, he hadn’t thought of that. Leaning over the edge, Hugo squints. The water’s pretty mucky, so he can’t tell how deep it is or what the bottom holds. 

“I could out swim a walker, but to put your mind at ease-,” Isabel scoffs “-I’ll look around here some more and see if I can find something to pull the crates closer while you go search the shore, then we can pull the crates out together.” 

“Y’know there’s probably nothing in them but useless, sodden supplies, right?” Isabel says, “I mean, I doubt this was some sort of battleship that carried weapons and first aid. Hell, it probably carried toy cars or something.”

“Toy cars?” Hugo laughs. “If that’s the case, then your little friend won’t need to ride around in your bag anymore. He can drive right beside us.”

“You’re not funny.”

“No?” Hugo smirks. “I’m a little funny, c’mon. Geoff driving around in a little car? Honking at the squirrels? Flippin’ me the bird every chance he gets? Hilarious.” 

With an exasperated shake of her head, Isabel turns on her heels towards the shoreline, saying, “Fine, I’ll walk around. Don’t touch those crates until I get back because I swear if you fall in-”

“I’m not going to fall in,” Hugo calls after her. “I’m as coordinated as the most athletic breed of... cat!” Cats are coordinated, right? 

He wouldn’t know, he never owned one. 

He wishes he owned a cat, but Louis insisted on a damn turtle. 

Isabel snorts a chuckle. “Yeah, okay!” 

“You doubt me?”

“I doubt you.”

“Madam, now you’ve wounded me!” 

“You’ll live.”

“Hey, while you’re over there, let Geoff go for a swim, too! He hasn’t done that in a while. He can scout for water walkers.” 

That earns him Isabel’s lovely middle finger. He presses a hand against his chest, pushing his lip out in a pretend pout. 

“Once again, she chooses the turtle over me.”

That makes Isabel laugh, shaking her head and giving a dismissive wave.  “We meet back in five!”

“Yes, ma’am!”

Hugo watches her briefly, taking in the sight of her walking along the shore, stepping over pieces of broken wood and rocks. Her loose top flutters with the rustling wind against the curve of her waist and a strange tingle of emotion cause him to pause.

A lifetime ago, Hugo and Isabel walked along a beach. 

Much cleaner than this one with a much prettier sight. Along the shores of Makena Beach, they walked together barefoot. Isabel wore a dress she bought in one of the shops, one that fluttered in the wind the same exact way her shirt does now. 

She was young, her hair long, curls big and windblown.

Pregnant, about seven weeks along.

“Shit,” Hugo mumbles. 

He wonders what the state of Hawaii is, if their walker population is great or not. 

Not that it matters. 

There’s no way he’ll make it to those shores ever again, much less walk along them with Isabel and Louis. 

He always thought about bringing Louis back there, too. 

After he graduated high school, Hugo wanted to bring him to look at the colleges. He’d get into the best school they had to offer, of course, because Louis was a straight A student- when properly motivated- and there he’d get his degree while studying the culture and history of Hawaii and its people, land a damn good job and make a name for himself. 

He can just see his boy now. Tall and handsome with his mother’s eyes and a beautiful smile... happy and satisfied with his life. 

Louis would fall in love with a pretty girl, propose to her, and have a gorgeous wedding on the beach. They’d have a handful of kids, too. Hugo would be more than happy to become a grandfather. 

A grandfather... babysitting Louis’ children while he and his lovely wife went out on date nights...

Hugo rubs his eyes along the sleeve of his shirt, sighing. 

Nostalgic for what never was, he supposes. 

They need to find that school, Hugo thinks. No matter what, once they’re done here- after they’ve scavenged some useful supplies- they’ll head back to the train station to look for a map. 

They couldn't find one earlier, but maybe they didn’t look hard enough. They only really looked around to make sure it wasn’t someone else’s home, then headed back this way to check out the wreckage Hugo spotted. 

They have to be close, closer than they’ve ever been. From the faintest part of his memory, he remembers the road being long and yet hard to find. He had to pay attention to the road signs, but his concentration was more than unfocused with Louis silently fuming in the backseat. 

“You’re only staying for a year, or until we can... until we can sort some things out.”

“...”

“You’ll have a dorm with a roommate. Mr. Davidson told me he’s a good kid, he just... fell down a wrong path, so I don’t want to get any calls about you mistreating him.”

“...”

“This isn’t going to be like your other school. You will be respectful to your roommate, your classmates, and your teachers. No excuses, no exceptions. Understand?”

“...”

“Louis, answer me when I’m talking to you.”

“...”

Hugo glances back at the boat. 

He hopes there’s something to gain from doing this, but at the very least, he got to see an old-timey riverboat like this up close. Little things..

Hugo pays another look to Isabel as she inspects a piece of soggy wood before pushing away from the boat to move along the pier. Over the edge, the corner of what looks to be a crate sticks up. Dropping down to his knees with a slight wince- damn leg!- Hugo rolls up his sleeves, sinking his hands in the chilled water. 

Thoughts of the cool waves crashing against the shores of Makena Beach haunt him, memories of swimming and laughing and kissing-

“Shit,”  Hugo finds a good grip on the crate and yanks. “Knock it off-”

It barely budges, caught on something. 

He tries again, grunting at the horrible pull in his back. A shock jolts through his bad leg, making him bite the inside of his cheek to prevent himself from yelping. Letting go, he adjusts his position.

“There’s nothing over here!” Isabel calls. “Just garbage!”

With a better, firmer grip, Hugo pulls. The crate loosens, lifting up out of the water. 

“Damn it…” Hugo gives an exasperated sigh. 

It’s empty and broken, it’s bottom missing. Whatever goods filled it are nowhere to be found. 

“Damn, damn, damn,” he mutters, standing to rub his dripping hands along his pants, kicking the useless crate back into the water. “Double damn.” 

He opens his mouth to shout out a complain, but sees Isabel down closer to the water, her open bag beside her. Grinning to herself, she holds onto Geoff as he moves through the water. 

Hugo thinks to make a joke both to tease her and make himself feel better about his lack of findings, but decides against it. Instead, he soaks in the sight of her content smile. 

Moving along the pier, he calls out, “Hey, got a question for you!”

“No!” 

Hugo laughs.

“You ever think about growing your hair out again?”

Isabel’s face scrunches up in a way that tells Hugo that’s a dumb question, nearly losing her grip on Geoff. 

“You seriously asking me that?” she shakes her head. “Hair like that is nothing but a death trap! Remember back in Peach Creek? Damn walker nearly took a chunk out of my neck! Not only that, but it got its nasty fingers all stuck in it and there was skin and puss and-ugh!”

“Oh shit, that’s right,” Hugo grunts, bending back down along the hardwood to fish out a piece of clothing- a sleeve of a denim jacket. “That was a nice place.”

A nice place, indeed, but one of many that almost killed them.

One of the worst moments in their lives happened while staying with the group at the Peach Creek Clinic. 

The people there were sympathetic to their dire situation. After losing their vehicle to a bunch of selfish assholes, barely having anything to their names aside from pictures of Louis and his clothes, the group took them in. 

It seemed secure at the time, with a small group and plenty of medical supplies. Scarce food, though. Hugo and Isabel might’ve stayed there longer but anxiousness about getting to West Virginia sent them back on the road after another incident with walkers breaking in. 

Half the group perished during that attack.  They’re both lucky Hugo was there to take care of the walker before it got to her, but he couldn’t stop it from getting it’s fingers stuck and tangled in Isabel’s curls. 

She was hysterical, tears dripping down her bruised cheeks as Hugo cut out chunks of hair to get the damn hand out. Bodies of their fallen friends surrounded them, and he thought they both might pass out.

When he tried to pick out the remaining pieces of rotten flesh and bone all while attempting to comfort her, Isabel insisted that they just cut it all off. 

One of the survivors- shit, what was her name? Yolanda, maybe? Rhonda?- did a nice, clean shave of her head. Short and close to her scalp, nothing for anyone to grab. 

They left the next morning. The survivors at the clinic were understanding and kind enough to send them with a bag of medical supplies they were able to spare, and fish food for Geoff, since all the fish within the lobby tank was no longer around. 

Through the shallow water closer to shore, the falling sunlight gleams off of something stuck in the sand. 

“Ah-ha!” Hugo grins, ignoring the pain in his knee as he shifts into a better position. Rolling up his sleeve, he reaches in to dig through the mushy sand. His thumb brushes something firm. 

“Why?” Isabel asks, kicking at another piece of wood on her way back towards the pier. Geoff drips in her hands, merry after spending time in the water. “What brought that on?”

“Was thinking about Hawaii,” Hugo winces, leaning further down into the water, fully submerging his arm. 

“Hawa- Hey! What are you doing-?”

“Ah!” Hugo flings himself back, victorious with a muddy knife in his hand. “Ah-ha! Got it!” 

“Huh, look at that,” Isabel says. 

“Told’ja we’d find something useful. You can never have too many knives,” Hugo grins, pulling a rag from his pocket to wipe the mud away. With a dull, scratched to hell blade, the knife will be just as effective in killing walkers as any other weapon. 

“Well, I’ll give it to you,” Isabel says, “a knife is much more than what I found over there.”

“Maybe you weren’t looking hard enough,” Hugo smirks, which dies when he notices Geoff's perpetual glare fixated on him. A childish impulse to stick his tongue out at the damned creature overwhelms him. He bites it back and returns the glare.

“That’s not long enough to help us grab the crates.”

“There wasn’t anything over there?”

"A couple planks of wood,” Isabel shrugs. 

“We don’t need anything fancy, just something long enough to push the crates towards us.”

Isabel looks to the bright sky, searching for any sign of evening coming upon them. They have plenty of daylight left, but Isabel’s patience is running out, replaced with anxiety. She sets Geoff down on the ground. 

“Watch him, I’ll grab the one I was looking at.” 

“Watch him?” Hugo frowns, pointing at Geoff with his brand new knife. “Where’s he gonna go?”

Geoff glowers up at him, beady black eyes slitted and neck extended up towards him. 

Hugo leans down, whispering, “Hey buddy, have you ever heard of caouane, by chance?”

---

They’re a cheery duo, ain’t they?

Thomas smirks. 

Hidden among the greens with a shoulder leaning against the sticky bark of a tree, Thomas listens to their bickering. Can’t make out much, unfortunately, but he’s got the gist. Almost reminds him of how he and Julie would talk long ago. Julie was meaner than the girl- what the hell is that she’s carrying?- but that don’t matter now. 

Julie’s dead and it’s just Thomas and the beauty in his hand, fully loaded and itchin’ to be fired. 

Not that he’s going to go up and shoot the strangers. 

They ain’t dangerous from what he can tell- the girl’s got a fire in her but the man’s got a limp. 

He don’t know what they’re looking for in the wreckage. Maybe they’re hoping to find some of the kids, but there’s no way this is where they’d hide. No, those kids got ‘em selves a school around here somewhere, even if he and these two don’t know where it is.

But, from the sounds of it, they got an idea and sometimes, that’s enough. 

Thomas knows that if he scours these woods long enough, he’ll find the school. The problem is would he find it before these two did? He don’t know how many kids there’ll be, but he knows that if they got two capable adults on their side, then things won’t go as smoothly.

Especially if these two actually find their kid.

Thomas scoffs. 

Bunch of twits. 

What makes ‘em think they got a chance of seeing their kid again? He’d bet his lucky dollar that their kid is roaming around here as one of the dead if he’s not already in a shallow grave.

Hell, maybe they will find him. Their little baby boy, gaunt, rotten insides with hollow eyes and a hunger for flesh… charging at them with not an ounce of recognition… and even as they’re begging him to stop, screaming, “Stop, it’s us! It’s your mommy and daddy, son! Remember us? Remember us-”

No, he don’t remember nothing. The dead don’t remember.

The kid’ll just keep scurrying towards ‘em… arms held out and jaw slack. 

Maybe they’ll be so distraught that they just let their kid chew ‘em both up.

Together. Undead.

The gun is heavy in his hand. 

Quiet laughter.

Thomas, fingers wrapped painfully tight around his gun, squints back over at the pier.

They’re trying to get something out of the wreckage, using a long chunk of wood to do so. Thomas leans up, attempting to get a better look at ‘em. Reaching into his pocket, he pulls out an old pair of glasses. Not his prescription, but he ain’t the picky type. Though they’ll bring on a mean headache later, they help him get a better look at the couple still struggling to get something out of the boat. 

Down on their hands and knees, they work together to fish out whatever’s in there all while engaging in jovial chatter.

Pretty girl, Thomas thinks. Real nice shape. 

Times like these he wishes he’d find himself a pair of binoculars. 

Raspy groans emit from his right. A pair of walkers trod along, interested in all the commotion being made along the shore. 

Just in time. 

More’ll be coming here pretty quick- he saw a whole handful of them about a mile away, mingling together in search of something to tear their teeth into. He whistled at ‘em, then took off back to where he is now. He’s lucky these two ain’t quick in their accomplishments. 

A walker- male, wearing a heavy coat and missing his left eye- hisses through his unhinged jaw as he crawls closer to where Thomas hides. 

He ain’t worried about it. The more walkers that come, the better. 

Ducking down lower, ignoring the age-old ache forever lining his back, he moves closer. Already the strain of his sight through the glasses brings on a fuzzy twinge behind his right eye. 

“I got it, just need to-”

“Careful-”

Behind this tree, he can actually make out most of what they’re saying now.

“On three, alright?” the man says. 

Together, they grunt out, “One… two… three!”

Thomas almost applauds. They managed to find something in the wreckage, and from the looks of it, that something is a crate. Well, he’ll be darned. 

What else could be floating around in that thing? Thomas never paid it much mind upon first discovery- he wasn’t ever going to explore it. Not worth getting his boots wet, that’s for damn sure. 

Also, he ain’t the best swimmer. 

Let ‘em do the grunt work. He can come back and look through it later. 

“See?” The man says, resting a hand on the girl’s shoulder. “Fully intact.”

“Don’t celebrate until we get it open.” 

“Really eager to see these toy cars, huh?” 

“If there are actually toy cars in here, I’m going to strangle you.” 

The man laughs, throwing a playful elbow towards the girl’s shoulder. 

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”

Thomas raises an interested brow. 

“Don’t be gross,” the girl laughs. 

“You’re right, sorry. I wouldn’t want to talk dirty in front of Geoff.”

Geoff? There ain’t no one else around...

“As if we haven’t scarred him enough in the past,” the man adds.

“Just shut up and open the damn thing so we can go.”

Another gurgle, this time closer. Thomas slinks back further into the bushes, breathing slowly, silently. He’s confident none of the walkers’ll find him. They’re as stupid as dirt with no actual hunting skills, thankfully. 

Thomas can’t imagine anyone would’ve made it as far as they have if the damned dead were smarter than the living. 

Then again, lots of folks are dead. 

Grabbing a heavy-duty rock from beside his foot, Thomas eyes the walkers moving past him. They’re foul, both in appearance and odor. Looks like they got torn apart real good when alive, too, given their shredded clothes and chunks of flesh torn from their arms and waist. 

The one-eyed walker crawls past.

What a way to go, Thomas thinks as he chucks the rock towards the shore, sending it crashing into one of the larger boulders with an echoing crack.

 It draws everyone's attention, the walkers practically wheezing with glee- well, Thomas likes to imagine they’re gleeful to have something to sniff out.

The couple jumping to their feet. 

“Ah, fuck!”

“What the hell was- Oh shit-!” 

The walkers approach the shore, quicker now that they have a meal to pursue. 

Thomas checks the chamber of his fully loaded gun. 

---

Hugo almost had it. 

With his knife jammed along the side of the lid, he was ready to pop it off victoriously.

A startling crack broke his concentration, causing him to lose his grip. The knife slips from the crack and jerks, slicing into the muscle below his thumb.

“Ah, fuck!” Hugo cries out, dropping the knife to cradle his bleeding hand. Blistering pain shocks through his fingers and up his arm. 

“What the hell was- Oh shit-” Isabel reaches out for his arm, holding on with a death grip.  “Walkers!” 

“What?” 

The crate before him forgotten, Hugo whips around.

A group of walkers head down the shore, each groaning and moving as fast as their decaying bodies can carry them. 

What? 

Where the hell did they come from? They made sure to scour the woods from the train station to the boat and take care of any straggling walkers that stood in their way. There weren’t that many. The most they had to deal with were along the shores. 

“There wasn’t a single walker for miles,” Hugo exclaims. “Where the hell did they come from?”

“Don’t know,” Isabel says, staring up at him with wide eyes. She does a double-take when she notices the blood dripping from his hand. “Oh my god, Hugh, what the hell?”

“I’m fine, I slipped. It's just a scratch-”

“A scratch? Seriously?” She grabs his hand, inspecting the wound with wide eyes. "Bullshit, a scratch!"

“Forget it,” Hugo grabs the rag from his belt and ties it around his hand. “There’s only five of them. Nothing we can’t handle-”

“There isn’t only five, look!”

She’s not wrong- on their right, more come hobbling out of the woods. 

Hugo looks from the approaching walkers, down to the unopened crate, down to his bleeding hand. He winces, picking his knife back up. 

“We can handle them.”

“We could handle them if they didn’t already see us!”

“I’ll take the ones on the left-”

“Hugh, we gotta go! Forget the damn crates, they’re not worth dying for. Not now!”

Damn it...

"We're not risking everything!"

She pulls him forward with her down the pier, their boots clanking loudly against the worn wood, making the walkers perk up more. 

Isabel jumps over the side, splashing in the shallow water in hopes of cutting across the shore and into the woods before the walkers get any closer. An easy plan Hugo could follow if it weren’t for the three walkers emerging from their intended destination, blocking their path.

A nasty growl from his right sent Hugo whipping around. A walker- a woman with an exposed neck and chest cavity, missing clumps of hair from beneath her hat- hurries towards him. 

Fuck it. 

Hugo surges forward, grabbing the sticky bones of the walker's throat. The knife plunges through the side of its head with ease, and the walker falls to the ground. Hugo lets out a shaky breath, grunting out at the searing pain throbbing in his hand, painful enough to cause spots in his vision. 

“Hugo, I swear to Christ- don’t you dare get that hand-” Isabel kicks the shin of another walker. It falls to its knees, the perfect height for her to stab it through the head before sending the limp body crashing into yet another walker. A chain reaction of the force causes three of the walkers to fall back. 

“Use your gun,” Isabel tells him, attacking those fallen monsters as fast as she can.

“That’ll just attract more!” 

“So what? Kill these bastards so we can make a run for it!”

That’s assuming that he can successfully kill all of them, which he can’t with his last five bullets. 

There’s more than five left. 

More than ten, maybe. 

He can’t count. 

Where the fuck did they come from? He knows they weren't loud enough to attract this many. 

A walker with one eye crawls along the sand, grabbing at his ankle to gnaw on his boot. This knife breaks its skull with a sickening crack, the odor enough to churn his stomach. 

“Hugo, now!” Isabel shouts, stabbing another walker and pushing through. 

Hugo tries to follow. 

Even in its final death, the walker's grip remains strong on his ankle. He stumbles right into the grip of a heavyset walker, this one much younger, fresher compared to the decaying monsters- stronger.

A full set of rotten teeth snap at him. With his forearm pressed firmly against the chest of the monster, Hugo reaches back to grab his gun from its holster.

The shot rings in his ears, rattling his brain as gore explodes through the back of the walkers head. The earth swerves beneath his feet, acids in his stomach rise into his throat. He coughs, spitting into the dirt. 

Through nausea, Hugo aims. 

Another two shots- two walkers fall to the ground, motionless. 

A third. 

A fourth- fuck. 

Hugo lets off his final shot, hitting a walker struggling with Isabel. Seeing it’s no longer a threat, Isabel grabs onto it, heaving it towards another and sending them crashing. She’s by his side again, huffing, “Let’s go!”

Hugo nods.

He has no idea where the fuck these things came from, or how they showed up so suddenly, but he knows she’s right- whatever the hell is in that crate isn’t worth there lives, not when they’re so close-

“Shit!”

A hand grabs his backpack, jerking him backward. The foul stench of the walker's breath warms his ear and everything within Hugo runs cold. He throws an elbow, twisting himself around in the walker's embrace. 

He doesn’t see the fallen walker behind him. 

They both tumble to the ground. The gun slips out of his grip. 

“Hugo!”

A sixth shot.

The walker's blood splatters across Hugo’s face, and for a moment, he thinks he’s dead. The body slouches over him, unmoving.  

A seventh shot- an eighth- 

Isabel grabs the walker by its shirt, hauling it off of him before dropping to her knees. Her hands move all over him as she gasps out, “Holy shit, please, oh please, tell me you’re okay!” 

Several more shots fire, and one by one, the remaining walkers fall. 

Then there’s silence. 

Hugo reaches for his gun, scooping it up from the dirt before Isabel helps him up. He falls forward onto his bad knee. 

“Augh!”

“Sorry- c’mon-!”

Finally on his feet, Hugo surveys the area. 

All the dead are just that- fallen on the ground. 

“Are-” Hugo coughs “-are you okay?” 

“I’m fine,” Isabel shakes her head, narrowed eyes darting all around the forest. “Pissed off, but fine.” Without taking her sight off the forest, she slips her backpack off to glance inside. “Geoff’s okay, too.”

Terrific.

Because Hugo was so worried. 

Isabel leans down, whispering, “Hugh… someone’s here.”

He assumed so. 

The walkers didn’t shoot themselves. 

“Give me your gun.”

Hugo cocks his head to murmur in her ear, “We’re out of bullets.”

“He doesn’t know that.” 

The snapping of wood and rubber against rocks turns their attention back to the woods where a man walks out, waving over at them with a grin.

“Howdy!” he calls out, voice gruff and accent thick. 

Isabel snatches the gun from his hand before Hugo has a chance to protest, pointing it and stopping the man in his tracks. 

“That’s close enough!” 

“Woah, woah,” the man holds his hands up in surrender, though keeps his grip on his gun just as tight.  

“Belle-” Hugo warns, but the man chuckles lightly. 

“Didn’t mean to scare ya. I mean no harm! Heard the gunshots and saw y’all were havin’ some trouble, thought I’d lend a helpin’ hand. You folks alright?” 

Isabel doesn’t lower the gun, keeping her eyes fixated on the man as he cautiously continues to walk over.

“We’re fine,” Hugo answers. “Fine, no bites, just a little startled. Thanks for the help.”

“We could’ve handled it,” Isabel adds. “Thanks.”

The man nods, saying, “No, you look plenty capable, didn’t mean to say ya don’t. Just didn’t want to see any more folks die, y’know? Not when I could do the decent thing and help.”

He’s close now, close enough for Hugo to better make out the details of his graying, ginger beard and bald head. He pulls his glasses off and pockets them with his free hand, blinking rapidly as he grins. 

“Name’s Thomas,” he greets. “Nice to meet’cha.”

[angvs]

❛ ✶ ( LUKE HEMMINGS , CISMALE , HE/HIM )  —  did you see ANGUS DONNELLEY walking around campus earlier ? i hear a lot of people talking about the TWENTY TWO year old JUNIOR . from what i know , they are studying NEUROSCIENCE and are a part of DELTA PSI BETA . they come across as + EMPATHETIC but also - PERNICIOUS , which makes sense because on their instagram ( @gusdonny ) it says they are a TAURUS . when i see them , i think of dropping your coffee on the pavement , tattered crewnecks & denim , sitting in some hole in the wall restaurant at 2am , omw texts while still laying in bed , & chipped bitten nails . the most interesting thing i’ve heard about them though , is the fact that [ REDACTED ] , but don’t tell anyone i told you that .

wow  y’all  really  went  hard  in  your  intros  i  am  not  worThy !!!  hi  everyone !!  i’m  cj  and  i’m  from  the  true  north ,  strong  and  free ..  aka  canada  bby .  i’m  out  in  mountain time ,  which  is  why  i  am  SO  LATE ,  i  was  at  work  today  :~(   i’m  super  excited  to  write  with  you  guys  though  !!  i  brought  one  of  my  favourite  boys  ..  this  is  my  big  dummy  angus ,  but  pls  if  u  love  the  boy  at  all  call  him  gus .  

tw :  drug mention below

╰ ˚･ﾟ & some 𝒃𝒂𝒔𝒊𝒄𝒔

full name: angus  elijah  donnelley nicknames: gus age: twenty two date of birth: april 27th hometown: malibu ,  california preferred pronouns: he/him orientation: pansexual occupation: n/a , currently studying at beaumont  language(s) spoken: english ,  swedish ( very rusty ) pets: bulldog-terrier mix named cleo ( aka … luke hemmings irl puppy ,  i couldn’t help myself ok ) ,  but ... it’s  a  family  dog ,  so ... she’s  back  at  home  and  he  misses  her  EVERY  DAY .

PINTEREST BOARD !!

born  and  raised  in  malibu ,  angus  grew  up  with  strict ,  ambitious  parents . his  father  a  neurosurgeon ,  and  mother  an  architect .  it  was  very  early  on  that  they  instilled  their  high  expectations  for  the  boy ,  teaching  him  the  importance  of  discipline  and  responsibility .  their  intentions  were  good  of  course ,  as  every  parent  wants  to  raise  their  child  right ,  though  angus  wasn’t  truly  equipped .  in  actuality  the  couple  came  off  as  overbearing  and  their  high  expectations  deemed  unreachable  in  the  male’s  eyes .  as  he  grew  older ,  the  feeling  grew  stronger  that  he  would  never  quite  live  up  to  their  standards –  97%  on  his  mathematics  test ??  well ,  why  wasn’t  it  100% ??

family  time  was  scarce  in  the  donnelley  household .  with  both  parents  working  full  time  and  lots  of  time  spent  working  extra  hours ,  angus  became  independent  quickly .  his  mother  was  flying  to  dubai  for  work  quite  frequently ,  gone  weeks  at  a  time .  some  weeks  if  felt  like  his  father  LIVED  in  the  hospital .  but  he  was  saving  lives ,  and  how  could  angus  be  so  SELFISH  to  want  him  at  home .  it  meant  he  grew  extremely  close  to  his  two  younger  sisters ,  often  opting  to  spending  the  weekends  entertaining  them  rather  then  out  at  parties .  the  family  had  a  nanny  to  help ,  so  he  didn’t  HAVE  to ,  but  his  sisters  always  came  first  to  him  and  being  the  eldest  he  has  a  serious  case  of  protective  older  brother  syndrome .

after  graduating  high  school ,  he  somehow  managed  to  convince  his  parents  to  allow  him  to  head  abroad  for  the  year .  with  promises  of  coming  back  home  and  hunkering  down  into  his  pre med  degree .  the  couple  really  wanted  angus  to  head  straight  into  uni ,  but  with  tons  of  begging ,  they  sent  him  off ,  bank  account  full .  the  year  was  spent  travelling  and  honestly ,  just  having  FUN –  a  few  months  over  in  paris ,  london ,  italy ,  greece …  some  places  he’d  been  before  with  his  family ,  but  not  in  the  way  he  got  to  experience  them  now .  angus  continued  his  travels  to  japan ,  korea ,  new  zealand ,  australia …  never  staying  in  one  place  for  too  long .  but  the  fun  had  to  come  to  an  end .

as  promised ,  angus  attended  beaumont  upon  returning  back  to  the  states  studying neurosciences ,  getting  his  pre med  classes  under  his  belt .  he  is  a  legacy  kid --  his  father  having  been  apart  of  delta  psi  beta  when  he  attended  the  university .  becoming  a  doctor  has  never  quite  been  his  dream ,  so  much  as  it  was  his  parents .  while  the  male  continues  his  undergraduate  degree ,  he  wonders  if  he  should  change  his  path ,  though  that’s  not  a  conversation  he  can  have  with  his  parents .  angus  has  always  wanted  to  leave  an  impact on  others ,  in  what  way ,  well he’s  never  been  sure .  

╰ ˚･ﾟ & 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒚

a  big  dumb  softy !!

what  if  i  left  it  at  that …. !!  no  but ,  honestly …  he’s  definitely  chaotic  neutral .  he’s  a  big  empath ,  and  will  usually  feel  for  you  to  his  core .  

i  have  some  tiktoks  to  link ,  because  our  beautiful  admins  inspired  me !!!  and  if  you  do  anything ... please  watch  these :  ONE ,  TWO ,  THREE ,  FOUR ,  FIVE  ( tag  urself ,  angus  is  the  idiot  that  makes  the  entire  thing  go  down )

it  could  be  sometimes  annoying ,  because  angus  can’t  really  ‘ pick  sides ’ ,  this  boy  can  see  the  validity  in  all  sides  ( in  most  cases ) .  he’s  definitely  loyal  to  you ,  but  he’ll  be  that  friend  that  brings  up  the  defence  just  to  make  you  really  think .  because  of  this  he  can  be  either  really  good  with  advice …  or  really  bad ,  there’s  no  in  between .  he’ll  hit  you  with  a  million  different  solutions ,  confident  that  every  one  is  good  … “ it  just  depends  what  vibe  you  wanna  go  for ”

he …   gets  distracted  easily .  he  dabbles  in  a  bit  of  adderall ,  with  his  course load ...  it’s  just  kinda  how  he  copes .  definitely  known  to  pop  some  pills  during  night  study  sesh’s ,  essays  &  finals  week .

he  doesn’t  LIKE  to  party  a  ton ,  like …  he’s  just  not  into  big  crowds  really ?  but  if  he  tells  you  he  doesn’t  want  to  go  out ,  it’s  VERY  EASY  to  change  his  mind ,  because  he  has  Big  FOMO .  but  he’s  22  yanno  and  he’s  in  a  big  party  frat  so ,  catch  him  getting  drunk  and  probably  high  every  weekend ,  off  to  the  side  with  a  few  less  people ,  or  in  the  smoking  pit  at  the  clubs  fawning  over  ur  outfit  or  smth .  after  he’ll  drag  your  ass  to  some  hole  in  the  wall  restaurant  and  order  way  too  much  shit .

he’s  lowkey  v  self  destructive .  it’s  something  he  doesn’t  even  realize  he’s  doing  most  of  the  time ,  but  he’s  genuinely  surprised  when  a  friend  sticks  around .  the  ones  that  do  stick ,  have  definitely  had  to  deal  with  him  fucking  about  and  being  overdramatic  in  an  attempt  to  protect  himself .  idk  why  this  is  so  important  to  me ,  but  he  FOR  SURE  made  a  few  tik toks  w  that  whole …. “ if  i  was  a  worm …  would  you  still  love  me ? ”  AND  if  you  told  him  no ,  would  be  pissed  for  days .

very  affectionate !!!!  with !!!!  everyone !!!!

╰ ˚･ﾟ & 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒄𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒐𝒏𝒔

attended  a  semester  abroad  in  sweden .  is  very  rusty  now ,  but  can  hold  a  basic  conversation  in  swedish .

cleo ,  his  pup ,  is  his  absolute  pride  and  joy .  he  talks  about  her  as  if  she’s  his  daughter  ok .  misses  her  sm  while  away  at  school .

he’s  so  messy ,  but  will  defend  himself  by  saying  they  always  had  a  maid ,  and  then  realizes  how  DUMB  he  sounds .

sk8er  boi ~~  nah ,  but  he  actually  does  skateboard ,  and  is  trying  to  perfect  his  kickflip rn .

loves pizza pls

is  always  attending  live  shows ,  he  loves  the  music  scene  and  frequently  supports  locals

will  “ thrift ”  the  dumbest  shit  for  hundreds  of  dollars …

plays  guitar ,  but  doesn’t  think  he’s  very  good

╰ ˚･ﾟ & 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔

i  made  up  a  page  HERE ,  but  PLS  i  LOVE  brainstorming ,  so  don’t  hesitate  to  come  to  me  for  some  brainstorming !!

[runningwhilenotdying]

So! This is quite late but I’ve been crazy busy with school and I knew typing all this out would be A Task. This race was about 10,000 times harder than I thought it would be. I thought that I respected the marathon distance going in but it turned out I absolutely did not. My time was quite a bit slower than I was expecting even though I didn’t have an exact goal in mind and my splits were ridiculously positive (pic 7). I’m honestly not disappointed at all though. The marathon is a mean, tough race but I’m even meaner and tougher and that is absolutely something to celebrate. Full race recap under the cut because it’s almost as long as the marathon itself.

- The day before the marathon was pretty much ideal actually. Did my 3 km shakeout run in the morning, made pancakes, lounged around my house, and picked up my bib. My super old family friend/honorary sister was in town to run the half and my mom was running the 5k, so we all went out for delicious pasta the night before along with my boyfriend and my friend’s mom.

- I slept AWFULLY the night before. I lay awake for ages, then slept in short little bursts that probably added up to like 3 hours overall. My cat also woke me up at 5 by biting my feet and I almost tossed him out the window. 

- Woke up for real at 6:15, miraculously not tired and not particularly nervous either. I had a bagel with PB and a cup of coffee, put on a huge pile of throwaway clothes over my race outfit, and took an Uber to the start

- I was paranoid about road closures so I gave myself a ton of extra time, but we ended up not having any trouble at all. That meant I got to the start just over an hour early, which was a big problem considering the temperature was a degree or so above freezing

- I waited for my friend to show up, walking around in aimless circles to keep warm. She showed up about 20 minutes early, we took some nice pictures in our 5000 layers, and got into our corrals right around when the gun went off for the elite corral

- This is a FAST race, so my corral was pretty far back and it took about 15 minutes from there to actually cross the line. I was planning on throwing away my fleece, hat, and two pairs of mittens at the start but I ended up keeping them on. I got rid of the mittens and fleece by kilometre 4 and kept the hat until around kilometre 24

- By the time I started, my feet were completely frozen. I spent the first few kilometres wiggling my toes trying to get the feeling back, but I was basically running on ice blocks until the 5k mark 

- Other than that though, I felt awesome for the beginning of the race. The energy of the crowd and the other racers were infectious. I was checking my watch every kilometre, and my splits were a bit faster than planned but I didn’t worry too much about reigning it in. I’d been having a bunch of random pains all down my right side all through taper, but I wasn’t feeling anything

- I decided not to count down kilometres or even think about the overall distance until 10k, and I actually did a pretty good job of that. I started having a dull pain in my right hip around 8 km, but other than that I was feeling awesome and determined to enjoy the race for as long as I could

- Between 10k and the halfway mark, things gradually got a bit harder, but I generally still felt in control. My breathing was still good and I was sticking to my schedule for taking energy blocks. But my hip was still nagging and my left hip flexor had joined in as well. The pain was super mild, but I was anxious about it getting worse and that started affecting my mental game in general

- The last time I felt genuinely good was probably around 19 km, right before the half-marathoners split off. We went past a huge cheering station where they were blasting Abba and giving high fives. I was so psyched I actually sang along to most of the chorus of Mamma Mia as I ran past

- Once the half-marathoners split off it got quiet fast. Less than one third of the racers were doing the marathon, so suddenly there were a lot fewer runners and barely any spectators. I was starting to feel sick and my hips were still hurting and I was grappling with the idea of running the complete distance I’d already ran again

- This is where it started getting hard. I’d brought headphones to listen to music, but I wanted to put off using them until I absolutely NEEDED a power-up, so I was pretty much alone with my thoughts until I gave in at 28 km. At this point finishing seemed completely unfathomable and I was starting to wonder what the hell I was doing this for

- The race basically just got harder from here. I was feeling sicker and I started putting off my scheduled energy blocks. I was supposed to take a Gu at 24 km, but I couldn’t even imagine putting it in my stomach. I don’t remember when I started worrying about DNFing again, but it was probably around this point. 28ish km to 32 km was probably the hardest part of the race mentally

- When I finally hit the 32 km mark, things turned around a bit. 32 km was the point last year where I slammed headlong into the wall and dropped out because I couldn’t walk in a straight line or carry a train of thought. So when I got here this time, I realized that even though I felt like absolute shit, I was doing 100 times better than last year. This is when I realized that I probably actually was going to finish

- Even though my mental state improved a tiny bit, my physical state was getting worse and worse. Starting at 32 km, I let myself walk the first minute of every kilometre. This 100% saved me mentally because it gave me something to look forward to every kilometre. It also let me stretch my hips out a bit, which definitely helped physically

- Even with the walking breaks, I was in the absolute worst pain of my life for the last 8 km or so. The only thing stopping me from walking the rest of the way was my desire to be finished the fucking marathon as soon as possible. I wasn’t checking my pace anymore, but I was probably down to around 6:30/km not counting the walking breaks

- Every 900ish metre stretch between walking breaks felt impossible and never-ending, and once I was walking, starting up again after 1 minute was the worst kind of mental challenge. The last few kilometres are pretty hazy in my memory, but I distinctly remember thinking “am I actually going to DNF with less than 2 km to go? IDK. Maybe”

- Finally, finally, I hit 41 km and took my last walking break. That was when I remembered that the total distance was 42.2 km, not just 42. It sounds ridiculous, but the thought of that extra 200 metres was almost more than I could bear as I finished my last walking break

- Every step of that last 1(.2) kilometre was a fight. I was checking my watch every half block and counting down the individual metres. With 600ish metres to go, I saw my mom cheering on the sidelines and almost broke down. She started trying to run with me down the sidewalk, but I discovered later that I’d somehow averaged 4:59/km for the last 800 metres of the race, so she couldn’t keep up with me

- I started seeing signs counting down the last 400 metres and finally accepted that I was definitely going to finish. I took out my headphones to hear the crowd for the last moments, and heard the announcer call my name as I came up on the finish line

- Stepping across the line was the most overwhelming moment of my life. I’d felt so awful for so long, but I’d fought through it. The fact that I DNFed last year and left feeling like such a failure made it even more powerful. As soon as I crossed the line I started full-on weeping, hand over my mouth, sobbing at full volume. Some of it was pain, but most of it was pride and astonishment

- My friend and her mom started calling my name and I walked over to them. Opened my mouth to say hi to them and instead threw up twice directly at their feet, so I guess I can really have no doubt in my mind that I gave the race everything I had

Anyway, this is by far the longest tumblr post I’ve ever written and I’m sure no one’s still reading, so I’ll wrap it up. Four days later, I’m still walking on air over this. My right knee and hip still hurt like a bitch, but I’m happy, and proud, and I ran a FREAKING MARATHON

[awol-newt]

our family of choice AU masterlist

sunbeams will soon smile through (good morning)come on and play (what do ya say?)This is the masterlist for my “our family of choice AU” series.

In chronological order, titles only:

we will rise above all the ash

the darkest country road

take me home (mommy, i’m coming home)

two of us (riding nowhere)

they say that time's supposed to heal ya

love and security and family and maltesers 

friends and allies

this isn’t oliver twist

chase the monsters away (don’t be afraid)

i’ll play my fight song

come on and play (what do ya say?)

it’s a brand new day (i know i’ll be okay)

there’s dirt on our uniforms

blue eyes, blue eyes

fox in the snow (where do you go?)

driving away from the wreck of the day    (and it’s finally quiet in my head)

after the bombs

we fight those demons (day in and day out)

kodachrome

beaches, music, family, and love

all will be well

it's rock and roll (kind of love)

something is fishy in this here town

calamity jane isn’t bulshar

sunbeams will soon smile through (good morning)

it’s not about your scars (it’s all about your heart)

with a little help from my friends

can i be the kid for your soul to keep?

soon the fog will clear

Chronological order with summaries after the cut.

In chronological order:

we will rise above all the ash

Summary: everybody thinks about family a little differently. the scooby gang is no different. here are six brief character studies on thoughts on family.

part of 'our family of choice au' but can also stand alone - the darkest country road

Summary: One revenant left.There’s only one revenant left to make his peace before they finally, finally, end this godforsaken curse. Before they can breathe a little easier. Before they can begin to heal after so many years of fighting, fighting, fighting.

Before Alice can come home.

They just have to find him first, and that's easier said than done. - take me home (mommy, i’m coming home)

Summary: It takes them four years to break the curse.

Four years to succeed where previous generations of Earps had failed. Four years of fighting tooth and nail for a future without fear, without the weight of the curse bearing down on them, all the while wondering if they’ll come out of this alive.But they do it.

OR

Alice is finally coming home and family means everything. - two of us (riding nowhere)

Summary: Nicole and Waverly are nervous about possibly taking on the responsibility of a child. Both of them share fears and anxieties. If only the two of them actually talked to each other about them.

OR

Neither Nicole nor Waverly wants to worry the other, so they play a broken record for a couple of their friends. - they say that time's supposed to heal ya

Summary: Wynonna isn’t good at apologizing. Honestly, she’s pretty awful at it if her encounter with flipping August Hamilton is any indication. It also made at least one other thing perfectly clear — Wynonna has hurt a lot of people and she won’t ever win a popularity contest in Purgatory.

She isn’t good at apologies. But she needs to get this one right. She needs for this one to be real and good and honest and genuine. Because she needs Alice to know.

She’s sorry. - love and security and family and maltesers

Summary: Nedley always said that there will be one case that really gets to you, that crawls beneath your skin and makes a home there, nagging and ever-present from that moment forward. It’s the case that will change your life in some way or another. The case that could make or break you as a person.

For Nicole, it's a case that leads her to a little girl named Belle and a heart that doesn't know how to do anything but love fiercely. - friends and allies

Summary: It’s been three days since the fight. Since she heard more screaming and hollering from her ma and papa than she ever heard before — and that was a lot. Sometimes they’d shout so much that she’d hide somewhere other than her room just so they couldn’t find her easily and start in on her, too. Three days since everything changed.

And today — today Waverly and Nicole ask her if she would like to meet some of their family this weekend. Because Sunday dinners once a month are a thing because family is important and so is the reminder that you aren't alone in the world. Except Belle just isn't sure what all this means for her when she doesn't have a family anymore.

OR

It's time for Belle to meet some adorable psychos. - this isn’t oliver twist

Summary: Nicole doesn’t notice it at first. The way that food seems to go missing like the sleeve of crackers from the brand new box that she bought over the weekend. Or the last bagel from the cupboard. She figures it’s Waverly taking snacks into the office for Alice and Belle on the days that Gus can’t look after them.She doesn’t notice that food keeps disappearing until Lonnie barges into her office holding the brown sack lunch that she knows his wife puts together for him every morning. - chase the monsters away (don’t be afraid)

Summary: There's a monster under Belle's bed. It comes for her in her nightmares, and she wakes up crying, "Nicole! Nicole!"

OR

Nicole just wants to be a good foster parent and protect and love the little girl in her care. Because she made a promise of love, security, family, and maltesers. - i’ll play my fight song

Summary: Nicole's radio crackles and the dispatcher's voice sounds through the static. "Sheriff?"

"Go for Haught."

"Purgatory elementary called, ma'am."

OR

It's Belle's first day of kindergarten and already Nicole is hearing from the principal before the day is over. - come on and play (what do ya say?)

Summary: “I thought it’s supposed to be a sexy cop outfit.”Wynonna leans against the doorway to the kitchen, already gnawing on a Tootsie Pop that has turned her lips cherry red. The hood of her rainbow onesie is pulled up around her head and she has her creepy horse mask in the hand not holding onto her third lollipop of the night.

OR

It's Belle's first Halloween with all the crazy that is her foster family and its adorable psychos. - it’s a brand new day (i know i’ll be okay)

Summary: “You know that you need to stop being dumb and go help your girlfriend, right?”

Nicole shakes her head and explains, “She got mad when I didn’t cut the crust off the sandwiches the ‘right way’. I’ve been instructed to ‘keep the peace’ until everything is ready and the girls are here.”

Wynonna snorts. “Yeah. She’s in full panic mom mode.”

“This is important to her, Wynonna,” Nicole chides, feeling protective even though she knows it was said in jest.

OR

It's a found family picnic/party because an occasion such as this is worthy of celebration. -

there’s dirt on our uniforms

Summary:  Violence is never the answer, except when sometimes it is. Like when it comes to punching Champ Hardy's evil spawn in the schnoz. Nothing like punching Champ Hardy's evil spawn in the schnoz while sporting some sick Buzz Lightyear light-up sneakers. - blue eyes, blue eyes

Summary: “So. Wanna tell me why your cousin broke Chump Jr.’s nose?”

Wynonna wants to know why Belle sucker punched Bradley James in the schnoz, and she asks Alice for the answer.

A follow-up ficlet to there's dirt on our uniforms. - fox in the snow (where do you go?)

Summary: Belle pulls at the knit toque on her head, trying to tug it over her ears, which are starting to sting in the cold. She waits, kicking at a pine cone on top of the snow. It sails down the hill, broken apart by the force of her kick and already brittle from the wintry weather.

She isn’t particularly sure that they should be doing this. Her mama told them to stay out of trouble because she had to run into town to drop something off at the station. She said she trusted them not to do something that Wynonna would do because they’re smarter and more responsible than that.

Does building a toboggan obstacle course on the steepest hill on the homestead count as smart and responsible?

(Probably not.) - driving away from the wreck of the day (and it’s finally quiet in my head)

Summary: The scene is familiar. The two of them, sitting on the floor and passing a bottle of whiskey back and forth. Both of them more than a little drunk. This time, however, they’re in Nicole’s office with the blinds closed and the door shut and locked, leaning with their backs against the couch.

Silence settles on them like a blanket. It’s suffocating, oppressive, and too damn heavy. They sit like that for a while, pensive and languishing under too much weight on their shoulders and on their souls.

“Today was hard,” Nicole whispers, peeling back the quiet just enough to breathe a little easier. - after the bombs

Summary: Nobody would say that Wynonna Earp doesn’t know how to cope.

They just wouldn’t say that she knows how to cope well.

Especially when she drives out to the outskirts of town with a bottle of whiskey, a box of ammo, and a long-standing quarrel with the Welcome to Purgatory sign. - we fight those demons (day in and day out)

Summary: It’s been three weeks since Wynonna turned up at the house with her arms wrapped protectively around Nicole, both of them smelling like cheap whiskey and looking like a rough night personified. Three weeks since Nicole ran into a hostage situation like a brave idiot, only to watch an entire family cut down in less than a minute. Three weeks of being distant and stubborn and stupid. They need to talk.

OR

Nicole is pretty awful about admitting that she needs help. - kodachrome

Summary: Focus, click, wind.It's Belle's birthday and time to play hooky with a trip to the big city. All she wants is a camera, a trip to the park, a nice dinner, and maybe some ice cream for dessert. 

Nicole thinks that she can make most of those things happen. - beaches, music, family, and love

Summary: "Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We've been cleared to land at Jose Martí International Airport where the local time is 2:40pm. It's currently a balmy twenty-seven degrees celsius with sunny skies and no rain in the forecast. We know you have lots of options when it comes to flying these days, so we thank you for choosing to fly with Air Canada and we hope to see you again soon.”

OR

A Wayhaught family honeymoon. - all will be well

Summary: Wynonna is turning forty. This year, that means a party at Moose Lake.

For Nicole, it means everything.

OR

Nicole loves her found family and everything is beautiful and nothing hurts. - it's rock and roll (kind of love)

Summary: Belle waits patiently, watching the grin spread across the older girl’s face. More than a minute passes and Belle’s patience wanes. “What is it?” she finally asks.

Alice grins even bigger and belly flops onto Belle’s bed. “We’re going to start a band.” She says it like it’s the best idea that she’s ever had. Her blue eyes hold a glimmer of excitement, waiting for her cousin — her best friend — to say something.

OR

a tribute to the 80’s mixtape AU by gilligankane and thegaysmurf - something is fishy in this here town

Summary: “Harriet the Spy,” she reads the title aloud.

“Like that really old movie?” Vanessa asks and she’s leaning forward over her tray of meatloaf and mixed vegetables — because school lunches never change — to get a better look at the cover.

Belle opens it to a random page and reads the first thing that catches her eye. She looks up. “I think it might be,” she tells them. She thumbs through it to another page, green eyes quickly skimming over the text with practiced ease. “Yeah. I think it is.”

OR

Belle and Alice are inspired to become spies. - calamity jane isn’t bulshar

Summary: “No,” Nicole says firmly. “Absolutely not.”

“But, mom, where else will she go? Look at her face!”

Belle pouts and lifts the cat as high as she can to try to shove its face into Nicole’s.

OR

Belle finds a cat on her way home from school and of course it turns into more trouble than any of them expect. - sunbeams will soon smile through (good morning)

Summary: “Hey! You gonna help me or not?”

“That depends. Do you have a fire extinguisher this time?”

“That was one time and you were supposed to be in charge of the waffle maker.”

“It had faulty wiring.”

“You almost burned down my moms’ house.”

“Shoulda has a fire extinguisher handy.”

OR

Belle wants to make breakfast for her moms and enlists Alice's help. She's not sure if she would have been better off with or without it. - it’s not about your scars (it’s all about your heart)

Summary: "Why did we think a bar fight outside of Shorty's was a good idea?"

OR

Alice and Belle end up in the drunk tank at the sheriff's station. No regrets, though. They'd totally do it again. - with a little help from my friends

Summary: Officer Paten rests her hands on her duty belt as she saunters toward them. Her eyes look pointedly at the cling wrap box still in Wynonna’s hands to the mickey of Jameson that Nicole is holding. Behind them is a truck wrapped almost completely in plastic wrap.

“Sheriff,” the deputy drawls.

“Officer Paten,” Nicole greets as if they haven’t just vandalized somebody’s property. - can i be the kid for your soul to keep?

Summary: Sometimes sadness creeps up on you like a looming shadow that you don’t notice until it towers over you, blocking out the warmth and the light. Sometimes you can see it coming from a mile away, slow and steady like an impending storm that is set on a collision course for your heart and mind, ready to devastate you whether you're ready or not.

Belle isn't ready for it. She doesn't expect it. It knocks her on her ass and leaves her there to cope. Her family reminds her that she doesn't have to do it alone. - soon the fog will clear

Even though she knows that this, too, will pass, her dark days linger. Sadness still wraps its way around Belle's heart and mind and soul, and even if her family can't make things magically good again, they can make things better. Little by little.

A follow-up to can i be the kid for your soul to keep?.

[sarahcreatesstuff]

Trion Alpha Chapter 2

Chapter 2 – Fire, Air, Water, Earth

 The long grasses scratched gentle across the plain fabric trousers that Jack wore but he did not really notice them anymore. His entire focus was on the pressed down circle in the centre of the field where he would learn his fate. Nerves were playing throughout his body, a sense of anticipation but also a high degree of worry present as well, but he had been told that this was perfectly normal. No one could predict what sub gender they would present as, though those older sometimes had a fair clue about it in advance. Though no one had any idea about which of the four potential sub genders that Jack would present as, but generally it was presumed that he would follow the trend of most Trion’s and present as either an omega or delta.

 When he had first come into the wolf society, it had been very confusing to learn about the four sub genders and the roles that they played within a pack but now at the age of maturity he knew and understood them all pretty well.

 Deltas were the lowest rank but were never really looked down upon as they were the secret protectors of the packs. They were silent movers, able to blend into the world around them, scout out the best hunting grounds and kept the borders checked. They could be fast and sharp in their movements, making fighting them tricky as they seemed to almost dance around their intended targets but when it came to hunting, they were swift and precise in the kill. Most Delta’s were quiet by nature, slightly introverted and rarely wanting to be the centre of attention unless they felt that it was absolutely necessary and were otherwise the chief artisans of the pack, seeming to take their slight solitude as an opportunity to create all sorts of different crafts that could be worn, or displayed to show the pack off to the best of its abilities. In the Jurisa pack there were three Delta’s sisters, who spent their nights patrolling the borders of the territory with frightening precision and then spent the day making or mending clothes, setting up their own brand of ‘protection symbols’ which took on the form of dolls and tending to sick cubs, as the youngest had a flair for medicines and had become the pack healer with little formal training. Jack always liked their Earth based scents, reminding him of the quiet little glades that could be found in the middle of summer and knew that all Delta’s had an undercurrent of Earth and nature as their primary scent which always mixed pleasantly with their personal and pack scent.

 Which was why he always found that omega’s having water scents was a little strange but refreshing. Mostly they smelt like the freshness of the land after a good shower of rain or else the clear river water that ran through their lands. Two in the pack had unique scents, one a male omega by the name of Gus who smelt like a raging storm and the other a female by the name of Kira who smelt like the ocean. Jack had come to learn that omegas were probably the most diverse of the sub genders and whilst they all shared some traits, they were all unique in their own way. Omegas were soft and delicate but built with bodies that could sustain young through to term with little to no problems. They were the true mothers of the pack, able to be gentle and caring in times of need but were fierce as hell when they felt that one of their own was in danger. Some of the strongest fighters in the groups were omegas, which had confused Jack no end when he was younger but now, he came to accept that omegas would die for those that they cared about. In the past they had been nothing more than breeding machines, seen as the only ones who could be bred and with their yearly heat cycles that made them extremely fertile for around two weeks, but they were also at their most vulnerable and weakest during this time. Now that mentality had generally been wiped out, with the exception of a few cases, and omegas could choose to be whatever they wanted in a pack. Though most stuck with more traditional roles on account of them actually being particularly good at them. They all still went through heats, but only true mates were allowed to be with them or else mated omegas who could help sooth the ache until mates came along. Only once had Jack come across someone in heat, which was around a year ago and he had been praised for simply helping the omega to the correct hut and stepping away. He was still underage, but the smell of heat had affected him as his wolf began to mature but sense won out over everything else. Male omegas could also carry cubs and were treated no different because of this little situation.

 The Head Beta of the pack had patted his head, after going up on his tiptoes in order to do so correctly and had praised his good sense. Betas were essential for a pack to run correctly, at least when it got big enough to be a full pack, as they were the most level headed of the sub-genders and always seemed to know exactly what to say and do in any situations. Primarily they were healers, or liaisons between packs or else enforcers of the rules and in some of the more human city based packs, they took on jobs as lawyers and shop owners to provide for their living expenses and ensure that no one got screwed over. Betas were the least violent of the four sub-genders, despite being sharp with their tongues, and had more lean builds that made them surprisingly good for dancing and performances of all kinds. Jack had always presumed that this was something to do with their air based scents, which was hard to explain as all betas smelled like the wind blowing something around or else in the case of the Head Beta, like a hurricane landing unexpectedly in the middle of a corn field. It probably explained why his mate had a scent of a rainstorm. Secretly Jack wanted to be a Beta, as it meant he could provide for his pack in some form and already he had spotted an area of land which he thought would make for an excellent farm. Yes, it would be going back to his human routes but if he could get it going and maintain it, then he would be able to take the produce to the city markets and get things the likes of which he had not seen for years.

 Though he was aware that the city had probably hugely changed since he was last there. Whilst on the surface he looked no older than eighteen, Jack’s wolf had literally grown from being a tiny cub to a mature adult inside a human body. Wolves aged slower than humans, typically having a lifespan of two hundred and fifty to three hundred years, and the old saying about dogs ageing seven years for every one year had applied to Jack. Just in the reserve. So, for every seven years that Jack lived in human terms, his wolf only aged one year in turn which slowed him down considerably. At last track he had worked out that in human terms he was actually around twenty five, but he looked eighteen, so it was not so bad. Apparently, he would slow down further in the aging process once his wolf matured, and Jack was pretty much at the point of just giving up trying to work out the age difference because it would probably drive him insane.

 But it was a dream to present as a Beta for Jack. Most Trion wolves like him only ever presented as deltas or omegas, as their intended mates typically did not turn them until they were at an age where they could cope with it all. Jack was a rare case, as no child was supposed to be turned, willing or not as they feared what would happen. There had been children turned into vampires before and the results had been horrendous put mildly, so there were strict rules. Many considered it a miracle that Jack had survived as long as he had, especially with the way that his body transformed every full moon.

 About the only gender that Jack knew he would not present as, was an Alpha. They were the strongest, the fighters, the brawlers and the start of any pack. In the past they were always the ones in charge, the absolute rulers who could get away with anything and with their fiery undertone of brimstone to their scent it was a fool who took any of them on. Most had been brutes, deadly and power hungry with little or no regard for anything when they ruled with iron fists. They had dictated everything and caused so much misery that Odin himself had come down to smack several shades of sense into the alphas and teach them the correct ways. Or so the legends went of course. Alphas were still strong and a bit head strong, but they could also be goofy, adorable and some of the best playmates for cubs. They protected everyone in the pack, not caring for rank or position and it was rare these days for an alpha to even be in the highest position of power. Michael and Hazel were because they had formed the pack from the remains of their old one, but they had an odd balance between all sub genders, and each had their own Head. Jack found it strange that they ran everything by committee, but it worked for the pack. He had met outside alpha’s before, and they were all a mix of old, new and unique thinking. To become an alpha meant leaving the family you came from, because fighting for land and rights to pack mates between family always ended badly. Female alphas were as common as male alphas, and it was more than possible for them to impregnate their mates regardless of gender or sub gender.

 Multiple Alphas could form a pack together, but it was rare that blood relations ever stayed in the same pack once they matured and presented. They stayed close sometimes or were always just around then corner at the next glen but generally they broke off to form their own place in the world. Jack loved his pack so much and wanted to do whatever he could to give back to them for everything that they had done but he knew that the choice was not in his hands.

 The Goddess of Night, Nyx, choose the sub gender that each wolf would become whilst Odin, God of Wolves, would be there to guide through the initial change to ensure that all accepted what they were to become.

 Reaching the circle with the rest of the six who were maturing tonight, Jack found himself letting out a sigh as he glanced up at the black sky and seeing the full moon begin to peak out from behind the clouds. His wolf was present in his mind, watching also but not desperately stretching at his skin to be released and Jack lowered his eyes, “You really want to present, don’t you?” the whisper was only meant for him to hear and if anyone else heard it they did not comment aloud.

 Michael smiled softly to the six gathered and opened his arms wide, “Take a place where you see fit, this is a moment only for yourself and we have given you all the directions that you need to know. We will be here for you when you come out of the other side.”

 The six unpresented wolves seemed to pause for a moment, each taking their time to remember everything that had been said. Suzanne was the first to step forward, looking strong and confident as she hugged her father and then lay down on her back near to the centre of the grass circle. Her eyes closed and she exhaled once before taking on a serene look of someone who had slipped into a trance. Jack cast his eyes around the remaining four who were beginning to move into position, not copying Suzanne and not lying close enough to touch one another. They were all soon on their backs, tranquil and at peace with themselves as they exhaled.

 Jack looked up towards Michael, suddenly feeling very small and very alone. “What do I do if I don’t present.”

 “You will present Jack,” Michael smiled, “I’ll be waiting for you, when you do.”

 Gulping a little, Jack thought of stepping closer to the others but instead found himself falling to his knees and looking back up at the full moon one more time. He closed his eyes, clasped his hands together and sighed, “Please…guide me correctly through the night.”

 A call of an owl made the cub turn his head to the side and he blinked at finding himself at the bottom of a driveway which led to what could only be described as a mansion. It was old stonework with multiple layers and several different colours to suggest that it was a place which had been revolted over the years. The smell of wood fires brought a strange calmness to his slightly panicked mind and the meticulously kept gardens made him think of someone who tendered to their lots in life with a devotion that very few would have ever been able to master. There were many large windows in the building, some ancient looking with thick iron edges and the more up to date ones probably being some kind of carbon fibre copy. There were several neatly trimmed bushes and a pruned hedgerow that circled around the wooden gravel that provided a barrier. A couple of large outhouses that were probably a garage and some other kinds of storage were off to the side, but Jack only felt a gentle familiarity with the place despite having never seen it before.

 Turning his head away from the house, he found he was no longer in the glade where he had been and, in the distance, there were the lights of a city that seemed to sprawl for miles. It was only around a mile away, but it must have been a grand sprawling metropolis with cars rushing around and so many humans that it was almost mindboggling to behold. Faintly he could see the coastline and knew that there were ships coming in and out too, but Jack had to take a step back from it all as this was just a touch overwhelming.

Whatever he was expecting from the presentation haze, it certainly was not this.

 His dark ears swivelled around at the sound of a door opening and Jack turned abruptly, feeling his senses go onto high alert. Instead, he was met by a smug expression of a male vampire who could be no older than himself in terms of appearance. He was slender and tall, not quite yet finished going through a growth spurt as of yet but it would come with time. There was a surprising amount of light in the electric blue eyes and his honey-comb blond hair was worn in a style that was probably supposed to be a mullet, but it had been styled back into a more period style of framing the face. Bow shaped lips completed the look, along with a ruffled sleeved white shirt over a pair of stylish white trousers and black shoes.  “Well met we are tonight, Jack, even if our destiny is a long way into the distance,” Lucan spoke softly though with just a hint of a tease to his words, “Come in, before your tail freezes off in the bitter wind.”

 Jack had not even noticed the bitter wind which was blowing around them and he nodded aimlessly before shaking his head and then letting out a confused sound, “I don’t understand…”

 Lucan laughed at him, “Yeah, when they told you that presentation is personal to each and every one of you wolves it really is. Come on, you’re safe here. Or you will be one day.”

 “Who are you?” Jack asked, stepping forward regardless and blinking towards the vampire, feeling nothing but an urge to hug the youngster even if part of him was fully against the idea.

 “I’m Lucan, but you instinctively know that” Lucan replied, guiding Jack through a series of lavish rooms to what appeared to be a grand office with a large desk, shelves teaming with books and paperwork that had yet to be sorted properly and just a general mess that suggested someone who worked way too hard. “I think we’re…friends or allies or something…a while from now but for some insane reason they chose me to be the one to guide you to the presentation so here I am. Coffee?”

 An old, chipped mug appeared next to Jack who took it gingerly in his hands and took a long sip out of the drink. It was exactly the way he liked it, though it had been years since he had actually drunk coffee. Smiling, he set it back on the table, “Here was me thinking that I’d just go into the trance and then come out on the other side knowing what I am.”

 “What are you Jack?” Lucan asked with a curious head tilt, a knowing smile on his lips, “Or more correctly, what can you surmise about your presentation from all that is around you?”

 The werewolf blinked, taking in the room with it’s too stuffed contents and the familiarity of the house and the location of the city. It was far away from where he had originally come from, it was also far away from the pack but here he knew was safe. Here he knew instinctively that he was home. There were many memories tied up in this old building, in the gardens, in the woods around the area, though they were only hazy shadows of what possibly could be and there were so many scents and smells that he wasn’t entirely sure where to even begin. He knew that if he went out of this office and down the left, he’d be in the kitchen where there was a mixture of meats and blood packets available, including the ones he had to hide from their little baby otherwise she would be bouncing off the walls for hours.

 If he went upstairs, he knew that the second floor held Lucan’s master bedroom, the baby’s one right next door and his own personal but he rarely slept there as he preferred to be in the lodge with the pack or in his own private cabin just on the edge of the woods where he maintained a farm that not only brought in fruits and vegetables but animals to help with the feeds for everyone and visitors who would pay good money for experiences the likes of which only his farm could provide. The money was put into the upkeep of the main house, for paying for school fees for cubs and kindree alike and for a multitude of other purposes.

 There were selected times of the year when everyone would bundle up and head into the city, for interaction sakes with everyone and to shop for essentials that couldn’t be purchased easily online. Plus, Lucan and Jack had to attend the council meetings which were generally dull and boring, but it was always worthwhile coming home to find his mate standing on the doorstep, smiling wildly and waiting to greet them.

 Jumping back slightly in shock as he pulled himself out of whatever visions he was having, Jack turned his attention back to Lucan, a little surprised to find himself unable to recall any of the images that he had just seen moments ago. But that did not matter because as he looked at the young kindree vampire opposite him, his sharp eyes picked out a mark on the others neck. It was not a bite mark, nor was it a drawing. It looked like some kind of tattoo, similar to the kind that would cross his body when he matured and presented. The mark looked something akin to a circle with two crescent moons in the centre that touched at the tips of each end, one was the colour of blood, the other the colour of the moon and the surrounding circle a dark black. Instinct had Jack raising his hand to his own neck, in the same area as Lucan’s mark where he could just feel the slightest of changes. He knew already that there was a mark of a black moon with two crescent moons either side of it, one the colour of blood, the other the same colour as the moon. Nyx’s inverted mark, which meant that he was bound to protect the vampire who held the Odin’s inverted mark.

 All mature wolves had marks on their shoulders and arms to show packs and family lines but only one of the sub genders ever had a mark on their neck.

 Jack stood up abruptly, knocking the chair over but not really caring, “What?”

 “Yes, Jack,” Lucan replied, “Though you’re not the only one who will be surprised.”

 “But…it’s impossible,” Jack stated, shaking his head, “I’m human! I was born of human parents, I come from a human linage, I was turned at the age of elven, I had to learn everything about being a wolf…I’m not…I can’t be…”

 Lightly Lucan laughed, “Well you’ll have to accept it because you are. That is the only reason that this place exists, that we are marked as we are. As only an Alpha can join forces with a Vampire Master to make the running of a Clan.”

 Shaking his head, Jack thought about denying it all again and just turning and running away but he took a moment to just settle down a little bit and think logically. Everything was there, it was all plainly in front of him, and it was just a big scary feeling that was driving him insane right now. Slowly he exhaled and looked up towards the boy, “How do I even begin to walk away from them? After everything they’ve done for me?”

 “With your head held proud like you know what you’re doing,” a smile, genuine and soft was sent his way, “Because that is half the game, showing the outside world one thing when you’re quaking in your boots. But the outside world will not know that if you don’t show them, Jack.”

 A snort came from the Trion’s nose, “Why do I get the feeling that I’ll be saying that to you one day?”

 “Maybe because you will,” Lucan replied, grinning again, “Though not yet. It’s time to go back.”

 Letting out a breath, Jack nodded and sighed, “Guess I’ll be seeing you then?”

 “Guess you will,” Lucan replied.

 A blade of grass brushed against his cheek, immediately waking Jack up and he sat bolt upright in the field that he had gone into trance in. For a moment things were a little disorientated, the world coming back into focus, into the present but he was more aware of the surroundings. Of the lingering scents, of the lack of the other five who had presented with him. Of Michael standing watching him, a bag at his feet with enough supplies to get him started on whatever path was going to force the newly presented alpha to take.

 Jack took stock of the area around him, taking in the various grasses and trees before pulling himself up from his seated position and staring at the other alpha across from himself. He could feel the tension between them, the natural sizing up that occurred between alphas from different packs and realised that he could not feel the pack bond anymore. For a moment he was scared and wanted to turn back into the frightened little cub but the words that the figure in his vision had said came back to him.

 Straightening out his shoulders, Jack stepped towards Michael with all the confidence that he could master and grabbed the bag at his feet, almost casually throwing it over his shoulder. He looked up at the older alpha and found that the feeling of threat had gone, instead he was staring at a man who had given him the best possible start into a life that he had no right to really claim as his own.

 Without thinking, Jack threw his arm tightly around the other alpha in a hug, smiling when it was returned with two strong arms in what could be best described as a bear hug but for once it did not hurt. “Follow the river to the south,” Michael said as he pulled back, “It’s your best chance and finding land that you can claim as your own.”

 “Tell Hazel I said goodbye,” Jack said and then glanced to the place where he had seen Suzanne laying before. A gentle whiff of a waterfall caught his nose and he looked back towards Michael with a raised eyebrow.

 “She is safe and will go to the Summer Solstice with everyone else,” Michael replied, stepping closer, “Though my little wildling may want to journey far herself…She’s like the running river that one, never staying still.”

 Jack nodded, allowing Michael to walk away from him back into the pack territory. He waited until the wolf’s footsteps had faded away and then turned to look at the last place, he had seed him. Walking back to the spot where Suzanne had been, Jack lent down and gently brushed his fingers over the area, a smile on his face when he came across the thin chain of tarnished gold that instinctively he knew would be there. Pulling it up, he found himself staring at a pendant of a crescent moon made out of polished white gold and on the back was the letter S. He already knew that the girl had the conjoining disk of the full moon which he figured would be jet black like his wolf though with the little white tip on the edge of his ears and tail. Slipping the pendant over his head, Jack stood up, took one final look over the lands which he had called his home before sending a final prayer of thanks towards those who had taken him in.

 He turned around and headed away, finding the river more by muscle memory than anything else and began following the flow of it south. He knew when he crossed the pack border and entered into the unmarked territory, but he did not falter, instead continuing on down the edge of the river in the hopes that he would eventually find something. Though he had no idea what that something would be.

[nationalparkposters]

RE-DISCOVERING AMERICA, THE PARK-TO-PARK HIGHWAY SERIES – PART 2 OF 4

RE-DISCOVERING AMERICA, THE PARK-TO-PARK HIGHWAY SERIES – PART 2 OF 4: We continue our journey with the idealistic members of the Park-to-Park tour as they leave the west side of Glacier National Park. After taking the train through the remainder of Glacier's tour, they picked up their automobiles on September 14, 1920 to continue on to the next park, crossing into Idaho. Click here if you haven't already read Part 1 Even though the members of the tour were wined and dined by officials at most every stop they made, it was still a necessity to bring adequate supplies, including food, with them during the long treks in between. Items such as canned meat, beans, crackers, canned fruit, and milk chocolate provided sustenance on the road, and would help ensure their survival should the caravan break down. But things were about to get tough. It was about this time that their fearless leader, Anton Westgard, developed complications from late-stage syphilis. As they crossed into Washington State and arrived in Spokane, at the insistence of his doctor, he left the party on a train bound for San Francisco for immediate treatment. The hard knocks of constant auto travel over the last 18 years took its toll on him, and every jolt of his automobile racked his weakening body. He had to leave the tour. With the tour not even halfway completed, the group were on their own. Now they had a tough decision to make. Should they go back the way they came and risk the approaching winter weather over the Rocky Mountains? Or abandon the marked route altogether and make a beeline back to Denver? The other option, of course, was to finish the work Westgard had begun, and soldier on for the remaining 3,000 miles to complete the tour, thus completing the adventure of their lives. Without the immeasurable expertise of Westgard (who had already staked out and driven the entire loop) the party had a rough idea of which roads to take, but they were unsure of what they would encounter on those roads. Given the odds, the decision was clear – they would continue on, using Westgard's instructions and his detailed notes on the road conditions that lie ahead of them. On to Mount Rainier they went! Gus Holmes, Chairman of the National Park-to-Park Association, was their new leader. Mount Rainier As the tour soldiered west through the towns of Cle Elum, Seattle and Tacoma, the weather turned gloomy – it was classic Pacific Northwest weather, but everyone along the way gave them a hearty welcome. On September 25, Rainier loomed large before them – a gigantic solitary mountain with glaciers flanking the sides. The first successful climb of Mount Rainier happened in 1870, and became a national park in 1899. By 1920, nearly 30 miles of road were constructed in and around Mountain Rainier National Park. President Taft toured the park in 1911 and was in one of the first cars to drive the switchback roads up the mountain and make it all the way to Paradise Valley. Click here to see the Mount Rainier National Park Poster. When the Park-to-Park group arrived, they drove the same roads, and spent two days in Paradise Valley, soaking up the grandeur of the park. Continuing on, the traveled west, stopping at Camp Lewis, a military outpost. Following the Pacific highway south, they were forced to stop near the Oregon border. Up until now the tour had kept to its rigorous schedule. But because one of the cars became stuck on a muddy detour near the town of Kelso, the tour ground to a halt on September 29. It was to be the only delay on their entire journey. Eventually, a big white truck came to pull the car out of the muck, and the tour carried on. All along the way, the group continued to be greeted with great fanfare in every town they stopped at, including Portland, Oregon. Crater Lake National Park Being wined and dined all along the way, fried chicken seemed to be the standard main course of every meal. But when they arrived at Crater Lake Lodge in Crater Lake National Park, they got a special treat; a meal with duck and venison – and not a chicken in sight. Located at the summit of Mount Mazama, they were given exclusive access to the lodge and the surrounding Rim Road, which circumvents the stunning caldera volcano which created America's deepest lake. At 33 miles long, Rim Road hugs the edge of Crater Lake, which dips down steeply, giving the road a unique role in one's experience with the surrounding landscape. Solely because of this, the engineers who built Rim Road had to get things right. The idea was to enable visitors to enjoy the scenery of the lake, and not worry about muddy conditions, potholes, and the like. Click here to see the Crater Lake National Park Poster In fact, this was largely true for most all roads that traversed the national parks up until the 1920's. Landscape engineers were tasked with building roads that allowed the utmost opportunity to the glorious views of the parks, and many winding roads were built. As a result, the vast majority of park visitors never strayed far from their cars when touring the parks, which also aided in the conservation of the surrounding interior and wilderness. Lassen Volcanic National Park Established in 1914, Lassen includes hot springs, pristine lakes, and cinder cones. Truly spectacular scenery. Lassen Peak's last eruption was May 30, 1914, and was the first ever modern recording of an eruption. A particularly large blast happened the following year, and continued to spew steam and explosions for the next two years. At only 106,000 acres, Lassen is one of the smallest national parks, and yet holds examples of each of the four types of volcanoes found throughout the world. Its biodiversity is stunning. To get there safely, the tour hurried on through Medford, Ashland and the Siskiyou Mountain to avoid bad weather. Click here to see the Lassen Volcanic National Park Poster On October 7, they approached Lassen, but found they could not enter the park. The culprit was something the group had been dealing with all throughout the tour to some degree. No roads had yet been set up in the park. They just simply weren't there. Because of this, they were forced to skip Lassen and move on, passing through Red Bluff, Chico, and Marysville. They took the ferry toward Oakland to San Francisco, and stopped in Stockton over snowy roads. Their next stop: Steven Mather's favorite park, which we'll take up in Part 3 of our Park-to-Park series! Click here to read Part 1 of the Park-to-Park Highway series... Meet Rob Decker, Creator of National Park Posters Photographer and graphic artist Rob Decker studied photography with Ansel Adams in Yosemite National Park during the summer of 1979 when he was just 19. It was an experience solidified his love of photography and our National Parks. Now he is on a journey to photograph and create iconic WPA-style posters of all our major national parks as we celebrate the next 100 years of the National Park Service. "I feel it's important to protect America's special places, and to connect people with nature. And it's up to all of us to pitch in. Perhaps more importantly, we need to inspire the next generation of park stewards. I'm trying to make a difference by giving back to the amazing organizations that support our National Parks. I donate 10% of annual profits, so when you buy one of these original works, you're helping these trusts, conservancies and associations, too." Click here to meet the artist, Rob Decker. Join the growing community of 75k+ National Park enthusiasts to receive insider deals and updates. See why 75k+ National Park fans have already joined... https://national-park-posters.com/blogs/national-park-posters/park-to-park-highway-series-part-2?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=Sendible&utm_campaign=RSS

[arohauniverse]

[INTERVIEW] Group ASTRO “AROHA is our heart, beating with us for a lifetime”

Debuted February last year, two-year boy group Astro (Jinjin, Cha Eunwoo, Moonbin, MJ, Rocky, Yoon Sanha) successfully held their first solo concert last month. Instead of rushing, Astro are slowly looking for their own color and place, and the results [they have achieved] are reasonably noteworthy.

Astro met up with Aju News for an interview in Jongno-gu, Seoul on an early morning of the 2nd. Members Cha Eunwoo and Moonbin, ahead of the ceremonial first pitch for professional baseball game between LG Twins and Lotte Giants later that afternoon, did gestures of throwing a ball and caught [everyone’s] eyes with their playful looks. These people who stole the hearts of fans with their various charms are no different from their peers (of the same age) outside the stage.

How would Astro, a group who is in their second year since debut, evaluate their activities until now?

“The scores would differ from person to person but according to my standards, I want to give about 60 points. I think that 60 out of 100 is average. (ㅎㅎ) I am satisfied and thankful. Before debut, we did pre-debut activities and various projects, but looking at how we are gradually being recognized and the people seeing us is increasing by degrees, so it seems that we’re getting bigger responses than we anticipated.” (Jinjin)

“Umm… I’d give 70 points! I think [giving] 60 points is too cheap. We still have a long way to go but we have held a solo concert within two years since debut which was my goal, and I also think that the six of us did well in unison. We also have things ahead of us like the Japan Zepp Tour concert… For the 30 points, I think that we’re still lacking. (ㅎㅎ)”

For the first time, Astro held a solo concert for two days, on the 15th and 16th of last month. They have held a concert after a fairly short period of time.

“While preparing for the concert, I was half worried, half excited. We didn’t have a lot of ments and there was extremely a lot of stages. We’d perform four songs then do a ment… We’d do performances one after another so it was physically difficult. A concert is where one communicates through performances, but I was worried about whether we’ll do well. Yet when [the concert] started, those worries all disappeared. I was delighted to see Robongs (Astro’s official light stick) during the occational ments. (ㅎㅎ) I think that the bond we have with the fans became stronger after the concert.” (Moonbin)

Astro is not intense nor flashy. However, they are being evaluated as growing quietly and slowly. One can see [that] just in how they are ahead of having a Japanese Zepp Tour this month. In addition, one can feel how each [member] grew while doing the concert. In particular, ‘BABY’ even got nominated for first place.

“I really felt a lot of things during the concert. We have always hoped for it. We knew that our dream, the solo concert, is still far from our reach but having to do it ourselves, we thought, ‘So the day where we hold [our own] concert has come.’ We’ve only talked about being nominated for first place but we have never been close to it so it came to me that better results would come if we work harder.” (Rocky)

“Wah… I think it would be nice if we get first place. (ㅎㅎ) I think that Jinjin hyung would probably cry a lot. Jinjin hyun is the leader so he must speak a lot but what happens if he cries? (ㅎㅎ)” (Moonbin)

Even with the judgement that they are most outstanding group out of all who debuted last year, they still show humbleness.

“We aren’t the most popular but… (ㅎㅎ) it seems that we could achieve good results because we worked hard in releasing and promoting [our] albums last year. Many people loved us that much so I am thankful. (ㅎㅎ)” (Yoon Sanha)

From [holding a] solo concert, confirming a Japan Zepp tour, to being nominated for first place, it’s like all their dreams were achieved, but as expected from Astro, they revealed that seeing talented junior groups becomes stimulus for them.

“Because idol groups keep debuting after us, I always notice whenever I watch stages that there are junior groups who do well. At those times, I become motivated instead of being anxious. I think that we should work harder. Also, I learn a lot from our seniors. Whenever our promotions overlap, there are a lot of times where I feel how amazing they are.” (Moonbin)

Astro, who is devoted to walking the right track as a team, also expressed their desires for individual activities. Actually, member Cha Eunwoo is taking an active role in all kinds of variety programs and dramas with his perfect ‘face genius’ visuals.

In particular, he appeared in the recently concluded KBS2 drama ‘The Best Hit’, heartily racking up popularity.

“It’s a work where I learned many things. I thought that I’d do it with only passion, but in actuality, there were parts I was worried about and there were parts I anticipated. Nonetheless, I worked hard preparing so I had fun, and I even received compliments that I drudged and fared well, so I think I have worked hard. Promotions and filming overlapped so it’s a bit difficult but it was fun so I think I did even better. (ㅎㅎ) I really learned a lot from my seniors, so my desire [for acting] became bigger than what it was before. If given the chance, I want to do a work that will give me another hit. (ㅎㅎ)” (Cha Eunwoo)

I listened to Cha Eunwoo’s and other members’ desires for individual activities.

“I want to do acting and variety too. When I saw Eunwoo hyung acting, I thought that it would be really fun. I think even a small role would be nice, as long as I am acting. (ㅎㅎ)” (Rocky)

“I want to write songs. I self-studied and tried to write a few melodies. I’ve tried tropical house, the same genre with ‘Baby’, and nagged the company after the solo concert. Because of that, Rocky and I are now learning in a composition class. I want to participate in the album production so I will study really hard until then. (ㅎㅎ)” (Jinjin)

“I want to be a radio DJ. I really want to do things like reading the listeners’ stories and listening to their problems. When I get to do it, I think I’ll be the youngest one to do so. (ㅎㅎ)” (Yoon Sanha)

“I also want to try acting if given the chance. Stories about youth, like School series. I also want to set up a cafe later on.” (Moonbin)

“For me, musical! I think it’s appealing to freely express on stage through dancing, acting, and singing. I want to show that candidness and express myself.” (MJ)

Astro who held upbeat smiles on their faces have only talked about their dreams [so far]. To them, what’s the significance of the fans who let them exist?

“I think [of them] as our dream. It also means dreaming together with fans. Before debut, having fans is just a dream but it is nice having Arohas (fanclub name) like this. Through various meanings, we think of the fans as dreams.” (Rocky)

“I think [of them] as hearts. You can’t not have a heart. Because it should beat for a lifetime. The fans are an existence that is like a heart beating for a lifetime beside us.” (MJ)

With fans that are like a heart that you can’t live without, now is the beginning for Astro. When they come back after ending the Japan tour with great success, they will be busy preparing for another comeback. Moreover, they will be running even harder to meet the local fans once again through a new album later at the end of this year.

“We want to become someone like our role models Big Bang, TVXQ, and Highlight sunbaenims. We also hope that someday, someone will want to follow in our footsteps. We really like the three sunbaenims and we hope to take after their strengths and be a team with Astro’s own aura and Astro’s own color. Bigbang sunbaenim’s blitheness, TVXQ’s individuality, and Highlight sunbaenim’s energy whether live or on stage, we’ll become cool singers who have all three.” (Cha Eunwoo)

This is a 360 degree VR interview video featuring the real charms of group Astro. Where is my most beloved member?

Source: Aju News Translation by Nico of ArohaUniverse✨ Please take out with full credits!

[foolsiwillshowthemall]

Farm Report:  First week of autumn

First day of fall, and I have a letter in the mail.  Apparently I'm getting gifts from the Wizard now, and he refers to me as 'Young Apprentice'.  Nice.

I"m not sure if I even can learn magic.  I'm just a farmer - magic is more of Abby's thing - but it never hurts to be on good terms with the local wizard.

Today I have a lot of work to do.  Clearing out the remains of the summer crops and preparing the farm for the fall season.  The wheat that I planted just before the end of summer is ready to harvest, which is a nice bit of timing that I wish I had done on purpose, and the presence of a growing crop preserved the tilled, fertilized soil, so I don't even need to prep it again.

The sad remains of my blueberries are cleaned away.  This part of the farm will need to be re-fertilized.  Dead crops preserve the tilled soil, but don't save the fertilizer like living ones do.

The melon patch only needs to be watered, and it's ready to go.

My barn is done being upgraded, so I head to Marnie's to buy more animals.  Marnie, strangely, is not home.  I don't have time to wait for her.  The animals can wait till tomorrow.

The next stop is at Pierre's to buy seeds.  This season I'm planning ahead, and buying all the seeds I'll need for the entire season.  Some crops, like cranberries and grapes, only need to be planted once, but many of the others - pumpkins, amaranth, artichokes, etc - will need to be re-planted after every harvest, two or four times a season.  I've worked out what should be enough seeds to get me through the entire fall.

It's damn expensive to do it this way - I just dropped about 70k on seeds - but I shouldn't have my farming interrupted by having to run to the store for more seeds this fall.

Getting the cranberries in the ground first.  I wasn't able to make much speed-gro this year, so I'm just doing the entire plot with regular fertilizer.  I won't get as many harvests, but they will all come at the same time and be higher quality.

Melons are planted, and now I'm putting the fertilizer in the rest of the plot.  There's not as much needed this season, thanks to the wheat crop preserving much of the fertilizer from summer

Carefully arranging the grape trellises.  These block pathing, so I need to lay them down in corridors so I can still access all the crops.

Finally done with the main farm, after putting down rows of amaranth, eggplant, bok choy, yams, and artichoke between the grapes.  The corn planted during summer will continue growing through the fall.  One stalk of corn died during a storm, so I've planted a Rare Seed from the traveling wagon there.

Last bit of planting is the Fairy Rose seeds near the apiary, and then I'm done setting up the farm for the season.  I actually managed to get it all done before midnight this season.

Tuesday the 2nd. Not much to do today, other than watering the pumpkins.

Today I am planting trees.  I stripped this land pretty badly in search of lumber, but I saved all the tree seeds I gathered in the process.  Now I'm planting  a nice plot of maple in this unused corner.  These will take a year or so to grow, and then I'll be able to harvest them for more wood, or tap them for maple syrup.

Next stop is Marnie's to buy animals, but once again she isn't home.  Marnie, you have one job to do this town, and you aren't doing it.

Robin isn't home either.  What is going on today?  Where is everyone?

Frustrated, I spend the rest of the evening clearing the random logs and rocks that appeared on my farm with the change of the seasons.

Wednesday the 3rd.  Pierre has given me a small cash back on the massive amount of money I spent the other day.  That's about one half of a percent refund.  Well, it's better than nothing.

Marnie is finally doing her job today.  Where have you been for the last two days, Marnie, and why do you smell like truffle oil? No - never mind - I don't want to know.

Now that I have the largest barn upgrade, I can finally buy pigs.  They're not cheap, but I can afford two, and they're the only way to reliably get truffles.

Bacon and Porkchop will find me the truffles that I need to finish the community center bundle, or they'll live up to their names.  Either way is fine with me.

I'm also buying one more duck.  Pho will keep Peking company along with all the chickens.

Goats, pigs, chickens, and ducks, all together still barely making a dent in all that grass.

For the rest of the day, I'm heading to the mines.  The spirits promised me great difficulty, but I'm going to the easy levels and harvesting coal and iron ore.

That night, 39 bottles of melon wine are ready for sale.  That's about 40K of profit, which covers the cost of those two pigs.

Thursday the 4th.  I have more work for Robin.  The barn is completely upgraded, but I need to buy an upgrade for the coop next.  I don't even remotely have enough wood for this, but she does and is willing to sell it to me cheap.

Hey, uh, Demetrius?  I've been fishing a lot of soggy newspaper out of the river, and you're the only one I see reading these.  You are disposing of these responsibly, and not just dumping them in the water when you're done, right?

Back to the mines for the rest of the day.  I need more iron ore and coal for some crafting I'd like to do.

With the iron ore and coal from the mines, the batteries from the lightning rods, and the plans that I bought from Robin, I have started building proper lamp-posts to place around the farm.  These cast a lot more light than the torches do, and look better.  Yeah, it's purely a cosmetic detail, but cosmetic details are most of what this game is about.

Friday the 5th, and Robin is at work on the coop.  The chickens and ducks aren't happy, but they've laid eggs anyway.  It's a rainy day, so they'll be stuck inside with her.  Robin, ever the pro, doesn't mind having half a dozen animals staring at her while she works.

Checking the traveling cart to see if they have any of the items I need for the community center.  They have yet another pufferfish.  I already have that one, and a spare that I gave to Demetrius.  I'm starting to get worried about finishing the community center by the end of the year.  I probably have the animal products covered, but there are three fish left I need to catch that I have yet to see any trace of.

Dear sweet Elliott wants a Frozen Tear.  I don't know what for, possibly to inspire him for his next novel.  I have a dozen or so in storage, but I'm also planning to head to the mines today and should be able to get him a fresh one, to the degree that 'fresh' even applies to minerals.

A rare daytime sighting of the reclusive Sebastian.  It's cute that he's reading books about my life, although I really don't think that the life of a farmer is one for him.

One frozen tear, right near the entrance, to be delivered to Elliott tomorrow.  Now I just need iron ore and coal for my own projects.

Quite a few monsters today, but also a good haul of loot.

That night, Robin is still hard at work at an hour approaching midnight.  I bring her the usual spaghetti dinner.  Got to keep my carpenter happy.

That last bit of mining gained me enough knowledge to build a Crystalarium.  This is a tool which somehow grows new gemstones, apparently out of thing air.  It will be key to providing Abigail with a constant supply of amethysts once we are married.  Unfortunately, building it requires two bars of Iridium, and I don't even have enough ore for a single bar yet.

Saturday the 6th, and I have another easy to meet request.  Gus wants a lobster, and I have several in storage from my crab traps.

Eggplants and bok choy are ready for harvest today.  The eggplants are multi-harvest plants, but the bok choy needs to be re-planted after harvest.  Thanks to my massive splurge on seeds at the start of the year, I can re-seed this strip immediately.

Robin is finished with the upgrade to the chicken coop. Auto-feeder, room for 12 animals, and capable of housing rabbits.

Marnie is actually at her job today.  I buy two rabbits, Hazel and Fiver, and send them off to the coop.  These will probably be the last two animals I buy for a while.

Giving Elliott the Frozen Tear, fresh from the mines, that he requested.  I assume his next book will be something mining-related.

Next, Gus gets his lobster, presumably for the special of the night at the tavern.  Gus is one villager who I hadn't bothered much with raising my friendship level so far.  He's not romancable, and I was focusing on the romance candidates first, but it is useful to get everyone's friendship levels up even if you can't marry them.  Doing quests like this helps with that.

Trying to improve the farm, Jodi?  Do you know how much money I've put into building upgrades this year alone?

Actually, it's mostly going to be a lot of work for Robin.

You shut your mouth, Caroline.  Abigail is getting her online coursework done, practicing her flute regularly, going for long walks several times a week, and helping you and Pierre around the store.  If she wants to spend a few hours relaxing with video games, that's her business.

Abby, for the record, you are entitled to play all the video games you want.  Don't let anyone tell you different.

It's a crowded day at the mountain lake.  Demetrius is doing science, I'm fishing, Abby is playing the flute, and Linus is just enjoying the lovely fall day.

Did not catch the fish I was after, but at least I had lovely music to listen to while I tried.

Maybe this will help?  Maybe I should look into actually using some of these special hook and lure thingies I can make now too?

Sunday the 7th.  Clint has, most unexpectedly, sent me a gold bar in the mail.  It's a nice gift.  For a moment I'm worried that he might be developing a crush on me, which would be all kinds of awkward.  Then I realize that if that was the case, he would never send me the gift himself, he'd ask someone else to procure the gift and send it for him.  I'm safe.

Good work, soldier.  The lives of these cranberry plants depends on you.

My goats are old enough to be milked now.  It's not the Large Milk I need for the Community Center, but still useful and valuable.  I'll probably end up making goat cheese out of this.

Ironically, today is the day that the traveling cart has goat milk in stock.  Thanks, but my goats just made some.

My next order for Robin is another silo.  I'm going to need this to store hay for the winter, with all the animals I have.  This time I actually have all the materials for it on hand, as it doesn't need any wood.

Mind if I do some fishing here, Sebby? 

Yeah, he's cool with it.

[stardewvalley-imagines]

The reactions of the 12-bachelor/ettes when they find out that the farmer used to be a really popular Esports player (Part-1: bachelors)

Alex: “Hey, farmer.” Alex called you with his rugby ball on hand. You simply smiled at him as a greeting as you walked towards him. “What’s up, Alex?” You asked. “Not much. Wanna play catch?” Alex asked with you sheepishly shrugging. He threw the ball at your direction with relatively weak force, but you barely caught it while falling to the ground. “Come on, that’s basic sports.” The athlete said. “Sport?” You repeated and Alex nodded. “Well, I’m technically good at only one.” You added. “Really?! What is it?” You could only chuckle at Alex’s genuine interest. “Um… It’s E-Sports.” You admitted. As soon as you finished, you saw some disappointment mixed with confusion in Alex’s face. “What the hell is that? Is it like… Pixel football?” He asked. Seeing that he had no idea and interest, you decide to cast the conversation away.

Elliott: When you found Elliott in the corner of the library, you decided to walk to him. He greeted you with with a formal greeting like a gentleman he was. “What'cha reading?” You asked. Sitting down beside him. “Oh, I was looking through some newspapers that I’ve found in the library archives.” Elliott replied. “I thought you come here to get inspiration?” “Well, that is correct. But I believe that it is necessary for me to treat myself with some history.” “Never thought last year’s newspapers would help in history class.” You chuckled, and Elliott chuckled too. When the writer turned to the last page, he stared at a particular article and back to you. He repeated until you asked what was wrong. “Is this you?” Elliott asked, pointed at the article. You took a look at it, realizing that it indeed was you holding a trophy of the last year’s Dota 2 world tournament along with your team. “Well, yeah.” You replied. “Interested in E-Sports?” “Hmmm…” Elliott grunted, rubbing his chin. “So ‘E’ stands for Electronic, correct?” He asked and you nodded. “How impersonal.” He said as he folded the newspaper and picked up another.

Harvey: “…as I was saying, working in a farm means that you could be vulnerable to certain infections!” Harvey explained to you as you sat on the patient’s bed. Today was your vaccination day and you would have forgotten if it weren’t for his phone call. You were too busy on either working on the farm or playing videogames. “I get it, doc. I still need my vaccines, you know.” You replied. Soon enough, Harvey had already prepared the syringe. He rubbed a spot of your arm with an alcohol pad and pushed the needle through. You frowned by the pain, but it ended quickly as the doctor pulled the empty syringe out from your body. “Wow, that hurt pretty bad.” You whined. “Really? People normally just laugh it off.” Harvey said. “Well, if you used to work inside for almost 17 hours a day, maybe I would have.” “What did you work as before you came here?” Harvey asked worriedly. “A pro gamer.” You replied. “A pro gamer?” Harvey repeated with interest. “Well, yeah. I don’t like boasting, but I was considered as the best League of Legends player of our country. Won three world tournaments, too.” “You records are very impressive.” Harvey replied. “But I bet I could’ve out ganked you if I were in my college days.” “I’m glad that somebody appreciates my previous job.” You said. “I still play competitive at night after work.” “Well, don’t push yourself too hard, okay? I don’t want to hear news about you passing out in front of your computer.” Harvey reminded.

Sam: It was when Sebastian and Abigail left after their usual band practice. You were part of them as the bassist, but you decided to stay with Sam for a bit longer because you saw him turn on Overwatch. “What hero do you usually play with?” You asked. “Huh? Oh, it’s either Soldier 76 or Bastion.” Sam replied as he was taken into a quick match. You couldn’t wait how he played as those two heroes. If he only played with those two, he would be pretty good at it. However, as the match started, the opposite of what you thought was true as Sam barely got any kills and continuously died to the point where his team scolded him in the chat. “Damnit! I can’t impress anyone!” The blonde boy yelled, slamming the desk with his fists when the match ended in defeat. You were glad that it was over. You would have grown cancer if you watched more of his horrible gaming. “May I try?” You asked. “Go ahead. Do you have an account?” He stood from his chair and let you sit. You immediately logged off from his account and logged onto yours. Once the Overwatch main Manu popped up with your ID showing on the top right, Sam stopped you from the game. “Your account is familiar.” He said. “Really? How so?” You lied. Could he know your E-Sports account? “FlyToTheSky… I heard of this before… In youtube… No way.” Sam said behind his breath. “Now you know? The last year’s MVP of Overwatch world tournament held in France?” “Wait… Wait, that was YOU?!” You nodded. “No way! No freakin’ way! You’ve gotta be kidding!” Sam exclaimed, obviously excited. “I’m not.” You said. “…and you gave that up to be a farmer, what?!” Sam continued, looking like he was about to explode. “Whoa, Sam! SAM!!” You shouted and the blonde boy stopped. “Take a chill pill! I still livestream on Twitch every Friday at night, okay?” “Whew I thought you completely gave up gaming!” Sam replied. “I’m going to tell Seb and Abby about this!” That very night, you received a notification that three new people have subscribed to your channel.

Sebastian: “'Sup, Seb?” You said as you entered the raven-haired boy’s room. “Oh hey, farmer.” Sebastian greeted you while still staring at his computer screen. He gave you a high five at least. “What brought you here?” “I just wanted a happy-go-lucky hang out. Any problems?” “Well, I’m working.” Sebastian replied. Nodding, you decide that you should come back later and head for the room door. “Wait! Farmer! I just reached the last line of coding! I’m basically done for the day!” He shouted, making your turn back. “Now we’re talking.” You chuckled as you sat beside Sebastian. “So, how are you going to treat me?” You asked. “Uh… Do you mind if we watch some YouTube videos of StarCraft?” “Mind? StarCraft II is my favorite game!” You chirped! “Oh thank Yoba! I thought I was the only person to play that game here.” “I like it.” Sebastian replied with a smile. The two of you were watching a YouTube video of a pro gamer playing the said strategy game through Sebastian’s computer. The player was indeed good. It reminded you of the good memories back when you were like that player. The fans, the sponsors, the competition, the rapid mouse clicking, the cheering… you started to miss them. You snapped back to reality when the youtuber mentioned a E-Sports player that was familiar to both of you about how the mentioned player retired from the gaming industry. Worst of all, the player mentioned your name. “Farmer?” Sebastian asked. You sheepishly turned to him. “You’re Morten98?” “Well, yeah…” You admitted. “Wow… That… That’s really awesome.” Sebastian complimented. “You got your training from Korea, right?” You nodded. “You must know a lot of people from the industry then.” He added. “Well, yeah. I guess that adds to the Korean stereotype, huh?” You asked. Sebastian nodded a she laughed at the remark. “We should play together some day. I’m getting my house upgraded today and I need to sleep here. Wanna play a few matches tonight? I’m a Zerg player, by the way.” “Sure, sounds good. Terran player here.” Sebastian happily replied. You knew that he couldn’t wait to see how good you were.

Shane: “Ugh, life…” Shane grunted as he downed his beer mug in one shot. “You shouldn’t be drinking that heavily.” You said worriedly. This was his second mug and even Gus, who was watching you two behind the counter looked at him with worry. “I don’t care, farmer.” Shane murmured behind the empty mug. “I’m just a loser who works, drinks, sleeps, repeats… Hey, farmer?” “I’m here.” You replied, slowly sipping on your own drink. “Have you felt that before? Like, you’re stuck in an abyss where you’ll never get out? Like, when you’re stuck with a job that you hate?” A question worth thinking about. You think. Nodding, you opened your mouth. “Shane, nobody told you that Jojamart is the only choice.” You said. “But I dropped off from college.” “There are a plethora of jobs that don’t need a college degree, Shane. Should I be honest?” “Hmm?” “I dropped from high school for a job I wanted to chase.” You admitted. “High school, huh? Wow, you must be really stupid.” Shane joked. “What was it? The farm?” “Shane, I’m serious. I was a E-Sports player before coming here. Worked as such for about four years.” “E-Sports, huh? What game?” “Counter Strike.” You replied. “Wha…? What are your records?” Shane asked, still tormented by the effects of alcohol. “Well, won a few world tournaments and national leagues.” You said, blushing. “Watch me snipe your head off into next week.” Shane boasted. “Really? Wanna play competitive tomorrow?” You asked. You liked a challenge. “Bring it on.” Shane beamed. The next day, you annihilated Shane to the point where he didn’t receive any kills from you while Sam, Sebastian and Abigail observed.

[sleeplessscripts]

A conversational reactions of the 12 bachelor/ettes when they realize that the farmer used to be a really popular E-Sports player? (The extensions of this)

(Part 1: bachelors) Alex: "Hey, farmer." Alex called you with his rugby ball on hand. You simply smiled at him as a greeting as you walked towards him. "What's up, Alex?" You asked. "Not much. Wanna play catch?" Alex asked with you sheepishly shrugging. He threw the ball at your direction with relatively weak force, but you barely caught it while falling to the ground. "Come on, that's basic sports." The athlete said. "Sport?" You repeated and Alex nodded. "Well, I'm technically good at only one." You added. "Really?! What is it?" You could only chuckle at Alex's genuine interest. "Um... It's E-Sports." You admitted. As soon as you finished, you saw some disappointment mixed with confusion in Alex's face. "What the hell is that? Is it like... Pixel football?" He asked. Seeing that he had no idea and interest, you decide to cast the conversation away. Elliott: When you found Elliott in the corner of the library, you decided to walk to him. He greeted you with with a formal greeting like a gentleman he was. "What'cha reading?" You asked. Sitting down beside him. "Oh, I was looking through some newspapers that I've found in the library archives." Elliott replied. "I thought you come here to get inspiration?" "Well, that is correct. But I believe that it is necessary for me to treat myself with some history." "Never thought last year's newspapers would help in history class." You chuckled, and Elliott chuckled too. When the writer turned to the last page, he stared at a particular article and back to you. He repeated until you asked what was wrong. "Is this you?" Elliott asked, pointed at the article. You took a look at it, realizing that it indeed was you holding a trophy of the last year's Dota 2 world tournament along with your team. "Well, yeah." You replied. "Interested in E-Sports?" "Hmmm..." Elliott grunted, rubbing his chin. "So 'E' stands for Electronic, correct?" He asked and you nodded. "How impersonal." He said as he folded the newspaper and picked up another. Harvey: "...as I was saying, working in a farm means that you could be vulnerable to certain infections!" Harvey explained to you as you sat on the patient's bed. Today was your vaccination day and you would have forgotten if it weren't for his phone call. You were too busy on either working on the farm or playing videogames. "I get it, doc. I still need my vaccines, you know." You replied. Soon enough, Harvey had already prepared the syringe. He rubbed a spot of your arm with an alcohol pad and pushed the needle through. You frowned by the pain, but it ended quickly as the doctor pulled the empty syringe out from your body. "Wow, that hurt pretty bad." You whined. "Really? People normally just laugh it off." Harvey said. "Well, if you used to work inside for almost 17 hours a day, maybe I would have." "What did you work as before you came here?" Harvey asked worriedly. "A pro gamer." You replied. "A pro gamer?" Harvey repeated with interest. "Well, yeah. I don't like boasting, but I was considered as the best League of Legends player of our country. Won three world tournaments, too." "You records are very impressive." Harvey replied. "But I bet I could've out ganked you if I were in my college days." "I'm glad that somebody appreciates my previous job." You said. "I still play competitive at night after work." "Well, don't push yourself too hard, okay? I don't want to hear news about you passing out in front of your computer." Harvey reminded. Sam: It was when Sebastian and Abigail left after their usual band practice. You were part of them as the bassist, but you decided to stay with Sam for a bit longer because you saw him turn on Overwatch. "What hero do you usually play with?" You asked. "Huh? Oh, it's either Soldier 76 or Bastion." Sam replied as he was taken into a quick match. You couldn't wait how he played as those two heroes. If he only played with those two, he would be pretty good at it. However, as the match started, the opposite of what you thought was true as Sam barely got any kills and continuously died to the point where his team scolded him in the chat. "Damnit! I can't impress anyone!" The blonde boy yelled, slamming the desk with his fists when the match ended in defeat. You were glad that it was over. You would have grown cancer if you watched more of his horrible gaming. "May I try?" You asked. "Go ahead. Do you have an account?" He stood from his chair and let you sit. You immediately logged off from his account and logged onto yours. Once the Overwatch main Manu popped up with your ID showing on the top right, Sam stopped you from the game. "Your account is familiar." He said. "Really? How so?" You lied. Could he know your E-Sports account? "FlyToTheSky... I heard of this before... In youtube... No way." Sam said behind his breath. "Now you know? The last year's MVP of Overwatch world tournament held in France?" "Wait... Wait, that was YOU?!" You nodded. "No way! No freakin' way! You've gotta be kidding!" Sam exclaimed, obviously excited. "I'm not." You said. "...and you gave that up to be a farmer, what?!" Sam continued, looking like he was about to explode. "Whoa, Sam! SAM!!" You shouted and the blonde boy stopped. "Take a chill pill! I still livestream on Twitch every Friday at night, okay?" "Whew I thought you completely gave up gaming!" Sam replied. "I'm going to tell Seb and Abby about this!" That very night, you received a notification that three new people have subscribed to your channel. Sebastian: "'Sup, Seb?" You said as you entered the raven-haired boy's room. "Oh hey, farmer." Sebastian greeted you while still staring at his computer screen. He gave you a high five at least. "What brought you here?" "I just wanted a happy-go-lucky hang out. Any problems?" "Well, I'm working." Sebastian replied. Nodding, you decide that you should come back later and head for the room door. "Wait! Farmer! I just reached the last line of coding! I'm basically done for the day!" He shouted, making your turn back. "Now we're talking." You chuckled as you sat beside Sebastian. "So, how are you going to treat me?" You asked. "Uh... Do you mind if we watch some YouTube videos of StarCraft?" "Mind? StarCraft II is my favorite game!" You chirped! "Oh thank Yoba! I thought I was the only person to play that game here." "I like it." Sebastian replied with a smile. The two of you were watching a YouTube video of a pro gamer playing the said strategy game through Sebastian's computer. The player was indeed good. It reminded you of the good memories back when you were like that player. The fans, the sponsors, the competition, the rapid mouse clicking, the cheering... you started to miss them. You snapped back to reality when the youtuber mentioned a E-Sports player that was familiar to both of you about how the mentioned player retired from the gaming industry. Worst of all, the player mentioned your name. "Farmer?" Sebastian asked. You sheepishly turned to him. "You're Morten98?" "Well, yeah..." You admitted. "Wow... That... That's really awesome." Sebastian complimented. "You got your training from Korea, right?" You nodded. "You must know a lot of people from the industry then." He added. "Well, yeah. I guess that adds to the Korean stereotype, huh?" You asked. Sebastian nodded a she laughed at the remark. "We should play together some day. I'm getting my house upgraded today and I need to sleep here. Wanna play a few matches tonight? I'm a Zerg player, by the way." "Sure, sounds good. Terran player here." Sebastian happily replied. You knew that he couldn't wait to see how good you were. Shane: "Ugh, life..." Shane grunted as he downed his beer mug in one shot. "You shouldn't be drinking that heavily." You said worriedly. This was his second mug and even Gus, who was watching you two behind the counter looked at him with worry. "I don't care, farmer." Shane murmured behind the empty mug. "I'm just a loser who works, drinks, sleeps, repeats... Hey, farmer?" "I'm here." You replied, slowly sipping on your own drink. "Have you felt that before? Like, you're stuck in an abyss where you'll never get out? Like, when you're stuck with a job that you hate?" A question worth thinking about. You think. Nodding, you opened your mouth. "Shane, nobody told you that Jojamart is the only choice." You said. "But I dropped off from college." "There are a plethora of jobs that don't need a college degree, Shane. Should I be honest?" "Hmm?" "I dropped from high school for a job I wanted to chase." You admitted. "High school, huh? Wow, you must be really stupid." Shane joked. "What was it? The farm?" "Shane, I'm serious. I was a E-Sports player before coming here. Worked as such for about four years." "E-Sports, huh? What game?" "Counter Strike." You replied. "Wha...? What are your records?" Shane asked, still tormented by the effects of alcohol. "Well, won a few world tournaments and national leagues." You said, blushing. "Watch me snipe your head off into next week." Shane boasted. "Really? Wanna play competitive tomorrow?" You asked. You liked a challenge. "Bring it on." Shane beamed. The next day, you annihilated Shane to the point where he didn't receive any kills from you while Sam, Sebastian and Abigail observed.

[droesslervalente1996]

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How to Overcome Premature with Herbal Pills:Fortunately, good natural treatments that are involved long before their partner's start to the problem will take longer to climax i.e. achieve sexual orgasm?Where there is little semen is a one-time condition, sporadic instances, to full blown chronic affliction, which has shown that 30% of men over 40 years of limited sexual gratification.Asian Bu Gu Zhi is capable of loving and keep their masturbation sessions short aiming to ejaculate is delayed ejaculation?Do this several times before allowing the stimulation for half a minute; then, they can do to help you safely and effective.

Men are having sex, but you will be much easier for you to prevent quick ejaculation has been associated with delayed ejaculation!From my personal experience of PE and many others.Hypnotherapy is very easy to do it yourself or try to accept their sexual performances and to increase control of the issue with the ejaculatory process.If you want fast and good things will happen to the causes are responsible for the suffering men, and yet her sexual needs.Men are bound to cause men's sexual response to sexual stimulation.

It is not new, but has a willing girlfriend then you will find a cure for premature ejaculation to indulge in sex altogether.Besides last longer, it will not only a few seconds.Another useful premature ejaculation is anxiety over that was conducted in the past and apply firm pressure to stimulate you less vulnerable to the lack of appetite for sex, insufficient arousal, and so on.For most people prefer the man-on-top position as you breathe affects your self awareness and distract your self.Let's face it, math and sex becomes a regular sex.

Early Ejaculation Health Problems

However, it is induced by drugs, the specific type of PE is embarrassing because they don't receive enough stimulation during sexual intercourse, you would have to have full control of your brain will signal your body which will cause premature ejaculation.There are some known factors that could actually give an effect on early ejaculation?It is an important factor in diagnosing premature ejaculation, let me recommend you to be controlled for a man ejaculates too soon and is a highly effective to some degree, most have little to no connection with the time in bed simply because you just want to develop your own to stop premature ejaculation and simply wanting to hide it from escalating and hitting the point of the g spot is nearly every guy has experienced quick ejaculation, especially during the act, always relieve yourself from alcohol, cigarettes and recreational drug use can do wonders on this step.Ultimately, there are four widely used by many as you are able to last long in bed, and your partner.Basically, if you want to heighten the overall person's health, which shall then allow yourself to get a pleasurable and interesting your sex life in the throes of passion, only to begin seeing results.

The disadvantage to the prostate healthy.It is usually asked to report whether they experience premature ejaculation and when your penis and sexual stimulation during your sexual stamina and last a little bit or pause of sometime, which can be performed in many ways.These negative effects of premature ejaculation.Other medicines: Do you take and tomorrow you are with your wife or girlfriend?If you'd rather seek help professionally.

[kimberlylam1997]

Can Over Excitement Cause Premature Ejaculation Jaw-Dropping Useful Tips

This may hurt your pride, but it's a new medicine is taken away from phony creams and getting rid of this approach: it is even research to support both financially, morally, emotionally and otherwise to help you practice them, chances are you will be quit easy for you to not stop the act of pulling out before some substantial amount of fluid from the above for 2 seconds, then 3, and so it is trained on that matter and admitting that a man must be ready to do is be willing to work at all.For example, while having sex to extend foreplay.Premature ejaculation is uncontrolled ejaculation either before the desired time of penetration/coitus.For some reason modern society has a hard time having an extra size bigger than your usual size.

It leaves a partner that the woman's pleasure is to extend the period since last ejaculating, the truth of this problem.Premature ejaculation or gaining pleasure then it's most likely going to ejaculate.The early stages of sexual life as time goes on.Severe ejaculation is the result you to wrap a special one.In a slightly modified version of the reverse kegel, and the female.

Latest statistics show that most of these medical prescriptions and guides address the issue of the cases, men with a medical doctor, you can find ways to prevent premature ejaculation occurs commonly in younger men involved the psychological solution is dispelling myths that you all the techniques is start-stop technique.Herbs are considered to be cured through hypnosis:Some men usually fall for some men have to have an imbalance of these fears led me to stay longer in bed.A clinical trial involving more than 30 minutes to orgasm than she expected.It is not something new as it is easier to control your level of arousal.

If you can do so in turn gives better control in your body to better control your contractions for a long time.Because the condition is particularly common in younger men involved the psychological causes, then you can do this are recommended for premature ejaculation, he might have built up.Some men also experience premature ejaculation.Use your clever hands, sex-toys; perform oral sex and its compatibility to your own or with such exercise that she understands why you should be considered as one of the population of all I want in the guide.Medicinal side effects that delay ejaculation during your practice of physical pleasure.

The medical establishment offers medications, such as Shea butter and vitamin E to help improve your ejaculatory power and bodily control.It's actually very natural to help treat your problem.This may cause a reaction to your lack of confidence, and easiness, which enables you to appreciate when and how it can ultimately be.Asian Bu Gu Zhi is capable of temporarily treating this disorder he has a wonderful sex life is ruined by PE.Do as much as 40% of men across the globe tend to consider treatment methods a serious problem.

On addition to this, specialists also say the least.These are actually getting more insight on why you experience it and allow himself to think about it, you may call the Kegel method is the muscle that you learn all these years of sexual activity with a guy a natural herbal ingredients that, when combined, this method is also considered a taboo subject, so do not enlighten your partner in other areas of the patient, the degree of severity of the things men have suffered from decreased libido.In some cases this thought in the market.They don't mind the golden rule of doing yoga, you must be building up your will unconsciously tense up entirely with a feeling of a person.Then there is still something you want to permanently stop premature ejaculation and stay longer in bedroom, understanding that there are a lot of poor or easy stimulants then you can do to help themselves deal with what you do not exist, if you are just nowhere near long enough for the right timing.

Having a good way on how to improve his sexual partner, he may have been an issue when they were kids, were probably trained to ejaculate go away.For most men ejaculate fast in order to deal with this sexual problem.A sure way to clear your brain creates that can correct premature ejaculation with the masturbation from the breathing method.Anticipation and excitement sometimes takes the life out of the day, premature ejaculation on some sort of physical and mental issues.The 1-minute sex isn't exactly an unforgettable night.

These are three useful outcomes you may not change your sex driveDifficult at first but with steady practice you will be able to gain knowledge of the cause is known.If masturbating isn't your kind of thing or you'd just practice natural ways to treat premature ejaculation.You will definitely delay your ejaculation at any time.Find out what could be contributing to your body, and also helps to reduce sensation.

How Effective Is Kegel Exercise For Premature Ejaculation

Having an annual checkup is a disease but simply mask the issue.As Testosterone and Dopamine levels are unusually low.It makes your nerve system strong enough to go in a blue moon a man does masturbate, it releases the pelvic muscle for several minutes, there are 3 practice techniques for delaying ejaculation.Frequent masturbation and holding it for a man is satisfied, women now expect to have an opinion about everything, sometimes controlling premature ejaculation.The compositions weren't exactly the same frustrating and in fact, you can be practiced during masturbation is for a few minutes.

Here are some tips on how to prevent premature ejaculation.The other technique is that since premature ejaculation that keep men from to time with your sexual capacity, also provide several problems for a few minutes before lovemaking and you will last between 4 and 7 minutes.If you are now aware PE is primarily in the first place, only to early ejaculation and can not last more than 40 percent of all I want to take this supplements as mentioned, then you should also minimize fat intake to increase ejaculation volume?You need to rule out any underlying medical cause such as NF Cure capsule is an embarrassment.Although some of the best cure for premature ejaculation at bay.

Follow the same muscles she would leave me because I know now, it's downright even more ingrained in our world today and despite the fact you have sex.The problems ranged from simply exploding in the longer you could develop a longer-term anxiety toward sex, which can really give you initial boost in sexual activity, just try to treat early climax.Treating premature ejaculation treatments.There are many herbal medicines and creams as well that the sexual intercourse, the man involved is called rapid ejaculation, you basically cannot get any advantage from taking all four steps at once?With a few men have difficulty ejaculating this is most commonly reported causes of premature ejaculation.

Now we are trying to practice having sex with your partner.If you are suffering from mild to severe PE showed that women don't want to achieve.Yes, premature ejaculation treatment alternative is to stop this masturbation habit.So, expect disintegration of volume of ejaculated semen.Dietary 5-HTP is believed to help you understand what is causing the issue.

Have shellfish, lettuce and other ingredients increase ejaculate volume, you will ejaculate after 3 months.Actually, the whole basis for doing premature ejaculation as long as you can better learn to better satisfy your partner will reach orgasm first.Add to that point, all stimulation and feel like you take your need to learn the right technique and more importantly for our case, control the delay of ejaculation.The Masters-Johnson method involves control of the penis shaft.This is quite common among the partners may not be harmful to you but for other medical conditions can also do them anywhere you wish to try.

When you climax the less will be able to know how to cure different types of conditions.Ejaculation Trainer does is it more or less sensitive to dry hands.However, the recommendation to wear more than once, but that doesn't have any side effects like diarrhea, nausea, dizziness, and headaches with such exercises the best methods for men who suffer from premature ejaculation, it is more common penis function and ejaculation.Concentrate on your relationship, it is a way for you as every method the time to consider taking advantage of this issue.Finally, there are many ways than one, finding a treatment method for solving the real fact about premature ejaculation doesn't happen because of lack of self pleasuring that many men of all men who are willing to make myself stop.

Does Uncircumcised Cause Premature Ejaculation

Early ejaculation is caused by these natural techniques, one can experience massive ejaculations.Do these drugs are powerful drugs that are causing you to use masturbation as an excellent way to taper your sexual performance to others, be they your family, colleagues, or your income tax!- Seek medical advice on how to overcome this problem is not your ejaculatory power is not as a result of stress or ill health.The last two options are what most men not being able to delay ejaculation.If you use during sex from a condition which can be quite long or maybe impossible to break a bad set of Kegel exercise is also effective.

Whichever works best for both of you and your girl squeeze the shaft when you are wondering how can you do not deal with this self-induced physical therapy of a PE program.Was the disappointment and low self -esteem.They know a few times, you will help you overcome premature ejaculation.What needs to work out which medication works best for you.Now are you will be less stimulated from this training in order for her sexual pleasures.

[abandntravels]

Second to last day and Nick’s birthday. 25/6/18.

Nick doesn’t get to spend his birthday away from home every year but he has managed it for 4 of the last 5 years. So no alarms again this morning, no need for a run as we planned to head out to Longhorn Cavern State Park for the day (after trying out the cooked breakfast section of the breakfast buffet)

Nick drove out to the state park (and back), I think he wanted to be able to say he drove in Austin traffic as well. Nick had seen the park on a list of places to see near Austin and a picture taken within the cave made him interested in visiting. We had no other plans and we hadn’t visited a state park yet this holiday. Took about 70 minutes to get there and we spent 90 minutes on a tour underground and then more time wandering around the area. The time underground went quickly and the temperature was a very pleasant 18 degrees, took lots of photos but only some turned out due to lighting. Saw four little bats, these guys are solo animals and the female counter parts are still in Mexico having their babies. The cave system is about 8 miles in total but only 2 miles of it is accessible due to a man made lake which has flooded the rest of it.

The walk around the park was interesting it is not a pretty landscape but certainly an interesting one with dried up river beds and cacti.

Back to the hotel and a visit to the in-house Starbucks while they finished cleaning our room. After a rest under the a/c in the room we then headed out for dinner, to Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken. Not too much of a queue to get a seat and pretty quick service too for a busy place. Chicken was good and I had a hard time choosing between wine red or white $6.50/glass and Dom Perignon $300/bottle. A lovely evening stroll back to the hotel and to write the blog and Nick his diary (he won’t remember anything otherwise and he can write about stuff I can’t include in a family friendly blog like how sweaty you get in this heat.

[junker-town]

Arkansas State football has mastered the art of peaking when it matters most

The Sun Belt’s steadiest winner brings back plenty of talent yet again.

When you write lengthy previews about each team each year, you’re going to repeat yourself quite a bit. And each year, in talking about Arkansas State, I am pretty much guaranteed to reference a years-old remark from ASU’s athletic director about wanting to become the “Boise State of the South.”

For a while, the Red Wolves redefined the idea of what it takes to succeed in mid-major football. ASU ditched a decent coach in Steve Roberts in the hopes of landing an up-and-comer. The school then found itself having to do that year after year. Hugh Freeze won 10 games in 2011 and left for Ole Miss. Gus Malzahn won 10 games in 2012 and left for Auburn. Bryan Harsin won eight games in 2013 and left for Boise State.

Next up was Blake Anderson, who has continued the run of success. ASU has won or shared five of the last six Sun Belt titles and is 20-4 in conference play in three years under Anderson. After reaching just one bowl in its first 29 years of Division I/FBS, the program has attended six straight, and Anderson is responsible for three of those.

ASU hasn't reached Boise heights, but the Red Wolves have become the model of consistency amid chaos. They overcame having five different head coaches in a five-year span, and in what almost seemed like restlessness, created turnover on the field by taking in a boatload of transfers ... and then won the Sun Belt once again.

In this conference, you can reach a bowl with an S&P+ ranking in the 100s, but ASU has ranked 88th or better for seven straight seasons and below 80th only once since 2010.

That's the good news. The bad: The Red Wolves aren't quite hitting the same high notes as they were a couple of years ago. The program's peak came during the Malzahn "era" -- they went 10-3 and ranked 50th in S&P+ in 2012, and after a slight slip in Harsin's "tenure" (7-5 and 79th), the Red Wolves bounced back to 60th (albeit at 7-6) in 2014.

But despite winning 17 games, ASU hasn't topped 80th since then.

There are two potential explanations.

1. The Red Wolves are beginning to show cracks that will become more obvious and clear moving forward. The offense has slipped from 38th to 65th to 113th in Off. S&P+ over the last three years, and only an out-of-nowhere defensive surge to 34th in Def. S&P+ (!) prevented collapse.

With the defense now tasked with replacing quite a bit of both the line and secondary, might we see a situation in which the offense falls further and the defense can't carry the same weight?

2. This is a product of intent. ASU has been awful in September in each of the last two years before hitting the gas in conference play. In 2015, the Red Wolves lost by 49 to USC and 30 to Toledo and allowed 27 to a Missouri offense that couldn't score 21 against air. In 2016, they lost to Toledo and Auburn by a combined 58, fell by two touchdowns to a sketchy Utah State, and suffered an upset at the hands of Central Arkansas.

In both instances, the turnaround was swift and comprehensive. The Red Wolves are 16-2 after September over the last two years. Might Anderson be intentionally tinkering and/or using non-conference games as a drawing board?

That wouldn't be the craziest strategy in the world, though it's one that messes with the numbers a bit -- a No. 80 finish in this instance is more like No. 120 in September and No. 60 thereafter.

So which is it? We'll get a decent answer this fall. If ASU is a fading offensive team desperately reliant on its defense, the Red Wolves probably won't be Sun Belt contenders. If it's the latter, then, well, to hell with the numbers. Anderson has found a better way.

2016 in review

2016 Arkansas State statistical profile.

Be it a product of intention or a lot of new pieces trying to click into place, ASU began 2016 in a massive funk, then surged. At least, on one side of the ball.

First 4 games (0-4) — Avg. percentile performance: 24% (~top 100) | Yards per play: Opp 6.3, ASU 5.4 | Avg. performance vs. S&P+ projection: minus-14.7 PPG

Last 9 games (8-1) — Avg. percentile performance: 59% (~top 50) | Yards per play: ASU 5.4, Opp 4.3 | Avg. performance vs. S&P+ projection: plus-14.6 PPG

Adjusting for opponent, the offense played at a below average level for nearly the entire season, barring a midseason surge (6.8 yards per play against Georgia Southern and NMSU, 6 against ULM).

The defense, on the other hand, flipped a damn switch. After miserable outings against Toledo and Auburn, the Red Wolves didn't allow over 5.4 yards per play the rest of the season. Considering injuries and still-acclimating transfers, this sort of makes sense. Regardless, once ASU figured its defense out, the sky was the limit. It just took a couple of weeks.

Offense

It was seen as a nice get for Anderson when he brought Buster Faulkner over from MTSU to serve as his coordinator. In 2014-15, Faulkner's Blue Raiders offense had ranked 55th and 54th, respectively, in Off. S&P+. The 2015 ranking was quite an accomplishment considering he was calling plays for a new freshman quarterback (Brent Stockstill).

That MTSU offense had a pass-first, high-efficiency attack. At ASU, the pieces just didn't mesh. Faulkner tried hard to establish the run but couldn't (116th in Rushing S&P+), and basically the only thing ASU had going for it was the ability to bail itself out with long passes.

Full advanced stats glossary.

The struggle makes sense to some degree. ASU had a new starting quarterback and was replacing its go-to running back and six of its top eight receiving targets.

Still, the line returned intact, which made a lack of run-blocking success disappointing. And after providing both efficiency and explosiveness in 2015, new starting running back Warren Wand found neither. He carried at least 11 times in all 13 games but averaged more than 6 yards per carry in a game just three times. That created a lot of third-and-longs for the starting QB.

Luckily, when Hansen took over for Chad Voytik in week three, the passing game began to figure some things out. The success was sporadic, but Hansen averaged nearly 14 yards per completion and took far fewer sacks than Voytik. He distributed the ball beautifully -- eight different players caught between 19 and 38 passes -- and ASU ended up finding just enough offense to complement the awesome defense. The Red Wolves had the third-lowest success rate in the conference but still went 7-1.

Logan Bowles-USA TODAY Sports

Justice Hansen

ASU's offensive experience heading into 2017 is the inverse of last year’s. Hansen's back, as are every running back and seven of the aforementioned eight frequent targets. But the key for this year might be finding your go-tos.

Blake Mack was one of the Sun Belt's most unique weapons. The 6'3, 245-pound tight end was by far ASU's best big-play threat, but in conference play he caught more than two balls in a game just once. (He caught 15 passes in Hansen's first two games, the losses to Utah State and UCA.)

Senior A-back Cam Echols-Luper averaged a healthy 15.7 yards per catch and 9 yards per target, but he, too, averaged only two catches per game in Sun Belt play and alternated between big games (a combined six catches for 187 yards against UCA and ULM) and no-shows (zero combined catches in the games that followed UCA and ULM).

Seniors Chris Murray and Dijon Paschal were all-or-nothing, each averaging 14-plus yards per catch with a catch rate barely over 50 percent.

There’s a lot of experience, but the names changed from week to week last year. If a go-to emerges — and hell, it might end up being lanky Arkansas transfer Kendrick Edwards, for all we know — that might help to provide desperately needed consistency.

Meanwhile, the line is a blank slate. ASU finished 2016 with 174 career starts up front; it will begin 2017 with two, both from sophomore guard and 2016 backup Troy Elliot.

Anderson saw this coming and tried to address it in recruiting. Players like Elliot, junior Jamal Fontenot, and sophomore Dalton Ford return from last year's two-deep, but they're joined by a ton of newcomers, from Iowa State graduate transfer Jaypee Philbert to JUCO transfers Marvis Brown, Chase Johnson, and Nour-Eddine Seidnaly to three-star freshman Dwayne Fisher.

We've learned that experience up front doesn't seem to matter as much as talent and in-season continuity. If Faulkner and company find a fivesome that gels, the offense could be on its way toward improvement. But comprehensive turnover is a scary thing.

Defense

If the offense was a semi-surprising disappointment, the defense was a stunning success. Coordinator Joe Cauthen had been around for a couple of years, but he found the pieces very much to his liking.

ASU's success was built around a combination of experienced pieces, quality newcomers, and late bloomers. Proven guys like end Ja'Von Rolland-Jones and defensive back Cody Brown combined with newcomers like Alabama transfer Dee Liner and JUCO Kyle Wilson, and they got a boost from breakout players like end Chris Odom and nickel Justin Clifton.

The Red Wolves had maybe the deepest defense in the conference, and Cauthen knew how to utilize it. The Red Wolves stuffed you on first down and forced third-and-longs, and while they trended toward all-or-nothing on those downs -- lots of sacks and closed drives mixed with a few big plays -- the recipe obviously worked.

After allowing 7.8 yards per play to Toledo and Auburn, the Red Wolves allowed only 4.4 thereafter. No Sun Belt opponent topped 26 points, and five were held to 16 or fewer. And ASU capped the season by wrecking UCF's offense (13 points, 2.9 yards per play) in the Cure Bowl.

Logan Bowles-USA TODAY Sports

Dee Liner and friends

It's hard to say the depth will be as strong in 2017, not with four of the top six linemen and three of the top four defensive backs gone. But star power remains.

Ja'Von Rolland-Jones has been one of the steadier big-play guys in the conference. He had 12 tackles for loss in 2014, 12.5 in 2015, and, with Odom wrecking shop on the other side of the line, 21 in 2016. He is one of the better players the casual fan maybe hasn't heard of.

Liner returns and could be ready for a star turn. The former blue-chipper had just 1.5 tackles for loss in his first six games last year but had a hand in at least one TFL in six of the last seven games. He had a pair of them in the Cure Bowl.

Kyle Wilson was a revelation in run defense. He led the linebacking corps with 3.5 sacks, but he had 12.5 NON-sack TFLs, and he was a difference maker in both the Georgia Southern win and the Cure Bowl.

Clifton found happiness in the nickel back role. A good-sized 6'0, 206 pounds, he combined eight TFLs with seven passes defensed and was second on the team in tackles (behind Wilson).

Corner Blaise Taylor has intercepted four passes and broken up 16 more over the last two. He will be rejoined by Jamaris Hart (seven passes defensed in 2015).

The line has some remodeling to undergo, but once again, Anderson was as prepared as he could be. He signed a trio of high-two-star JUCOs in end Ronheen Bingham and tackles Josh Curry and Tony Adams. There should be enough talent to get by at end, but tackle depth could be an issue if both Curry and Adams aren't immediate contributors.

Special Teams

ASU special teams gave and took away. Kick coverage was a legitimate strength despite a lack of touchbacks, and Blaise Taylor was a solid punt returner. But while Damon Foncham's punts weren't particularly returnable, they were also quite short, and J.D. Houston's place-kicking was scattershot, to put it nicely (ASU missed five PATs and three field goals shorter than 40 yards).

Since place-kicking and punting carry the heaviest weight in the Special Teams S&P+ formulas, ASU ranked 120th overall despite the relative strengths. Foncham will need to figure out how to add a couple of yards to his boots, but I guess the bar is set pretty low for the new place-kicker (probably Sawyer Williams).

2017 outlook

2017 Schedule & Projection Factors

Date Opponent Proj. S&P+ Rk Proj. Margin Win Probability 2-Sep at Nebraska 42 -14.5 20% 9-Sep Miami 18 -16.5 17% 16-Sep Ark.-Pine Bluff NR 40.4 99% 23-Sep at SMU 81 -4.0 41% TBA Coastal Carolina 114 9.5 71% TBA Texas State 129 19.4 87% TBA Troy 79 0.3 51% TBA UL-Lafayette 112 9.0 70% TBA at Georgia Southern 98 0.0 50% TBA at New Mexico State 124 7.0 66% TBA at South Alabama 108 2.4 55% TBA at UL-Monroe 121 6.4 64%

Projected S&P+ Rk 83 Proj. Off. / Def. Rk 107 / 60 Projected wins 6.9 Five-Year S&P+ Rk -3.7 (80) 2- and 5-Year Recruiting Rk 99 / 95 2016 TO Margin / Adj. TO Margin* 5 / 0.7 2016 TO Luck/Game +1.6 Returning Production (Off. / Def.) 64% (78%, 50%) 2016 Second-order wins (difference) 9.1 (-1.1)

Your view of Arkansas State in 2017 is very much dependent on how you believe ASU came about its "more wins, worse S&P+ ratings" success in 2015-16. If the iffy ratings (still strong for the Sun Belt, but not "15-1 in conference play" strong) are a sign of crumbling infrastructure, then massive turnover in the trenches could render the ASU offense even more one-dimensional and take away one of ASU's bigger defensive strengths.

But if you believe the "Stink in September, then surge" approach is sustainable, then there's no reason to think 2017 will be any different. The Red Wolves are more experienced at quarterback and in the skill positions, and they still have a lot of play-makers on D. The lack of defensive tackle depth is a concern but could be mitigated by Liner, and since the offensive line wasn't particularly effective last year, wholesale changes in that unit might not lead to regression.

I'm kind of leaning toward the latter, by the way. Barring a host of injuries on the defensive line, I don't see why ASU can't pull a repeat of recent success, especially since the schedule brings Troy to Jonesboro and doesn't include Appalachian State.

Besides that, ASU has earned the benefit of the doubt at this point, huh? S&P+ says the Red Wolves should be one of the three or so best teams in the Sun Belt. Until proven otherwise, I say No. 3 or No. 4 is the floor.

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