Chapter 69: My Name Is Lin Lehan!

Wang Chen and his companion ducked behind a rocky hill, pausing for a moment. The giant ghoul’s perspective in his mind had vanished, which meant they must have put significant distance between themselves and their pursuer.

Seeing Wang Chen scanning their surroundings with caution, the short-haired girl spoke up with a carefree air, “Don’t worry, hero. I’ve already erased all traces of our path. That big brute won’t be able to catch up.”

Wang Chen was taken aback. “You still had the strength to cover our tracks? I didn’t even notice you doing anything.”

“I’m the Shadow Phantom Thief! Disappearing without a sound and erasing tracks is basic stuff for me!” she replied indignantly. “If you doubt me, I’ll go back right now and steal that brute’s club for you!”

“I believe you, I believe you,” Wang Chen hurriedly reassured her. He realized now that she was nothing more than an overgrown little girl.

“What should I call you?” he asked.

“My name is Lin Lehan. But if you don’t like that, you can call me the Shadow Heroine—I can handle it,” she declared proudly.

Seriously? Does she really think she sounds cool talking like that?

“So… Miss Lin, why are you here alone? Did you get separated from your team?” Wang Chen inquired.

Lin Lehan pouted, turning her face away, ignoring him.

Wang Chen was puzzled. “What’s wrong?”

“I told you my name. Shouldn’t you tell me yours too?” Lin Lehan said, refusing to look at him.

“…Sorry. My name is Wang Chen.”

“Wang Chen?” Her eyes lit up. “That’s such a powerful name! Is it the same ‘Wang Chen’ as in ‘loyal ministers at the frontier’?”

“No, it’s the ‘Chen’ with a small earth beneath a roof,” Wang Chen explained.

“Huh? So your name could also be ‘Wang Little Earth’? How can a hero have a name like that?” Lin Lehan sounded disappointed.

Wang… Wang Little Earth? Damn it…

“I quite like my name. Soldier and general, tears and glory, firefly and moonlight, emperor and dust,” Wang Chen said solemnly. “In a way, these two characters once represented the entire world.”

He lowered his gaze. “I just hope, from now on, this world can become more diverse and break the shackles of a single value system.”

Lin Lehan’s eyes grew distant. “Hero, you speak so handsomely.”

Damn, swept up by this girl, he’d slipped back into his old heroic manner.

“Miss Lin, may I ask how old you are?” Wang Chen asked.

“Sixteen. Why?” she replied.

For someone with a case of hero syndrome, you’re a bit of a late bloomer…

“Nothing. Sixteen is a wonderful age. Cherish your youth, and don’t wait until it’s gone to regret it,” Wang Chen tried to speak with the gravitas of a hero.

“Has your youth already slipped away, hero? But you look so young. How old are you?” she asked.

“Seventeen.”

“Pfft, and you’re telling me to cherish my youth? You’re still in the thick of it yourself.” Lin Lehan scoffed.

“Ahem, so why are you here alone?” Wang Chen tried to steer the conversation away.

Then he suddenly realized something. “Wait, you awakened your class at sixteen?”

“Yes, because I skipped grades in school,” Lin Lehan said proudly. “I’m a resourceful and brilliant Shadow Heroine.”

“Pfft, it’s only one grade. Not much to brag about,” Wang Chen retorted.

For some reason, he found it easy to banter with this slightly delusional girl.

“I started school late—didn’t enter sixth grade until I was ten.”

“Yeah, so you skipped one grade and entered sixth at ten…” Wang Chen looked at her sly smile and suddenly understood. “You mean, you went straight to sixth grade at ten?”

“Exactly! Hero, you’re not too slow after all. I had excellent grades, you know.” Lin Lehan beamed, her white teeth shining like pearls, clearly enjoying Wang Chen’s astonishment.

Wang Chen looked her up and down. This eccentric girl was a child prodigy—never judge a book by its cover.

“My advice is, don’t call yourself the Shadow Heroine. Call yourself the Pole-Vaulting Heroine, since you’re so good at jumping grades,” Wang Chen teased. “I wonder which school in Yuzhou let you get away with that.”

“I’m not from Luzhou, I’m from Yuzhou,” Lin Lehan corrected him. “So, hero, you’re from Luzhou, right?”

Wang Chen nodded. “So in Yuzhou, people are so cold-hearted they just let you come into the Platinum Secret Realm alone?”

“Even if you’re a hero, you can’t badmouth Yuzhou or the Shadow Heroine will have to teach you a lesson!” Lin Lehan waved her fist playfully.

Then she sighed. “I came to the Platinum Secret Realm because of my class advancement quest. It’s five-star difficulty.”

Wang Chen chuckled. So, she was just as unlucky as he was.

“My teammates all bailed when they saw how hard my quest was,” Lin Lehan said pitifully.

“So you came here alone.” Wang Chen mused, “Earlier, in the forest, how long were you hiding up in that tree?”

“I didn’t notice you at all.”

“Of course not. My class has stealth skills,” Lin Lehan said. “Actually, I fell asleep up there. I forgot how long I was there—maybe an hour or two?”

“You fell asleep?” Wang Chen was full of admiration.

The Shadow Heroine truly had nerves of steel, sleeping soundly in a perilous forest.

“But a Platinum admission ticket costs half a million. You just wasted it napping?” Wang Chen, ever the frugal type, couldn’t help but ask.

“I’m in the middle of a class advancement. I can’t gain experience now, so I don’t use up many of the realm’s beast resources—it’s free. Advancing classes in high-level secret realms is usually free,” Lin Lehan explained. “Didn’t you know that, hero?”

No… I’m the real sucker here…

Wang Chen tried to console himself: in the Platinum Secret Realm, the monsters were higher level, so he could level up faster—it was worth the cost.

With that thought, his eyes blazed with determination. “Miss Lin, let’s part ways here. I need to hunt monsters. I’m burning through hundreds of credits a minute, and I can’t afford to waste time.”

He turned to leave.

But Lin Lehan darted forward and clung to his arm. “Hero! Don’t go! Save me, please!”

She put on a pitiful, tearful expression. “I’m a weak girl, all alone in this dangerous realm. How can you bear to leave me behind?”

“Aren’t you the Shadow Heroine? Since when are you a weak girl… And you managed to sleep here for an hour or two, so I have to admire your nerves…” Wang Chen was unmoved.

“Don’t get hung up on the details. Anyway, hero, please help me with my class advancement quest.” Lin Lehan’s eyes sparkled. “Aren’t we wanderers of the world? Isn’t righteousness our guiding principle?”