48 Hours a Day

“I know that you are tired of lessons. Next up, physical training might just help you unwind your brains.”

This time, all moaned and wailed at the same time. Earlier, all the players wanted to question the captain when he told them that there was a three and a half-hour gap between the second and third class. When they were told that they needed to attend class at midnight, they realized it didn’t make sense to have such a long gap.

As expected, the captain ignored their groans.

“I will see you in seven minutes. The last to arrive will have to do five sets of pull-ups!”

Even before he was done talking, the players scurried out of the classroom to the meet-up point. Shortly after they started running, the girl tripped and fell. The plump man was running in front of her, and turned around to help her up. Suddenly, something crossed his mind, and he quickly retrieved his hand. However, he did stop to show his concern. “Are you okay?” “I’m fine. I must have tripped over something. You go on ahead first.” The girl put on a shallow smile, took off one of her shoes, and leaned on the wall to check her feet. The plump man knew that it was inappropriate for him to keep staring at her legs. So, he gulped, mustered some courage, and asked her, “Do you want me to carry you?”

“You are so nice. I’m fine. You should get to the gym now. Don’t fall behind!” the girl replied with concern.

“Sigh... I don’t think I can outrun them anyway.”

It was rare for the plump guy to get this close to a girl, especially someone as attractive as this one. He was so nervous; he had to wipe off his sweaty palms on his pants.

“Let me help you over to the gym.” “Thank you.”

The girl then put her arms over tubby’s shoulder.

“Zhen Xiong,” said the girl softly. “Ah?!”

The plump man was startled upon hearing the girl speak out her name.

“That’s my name.”

“Oh, oh, oh... Sorry... Sorry!”

His face started flushing, his heart fluttering a little. He had no idea why he even apologized to her.

“My real name is Jia Lai. I’m an employee of JD Corporation in the real world.”

“That’s one of the top 500 corporations in the world!” exclaimed Zhen Xiong with her eyes wide open.

“No... no... I’m just an owner of a grocery. It’s now part of JD’s franchise stores. All I did is change the name of my store. I still have to do everything myself. I’ve only seen JD’s CEO on TV before.”

“Anyway, I think it’s not that easy to manage the whole place. Can I visit your shop next time if I’m in the mood for some snacks...” Zhen Xiong did not look down on Jia Lai; every word she uttered was sincere and truthful. Suddenly, she lowered her voice.

“Bro Jia, do you have a mission failure exemption card?”

“That item costs 800 game points. Nobody would buy something so expensive except for those top-tier factions,” Jia Lai replied while shaking his head.

After he figured out what Zhen Xiong had in mind, he was sad and dejected.

“It seems like both of us will be eliminated,” she said. “I know my limits and how far I can go. This is the end of the road for me. You, however, are different. There’s still hope for you. Don’t give up! Perhaps they were trying to scare you when they told you that women were looked down upon in this era. We always say that foreigners value their freedom a lot. Besides, the Soviets have just sent their first female cosmonaut to outer space! I believe America wouldn’t want to fall behind them.”

“Bro Jia. You are so kind. What did you do to your previous team? Why did they give up on someone like you?”

“It’s no use being kind nowadays. In my very first quest, I managed to learn a bit of first aid. My quest also required me to keep delivering items, and soon, I acquired Level 1 in my driving skills. I’m also a good cook, and now, I’m learning Russian. It appears these skills aren’t very useful in this quest.”

“Who told you that they are useless? Bro Jia, can I put my faith in you?”

Zhen Xiong looked at him in the most serious way possible.

“Of course,” replied Jai Lai without hesitation.

He felt a surge of passion rushing through his spine. “Let’s team up if you don’t mind me dragging your feet. We will move forward together. Either we both get on Apollo 11, or we quit this together.”

“Of course, I don’t mind, but... I believe you can find someone better than me, right?”

“You are right about me joining a single-player game with competitive mode for the first time. Usually, it’s tough to trust anyone in this mode, and I’d rather team up with someone kind instead of those who seek to take advantage of me every chance they get. This advice applies to multiplayer mode as well. I stopped playing this mode since my teammates betrayed me. I don’t want to go through something like that again. So, I’m going to ask you one more time. Look me in the eye and tell me, can I trust you?”

Jia Lai nodded vigorously, staring into Zhen Xiong’s eyes to show that he was sincere. At first, he just wanted to let Zhen Xiong know that he wasn’t messing around, but after a few seconds, a different kind of feeling started blooming in his heart. He started to move from staring into Zhen Xiong’s eyes to her nose and lips. They were curved charmingly, and there was a touch of luster to them. Both of their faces started to move closer to each other. Then, right before their lips touched, Zhen Xiong gasped, pushed him away, then quickly took a step back.

Jia Lai felt lost and quickly explained himself.

“No... no... I didn’t intend to...”

Zhen Xiong bit her lips, lowered her head, and didn’t speak another word. They had arrived at the gym. Jia Lai didn’t know how they even made it there.

“Bro Jia, please go in first.”

“No. You go first. I’m pretty sure the other players are here now. Besides, your leg is hurt. How are you supposed to do pull-ups?”

“We use our upper body strength and waist muscles to do pull-ups. Those have nothing to do with the leg.” “Anyway, you should go in first. After all, we are teammates now; I’m supposed to take care of you. Don’t worry about me.”

“Bro Jia. Just let me be the last to go in. I hurt my leg anyway, and I won’t be able to train. I don’t really care about the punishment as well.”

Zhang Heng and the rest took only five minutes to get to the gym located on the second floor. NASA’s gym was no different than the ordinary gym of the sixties. Compared to modern-day fitness franchises, this one wasn’t that big. Other than the equipment, a half-sized basketball court and a rock climbing wall could be seen as well.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief when they reached the gym.