Chapter 47: Tomoyo took my hand~ My heart is fluttering a little bit~

“Don’t worry, Sakura. I’ve counted—we have neither fewer nor more people than expected...”
[Tomoyo Daidoji’s emotional value +8]
“Is that so...” Sakura had just looked up.

Suddenly, a rustling sound came from the forest.

Sakura shrank back into Tomoyo’s embrace.

Tomoyo looked up, then smiled gently. “Don’t be afraid, it’s just crows!”

Sakura swallowed nervously and clung tightly to Tomoyo’s side. After a while, with continual apologies from Ye Hui, she managed to catch up with the main group again.

Naoko led everyone forward, following the direction remembered, until they reached the edge of a cliff.

Below was a highway.

Looking off into the distance, nearby buildings could be seen...

“Maybe it only appears at night...”

The group speculated on whether the ghost reportedly seen here before was real or not.

At that moment, Sakura suddenly let out a sharp cry.

Ye Hui turned his head and saw a beam of light rushing toward them.

It grew closer and more intense!

The entire cliff was enveloped in the glowing orb.

“Hm?”

Ye Hui was momentarily stunned.

Inside the orb, he saw the ethereal glow of the “Myriad Laws Immortal Sect.”

But why did it look somewhat like a screenshot from a game...?

“Could it be that I’ve actually arrived at a real Immortal Sect?”

This thought flashed through Ye Hui’s mind.

The image before him grew clearer, and the sect’s buildings became more three-dimensional...

It was as if the scene shifted from a 2.5D picture to a fully rendered 3D view.

The pixels sharpened, looking incredibly real!

“This must be a hallucination!”

Ye Hui watched everything before him but remained unmoved.

It had been two years; he knew all too well how unreliable his idiot repair system interface was.

Did he really think the system’s intelligence could guide him to a genuine Immortal Sect?

Just then, Ye Hui felt someone grab his hand...

“Ah—”

The combined shrieks of several young girls echoed.

Ye Hui snapped back to reality.

He realized he was still in the forest, being pulled along.

Sakura held Tomoyo’s hand, and Tomoyo was holding his.

A jolt, like an electric current, surged through his heart.

---

The forest breeze brought the fresh scent of grass and wood straight to his face.

Tomoyo ran ahead, her braided hair swinging with each step, carrying a faint fragrance that drifted into Ye Hui’s nostrils.

Ye Hui stumbled as he was pulled, his palm first touching the thin sweat on Tomoyo’s hand—not sticky, but fresh, as if mixed with the scent of crushed grass.

On closer inspection, beneath the dampness was a softness.

It felt like freshly picked wild berry flesh—slightly resilient and not easily crushed, radiating a vibrant liveliness.

Ye Hui’s steps faltered, yet his gaze involuntarily followed Tomoyo’s figure.

Damn! This was Tomoyo!

And she had just grabbed his hand like that??

Dim sunlight filtered through the leaves, gilding the tips of her hair and the hand holding his—a hand like a little warm sun that could run along with him.

The wind whispered in his ear, carrying Tomoyo’s fragmented voice: “Ye Hui! Keep up!”

The grip in his palm loosened and tightened intermittently, but the soft touch never broke.

Ye Hui was dazed, his mind filled with the gentle pull from that small, pale hand.

—This wasn’t an exaggeration; he truly felt like Tomoyo possessed some kind of magic, drawing him in.

The sensation resembled the way Snow Rabbit attracted Sakura.

But before he could savor that softness for long, the wind carried piercing screams into his ears.

Almost every girl except Tomoyo was screaming.

Ye Hui furrowed his brow, understanding instantly.

“That’s definitely an illusion!”

It was the Kuro Card that created the illusion.

He vaguely remembered the card and how it nearly caused Sakura to fall.

After a moment, the group dashed back to the forest path.

Tomoyo released Ye Hui’s hand.

An emptiness suddenly settled in Ye Hui’s heart.

He quietly squeezed his palm.

At that moment, the girls began describing the terrifying visions they’d each seen, trembling with fear.

But everyone’s accounts were different.

Especially Tomoyo, who tilted her head, staring blankly: “Was it really that scary? I only saw a big meat bun...”

Everyone was stunned, eyes wide as they looked at Tomoyo.

How come her vision was so bizarre?

Others saw ghosts or severed heads that frightened them to death!

Compared to the others’ visions, Tomoyo’s was like a completely different version...

Then a sweet aroma wafted over.

Ye Hui flipped his hand and took out a steaming basket of large meat buns from his system backpack: “Here!”

“There really are meat buns! Thanks, Ye Hui!”

[Tomoyo Daidoji’s emotional value +15]

Without hesitation, Tomoyo washed her hands with water, then took one from the basket and began eating.

The aroma spread, making mouths water.

---

Rika, Naoko, and Chiharu were dumbfounded.

Where were they? Had they seen things wrong?

How did a basket of large meat buns suddenly appear?

Was this an illusion or... a ghost?!

Had they never actually left the place?

The three girls fell into deep thought, suddenly philosophers in an instant...

Ye Hui looked at the girls.

They were truly reckless.

Usually, isn’t it just boys who would dare to explore places with ghost stories?

“Stop spacing out—try one!”

Ye Hui beckoned them.

The rest of the club had gotten scattered, probably far away by now.

Only the group of girls remained here.

Seeing the fragrant buns, the four girls, including Sakura, who had just shaken off their fear, instinctively obeyed Ye Hui and looked eagerly at the buns in his hand.

Sakura muttered, “Eating a bun to calm my nerves sounds pretty good!”

Watching their still-shaken faces, a mischievous idea sparked in Ye Hui’s heart—maybe he could scare them again...

But scaring friends was fun and could earn him emotional points.

Scaring other classmates, though, would be going too far.

Ye Hui thought to himself.

He decided to wait until they were closer and all three girls had unlocked their emotional values to get a good boost later...

Though the rewards he exchanged with emotional points were always mediocre and useless in the short term.

For example, he had a flying sword but no sword-riding technique.

He had a pet azure sparrow but still needed to raise a fledgling.

Previously, after accumulating enough emotional points, Ye Hui drew two chance maps and obtained two sets of intermediate forging materials...

Yet despite grinding his forging skills to the max at the beginner level, he still hadn’t acquired the intermediate professional upgrade tools.

These two chance rewards were still just scraps.

Ye Hui figured there were no miracles in single draws, but ten consecutive draws should guarantee something good!

He planned to save up for a ten-draw and see if he could get any treasures!

Although the classmates before him weren’t like the main characters in the animation who could easily unlock bonds and become his source of emotional points.

But after spending more time together, Ye Hui believed they would unlock bonds with him sooner or later!

Then, when encountering events or activities causing drastic emotional changes, Ye Hui could gain even more emotional points.

After all, the Kuro Card incident wasn’t an everyday affair.

A peaceful school life was the norm—

Therefore, the emotional points Sakura and Tomoyo provided him in school weren’t many; they were just a steady trickle.