CHAPTER 940: CHAPTER 939: THE DOWNFALL OF A YOUU STUDENT

"Ahhh----!!"

With a scream, Asuna was lifted into the air. Normally, given Asuna’s reflexes, she would just cut off the tentacle with one sword swing and escape. But for some unknown reason, Asuna, who had been fighting bravely all along, seemed to become a different person. She screamed in terror, struggled desperately, and even dropped her sword, but she just couldn’t remember to fight!

What’s going on?

Honestly, Fang Zheng was quite surprised to see this. One must know that such errors would only be made by newbies or immature novice warriors. Asuna had fought alongside them through so many levels and was one of the best among them. How could she make such a mistake?

To Fang Zheng, this was as unbelievable as an Eighth Circle Mage making a mistake while chanting a Magic Missile spell, causing a magic power backlash.

In fact, not only Fang Zheng, but even the other girls were also baffled by Asuna’s reaction. After all, Asuna had always been one of the more assertive ones in the team. They never expected she would be curled up trembling, suspended in the air like a scared little girl!

However, Restia and Ester clearly didn’t care about this. With the tentacles stretching out, a giant Man-Eating Plant emerged from the flower field. It opened its mouth, and dozens of tentacles quickly wrapped around Asuna. At this moment, Restia and Ester darted into the flowers, and with a flash of the sword, the tentacles surrounding Asuna were cut from the root. The next moment, they watched as Asuna let out a scream and plummeted from the sky.

"Bang!"

But just before she hit the ground, Fang Zheng rushed forward and grabbed her collar, pulling Asuna with force using the momentum towards the side, narrowly dodging a tentacle that whizzed past her, hitting the flower field.

Just then, Shinong and Gabriel got their bearings. They quickly set up their longbows and fired at the Man-Eating Plant, forcing it back. The others swiftly surrounded it and began fighting.

To Fang Zheng and the others, a single Man-Eating Plant was nothing. They didn’t waste much time before completely exterminating it. However, when Fang Zheng returned to Asuna’s side, he couldn’t help but furrow his brows.

The reason was nothing else; it was because Asuna in front of him seemed very off.

She sat dumbfounded in the flowers, eyes vacant, looking as if she had been severely frightened. This wouldn’t be strange for other girls, but for Asuna, it was odd. Fang Zheng knew Asuna was a very determined and persevering young lady.

To know that they had been in this Game World for nearly half a year. Most people had gradually become accustomed to life in the game, and many had lost the urgency to rush straight to conquer all one hundred floors. Even Leafa and Black Cat would occasionally go out for a stroll, shop, have a meal, and relax.

Of course, there were also those who would love to stay here forever, with Gabriel being one. She even openly said, "Thinking of seeing Vena’s face after going out, I might as well just stay here for the rest of my life." Such remarks.

But unlike them, Asuna was very serious, worked hard every day, and was always the most diligent one in the team, so much so that others couldn’t keep up with her.

Moreover, because of this, Asuna was not very sociable in the team.

The fact that Eiriri drew Asuna’s manga without Black Cat opposing it is also one reason. If Eiriri had used Aoba or Leafa, who were closer to Black Cat, as material, Black Cat might reconsider. But Asuna was different. In the Dark Moon Sword team, she felt like an overly responsible class committee, and everyone thought she was amazing, but...

Well, yet, no one thought of wanting to be like her.

But the current Asuna was clearly behaving abnormally.

"Asuna?"

Fang Zheng frowned at the dazed girl sitting in the flower field. Only then did Asuna seem to regain her senses, startled a moment, and hurriedly stood up.

"I’m, I’m sorry, Mr. Fang Zheng, I..."

"What’s wrong with you? You seem very off, this isn’t a mistake you would make."

"I... I..."

Facing Fang Zheng’s inquiry, Asuna’s face turned red. She stammered for a while, but in the end, she lowered her head without saying anything.

It seems things are not normal.

"We end for today."

Thinking of this, Fang Zheng immediately made a decision and turned to the crowd to announce. He initially thought to push through this level’s Lord today, but Asuna’s behavior was too abnormal. Since she was the main attacker of the team, Fang Zheng couldn’t possibly fight the Lord under her poor performance. He quickly told the others.

"Today’s battle ends here. You can rest and return. Tomorrow we will come again from the teleportation crystal."

"Okay, Mr. Fang Zheng."

The girls didn’t mind Fang Zheng’s request to go back, nodding and turning to leave. After all, it wasn’t the first time Fang Zheng had suddenly called off a boss strategy mid-way. Everyone knew that even a small mistake could be life-threatening, so they preferred to be careful rather than act recklessly.

Watching Asuna stagger like a lost soul trailing behind the group, Fang Zheng furrowed his brows. Then, he beckoned to Eiriri standing not far away.

"Eiriri, come over."

"What’s up?"

"What did you say to Asuna that day?"

Thinking carefully, Fang Zheng could see that Asuna’s unusual behavior seemed to have started then. But if they said she argued with Eiriri, it didn’t appear so, at least Eiriri seemed normal without issues, nor did Asuna seem to have problems with Eiriri.

"Nothing much..."

Upon hearing Fang Zheng’s question, Eiriri frowned, racking her brain.

"I just apologized to her, ensuring I won’t draw anymore, and she forgave me."

"Is that all?"

"Ah, right, she also asked how many I drew, then said she’d confiscate them, so I gave her my manga."

"Gave them all?"

Listening to this, Fang Zheng raised an eyebrow, while Eiriri nodded.

"Yeah, I thought she was going to delete them. Unexpectedly, she took them... What’s up?"

"Seems the problem lies here."

Fang Zheng sighed, and Eiriri widened her eyes in surprise.

"Huh? Just because of a few mangas? Is it necessary?"

"I guess you won’t understand..."

Watching Eiriri dumbfounded in front of him, Fang Zheng shook his head helplessly. Though Eiriri was also a young lady from a good family, she grew up surrounded by mangas and drew them with flair. For Eiriri, mangas were just a normal part of her worldview, nothing worth fretting over.

But Asuna was different!

In interacting with Asuna, Fang Zheng discovered that she was similar to some "good students" he encountered during his school days—very obedient, very diligent, very serious, and basically ignorant of anything else.

Letting such a child get in touch with mangas was undoubtedly a thorough purge of her worldview.

Looking at Asuna’s absent-minded appearance, she would easily become a headline like "Model Student’s Downfall, Green Dam’s Urgent Need" in the real world.

"Looks like I need to have a good talk with her."

After identifying the crux of the problem, Fang Zheng promptly made a decision.

At least, this cannot continue any longer.