Chapter 46: Max-Level Graduate

Chapter 46: Chapter 46: Max-Level Graduate

She absolutely would not allow this to happen. If she couldn’t get something, then Renee Morgan shouldn’t even dream about it either.

The base’s forest was full of cameras, but there were still some concealed areas that were blank—these were spaces left for them to solve personal needs.

When Zara Chapman and Wendy Aldridge returned carrying a tree branch, the members of Class 1 had already set up a rough framework, and it actually looked pretty decent.

Wendy Aldridge’s eyes spun slyly. She carefully stepped over the tools on the ground, walked up to a teenage boy. Wendy remembered that Class 1’s team all listened to this boy’s commands—she’d heard his father was quite influential back home?

Wendy wasn’t sure if the rumors were true, but it didn’t matter. Since they listened to the boy, she just needed to make the boy listen to her.

"Hi~" Wendy crouched down beside him, putting on a smile warm enough to melt someone’s heart.

Zayed gripped a military knife, plunging it into the ground with force, quickly digging a hole. He kept up his strong pace, only glancing at her out of the corner of his eye, without even a proper look, and continued to focus on the hole.

Wendy’s smile stiffened for a moment, but she didn’t show her annoyance. Tilting her head, still smiling, she started, "Is it because of Renee Morgan that you hate me?"

As expected, Zayed’s movements paused for a second. He pulled the knife from the ground, his gaze turning beast-like as he glared sideways at her.

Wendy secretly gritted her teeth. Just as she suspected, these people had already gotten close with Renee Morgan. They were looking out for Renee’s reputation—how could they possibly treat her well?

Tears fell down Wendy’s face: "I misunderstood her. Now even you think I’m disgusting too?"

Opposites attract. Who could watch such a delicate woman cry and not feel sympathetic?

Wendy was confident she’d move the boy, so she kept her tears flowing and continued, "I just acted on impulse back then, misunderstood her relationship with the staff, because it happened more than once... And I was worried that others might get emotionally fooled too, that’s why I did it."

Her words were carefully constructed, pinning Renee Morgan and the production staff as having more than a simple work relationship. At the same time, it reminded the boy and his friends—Renee wasn’t just close to them. Don’t be fooled by her pure façade.

Zayed suddenly tightened his grip on the knife, met Wendy’s pitiful eyes with his own slanted gaze, and curled his lips into a smile: "You’re like a filthy, stinking gutter. Absolutely disgusting and hateful."

Wendy, with her pitiful eyes, froze. She stared at Zayed in disbelief—how could he say something like that?

Seeing her completely unresponsive, Zayed twirled the knife in his hand, his face searching for the right Chinese words with his limited vocabulary. Then he spoke seriously, "You stink even worse than a gutter. More like rotting meat, giving off a vomit-inducing stench."

"Oh, right, I remember there’s a legendary phrase from Country Z. I’ve really wanted to say it to you: ’Nima bi.’"

Wendy Aldridge: "..." That actually hurt.

Zayed put his knife away, stood up, and whistled to his teammates not far away: "Guys, get back to work. I gotta go wash out my eyes."

Wendy Aldridge: "..." That was a subtle burn.

The viewers in the livestream were already dying of laughter when they heard that so-called legendary phrase. No one expected the nuanced beauty of Country Z’s language to go global like this:

[Awesome!! Zack, you’ve maxed out your Chinese fluency.]

[Haha, Zack is officially a mega-stan for Renee Morgan. Confirmed.]

[Suddenly reminded of when Zack first got to the base and threatened Renee Morgan, but now he’s thoroughly whipped, totally protecting his goddess.]

[Heh, stop attributing everything to Renee Morgan. Zayed didn’t even mention her. You stans are out here inventing drama. Besides, Class 1 and Class 2 are rivals—once the real game starts, Zayed and his guys are bound to target Renee first. What are you all bragging about?]

[Exactly. I come to watch the stream and it’s always "Renee Morgan" spamming the comments. What’s so great about spamming? Can’t you just quietly watch?]

[...]

Over in the international stream, the foreigners went even crazier, fans acting like they were on a sugar high:

[Zayed speaking Chinese is SO COOL. I want to learn it too!!]

[Will my Chinese teacher teach me that? "Nima gobi." I really want to learn! Next time I meet someone from Country Z, I’m going to say it—they’ll think my Chinese is amazing.]

[It’s "Nima bi," not "Nima gobi," bro, I’m better than you.]

Finally, a Chinese-speaker abroad couldn’t take it any longer and commented:

[Everyone, that’s a curse. If you meet someone from Country Z, don’t go shouting ’Nima bi’—you’ll get punched.]

The viewers took the advice and said they’d learned something:

[Thanks, bro, don’t worry. If we meet someone from Country Z, we definitely won’t say it. We’ll just say it to our friends.]

[Right! We’ll say it to our friends.]

[...]

The Chinese-speakers who tried to explain it were left speechless in the wind. Are foreigners all this rebellious now?

Zayed got up and was about to walk down to the river just as Renee Morgan was coming back carrying a branch.

He glanced left and right. Everyone else was busy. Scratching his head a little awkwardly, he went up to her and asked, "Need any help?"

Renee Morgan had both hands full with the branch and shook her head at him, speaking coldly: "Move."

Zayed quickly stepped aside, watching her carry the branch past and drop it into an empty spot.

Wendy Aldridge spotted Renee and quickly said, "I thought these would be enough. Do you still need my help over there?"

The branches, still leafy, were heavy and rough on the shoulder—hurting and itchy. She didn’t want to go at all.

Renee Morgan could easily see through Wendy’s attempt to slack off. The branches were almost done, so honestly, they didn’t need extra help. But she and Lynn Miller’s shoulders were nearly rubbed raw, while Wendy and Zara Chapman had been nowhere to be found. Not giving them something to do wasn’t an option.

"Where’s Ms. Chapman?" Renee looked around.

Zara Chapman let out a sigh, running out from the shade with a water bottle in hand, explaining, "I just got a bit of heatstroke and had to take a break. We’ll go right now."

After all, this was group work. They couldn’t risk giving the others a reason to complain, otherwise if no one wanted to work with them, they’d be done for.

"Ms. Chapman had heatstroke?" Renee’s surprised gaze landed on Zara, who looked energetic and happy, not heatstroked at all.

"If Ms. Chapman had heatstroke, then she really shouldn’t be carrying branches. They’re too heavy, and if she faints, that’d be bad." Renee’s voice was full of concern.

Zara nodded, just about to turn around and head back to the shade when Renee’s voice came again: "But everyone else is working. If Ms. Chapman doesn’t do something, I’m afraid the others might have an issue."