行尸走肉第3季

(22 days until the wedding)...

The next day, Ryan was alerted by one of his guards that a girl was approaching his inn\'s room.

Thanks to last night\'s activities, Ryan quickly dug through the mound of clothes on the floor and reentered the real world.

Just a few seconds after he switched places with his guards, Ryan heard a knock on the door.

Ryan already knew it was Stacy thanks to a new feature he had received when Lizzy had gotten to A-Rank in Energy Vision which allowed him to see weak energy signatures through walls.

"Good morning Stacy. What can I do for you today?" Ryan asked, looking at the girl who wore much nicer clothes than the rags she wore yesterday.

"Well, didn\'t you say you were interested in the contest? It\'s happening in just an hour!" she said excitedly. "I wanted to offer my services as your guide."

"How much is this service going to cost me?" Ryan asked.

"Do you know how to get there?" She asked.

Ryan chuckled. "I\'ll pay you 25 copper and not a penny more."

Ryan had gotten some hard currency from the Dragon Empress as pocket money but never had the chance to use it since everything involving cultivators used Heavenly Credits.

Last night he had used silver coins to pay for his room, and he certainly wasn\'t going to spend Heavenly Credits on something like a guide.

"How about 50?" Stacy asked, licking her lips at the thought of more money.

"40, and that\'s all you\'re getting," Ryan said, handing the girl 40 copper coins.

"Pleasure doing business with you... I never got your name."

"Just call me daddy."

===

Ryan and Stacy arrived at what appeared to be a sports stadium with a stage instead of a field or court.

Stacy led him to a sign-up booth that was located in front of the enormous stadium.

After paying a nominal sign-up fee, Ryan got his contestant number and was told the event would start in 30 minutes.

Stacy was given her fee cut on the spot, which made Ryan assume Stacy wasn\'t employed directly by the princesses but more like a contractor.

Entering the stadium, Ryan saw many seats already filled.

Many men were gathered below the stage, waiting for the contest to start, while Ryan could see a small group of girls in chains surrounded by several military guards.

Ryan raised his eyebrow. \'Those must be the prisoners we\'ll get to test our stuff on. I wonder how far they\'ll let us take it.\'

As Ryan was about to turn away, he frowned and looked closer at one of the prisoners.

She wasn\'t anything special, a short girl with dark skin and brown hair. A girl that was pretty, but in this world, one wouldn\'t look twice at.

However, what Ryan was looking at wasn\'t her looks but the tattoo on her arm.

It was the Kheaweth Military symbol, and as he stared at it, her face flashed through his memory like a haunting song that always plays when you\'ve forgotten something important.

Ryan\'s heart started beating faster as sweat broke out across his forehead.

"Damn..." he muttered under his breath then shook his head clear of any memories from long ago.

According to his flashbacks, she had been one of seven torturers that had \'conditioned\' him during his later teen years.

He recalled her being ruthless, so much to the point where even the other tortures feared her.

Yet now the girl was sitting there, chains around her wrists and a blank expression.

As Stacy pulled on his hand, Ryan was still shaking off the old memory.

"Hey! Are you alright?" She asked. "You looked like you were having a nightmare!"

"Yeah, yeah, I\'m fine," Ryan said, taking a deep breath.

Stacy frowned. \'Look at this guy. I wonder what\'s wrong with him.\'

Stacy looked over to Ryan, noticing he was sweating profusely and staring at one of the prisoners.

"Do you need me to come with you to your seat? Or are you just going to stay here by yourself?" Stacy asked as she started tugging on his arm again.

"I said I\'m fine," Ryan growled, but when he saw fear on the young girl\'s face, he sighed.

"Fine, follow me," he grumbled and led her down towards his seat, which was located at the top of the bleachers, second-row center.

As they got closer, Stacy realized how large the stadium was and that more people had gathered in their seats than she thought.

Ryan handed her a water bottle before pointing to his right and said, "Our spot."

"There\'s only one seat?" Stacy gasped. "Where am I supposed to sit?"

"What did you expect? This is the contestant seating area. If you want to sit here, you\'ll have to do it on my lap," Ryan said, hoping this would make the girl disappear.

But to his dismay, Stacy said, "If you don\'t mind, daddy!" She smiled playfully and then stood up on his chair as if it were a pedestal for a statue.

Staring into her dark brown eyes, Ryan felt a lump forming in his throat as he noticed a light blush across her face.

Ryan walked over and grabbed hold of her hand, holding onto the back of the seat. Then he helped her down and guided her onto his lap.

Ryan erected a sound and illusion barrier to make it seem like the two peacefully napped before he did anything else.

The sound made Ryan\'s heart skip several beats, and his mouth went dry.

Then she reached down and took his hands into hers, placing her head on his shoulder, her chin resting on his left shoulder blade.

He could feel her soft breath on the side of his neck. The heat of her body against him made him shiver with excitement. \'I\'ve never done it in front of a crowd before, but there\'s a first time for everything.\'

As he stared at the stage, waiting for the event to begin, Stacy turned to look at him with those pretty little brown eyes filled with curiosity, admiration, love... whatever emotion she was feeling was lost to him.

But what was not lost was how comfortable she was sitting on his lap. It was like an extension of his arm as they were perfectly fitted together.

"You know, most say that the Fantasy World isn\'t real, but you seem to think differently," Stacy suddenly said. "Why?"

"What makes you think that?" Ryan asked curiously.

"Your reaction last night," Stacy replied. "The questions you asked... were the same as the ones I had in mind when I came to Ravier."

She paused as if thinking of something important, then looked up at Ryan\'s face with a smile and continued, "You said the name Earth yesterday, and I said I didn\'t know it. But that\'s not true, seeing as I grew up on Earth, just like you."