“Shen Ning, you’re so open.”
Yes, indeed, I’m quite happy. Eating a good meal before bed—who wouldn’t be happy?
The girl lifted the corner of the curtain, gazing at that place from her dreams where memories resided. Some say that the scenes in your memory, after being worn down by the flow of time, become more and more vague and illusory, yet this mining land always remains clear.
It’s rare to come here for fun, still, let’s get to the main point.
Shen Ning let go of the hand she was holding, then turned to speak to the elder in front of her.
“I’ve met them, those people you mentioned who move and protect.”
Liu You nodded. “I know. They came back and reported.”
“But I still don’t understand—the things you all talked about, what do they become here… and how does one investigate them?”
The girl asked a very critical question. On Liu You’s face, covered with veins of ore, a smile appeared, and he turned to look at her warmly.
“Child, Shen Ning, it seems you’ve already made up your mind and are willing to walk this path yourself. That’s wonderful.”
Was it really so easy to tell?
Well, it was indeed because of kissing her girlfriend that this idea popped up in her mind—she just wanted to try it out and see.
“What do I need to do… First, you need to open the door to this place, walk to the King’s Throne, and sit down.”
After saying this, Liu You simply stood there, not moving.
Shen Ning waited for half a minute and then cautiously asked, “And then?”
Open the door, find a seat, sit down—it all sounded pretty straightforward, but…
“How do I open the door?”
She received no answer to either of her questions. Instead, the scenery in her vision gradually blurred, then turned into a mass of rippling water right in front of her eyes.
In the chimes from the Clock Tower, the girl slowly opened her eyes, staring at the dormitory ceiling above her head with a sigh.
“I dreamed again… dreamt that…”
Forget it.
“What did you dream about, tell us! Why are you keeping us guessing when even your repressed doppelganger reflection is getting anxious!”
“It’s nothing important, just felt like telling you wouldn’t matter.” Shen Ning gave a gentle sigh. “Even if I asked you, you couldn’t answer.”
“How do you know if you don’t ask? Come on, tell us.”
“I asked Liu You—in that world, if one wanted to become king, what exactly had to be done, what’s the specific process.”
Her repressed doppelganger reflection immediately went quiet.
See? Knew it would be like this.
In the boys’ dormitory, the two girls also slowly woke up from sleep, preparing to welcome a new day.
“Xu Chuyao, your thing is vibrating.”
“Don’t talk nonsense, I just placed an order last night, I haven’t bought anything weird!”
It was just adding to the shopping cart, don’t talk like it’s something shady.
“It’s the thing under your pillow, it’s really vibrating.”
Little tyrant doesn’t lie—she reached over and indeed found something under the pillow, buzzing gently.
“That’s my phone!”
Xu Chuyao sighed. She’d originally planned to pretend she was still asleep, thinking it wouldn’t matter if she didn’t answer, but now she had to pick up the call.
“Hello? Head Teacher, what is it?”
The caller ID read “Head Teacher”—it was Yu Jing calling.
“Xu Chuyao, you’re up already, right?”
“Strictly speaking, not yet.”
“Then get up now.”
Yu Jing’s words instantly shut down any thought Xu Chuyao had of going back to sleep—she was at a loss for words.
Perhaps noticing the big girl’s silence and mood, Yu Jing added another sentence: “Just come over, it’s actually a good thing this time, definitely not bad news.”
“Alright then.”
Xu Chuyao jumped up from bed in one motion, thinking, If you’d said that earlier, I wouldn’t have bothered pretending.
A diligent girl really does get up early for her health.
Half an hour later, Xu Chuyao arrived at the assembly hall—this was where the so-called “Stage Three Announcement” was being held. She saw Yu Jing and a golden-haired, blue-eyed foreign lady.
Principal Lü wasn’t present, only asking Yu Jing to handle the reception, so it probably wasn’t an official affair. Sure enough, Yu Jing introduced:
“This is a teacher from Freuden Academy, Miss Shilian.”
“Hello,” Xu Chuyao greeted politely.
Miss Shilian reached out enthusiastically and shook her hand. “Hello, Xu Chuyao, thank you so much for helping at Freuden Academy, and for stopping Professor Swina’s destructive actions in time. Without you, the disaster would have been even greater. Because of you, we were able to recover and rebuild so quickly.”
Then she explained her reason for coming—now that Freuden Academy’s reconstruction was complete and classes were about to resume, they wanted to choose a good day to celebrate. They’d invited many people to participate. As one of the people who stopped the Crystal Stone Event and captured the main culprit, Xu Chuyao had been especially invited to attend, and Miss Shilian was here as a representative of the academy to deliver the invitation.
Even the afternoon flight was already prepared.
Xu Chuyao glanced toward Yu Jing. “I really appreciate the invitation, but it’s the middle of the school term now. I don’t know if going out for a while will affect my studies. I should ask my teacher’s opinion.”
It looked like she was asking Head Teacher, but in reality she wanted to hear the Principal’s view.
However, Yu Jing simply said, “If you want to go, go. Class…
Anyway, you already skip class all the time.”
Hearing this, Xu Chuyao was stunned. Participating in such an event wasn’t anything major—if she wanted to go, she could treat it as a holiday.
“Alright, then I humbly accept your kind invitation. I’ll go find Wang Zhi.”
Meanwhile, Shen Ning, having gotten up, lay in bed staring fixedly at the ceiling.
She had just used a Silver-level Skill Upgrade Coupon, and was now looking at the skill description.
[Spirit Storm—Endless Gale
Summon that primordial, raging wind. Within a much larger area, inflict continuous wind-element damage; maintaining Spirit Power will extend its duration, and it can be further expanded.]
Since the text was so brief, Shen Ning didn’t know exactly how much “a much larger area” meant compared to before, but she guessed it probably wasn’t a small difference.
As for suitable ways to use it…
“Of course, it’s for cleaning out the batch of mid-level monsters in Zone A,” the repressed doppelganger reflection said. “Liu You said there are nearly thirty thousand mutants, with only a small fraction being those who move and protect you. The rest are all rebels. Dealing with such a huge number of rebels obviously calls for large-area AOE attacks.”
Broken Shadow was somewhat dissatisfied. “They said only a portion are like that for now, the others aren’t always opposed, they just don’t accept you yet. Besides, there are probably still a lot of neutrals mixed in.”
Shen Ning glanced at the Broken Shadow on the wall. She used to think its hair, flying wildly in the wind, was a symbol of loneliness and chaos. But now, looking at it, she felt it had grown softer, even fluffy in a way.
She remembered when it was first created, it seemed to look at everyone with that “kill if you want, it doesn’t matter” sort of indifference. Now, how had it changed so much? When did that happen?
Ah, it started from the moment she saw that lively, wild little one.
“What are you hesitating for? Loyalty that isn’t absolute is absolute disloyalty! Last time, they even took the initiative to attack. That’s not just ordinary rebellion anymore, we have to use heavy-handed tactics.” The repressed doppelganger reflection thumped the pillow hard, “Kill kill kill kill kill kill kill kill!”
This one always has a principle—either kill, or forgive, never compromise her feelings.
Just as the reflections were locked in debate, her girlfriend’s voice sounded from outside the door.
“Hey, lazybones, get up! Time for your daily fish.”
“Alright, alright, you’re just in time. Let her be the judge!”