Xiao Si was enjoying the culture class.
It wasn’t because he had good grades, nor because he was passionate about cultural cultivation. It was simply because Teacher Li Xueying was easygoing, so it didn’t matter if he spaced out in class, and there wasn’t much pressure from upcoming exams.
Recently, nothing much was happening, and Officer Li hadn’t assigned any new tasks. He was in a phase of comfortable laziness, so much so that he didn’t even know what to look at in class. For a moment, even his name felt boring.
“Class, ‘A great wind rises, clouds fly aloft. How can we get brave men to guard all four directions?’ The poet of old’s solemn verses symbolize…”
Teacher Li Xueying’s gentle voice, like the afternoon’s lull, gave people a sense of summer approaching.
The third year was almost over. He wondered what new courses awaited in the fourth year.
Thinking this, Xiao Si turned his head to look out the window. For a moment, he felt that life was like those scraps of paper drifting in the air, out of control, unable to find peace, floating and wavering, at the mercy of the wind. See how fast they fly.
Wait a minute, why is that thing flying so fast and heading straight for me?
That scrap of paper that had been at the edge of the sky suddenly zipped closer. It was moving too fast and too wildly. Xiao Si instinctively squeezed his eyes shut and ducked his head. A violent gust of wind blasted in through the half-open window, making his curly hair stand on end, and his clothes billowed up as if trying to leave him behind.
“Bang!”
-Smack!-
The sudden gale blasting into the classroom made the students scream in surprise. Amid their shrill cries, he could also hear the window creak and rattle—it sounded like it was about to shatter.
“Don’t panic, everyone, please stay calm and duck under your desks—ahhh!”
Teacher Li Xueying was trying to reassure everyone, but she couldn’t finish her sentence because she herself almost got swept off her feet. Fortunately, she reacted quickly and grabbed onto the heavy lectern, managing not to get blown away.
Soon, the wind died down. Xiao Si, who’d ended up with a bird’s nest for hair, quietly raised his eyes and saw that the window was crisscrossed with cracks like a spiderweb. He swallowed hard.
The good news was that the window had blocked most of the wind for everyone. Even better, despite all that, the window hadn’t actually broken, though it looked like it was hanging by a thread.
Still, the classroom was a mess. Desks and chairs were all over the place, and the students were visibly shaken.
Thankfully, no one was hurt—after all, everyone here was a Spirit Power User, so their physical strength was guaranteed. The only thing that suffered was public property, and the damage was pretty bad.
In a conference room on a middle floor of the administration building, a young girl pushed aside a cold teacup with both hands, lowering her head to stare at the rippling water, anxiety welling up in her heart.
After the incident, the first thing she did was report to the homeroom teacher, saying she was experimenting with a large-scale spirit skill, but miscalculated the range, letting the aftermath leak out.
When Yu Jing learned that the whole campus had been hit by that gale, she was speechless, so for now, she was told to sit here and wait.
Shen Ning’s girlfriend had come over too, but was quickly called away by the principal.
“Don’t worry too much, things aren’t like they used to be.” Yu Jing comforted her. “The Inspection Group is gone, and we all know the truth—it was just a careless mistake, not something done on purpose.”
In fact, the homeroom teacher understood. The school’s attitude toward this kind of thing had become much more lenient. On the one hand, the students were getting too strong, and on the other hand, it was a matter of belonging. Previously, Shen Ning was registered under the Bokmogen Family, but now that the Rockmorgan Family had acquired the Strange Stone Project, Shen Ning was officially part of Shengling Academy.
Before, these kids belonged to “someone else.” Now, they were family. If they accidentally broke something at home, you couldn’t scold them too harshly.
“By the way, about your new skill—at that level of power…” Yu Jing recalled what she’d said at noon. “Don’t tell me you’ve already…”
“No, not yet.” Shen Ning immediately replied. “Just some special applications, that’s all.”
“That’s good.”
Yu Jing let out a sigh of relief. For a third-year student, three applications was already outrageous. If you suddenly hit fourth-rank or something, no one would even believe it.
“Xu Chuyao went out earlier,” Shen Ning said, testing the waters. “I saw her pass by just now.”
Qin Pan and Ying Qiong came by too, but didn’t get a chance to say more before Principal Lü took them away.
Yu Jing gestured upstairs. “Don’t make any big moves; too much commotion will bring everyone here. Xu Chuyao and the principal are busy dealing with him.”
The man hanging around the school these days was the envoy.
Since Xu Chuyao couldn’t hand over what he wanted, the envoy had no choice but to stay nearby, coming by every morning and afternoon to ask, only to be turned away at the door. It wasn’t until that sudden gale swept through the campus and out into the streets that he was startled enough to come running.
Something’s wrong—the Shengling Academy must have had an incident!
Now that he’d come to the door, Xu Chuyao didn’t bother being polite and decided to let him have his say.
“I think all of you—be it those ‘lords’ or you yourselves—are overestimating me,” Xu Chuyao folded her hands neatly on her lap, “I’m just a third-year student, two years from graduation. How could I possibly know all the teachers and students, be connected to everyone, or control your so-called secret projects?”
The envoy wanted to speak, but she continued, “And as for your project, I know a thing or two. After all, I attended the briefing. If you want to pass inspection, you need raw materials, right? Strange Stone is a controlled commodity. Are you expecting me to provide it?”
The envoy started sweating.
Her words sounded like a threat, like a rhetorical question, and like a test. If she really did what she implied, it would mean a lot of powerful people were backing her—almost as if asking, “Are you sure you want to provoke me?”
To be honest, things like smuggling aren’t unheard of. In the past, the Yaha Consortium had stolen stuff, and during the transfer of Strange Stone, several dozen cases went missing. They said Small Mutual Aid did it, but everyone knew there was more to the story.
So the envoy couldn’t understand why Montis insisted on pestering Xu Chuyao with this excuse, but it wasn’t up to him.
“I’m just following orders. Miss Xu, please cooperate with the investigation before Lord Salier arrives.”
He could only repeat this line.
At this point, Principal Lü spoke up, “Sorry, perhaps you don’t realize—Xu Chuyao has recently been targeted by the Supreme Society because she’s thwarted the Society and Small Mutual Aid several times, so they bear her a grudge. For her safety, we can’t let her leave the academy.”
“In that case, you’re saying if she goes to Honor City, we’d suspect you’re plotting against Miss Xu?” the envoy mocked.
“Of course I wouldn’t suspect you, but this trip is too dangerous. You can’t protect her the whole way,” Principal Lü shook his head, “nor guarantee her safety.”
“Why not? Before I came, Lord Salier specifically instructed that he would personally guarantee Miss Xu’s safety.”
At this, Xu Chuyao gave a little laugh, “Give me a break. What’s his guarantee worth? That old man’s life isn’t even enough for a trade. He’s not a Bloodline.”
After all, Xu Chuyao was the second-ranked genius in the academy’s history, a super prodigy with three golden stars, possessing a dazzling future.
Why would she gamble her life for some old official she’d only known a few months?
The envoy’s expression turned awkward, and even Principal Lü looked embarrassed, coughing softly and motioning for Xu Chuyao to tone it down.
Don’t say things like that in front of people—think of basic manners.
Of course, the envoy was clearly annoyed. He left in a huff, saying, “Since Miss Xu refuses to cooperate, I will have to report to Lord Salier and await formal summons from above.”
With that, he got up and left.
After a while, Xu Chuyao walked to the window and looked down, watching the envoy practically fleeing the campus—afraid of being caught and made to stay.
“All that tough talk, and in the end, you just give some official excuse. Tsk…”
He looked all imposing, but turned and ran the moment he could.
“He can really apply for an official summons,” Principal Lü said worriedly. “If you really have to go to Honor City, what will you do?”
“No problem,” Xu Chuyao pulled out her phone, “I’ve got connections over there.”
And, just in time—there was still that matter she needed to talk to Beilian about.