Chapter 12 : An Xiaoxin

An Xiaoyi fell silent for a moment, then waved his hand in front of the students’ eyes, but there was no reaction.

The library had silently activated its power.

Was it [Absurd Revelry]?

Its effect was to pull people into a hallucination.

This hallucination was nonsensical, generated entirely based on the last thought in a person’s mind, with everything in the hallucination being random, having neither an end nor a beginning.

Before falling into the hallucination, the students were all thinking about solving problems.

So they probably all fell into hallucinations related to those problems, like being present in history, developing the hallucination from the perspective of those involved, and deducing all possible answers.

Some students had already picked up their pens, their eyes still vacant, their hands holding the pens writing answers as if by instinct.

An Xiaoyi glanced at one.

It was a question from Grand Duke Fillis: “His tears are hatred.”

“It’s love. He loves his family, but he’s also afraid of them being taken by the Grim Reaper. Only by dying by his own hand can he feel at ease.” This was the answer another student wrote, and the handwriting was quite beautiful.

“Why not say he was sleepwalking?” An Xiaoyi thought to himself.

“You actually didn’t fall into the hallucination.”

In front, the chief invigilator had woken up at some point.

She looked at An Xiaoyi coldly.

An Xiaoyi was slightly surprised, “You’re awake?”

“I am the chief invigilator; this is the effect of my power.” The chief invigilator nodded.

“Everyone on this floor of the library except me is within the effect’s range. Anyone below S-rank can’t resist it.”

An Xiaoyi thought for a moment, then pointed to his own head.

“The effect of your power is to enhance concentration,” the chief invigilator mused.

She seemed to realize something, “Your strong concentration can resist the hallucination.”

“I’m A-rank, didn’t the principal tell you?” An Xiaoyi bluffed, completely unfazed.

“With A-rank power, if you calculate it like 1+1, then my concentration is S-rank.”

“Concentration… has ranks too?”

“It’s just an analogy.”

An Xiaoyi thought, you actually didn’t pick up on such an obvious lie. I can’t exactly say my brain is simply not easily stimulated, and I certainly can’t say that powers below SS-rank are actually useless against me.

“You’ve overturned my impression of clerical-type powers,” the chief invigilator said, nodding.

The chief invigilator was a very young woman with long black hair and golden eyes; An Xiaoyi wasn’t sure if she was wearing colored contacts.

She was dressed in clothes that didn’t quite look like a professor’s, more like an operations supervisor from the Enforcement Bureau.

“What’s your impression of harmless powers?” An Xiaoyi seized the opportunity to strike up a conversation.

He wanted to maintain distance from the students but aimed to make friends with colleagues.

“Quick thinking, super memory, strong practical skills… reclusive genius,” the chief invigilator said blandly.

“Some people are clearly destined to become scientists, or they are suitable for the operations department, as commanders on the front lines.”

“That’s not bad,” An Xiaoyi said, looking pleased.

“You’re very suitable for the front lines,” the chief invigilator suddenly smiled.

From the start of the invigilation until now, the woman had been cold-faced.

This was the first time An Xiaoyi had seen her smile.

She smiled beautifully, like a gentle older sister when she smiled, but when she didn’t smile, she was just an ice queen.

It seemed that at St. Antiona University, the combination of ice and goddess meant extreme danger.

An Xiaoyi was a little dazed.

For some reason, he felt a strange sense of familiarity with her.

She was dangerous.

An Xiaoyi was certain he couldn’t get too close to this woman.

“Forget it, I don’t want to deal with monsters,” An Xiaoyi waved his hand and turned back to the sofa.

The chief invigilator said nothing more, her smile gone, her expression blank as she looked out the library window.

The curtains flutter

Perhaps I really was hallucinating, and before I fell into it, I was recalling my encounter with the woman, which is why I saw her in the hallucination.

He thought this as the woman turned her head and looked at him.

She was indeed a very beautiful woman, possessing both the temperament and authority of an elder sister, that inherent suppression an older sister has over a younger sister…

An Xiaoyi surprisingly, subconsciously, slipped into the role of An Xiaoxue’s younger sister.

He didn’t have an older sister, only an older brother, and that brother was himself, and the younger sister was also himself.

“Hello,” An Xiaoyi decided to greet her anyway.

First, he’d test her intentions.

“It’s a hallucination, and it’s not a hallucination,” the woman looked forward again, seemingly understanding the confusion on his face.

“Are you an invigilator? Why haven’t I seen you before?” An Xiaoyi asked.

“Something like that,” the woman’s tone didn’t sound like a ghost’s.

“Hello, my name is An Xiaoyi. I’m a new professor who just arrived. I haven’t met you yet.”

“My name is Xiaoxin; this is my Huaguo name,” the woman said softly.

“Xiaoxin? Is there someone whose surname is ‘Xiao’?” An Xiaoyi thought she was joking.

“My surname is also An,” the woman turned her head to look at him again.

“An Xiaoxin.”

An Xiaoyi was surprised.

The woman actually had the same surname as him, and the name format was identical.

Fortunately, she added: “I don’t have a surname. Whatever my friend’s surname is, that’s my surname.”

That’s good then.

It was just a coincidence with the character ‘Xiao’.

The woman said she had no surname and took her friend’s surname, so they must be very good friends.

She also said it was her Huaguo name, which made it slightly more reasonable.

This suggested the woman wasn’t from Huaguo.

Foreigners often took Huaguo names casually, choosing surnames they liked.

Some foreigners simply took the same surname as their Huaguo friends.

Although the An surname wasn’t common, there were still about a million people with it.

“Then you must be very good friends with your friend, right? May I ask, is it your boyfriend?” He took the opportunity to probe, though after observing her, he didn’t think the woman looked foreign.

Mixed race, perhaps?

It might be related to his mom and dad.

“Boyfriend?” The woman tilted her head, looking at him, seemingly not understanding.

“In Mandarin, it means a partner, a companion, understand? A partner, a transitional relationship before getting married and becoming companions.”

“Not a boyfriend,” An Xiaoxin said blandly.

“Then it’s a best friend…”

“To be precise, I am her boyfriend.”

An Xiaoyi thought, just as I suspected. This older sister probably considered An Xiaoxue from that night her lover. She couldn’t possibly say that friend was An Xiaoxue, they had never even met.

That sense of familiarity.

An Xiaoyi’s heart skipped a beat, a hesitation about himself.

“You’re a blood relative,” An Xiaoyi turned to look at the chief invigilator, speaking softly.

“My friend is too, but I can’t find her, and she doesn’t remember me,” the woman said.

“But you’re a blood relative,” An Xiaoyi repeated.

To maintain his persona as a professor at St. Antiona, his attitude should focus on the blood relative identity and the appropriate reaction.

“Your sister is also a blood relative,” the woman looked at him coldly.

An Xiaoyi was startled.

She didn’t seem to know his secret.

“So… why are you looking for me? Do you think you’ve found a kindred spirit in this school and want to stick together for warmth?”

“I want to understand you, because you are now her brother, although I don’t know why she entered your family, playing the role of a younger sister.” The woman was very frank; perhaps she simply didn’t care.

“What is your relationship with An Xiaoxue?” he asked.

“Friends. She lost her memory,” the woman’s eyes were slightly melancholic.

An Xiaoyi was inwardly horrified, thinking, this woman really does see me as her lover. Is this older sister specialized in swindling? She sees a beautiful girl and just goes for it, full of talk about amnesia.

An Xiaoyi, who was also An Xiaoxue, had lived in that manor since the age of five, as far back as he could remember.

He was usually well-behaved and law-abiding, had never been in a relationship, and worked hard after graduating from school.

Now, nearing twenty-three, a suspicious blood relative woman suddenly appeared, claiming to be his lover.

“It’s normal not to know. You’re a human, though I can’t see through you,” the woman said blandly.

“This is our first meeting. There will be many more things to learn from each other in the future.”

“Learn what? How to help you win over An Xiaoxue?” An Xiaoyi’s mind was a bit jumbled.

“Why wouldn’t I just report you to the school? You’re a blood relative.”

“Consider it a deal. I can help you with many things, giving you things within my acceptable limits.”

The woman didn’t care about the threat at all; she seemed too dominant.

“If you refuse, that’s your choice. I… won’t stop you.”

An Xiaoyi suddenly stood up.

The woman had disappeared.

In front, the chief invigilator watched coldly.

He heard words carried away by the wind, “When you’ve thought it over, meet me tomorrow night at the campus park. I will always respect your choice.”