A month quickly passed, and on October 1st, Su Xing and the other three stood on the stage of the auditorium, wearing their school-specific uniforms, accepting the school’s grand awards ceremony.
Even though the reason for this award seemed quite comical to others:
“The school’s storeroom hasn’t been cleaned for many years. We never expected that the four kind first-year students, Su Xing, Kaka, Quinn, and Evangel, would voluntarily clean the storeroom during their spare time, giving us a clean and beautiful campus environment. Therefore, we specially award their group the honorary title of ‘First-Year Star’!”
Kaka couldn’t help but let out muffled giggles.
Quinn’s face was flushed red.
Evangel closed his eyes, pretending he hadn’t heard anything.
Su Xing, meanwhile, righteously accepted the medal while recalling what Winks had told them the day before the award ceremony—
“I’m very sorry, but there’s been a slight issue regarding your award ceremony tomorrow.”
“Can’t we get the award?”
“No, the award will still happen, but we can’t talk about the painted world. The people in the painting who want to come out need a stable living environment. If the painted world became known, they would definitely be hounded by unscrupulous reporters from news agencies for interviews.”
Anyway, that was that.
After stepping down from the awards stage, Su Xing and the other three went to Winks’ office.
Winks had previously said he had something to tell them and asked them to come see him after they were done.
Winks sat in his chair, smiling at the four curious individuals in front of him, “Don’t be nervous. This mission should actually be considered a reward.”
With that, he took out four purple tickets.
The tickets were colorful and extremely ornate.
In the very center, the four large characters “Sacred Art Exhibition” were written in hot-stamped artistic script.
Below it was a large, prominently red-marked number—”200.”
Su Xing and the other two were country bumpkins who had never seen such a thing, but only Kaka had heard of this name—”Is this the art exhibition that the City of Art is about to hold?”
Seeing Winks nod, Kaka happily said, “My mom said this centennial art exhibition is particularly precious. Unfortunately, practically only artists can go; you can’t even buy tickets with money. I never expected to have the chance to go. I’m so lucky!”
Quinn couldn’t help but interject, “What kind of art exhibition is it?”
Winks gently explained, “The City of Art is also Master Cisero’s hometown. After the master’s death, many outstanding artists emerged here, which is why it’s called that by the world.”
He paused, “As for the art exhibition, to celebrate the hundredth anniversary of Master Cisero’s birth, this centennial art exhibition will display his paintings.”
Su Xing was the quickest to react, “So we were invited to this art exhibition because we found the Painting Saint’s painting?”
Winks nodded, “Exactly. Of course, you’re not going for free. This time, there’s a small task for you.”
He took out the painting that was lying on the side of the table and handed it to Su Xing, “You need to return this painting to the City of Art.”
“Wow! First time on an external mission!”
In the carriage of the “Moth Insect” train, a brown curly-haired boy wearing a thick cotton coat, bundled up like a ball, was cheerfully spinning around. His thick clothes couldn’t stop him from gesticulating wildly, “And we get to play here for two days too, we’re so lucky!”
A boy in a black baseball cap and all black clothes sat on the bench, looking down and wiping his dagger, ignoring the guy who liked to yell about everything he did.
A white-haired boy was curled up in a corner, eyes closed, resting, his face as pale as a corpse.
He had been studying late into the night again.
This guy seemed to have been stimulated by the painted world incident, furiously absorbing new knowledge.
Su Xing felt he wanted to push himself to become a second Rael in a short amount of time.
As for Su Xing herself, she was holding a map and quietly chatting with Kaka with a smile.
Their two voices were the only ones in the carriage, but it didn’t feel awkward.
Su Xing glanced at the map in her hand, idly making conversation, “Kaka, have you been to the City of Art before?”
Kaka nodded, “I went once when I was little, but I don’t remember much. Anyway, my parents said there was something strange there, so they never took me back.”
“Something strange?”
Su Xing became interested, “What’s strange?”
Kaka shook his head, “I don’t know, Mom didn’t say.”
Su Xing couldn’t get any useful information from him and idly touched the painting that had stubbornly refused to take them in again.
Once it was delivered to the Sacred Museum in the City of Art, their mission would be complete.
Because Master Cisero’s works had developed lives of their own, no one could control them after Master Cisero’s death.
To prevent these paintings from being destroyed or affecting others, they were collectively stored in the Sacred Art Museum.
This place used to be Master Cisero’s former residence, and the paintings dared not act out here.
This was also why the school decided to have them return this painting.
As for the so-called Sacred Art Exhibition, that was naturally just a bonus.
However, since it was the two hundredth anniversary, the Sacred Art Exhibition would display all of Master Cisero’s collected paintings.
So, this exhibition was still somewhat valuable, and Su Xing and the others planned to go and broaden their horizons.
Although it was an official business trip, to avoid attracting attention and because Su Xing and the others were too young to drive, the school decided to have them take the Moth Insect train.
Anyway, there was still plenty of time, so there was no rush.
Su Xing suspected the school was simply being stingy.
Thinking about it carefully, on this trip, apart from the pitifully cheap Moth Insect train fare and a measly 5 academic credits, the school actually didn’t pay for anything.
The expensive tickets for the Sacred Art Exhibition were specially given to them by someone else; the school didn’t spend a single penny.
Never mind, Su Xing rummaged through her bag, pulled out a slip of paper, and began to read silently as if listing her treasures: “…a pen from the family, embroidery from the Peerless Twin Flowers…”
“Master Lu’s clay figures, Mark…”
Kaka curiously pounced, “Su Xing, what’s that?”
Su Xing shook the slip of paper in her hand, “This is a shopping list for others.”
She joyfully introduced, “From our class, other classes, and teachers from all grades. After they found out I was going to the City of Art, more or less, they all asked me to bring something back. After all, buying things from the City of Art from outside is definitely not as authentic as buying them locally.”
Evangel got straight to the point, “So, how did this news get out?”
Su Xing chuckled, not answering.
In fact, after receiving the mission from Winks, Su Xing immediately went to find out what kind of place the City of Art was.
The academy had a library, but that was always Quinn’s territory.
Kaka once suspected that only Quinn had ever been to the school library. (He hadn’t.)
As for Su Xing, she never relied on books to gather information.
Su Xing casually found a few girls and was surprised to find that they all knew the name of the City of Art.
Oni took out a handkerchief from her backpack, which had some rather pretty embroidery on it.
At that time, not yet knowing Su Xing was going to the City of Art, she excitedly showed off, “This is a handkerchief I begged my dad for a long time to get him to personally go to the City of Art and buy for me.”
The little girls nearby immediately made envious sounds.
Davia passed by at the opportune moment, showing off her identical handkerchief at the opportune moment, and speaking at the opportune moment, “Oh dear, my handkerchief fell on the ground and got dirty, so I don’t need it. Luckily, I have ten identical ones, all specially sent to my family by the Peerless Sisters’ shop.”
Oni’s face was very unpleasant, and the little girls next to Su Xing also looked unhappy.
They had just been envying Oni for having this handkerchief, and then in a blink of an eye, they found someone who didn’t care about it at all.
How could they keep their composure?
Su Xing saw a business opportunity in this and spoke up at the opportune moment, “We don’t need to compare ourselves with others, isn’t it enough to be happy with what you use? Why do you need so many handkerchiefs? Is your body that dirty?”
Davia’s face turned green, and then she heard Su Xing say, seemingly carelessly, “I’m going on a mission to the City of Art soon. Is there anything you want? I can help you buy it!”
At this moment, Quinn saw a familiar name on Su Xing’s list and asked in surprise, “Davia also came to you for a purchase?”
Su Xing nodded with some emotion, “I didn’t expect the name of the City of Art to be so famous. Even though she just lost face in front of me, she was still willing to come to me.”
Saying that, she warned again, “Don’t you dare tell anyone about this. I’ve received a lot of hush money from Miss Davia!”
Evangel, as usual, scoffed, “Greedy for money.”
Su Xing carefully put away the list, “Only a fool goes against money.”
Quinn had always been uninterested in these topics.
This was evident by the fact that even though Kaka was making a huge racket, he still hadn’t opened his eyes.
The area near the platform had become very lively, with heavy traffic and people coming and going outside.
Su Xing leaned on the windowsill, watching the increasingly bustling scene outside, “It seems we’re almost there.”
She was right.
After a day and a night of travel, the four finally arrived at the City of Art, located in the western part of the Federation.
Perhaps because the Centennial Art Exhibition was to be held three days later, an exceptionally large number of people disembarked at the City of Art station.
The crowded masses almost instantly scattered the four of them.
Su Xing was very accustomed to this environment, or rather, she was in her element.
Her agile figure skillfully weaved through the crowded masses, successfully reaching the interior of the City of Art.
Su Xing proudly patted the wrinkles on her clothes that had been caused by the recent squeeze.
She was a woman who had been scrounging for food in bustling markets since childhood; this kind of scene was child’s play!
So, the next step was to find the accommodation provided by the school!
She didn’t have the map in her hand; she had put it in Kaka’s backpack just before getting off the train.
That map, including the painting, was in Kaka’s hands.
What to do? Su Xing suddenly had a bad premonition.
She hoped Kaka was with Quinn and Evangel; otherwise, with his personality, something might happen.