On the third floor of the library, Professor An Xiaoyi and Professor He Xiaoxin silently exchanged glances, sipping coffee.
They gradually forgot their task for coming here, leaving all the work to Dorothea.
Both were deep in thought.
An Xiaoyi mused, “I always feel like this woman knows something, but I can’t quite put my finger on it.”
It had been a month since they met, and the woman always gave him a dangerous vibe.
He was a sensitive person, but he never showed it on his face.
He Xiaoxin tilted her head, watching him for nearly five minutes, her gaze cold.
“I found a description of what might be that authority!” Dorothea suddenly exclaimed, rushing towards the table.
An Xiaoyi put down his coffee, and just as she was about to fall, he reached out to steady her shoulder.
But the blonde girl still stumbled onto the table, nearly sending a cup flying.
“Tha… thank you, Professor.”
An Xiaoyi bent down to pick up the large black book. “My surname isn’t Xie.”
“I said ‘thank you, Professor,’ not a form of address, not a form of address,” Dorothea shook her head.
Seeing her large blonde head dangling back and forth, An Xiaoyi felt a mischievous urge and suddenly scratched the top of Dorothea’s head.
He wasn’t a lolicon; he simply couldn’t resist because he found it too cute.
Surprisingly, Dorothea didn’t react much to this gesture, letting the professor, who was only a few years older than her, touch her head, as if it were perfectly normal.
A gaze that seemed to sting his skin made An Xiaoyi quickly retract his hand and look up.
He Xiaoxin was looking down, drinking coffee, as if the icy stare just now had nothing to do with her.
At this moment, An Xiaoyi saw a figure approaching, dressed in the enforcement bureau’s uniform.
“Professor A. Eve, you’re here,” An Xiaoyi greeted first.
He spoke rather coolly.
“You all look quite relaxed. Are you having an afternoon tea party?” Professor Eve stopped beside He Xiaoxin.
She scanned the document area; a corner was in disarray, looking as if a bookshelf had overturned, with several wooden ladders lying on the ground.
Her gaze then shifted to the large black book on the table.
He Xiaoxin turned her head away; it seemed she didn’t like Eve.
“You don’t have class today?” An Xiaoyi didn’t particularly like Eve either.
He Xiaoxin had previously said that this woman was already suspicious, and he should minimize contact with people who were too perceptive.
“I’m the instructor responsible for senior-year internship tasks…” Eve said, her eyes showing surprise.
Because her head was still bandaged.
Eve didn’t pay much attention, opening the black book.
“I was planning to look for information together, but it seems I don’t need to. I just heard Dorothea’s cheers in the hall. Which page?”
Dorothea was flattered that Professor Eve knew her name.
She cautiously said, “Page 171.”
On the campus forum, Professor Eve didn’t have a good reputation, not for any other reason, but because she was too serious, like a high school dean of students whose eyes seemed to glare at the whole world.
Students privately called her “the demoness.”
An Xiaoyi wanted to invite He Xiaoxin to look together, but he saw the woman getting up as if to leave.
“I still have some matters to attend to. See you next time,” He Xiaoxin said without looking back.
“Mm, alright then.”
“Are you two close?” Eve looked at him with strange eyes.
“Not too familiar; she owes me a meal,” An Xiaoyi said naturally.
He Xiaoxin did owe him a meal, or to be precise, she owed An Xiaoxue a meal.
Eve lowered her head in silence.
She had already turned to page 171 and was reading intently.
The page contained information about the Old Bloodline.
“I see,” she nodded.
“So that’s how it is.”
“In the ancient past of the bloodline, there was a rather unique lineage. These bloodline individuals behaved very differently. Unlike other monsters who used absolute violence, they pursued extreme ‘elegance.’ They prided themselves as the true nobility among the bloodline and despised their kin.”
“The Grimlin family?” An Xiaoyi couldn’t help but ask.
“The book only mentions this type of bloodline, not which family it is,” Eve looked at him, her expression puzzled.
“The description in the book matches the general style of the Grimlin bloodline. They consider themselves superior and view their violent kin as utterly barbaric, so much so that they were disliked by both humans and their own kind, and were later wiped out by other bloodline families.”
An Xiaoyi pointed to a booklet on a bookshelf.
“That’s ‘The Grimlin Records,’ it documents all the figures from that family.”
“You certainly know a lot,” Eve said, surprised.
“This helps us study the possibility of infighting within the bloodline. As a professor of Authority Knowledge and Bloodline History, this isn’t just my profession; it’s a topic I’ve been researching all along.”
“But what’s mentioned in it doesn’t fully match the Grimlin family,” Eve whispered.
Dorothea also leaned closer, her azure eyes staring intently.
“Look at this description of the Authority: it can pull people within its range into a dream-like illusion. At that point, people are at their most vulnerable, and then it proceeds to drain their blood. It reminds me of an extinct Authority… [Nightmare].”
An Xiaoyi was silent for a long time, then slowly looked up, meeting Dorothea’s gaze.
Then, both of them shook their heads simultaneously; neither had ever heard of it.
“No, I need to report this to the principal right now,” Eve’s face was solemn, as if she knew some bad news.
She picked up the large black book and left in a hurry, leaving behind a professor and a student staring at each other, neither understanding why she suddenly became so anxious, as if she’d discovered the end of the world, when she had been reading so calmly.
“What is [Nightmare]?” This was a blind spot for Dorothea; the school hadn’t taught it.
Rather than being taught, she’d never even heard of it; there had never been a single-word Authority.
She believed Professor An Xiaoyi must know.
“Don’t ask me,” An Xiaoyi shook his head, genuinely unsure.
“Then I’ll get going! Since I’ve helped you so much, you absolutely have to give me extra credits,” Dorothea turned and left, skipping and waving all the way until she disappeared into the intertwined view of the bookshelves.
The task of finding information went more smoothly than expected, and An Xiaoyi breathed a sigh of relief.
No matter what Eve thought she had discovered, she was going to report it to the principal anyway.
No one would suspect him; a history professor could never be linked to an Authority related to illusions.
Just…
What He Xiaoxin said lingered in his mind.
She seemed to imply that he had been present at last night’s operation and had seen An Xiaoxue.
As he walked out of the library, it was raining outside.
Drizzles were frequent in March.
An Xiaoyi stood under the eaves, hesitating whether to run back to his dorm hotel or to the cafeteria; he was a bit hungry.
He froze, his gaze fixed on the figure by the steps.
An old man stood there, taking off his raincoat hood, holding a transparent umbrella, his hair white, his face radiant.
He looked very old, but he was in remarkably strong condition.
“Xiaoyi, what are you standing there for?” The old man smiled and waved.
“Grandpa?” An Xiaoyi was slightly surprised.
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