Chapter 19

"Ah, that's true." Ever since word of the Class F cafeteria exchange student incident spread, Liao Yuanliang had expected as much, but he put on a look of sudden realization.

Qi Yue: "..."

The world was one giant strong stage. They were all strong, strong.

Liao Yuanliang nodded as though he had only just figured it out. "For everyone's safety, it really wouldn't be convenient to use it."

Although he hadn't forced Qi Yue to use his ability, the attempt hadn't been fruitless. At least he had heard Qi Yue confirm it himself. Qi Yue's ability was indeed similar to Beixing's, just as they had privately guessed. That was why, as an ability user, he could approach Beixing without hesitation. After all, there had never been an ability user with an ability similar to Beixing's before, so they had no way of proving whether people with similar abilities could approach each other.

When faced with questions he couldn't answer, Qi Yue merely smiled in silence. Who could understand the bitterness behind his smile?

The panel only told him he couldn't lie; it didn't say he couldn't stay silent. Qi Yue silently exploited the loophole in the panel's wording.

"Ah..." After giving what passed for a helpless smile, Qi Yue seemed to remember something and raised the gift he had originally intended to ask Teacher Jian to pass on to his homeroom teacher. He seized the chance to change the subject.

"Teacher Liao, this is a gift I originally wanted to ask Teacher Jian to pass on to you. It's a pair of glasses I enchanted following Teacher Ye's instructions. They'll stay securely on your face in any situation, and they can withstand attacks to a certain extent. It's just a little classroom craft project. I hope you won't mind, Teacher Liao?"

"Haha... of course not!" Surprised and delighted, Liao Yuanliang accepted the gift. He hadn't expected Qi Yue, who had never sought him out in private, to prepare a gift for him. And it was so thoughtful and practical, too.

Meanwhile, he had deliberately said those things to probe and pressure Qi Yue.

Liao Yuanliang was suddenly overcome with guilt. Had he been a little... heartless?

"Then..." With the gift successfully delivered, Qi Yue deliberately gave a playful wink, acting relaxed. His lips curved upward. "If there's nothing else, teachers, I'll be going."

Qi Yue raised the dissection record in his hand. "I've been curious about Teacher Yan's dissection records for a long time. I can't wait to read them." The more he said, the more mistakes he might make; leaving some things unsaid would allow the greatest room for imagination. Having succeeded in changing the subject for the moment, Qi Yue only wanted to leave quickly.

As for how long "a long time" was, it could mean before he came to the Seventh Hunter Academy, or it could mean since Teacher Yan's class.

In any case, the teachers had all seen for themselves that he had been forced to work himself to the bone to stay alive. They had no reason to keep him there. He had a very good chance of getting away.

"Go on, then," Bai Yening said with a wave.

Tang Xuefeng also smiled and said goodbye. "See you, Qi Yue."

Jian Haosen and Liao Yuanliang, who was still caught up in his guilt, didn't stop him either.

Hearing the answer he had expected, Qi Yue quietly breathed a sigh of relief. Maintaining a composed, reserved expression, he turned and walked away at a leisurely pace, the book held in his arms.

His body was fine, but from head to toe, inside and out, everything about him when he appeared before others had to be meticulously calculated and designed to maintain his perfect image.

He had even practiced the way his back looked and the pace of his steps as he left several times in front of his dormitory mirror. It was just a tiny bit exhausting.

Only when Qi Yue disappeared from sight did the four teachers look away.

Bai Yening glanced at Liao Yuanliang with a faint smile. "So that's why you asked Teacher Jian yesterday when Qi Yue was meeting us, Teacher Liao. You wanted Qi Yue to personally confirm the rumor that his ability was similar to Beixing's. You really went to great lengths."

"Well, well." Jian Haosen glared at Liao Yuanliang. "You used me? And here Qi Yue was going to ask me to bring gifts to you and Old Yan. Qi Yue is hardworking, polite, thoughtful and sincere, while you're playing games. Now I want to snatch that gift out of your hands and give it back to him."

Liao Yuanliang felt even guiltier. "Don't put it so harshly. Weren't you curious too?" He quietly hid the gift behind his back.

"Speaking of which..." Tang Xuefeng murmured to herself, "His ability is similar to Beixing's, but it isn't as passive. He can control it at will. With an ability that defies the heavens, does he really need to work so hard? Or... do all the strong work this hard?"

"No idea." Jian Haosen spread his hands. "Qi Yue is the only strong person I've ever taught."

Liao Yuanliang pushed up his glasses out of habit. "More than that, I'm curious about something else. By now, Atas, whom Qi Yue dealt with so easily, should have returned to the First Hunter Academy and met Dean Zong, right? How will Atas report on this investigation? If Qi Yue comes to Dean Zong's attention, could he... leave us soon?"

First Hunter Academy.

Zong Qizheng sat behind his desk, his gaze resting on the documents spread out before him. Without so much as glancing at Atas, who stood opposite him, he asked mildly, "Well? What were the results of your investigation?"

An image flashed through Atas's mind: the white-haired, red-eyed youth raising his brows slightly and staring down at him with cold disdain.

Chapter 19

The dean's voice wasn't harsh. But Atas felt guilty for being forced to "neglect" his mission against his will, failing the dean's expectations and breaking the promise he had made before leaving.

When he first walked in here, he had been like a proud peacock. Now, he was a... He thought of the other's disdainful, arrogant description of him.

Atas: "..."

A yellow-haired clown?

Atas took a deep breath and opened his mouth. "The matter of the Esper Ability Crystal Ball shattering is connected to..."

Say it, just as you planned on the ride back.

He's strong, isn't he? It wouldn't be a bad thing if Dean Zong noticed him and he came to the First Hunter Academy. Should he stay at the Seventh Hunter Academy, which is inferior in every respect? I'm doing him a favor, too.

Atas kept trying to convince himself to pin the blame on the white-haired youth from Class F.

But... when the words reached his lips, he opened his mouth several times. No matter what, he couldn't get out the explanation he had prepared on the way back.

Is everything really... good about living at the First Hunter Academy? Atas couldn't help asking himself. Beneath the masks of people smiling and chatting happily with one another lay arrogance and entanglements of interests, as they assessed and schemed against each other, all of it deeply ingrained in their bones.

Clearly, the other had guessed why he was there on the very first day. To make him "come knowing nothing and leave knowing nothing," he had coldly left him unconscious for exactly one week. His control over the damage his ability inflicted had been so precise that Atas still felt a lingering fear when he thought about it.

There was no disputing that the other didn't want anything to do with the First Hunter Academy.

"Atas?"

The student's prolonged silence made Zong Qizheng look up after finishing a document. Frowning, he fixed a puzzled gaze on Atas, who had his head lowered.

"Didn't you hear me?" A trace of impatience entered Zong Qizheng's voice.

It was a simple matter that required little thought. If the ball had really shattered, Atas should have brought back the people involved or a list of their names. He had returned alone without making a report in the meantime, so the story about the ball shattering was obviously false. The fragments in the photograph were naturally fakes. Once Atas, who had been in charge of the investigation, produced a recording of his investigation or brought back the fragments for testing, the truth would be clear. All that remained would be to issue a statement defending the First Hunter Academy's reputation.

Even now, Zong Qizheng still believed there couldn't possibly be anything wrong with the Esper Detection Crystal Ball. The problem lay with the Seventh Hunter Academy. The truth, nine times out of ten, was that Old Man Li had gone crazy and played dirty again, lying to demand another Esper Detection Crystal Ball from them for his inferior academy.

"I-I heard you, Dean." Atas's fingers curled toward his palms at his sides as he continued what he had been saying. "It's connected to Class F. The Esper Detection Crystal Ball shattered in Class F."

"What kind of joke is this? F? Class F of the Seventh Hunter Academy?" Zong Qizheng suspected Atas had gone mad.

The most inferior class among the inferior, the very bottom of the seven great hunter academies. How could that be? They had actually pushed a completely worthless member of Class F forward to "take the blame." Sure enough, it was another absurd, clumsy lie from the Seventh Hunter Academy.

"This is a private matter that a Class A student personally admitted to. Though it does sound very... unbelievable." Atas's voice was barely audible.

When he had heard it, he had reacted just like the dean.

"Forget it. Just tell me who in Class F it was." The inferior unlucky soul didn't deserve much attention.

Atas swallowed. "It was..."

Am I really going to be this... despicable? No matter what, it was only his own speculation; he had no evidence. Although the other didn't like him, he had still warned him before acting. And at the last moment, he had kicked Atas out. He had precisely controlled the damage that left Atas unconscious, keeping it within the investigation period. Otherwise, Atas wouldn't be standing whole and unharmed before the dean now.

"I don't know." In the end, Atas discovered that he still had a conscience.

Actually... even if he had lost his conscience, he had been unconscious for six full days and had no evidence to support his words. If he brought something up without evidence, the dean would only be more disappointed in him.

Next time, he would be sure to ask the other whether his suspicions were correct. If... they had another chance to meet.

"What? You don't know?" Zong Qizheng raised his eyebrows, his expression darkening. "Atas, you'd better have a reasonable explanation."

Zong Qizheng could hardly believe that such a simple task had ended up like this.

"I..." At this point, Atas could only tell the truth. "I lost consciousness on the day I entered the academy."

Zong Qizheng: "..."

The dean said nothing. Even without looking up at him, Atas could guess that his expression was anything but pleasant.

"People don't lose consciousness for no reason. Especially not on the day they enter an academy, in the middle of an investigation." After a long pause, Zong Qizheng finally composed himself and looked coldly at Atas.

Staring at the floor, Atas gave a full account of everything that had happened in the Class F cafeteria that day. He hadn't even had time to sneak into Dean Li's office and steal the actual crystal ball fragments shown in the photograph Dean Zong had received.

"That's... what happened. By the time I regained consciousness, I was already on the bus back."