Back to the Dormitory, the Gates Were About to Close

There was no fear in his heart. Instead, a strange calm welled up within him.

This was her world.

Killing and judgment were merely laws of equal exchange.

He understood.

"Lin Xi..."

Xiao Wu's voice trembled as her small hand tightly clutched Tang San's sleeve. She did not dare look at Lin Xi.

She was afraid of seeing those indifferent eyes, as though they did not belong to this mortal world.

Lin Xi did not turn around. She merely said coolly, "There's a dormitory curfew."

"Hm?"

Xiao Wu froze. Her mind was still trapped in the hellish tableau from moments ago, and she could not immediately follow Lin Xi's train of thought.

"If we don't leave now, Wang Sheng and the others won't leave the door open for us."

Lin Xi's voice remained cold and clear, yet it was like a key that instantly pulled Xiao Wu from that blood-soaked mire back into reality.

Curfew.

Wang Sheng.

Dormitory.

These words, so full of everyday life, formed an utterly absurd contrast with the shattered heads and corpses strewn across the ground.

Yet they also made Xiao Wu's heart, which had been hanging in midair, drop heavily back into place.

She was still herself.

She was still Lin Xi, the one who worried about the dormitory curfew.

"Oh... oh! Right! Curfew!"

As though she had seized a lifeline, Xiao Wu nodded vigorously, her voice growing louder.

"Let's go! Otherwise, that dorm supervisor uncle will scold us again!"

Seeing Xiao Wu like this, Tang San breathed a sigh of relief.

He patted Xiao Wu on the shoulder, then followed Lin Xi's footsteps.

None of them mentioned what had just happened, nor did they look back at that dark forest.

As though everything there had been nothing more than an insignificant illusion.

The moonlight stretched the shadows of the three of them long behind them.

Lin Xi walked in front, her steps steady.

Tang San and Xiao Wu followed behind, separated by half a step.

Several times, Xiao Wu wanted to move closer to Lin Xi, but hesitated. In the end, she chose to stay close beside Tang San.

She needed time to process everything she had seen today.

Tang San's Purple Demon Eye glimmered faintly in the night.

He was not watching the road. Instead, he was observing Lin Xi's back.

That figure was slender and slight, yet contained power enough to overturn the world.

He suddenly spoke, breaking the silence.

"Your Second Soul Skill is Dark Gold Dreadclaw?"

His voice was calm, as though he were discussing an academic question.

Xiao Wu jumped and looked nervously at Lin Xi.

She feared Tang San's question would touch that cold, ruthless switch again.

Lin Xi did not pause.

"Mm."

She merely let out a faint sound through her nose.

"That soul ring came from a Ten Thousand Year Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bear?" Tang San continued asking.

"Yes."

Lin Xi's reply was still simple.

"A Ten Thousand Year Soul Beast as your second ring... your body..."

Tang San did not finish, but his meaning was obvious.

This had already surpassed the realm of theory and entered the realm of myth.

"You don't need to worry about my body."

Lin Xi finally said a few more words.

"What you need to worry about is yourself."

"Your Blue Silver Emperor has only just begun, and your Mysterious Heaven Skill is only at the second level."

"You still have a long road ahead."

Tang San fell silent.

He understood what Lin Xi meant.

Do not investigate the world of gods. First, walk his own path well.

He took a deep breath and suppressed every question in his heart.

"I understand."

The atmosphere fell quiet once more.

As they neared the gates of Nuoding City, they came across a small stall selling malt candy by the roadside.

Under a dim oil lamp, an old man was tapping pieces of candy with a small hammer and chisel, producing a steady clink-clink sound.

Lin Xi suddenly stopped.

She walked over to the stall.

"Two pieces."

She took several Copper Soul Coins from her robes and placed them on the stall.

Xiao Wu and Tang San were both stunned.

The old man deftly chipped off two golden pieces of malt candy, wrapped them in oiled paper, and handed them to Lin Xi.

Lin Xi took them, turned around, and offered one to Xiao Wu.

"This is for you."

Xiao Wu blankly stared at the candy, then at Lin Xi.

Under the moonlight, the girl's face was still cool and aloof, but in those deep eyes, there seemed to be a little more warmth than before.

"Thank you... Lin Xi..."

Xiao Wu accepted the candy, her voice as soft as a mosquito's hum.

Lin Xi then offered the other piece to Tang San.

Tang San looked at her but did not take it immediately.

"You're not eating any?" he asked.

"I don't like sweets," Lin Xi said.

Tang San hesitated, but ultimately accepted the candy.

He could feel that this piece of candy seemed to carry some special meaning.

It was comfort.

And also... a silent signal pulling them back into the "human world."

She could kill without blinking. She could disregard life.

But she also remembered that they liked candy.

The three of them entered Nuoding City with candy in hand.

There were already few pedestrians on the streets.

In the distance, Nuoding Academy resembled a sleeping giant beast in the night.

"Hurry, the gates are about to close."

Lin Xi urged them and quickened her pace.

Xiao Wu cried out and hurried after her. Tearing open the oiled paper, she popped a small piece of candy into her mouth.

The rich sweetness melted across her tongue.

The haze in her heart seemed to be washed away somewhat by that sweetness as well.

Tang San followed behind. He did not eat his candy, merely carefully placing the piece still wrapped in oiled paper into his Twenty-Four Bridges Moonlight Night.

He felt that this piece of candy might be more precious than all of his hidden weapons and poisons.

When the three of them ran to the academy entrance, the iron gates were slowly closing.

"Wait! Wait!"

Xiao Wu waved her hands and shouted loudly.

The dorm supervisor uncle poked his head out impatiently.

"You three again! Don't you know the academy rules? Coming back this late!"

He was about to scold them further when he saw Lin Xi walking in front.

His words instantly caught in his throat.

He recalled how, during the day, this little lady had made Master Yu Xiaogang vomit blood in public.

He swallowed, and his attitude made a complete one-eighty.

"Ahem... so it's Student Lin Xi."

"You're back? Hurry inside, it's cold out there."

Attentively, he pulled the nearly closed gate open several inches wider.

Lin Xi ignored him and walked straight inside.

Xiao Wu made a face at him.

The three crossed the field and returned to Dorm Seven.

The dormitory was pitch-black.

Wang Sheng and the other work-study students had already gone to sleep.

The three crept back to their beds.

Lying in bed, Tang San stared at the underside of the upper bunk for a long time, unable to sleep.

Everything that had happened today replayed in his mind over and over.

The terror of the Violent Vajra Ape, Lin Xi's miracle, the power of Divine Grace Parasite, the greed of the Vulture Mercenary Group, and... that cold-blooded slaughter.

He reached into his Twenty-Four Bridges Moonlight Night and touched the malt candy.

Its hard texture, carrying a faint trace of warmth, slowly settled his chaotic thoughts.

He suddenly realized something.

Perhaps Lin Xi was not a madwoman.

She was simply using her own way to protect the "fairness" she acknowledged.

And... to protect them.

What could he do for her?

Catch up.

Only by giving everything he had to catch up to her footsteps could he possibly, one day in the future, truly stand shoulder to shoulder with her.

Rather than, as he had today, only being protected behind her.

The night deepened.

Elsewhere, Yu Xiaogang walked alone along the road back to Nuoding City, utterly dejected.

In the end, he still did not have the courage to run away.

He knew that before an existence like that, fleeing was the stupidest thing in the world.

He raised his head and looked at the crescent moon in the sky.

Fear and fervor flickered alternately in his eyes.

He had to return.

He had to figure out what kind of power that had been...!