Await Your Death (Thanks to White Emperor Son Number One for the Alliance Leader)

August 29, 413th year of the Calamity Era.

7:20 AM.

The first day of school at Tianmen University.

Ji Jue slowly woke from a delicate sleep, opened his eyes, and gazed at the sky outside the window. A light rain had fallen in the early morning, but after the sun rose, the sky cleared, and the streets looked fresh and bright.

A cool breeze blew in through the open window.

Such a beautiful day, flowers blooming, birds singing... and yet, some unlucky kids were about to fall into the flames of hell.

Take Ji Jue, for example.

After waking up from a nightmare, he felt his pillow, which was nearly soaked with tears. For a long time, he lacked the courage to pick up his phone—especially after discovering that his inbox contained nothing but promotional spam and not a single reply. He felt a strong urge to find a nice little box, crawl inside, and have himself cremated!

He was done for. Completely, utterly done for!

Professor Ye still hadn't replied to him. He might, possibly, probably, be truly dead!

Recalling the short month that had just passed, Ji Jue felt as if it were a lifetime ago.

There had been too many messy affairs, and his summer vacation had been so fulfilling and full of ups and downs that he had completely pushed the thesis he was supposed to submit to the back of his mind...

But what could he do!

Even if he wanted to submit it, he needed the conditions to do so, right?!

For the most part, Ji Jue had been lying in the hospital, in a state of total collapse. His excessive physical weakness caused him to sleep eighteen hours a day, while the repeated, severe overdraft of his own Spiritual Substance left him in a state of mental deficiency most of the time.

If someone asked him what he wanted for lunch, it would take him half a day to react, and when he picked up his chopsticks, his hand would shake as if he had Parkinson's.

He was like a dying sloth.

Never mind being capable of academic work; he couldn't even do basic arithmetic. He had bought a bowl of Rice Noodle Rolls and tried to do simple addition and subtraction within ten, only to nearly arrive at the miraculous result of the boss owing him six yuan and fifty cents.

By the time he had recovered enough to finally realize the looming deadline, there were only three days left until school started!

Three days?

He couldn't have finished it even if he killed himself!

In desperation, Ji Jue had no choice but to go to an internet cafe, hold a memory stick in his mouth, and calculate for an entire night. He finally managed to cobble together a piece of work with so much fluff that even the Dragon King would bow his head in shame. Filled with trepidation, he summoned his courage and sent it to the professor's email.

As a result, there was still no reply...

Looking on the bright side, maybe it was because Professor Ye was too busy to have checked it yet, right? Perhaps she had long forgotten about the matter and didn't care at all.

Or, it was possible that after reading it, she felt that a piece of academic trash like him was beyond saving and had gone to order a pollutant incinerator, just waiting for him to dare show his face so she could give him a quick and clean death.

Death was at his doorstep.

There was absolutely no way out!

But no matter how much of a dead end it was, Ji Jue still dragged himself up, shuffling and wriggling out of bed, and went through the motions of washing up and changing clothes like a sleepwalker.

When he went downstairs, he found his family's mutated Little Lamb lying in the living room, licking a TV set that was older than he was, with engine oil leaking everywhere... which only made him want to die even more!

It is said that before the Calamity Era, there was a famous saying: "Life is like a gorgeous robe covered in lice."

Ji Jue, however, felt that his life was nothing but gorgeous lice, with no robe at all! Yet, other than wearing this thing, he had no other clothes...

He couldn't exactly go streaking, could he?

Just make do, let the days pass however they may; isn't that how everyone lives?

And so, with tears in his eyes, he rode his bike, shuffling all the way to the entrance of the Continent Auto Repair Shop. A group of people was already waiting there—today was the first day of university for the Second Girl, Lu Ling. As the last remaining academic hope of the Lu family, she had finally achieved results, and the school she got into was the same Tianmen University as Ji Jue. Lu Ma was so excited she wanted to set off two more strings of firecrackers at the door to celebrate.

As the unofficial Second Brother, Ji Jue had to stop by to drop her off.

And maybe mooch a breakfast while he was at it.

"Oh, you don't need to bring so much stuff. The first day is just for registration and meeting teachers and classmates. Besides, the Second Girl is a local and is commuting, so she'll be home by the afternoon. Why would you need all this?"

Seeing the bags and bundles Lu Ma had prepared, Ji Jue couldn't help but shake his head. After much persuasion, he finally managed to cut out more than half, leaving only the necessary documents. After loading the Second Girl onto the back, the Little Lamb sputtered to life and set off.

In the backseat, Lu Ling was wiggling with excitement, enjoying the wind rushing toward her. She was full of youthful energy and sunshine, forming a sharp contrast to Ji Jue's deathly expression.

"Second Brother, you changed your bike." She finally discovered the key point, which made Ji Jue stiffen: "N-no, I didn't. It's the same one. Look, isn't that scratch on the back the one the Youngest made with a knife before?"

"Eh, so it is."

Lu Ling patted the seat blankly. After all, Lu Feng had ridden this thing to take her to high school every day for three years; there was no reason she wouldn't recognize it, but...

"Why does it feel so much bigger?"

The Little Lamb, which originally only had a 110cc displacement, now looked like it was catching up to a mid-sized motorcycle. It was more than a circle fatter, and only a ghost wouldn't see that something was wrong.

Ji Jue rolled his eyes and retorted loudly: "You're allowed to get into college, but the bike isn't allowed to have a growth spurt during puberty?"

Lu Ling was speechless. Instead, the Little Lamb, which had been listening silently beneath her, seemed to feel that the two were discussing it and couldn't help but start wiggling. Ji Jue kicked the pedal in annoyance, and it instantly calmed down.

What is it like to have your own Little Lamb suddenly turn into a dog?

It is an experience that makes one want to die.

Originally, Ji Jue had been worried that it would suddenly go crazy one day and bite his head off to use as a soccer ball. Instead, he discovered that as a mutated product born from absorbing the vast majority of Dragon Blood and influenced by his own abilities and the Vortex Implantation Technique, the thing's personality was stable to a bizarre degree, and it was extremely obedient—as fawning as a dog.

When he communicated with it using his ability, it was no different from a dog.

It would crouch when told to crouch and roll when told to roll, its mudguard flapping so fast it looked like it might fly off.

It was also fuel-efficient—or rather, electricity-efficient—and since it had mutated, it didn't even need to be refueled. Its horsepower was perversely exaggerated; heaven only knew which sports car's engine it had devoured. It could accelerate from zero to one hundred in just two seconds, and its top speed blew past the charts at four hundred and seventy kilometers per hour, to the point that rumors of a haunting had recently begun to circulate on the highway near Ji Jue's home.

These were all advantages, but the only drawback was...

It was a picky eater!

It consumed half a White Cut Chicken on average every hundred kilometers. Yellow Braised Chicken wouldn't do, and it wouldn't touch the frozen chicken legs bought from the supermarket; it only loved to eat freshly slaughtered and cooked ones.

As a result, Ji Jue, who had originally been in a state of abject poverty, was now on the verge of total bankruptcy.

Of course, Ji Jue knew this flaw was his own, not the creature's.

After all, what kind of bad intentions could a Little Dog have? It hadn't asked to be reincarnated into his Little Lamb. If it had ended up with someone rich, it probably would have achieved White Cut Chicken freedom long ago.

There was no helping it; he had to keep feeding it. Could he really just throw it away?

Forbidding it from entering his bedroom and making it sleep in the living room was the absolute limit of Ji Jue's cruelty.

Fortunately, it was very quiet when it disguised itself as an ordinary Little Lamb, otherwise, Ji Jue wouldn't have had the guts to take it out in public.

By morning, Tianmen University, which had been slightly quiet for over a month, began to bustle with noise. The entrance was packed with heavy traffic, and examinees from various districts and even other cities were excitedly craning their necks to look around, snapping photos with their phones.

An excited Lu Ling dragged Ji Jue along to check in at various internet-famous spots and post them to Moments, while Lu Ma, on the other end, unleashed her magical speed, instantly liking and praising every post.

This happy, relaxed mood lasted until the very end of the freshman registration process: the payment.

The bank staff waiting there sat behind the counter with a beaming smile, handing her a loan contract just like vampires eyeing blood bags lining up to deliver themselves.

Tianmen University was no charity. As one of the Federal Five, its gold content was famously high, its threshold was famously high, and its tuition was famously high.

Of course, since you had passed the entrance exam, there was naturally no need to worry about being unable to afford the tuition... kind, benevolent, and generous banks would naturally come to your door to help you, inviting you to serve as their repayment slave for the next twenty years.

Even though Ji Jue and Lu Feng had spent the first half of the summer vacation running all over the Municipal Department with various documents to apply for certificates and subsidies, the annual interest rate was still as high as 4.1 percent.

After just a few minutes, the young girl's life was already burdened with over eight hundred thousand in student loans, and as she clutched her bag, Little Pearl was on the verge of tears.

"Don't worry, don't worry. Tianmen's economics major is the easiest to find a job with. If that fails, you still have Big Dog and Second Brother, right?" Ji Jue ruffled her hair, comforting her. "Come on, let's go look at the teaching building first. Later, Second Brother will take you to the cafeteria for some Braised Pork Rice!"

"I don't want Braised Pork Rice."

Lu Ling rubbed her eyes, feeling even more miserable. "Second Brother, you ate that and ended up in the hospital the year before last..."

Ji Jue's smile stiffened. Why did this brat still remember that wretched business? Besides, the cafeteria had paid a lot of money in compensation, hadn't they! Had she forgotten where that little dress of hers came from? That was all bought with the Braised Pork Rice Second Brother had eaten bite by bite in the emergency room!

Just as he was about to say something, his phone vibrated.

The moment the screen lit up, his stiff smile vanished completely, and his heart stopped.

Professor Ye: [Are you done with the process? Come to my office.]

"..."

Ji Jue swallowed hard and put his phone away. "Wait here, go get familiar with the school with the senior student from earlier. I have something to take care of, I'm heading out."

"Do what?" Lu Ling asked blankly.

Ji Jue remained silent for a moment, then squeezed out a smile as standard as one on a funeral portrait:

"Go to my death."

Running and accelerating all the way, Ji Jue had just stepped into the fourth-floor corridor of the office building when he saw a face full of moving emotion, nearly tearful, as it lunged toward him.

It was Ye Chun!

"Wuwuwu, Ji Jue, you're so good!"

The senior patted his shoulder vigorously, as if she were seeing him for the first time, and pretended to wipe the corners of her eyes with a handkerchief. "So you really weren't a Roll Dog! I'm so moved! I'll treat you to an extra chicken leg at noon! Two extra!"

"Stop talking, I feel like I'm going to die!"

Ji Jue was disillusioned with life, practically collapsing on the floor. Heaven help him, who knew how he was supposed to explain that pile of trash to the professor? He couldn't exactly say he'd been caught in a terrorist attack, fought side-by-side with a big sister from the Security Bureau against Lawrence, and racked up a total score of 93, could he?

"Come, come, come! Please, brave warrior, go to your death!"

Ye Chun, full of schadenfreude, led him to the office door, opened it for him, and kicked him toward the 'judgment seat.'

In the dead silence, only the ticking of a clock remained.

In the morning sunlight, the person behind the desk seemed to have been waiting for a long time. She wasn't pretending to review documents; she was simply holding a vintage teacup, sipping tea so strong it had turned black.

Without any deliberate makeup, the face of the forty-something Professor Ye Xian already showed wrinkles like knife carvings, which only served to highlight the harshness and cold severity in her bones.

Watching Ji Jue shuffle over, still fawning and rubbing his hands in greeting, she didn't get angry. She simply pointed to the stack of papers that had been printed not long ago.

"Critique it yourself first."

She said, "The 'academic' achievement you submitted."