We Are Innocent! (Thanks to Alliance Leader rwxdx)

"Uh—"

In the silence, Ji Jue squirmed twice in his seat before swallowing hard.

Since sticking my head out means death, and hiding my head means death too, I might as well die a more refreshing death. After hemming and hawing for a while, he finally spoke. "I feel... it's not too bad?"

"It really is just not too bad."

Professor Ye nodded, expressionless. "It barely managed to go from noncombustible garbage to ordinary garbage. I don't even know how you had the nerve to submit this.

"When I received it a few days ago, I even checked the date to see if it was April Fools' Day.

"With your level, how long did it take you to make this thing?"

She asked, "Five days? Three days?"

"More... or less."

Ji Jue lowered his head and hemmed and hawed for a long while. In the end, he didn't dare admit that he had only spent four hours on it. He didn't try to argue either, and could only pull his medical record from his pocket and present it with both hands.

"Something happened in the middle. I got hit by a car and spent some time lying in the hospital."

To be honest, although he knew this pile of stuff was only passable, it wasn't actually that bad. With a little tidying up, it could barely serve as a graduation project. But if Professor Ye only wanted something of that level, why would she have come looking for him?

There were so many university students outside—wild ones, free-range ones, and farmed ones—all plump and tender, juicy with fresh meat, and even carrying their own coffee for pulling all-nighters. Couldn't she just drag any one of them in and put them to work?

The medical record lay on the desk, but Professor Ye didn't even look at it.

She glanced at Ji Jue, confirmed that all four limbs were intact and that he was complete from head to tail, then pointed at the stack of papers on the desk. "Rewrite everything besides the framework and data. Especially the arguments and main points. Don't pad it out with the previous material. If I see another piece of nonsense like 'the banana is big and the banana peel is also big,' then do yourself a favor and get out."

"Huh? Oh, oh!"

Ji Jue froze for a moment. He hadn't expected Professor Ye to let him off so easily this time. Previously, students in the group had been cursed to the point of looking like they'd been doused in dog's blood over a single symbol or a matter of poundage. Once he came to his senses, he hurriedly took the paper back.

The thickness, however, was beyond his expectations.

He hadn't written that much.

When he opened it, he saw densely packed annotations and questions marked throughout the paper. There was no shortage of judgments such as "incomprehensible garbage," "pointless drivel," and "of absolutely no practical value," but there were even more questions and revision suggestions that left Ji Jue sweating coldly.

Of course, the most eye-catching thing was still the cover.

At the second-author position, a name had been circled in red pen, with question marks taking up almost half the page beside it.

—[Ye Chun.]

Clearly, she had seen through Ji Jue's sinister scheme of dragging his senior schoolmate down with him despite knowing he was doomed.

Ji Jue wiped away his cold sweat. "Ah, that was just for fun. A joke, a joke."

"I know."

Professor Ye blew aside a tea leaf and said calmly, "You're also the second author on that piece of garbage she submitted."

"..."

For a moment, Ji Jue really wanted to call the police.

Sure enough, every basket of siu mai, pan-fried dumplings, and oatmeal buns that fate made him pay for had its price secretly marked... Forget dragging someone into slacking off, but why had he dragged someone down with him too?!

No wonder she'd been so enthusiastic today. As expected, favors offered for no reason concealed either treachery or theft!

"All right, go. Don't you still need to show your family around Heavenly Gate?"

Professor Ye put the lid back on her teacup and waved him off one last time. "Remember to come back this afternoon. I still have something for you to do."

"..."

In the silence, Ji Jue hesitated, opening his mouth as if he wanted to speak.

Professor Ye looked up at him. "What is it?"

"Professor, this afternoon I..."

He hemmed and hawed before explaining, "I have something to do."

It wasn't that he was slacking off and didn't want to come. Wen Wen had told him several days ago that he absolutely had to make time this afternoon, or else she would make him pay. It seemed to be something very important, and he truly couldn't put it off.

"Hmm?"

In the brief silence, Professor Ye looked at him, her brows lifting slightly in surprise. Soon, as though she had understood something, she nodded knowingly. "I see."

She suddenly asked, "You're dating someone?"

"No, no, no, no, no, no!!!"

Ji Jue was so startled he nearly leaped out of his chair. He hurriedly waved his hands, afraid Wen Wen might hear him from hundreds of kilometers away and punch him in the chest with her tiny fist. "It's simply that a friend needs my help. I owe her a huge favor, so I really can't bail."

Professor Ye didn't ask any further questions.

She merely waved her hand, no longer insisting.

After packing up his paper, Ji Jue fled, sweating buckets.

Naturally, he failed to catch Ye Chun, who had left long ago. After searching around for quite a while, he could only send a few harsh messages on his phone, saying things like, "Don't let me run into you on Tianmen Street," to vent his impotent rage.

Ye Chun even sent back a dog-head-pointing-at-a-person emoji to mock him.

After spending the morning showing Lu Ling around half of Heavenly Gate and meeting his counselor and classmates, Ji Jue had just finished eating in the cafeteria when he received a call from Wen Wen.

"Where are you?"

The roar of a motorcycle came from the other end. "Have you washed up and cleaned yourself off yet? Stop dawdling and get out here!"

"Where else could I be? Heavenly Gate." Ji Jue sighed. "Wen Jie, today's my first day of school."

"Perfect. Wait there."

The call ended.

Before ten minutes had passed, Ji Jue heard the familiar roar of a motorcycle by the roadside. It actually drove into the school openly, its flame-orange body racing along the campus roads and drawing countless eyes.

Then, before Ji Jue realized something was wrong and ran away, it stopped in front of him.

"Do you have to be so dramatic, Big Sister?"

Ji Jue was baffled. "What exactly is going on?"

"Didn't I say before that I had some good news to introduce you to? I found the connection!"

Wen Wen took off her helmet, her brows dancing with excitement. "Other Chosen Ones of Superior Virtue can still survive in the wild, scraping by on whatever the heavens provide. Embers are different. Without a guide and a legacy, they can't take a single step forward. Even if you give them a Matrix, they won't know how to use it.

"I'm going to introduce you to one of the few Alchemy masters in all of Yacheng. She only recently let it be known that she planned to take on an apprentice. Who knows how many people are anxiously lining up, unable even to get a glimpse of her.

"It took Big Sister a great deal of effort to secure this meeting. Be more respectful later. Whether it works out or not depends on you!"

"Huh?"

Ji Jue was dumbfounded. He hadn't expected that just as his paper had been sent back for rewriting, Wen Wen would sign him up for some sort of extracurricular Chosen One tutoring class. He instinctively tried to refuse. "I haven't even finished my paper..."

"You can write it tonight. Come on, let's go!"

Wen Wen tossed him a helmet and pointed at the back seat. "Hurry up and get on!"

With a single tug, she made Ji Jue sit on the motorcycle against his will. He fumbled to put on the helmet, not even noticing the familiar perfume lingering inside it before the bike shot forward.

He could only instinctively hold on tight. "Where are we going?"

"Not far! Just around the corner."

The motorcycle circled around the lakeside, crossed the main road, and climbed a slope, traveling between lush green plants on either side.

But the farther they went, the more uneasy Ji Jue became. His scalp prickled.

This direction...

"Wait, Wen Jie."

Ji Jue tried to stop her as he followed her into the elevator in the lobby.

"Hey, don't be scared. Leave it to me." Wen Wen raised her brows and smiled.

"No, I..."

"Relax."

She waved her hand, signaling him not to say anything more. "Wait for Big Sister's good news!"

Just like that, she strode forward with her head held high, passed through the corridor, and, under Ji Jue's horrified gaze, pushed open... the door to Professor Ye's office!

Ji Jue stood frozen in place.

His vision went black.

Um... is it still too late to run?

Amid his shock and stupor, he heard a familiar voice from inside through the not-quite-closed door.

"Ms. Wen, I'm sorry to trouble you with a trip here. To be honest, I've already decided on an apprentice. Although the choice is only passable, I have no plans to change it for now."

"Hey, Grandmaster Ye, it won't hurt to take a look. I've already brought the person here—a particularly sharp and capable young man, overflowing with talent. He's also willing to work like an ox and endure hardship. Tie him to a mill and use him as livestock if you like. Why not take a look?"

As she spoke, as though afraid Grandmaster Ye might change her mind, Wen Wen shoved open the door and yanked Ji Jue, who had been trying to flee with his head covered, inside. She pushed him in front of Professor Ye's desk and slapped him hard on the shoulder.

"Take a look. How is he?

"Ji Jue, come on, introduce yourself."

Do something for her!

Damn it! Go! Ignore her!

"Ah... uh... mm..."

In the silence, Ji Jue hemmed and hawed for a long while without daring to raise his head, let alone perform a backflip. He could only offer a weak greeting. "...Hello, Professor Ye."

Wen Wen couldn't help secretly kicking him under the desk. What's wrong with this perfectly good young man? Why did he get stage fright? Bring out that smooth-talking, shameless energy you usually have!

If looks could speak, Ji Jue could have handed her a fifty-thousand-word essay. He was good at spouting suggestive nonsense, but he didn't dare do it now!

Especially as the look in Professor Ye's eyes gradually shifted from astonishment to amusement.

She looked at Ji Jue, then at the helpless Wen Wen beside him, and suddenly asked, "Is this the 'something' you had to do this afternoon?"

"Yes."

Ji Jue nodded obediently, his face nearly buried in his chest.

"...You're not dating?" Professor Ye asked again.

Ji Jue shook his head frantically. "Really not! Pure as the bright wind and clear moon, innocent as water!"

Professor Ye said nothing more.

Or rather, she had lived for more than forty years, yet for a moment she had no idea how to handle such an outrageous and awkward situation. The research livestock she had already picked out had merely gone out for a stroll, only to be turned around and sold back to her—introduced and led back by someone else.

It wasn't until Wen Wen's thick nerves finally sensed that something was wrong that she looked suspiciously between the two of them and gradually grew bewildered.

"What is this between you two...?"

"..."

After a brief silence, Professor Ye coughed twice. Her usually stern, cold face twitched as she said as calmly as possible, "Ms. Wen, allow me to introduce the person beside you... He is Ji Jue, a research member of the New Type Combustion Element Power Structure project group at Tianmen University, and the apprentice my workshop is preparing to take on."

Wen Wen slowly turned her head, looking at Ji Jue, then at Professor Ye. The sound of her brain going into Overload seemed to fill the air.

"In other words..."

"Yes, that's right."

Professor Ye nodded and said bluntly, "You introduced my apprentice to become my apprentice. I have to say, you have excellent taste."

And so, a long silence descended.

In the awkwardness—an awkwardness as dead as death—Ji Jue stared at the Dust pattering down from the corner of the wall, desperately shrinking his presence until it was almost nonexistent.

He could hear the sound of a three-bedroom apartment being excavated beneath the office floor.

After the apartment was finished, they even built a six-hundred-square-meter backyard, plus a soccer field and gymnasium, to contain the nowhere-to-place awkwardness and suicidal urges, not to mention the grave of a certain person named Ji Jue!

"...Sorry for bothering you."

Wen Wen lowered her head and politely crawled out through the crack in the floor they had just dug.

Soon, she pushed the door open again, returned with her head bowed, grabbed Ji Jue, nodded at Professor Ye, and said politely, "Sorry, I'll borrow him for a moment."

"Remember to close the door."

Professor Ye turned her head away, ignored Ji Jue's pleading gaze, and looked out the window.

The weather was fair, and the sky was cloudless.

This weather is getting more interesting by the day.

She picked up her teacup and took a sip. Then she could hold it in no longer and burst out laughing.