Volume Three: The Academy Runs Wild - Conversation

"Then, it comes down to the matter of the 'organization'."

Givinia continued, but her expression became somewhat serious.

"Let me make this clear first: once you know about the organization, there's no going back. But I still hope you'll listen to the end, because whether you want to know or not, in the not-too-distant future, a storm will sweep through everyone."

Shino and Xiao Wu briefly exchanged glances.

"Well, if it's really true that no one can escape, then it wouldn't hurt to listen."

"I... I'm also very concerned about Ye's situation!"

Givinia narrowed her eyes slightly as she looked at the two of them.

One person did it because of their own sense of justice.

The other person is simply someone you care about.

The same decision, but with completely different motivations.

Nobody knows if this will lead to any unforeseen changes.

"Then, let's start with the organization itself. The organization was founded hundreds of years ago, I don't know exactly when, but what I do know is that its Leader has lived for no less than a thousand years."

"A thousand years? Is that guy some kind of powerful demon beast or something? Or does he have the ability to live forever?"

"Who knows? To be honest, I've never actually seen the Leader. I only know he's male. Only nine high-ranking members of the organization have seen his Leader and know about his abilities."

"Nine high-ranking officials?"

"First, I must explain the organization's situation to you. First, for hundreds of years since its founding, the organization has been continuously absorbing extremely powerful 'special talents.' Any member of the organization would be a top expert in any major power. Second, the core of the organization consists of the Leader and nine high-ranking members; you can imagine how powerful they are. Third, although the organization is incredibly powerful, it has not made any major moves in the past few hundred years, only focusing on accumulating power. Fourth, and most importantly—the organization's ultimate goal, or rather, the Leader's goal, is to collect 'materials' to build World Crossing Gate."

"I have to say, this is a lot of information..."

"That's why I need to explain. I don't know much about the World Crossing Gate either, or rather, probably no one except the Leader understands its nature. All I can confirm is that it's a gateway to another world."

"Another world!? Are you sure you haven't read too many fantasy novels?"

"Please keep your complaints to yourself, Ms. Xiao Wu. To be honest, I couldn't believe it at first either, but A Ye's existence says it all."

"... You mean, Ye?"

"That's right, A Ye, whom you consider your companion, isn't from this world. She's a poor victim who was accidentally dragged into this place."

Xiao and Xiao Wu blankly at Givinia, while only Haoyue remained relatively calm, since Ye had already told her all of this.

"Wait a minute, after all that, I think I've guessed it," Xiao Wu said, rubbing her forehead. "Could it be that that weird organization needs those nine Divine Item to open the gate to another world...?"

"You understand quickly, but it's not 'nine' items. They only want the first six of the nine things I mentioned earlier. The Water Heart, the Nether Radiance Lamp, and the Emperor Slaying Sword are unnecessary."

Xiao Ruo pondered for a moment and said, "The organization wants to reach another world, and Ye is from another world. Could it be... that Ye is involved with that organization because of this?"

"You understand quickly. This is the most important information I'm about to tell you. You should know that the organization used to have nine high-ranking members, but now it's eight. The former high-ranking member 'Blood Fiend' was forced by the bad-tempered Leader to forcibly seize the Rakshasa True Word. It's said that she fought against the entire Rakshasa Divine Sect alone, having to protect the Rakshasa True Word while also dealing with the Grand Sect Master and two other Sect Master. Although she won, she was probably half-dead."

"How tragic."

"Weren't the higher-ups supposed to be incredibly powerful?"

"The world's top experts are not limited to those at the highest levels."

"What happened next was deduced by my 'collaborator.' When Blood Fiend was on the verge of death, Rakshasa True Word unleashed its true power, temporarily taking Blood Fiend to—another world, which is the world where A Ye originally lived. At that time, she was probably just an ordinary person, but after encountering Blood Fiend, she inherited Blood Fiend's power for various reasons, and was then brought back by Rakshasa True Word... and that's how things turned out."

"So, being from another world is why she possesses superpowers... Wait, what about that Rakshasa True Word? Could it be—"

Xiao Wu thought back to when Ye went berserk, his body covered in scarlet runes... Could it be...?

"That's right, the Rakshasa True Word, one of the nine divine Divine Artifact and a symbol of ferocity and rage, remained inside her body."

"..."

"Although she is very strong, it is impossible for her mortal body to permanently contain the Rakshasa True Word. Although she herself is unaware of it, the Rakshasa True Word is still slowly eroding her body. Affected by it, she also went berserk once in the past—you were there at the time, weren't you, Miss Haoyue?"

Haoyue nodded, her expression complex.

"You successfully brought her back then, but this time, the same method failed. Because the Rakshasa True Word is increasingly corrupting A Ye, she is becoming more and more unstable and is about to reach her 'limit'."

"Limits?"

"That's right. Once she breaks through the limit, Rakshasa True Word will go completely berserk, and then it will be too late. She's only one step away from the limit now, so it wouldn't be surprising if she went berserk again at any time. Frequent berserk mode is also possible, and in severe cases, it's quite possible that she could flatten half of the Central United Academy."

"Wait a minute!" Xiao Wu interrupted her.

"Do you have any questions, Ms. Xiao Wu?"

"Just this one outburst from her, the Qipao Woman and I already gave it our all. If these outbursts become the norm—"

"So, that's the worst-case scenario."

"What I'm curious about is, you were the one who delivered the final blow, weren't you? How did you manage to do it? And why do you know all of this so clearly? Who exactly are you?"

"I?"

Givinia's lips twisted into a strange smile.

"I'm just a nobody wandering around. If I had to categorize myself, I'd probably be a 'vengeful' type. By the way, I'm also a member of the organization... Hey, hey, Xiao Wu, don't point a gun at me! Let me finish!"

"Snort..."

Xiao Wu snorted coldly and put her gun away.

"Let me tell you first, although this organization is very powerful and large in scale, its members aren't really united. Rather, the Leader is too lazy to manage people like a wise ruler. He just brute-forces tasks without considering the feelings of his subordinates, so it's natural that they're not united. Let me clarify, the reason I joined the organization is because the person I want revenge on is in the organization. You could say I was a 'spy' from the beginning. And there's another person in the organization's higher-ups who got tired of being controlled by the Leader and wanted to rebel. So that person dragged another higher-up into the mess and even came after me. The little gadget I used to suppress Ye was given to me by him."

"Then, he went to Ye?"

"That's right. He was an old acquaintance of Blood Fiend, and Ye's interests aligned with his, so it was inevitable that he would approach Ye. As a high-ranking member of the organization, he couldn't act freely, so he guided and helped Ye find the six Divine Item and seize control of them before the organization could. That's their—or rather, our—cooperation."

"That sounds like a completely unfair contract term," Haoyue said, looking indignant.

"Mr. Huang Huo's power is undeniable; no one can defy him," Givinia said with a wry smile and a shrug. "The last thing I need to tell you is—the method to save Ye."

Now we've finally gotten to the main topic.

Xiao Wu stared intently at Givinia, Xiao straightened her back, and Haoyue silently took out her notebook.

"I forgot to tell you, A Ye's ability has a very peculiar property. Others need to constantly train and comprehend to advance their abilities. But A Ye is different; she must devour 'external objects' to advance."

"External objects?"

"Theoretically, this 'external object' can be anything, but to successfully complete the advancement, you must have those extremely powerful and rare natural treasures."

"She sounds like she has it much easier than the average superhuman."

"You think this is easy? But finding those treasures is troublesome enough, and the process of devouring them is incredibly dangerous. You've all seen her ability to make blood burn, haven't you? It's powerful and magnificent, but I personally witnessed the entire process of her devouring Yan Yi Ming Hua. In the very first instant, she was almost reduced to a charred corpse, then she kept regenerating, kept burning away. One wrong step and it was all over. 'Death and life' is the most apt description—"

Whoosh!

Haoyue knocked over the water glass beside her. With a stern face, she silently cleaned up the broken glass.

Ye didn't tell her the details of the devouring.

He claimed to be "the person who loves her the most," yet he didn't even know how much suffering she had endured.

For Haoyue, this was the most unforgivable mistake.

"Um, Haoyue, calm down, Ye must also—"

"I am very calm."

Despite saying she was calm, Haoyue, who abruptly interrupted Xiao, didn't seem calm at all.

"... I'm sorry. Getting back to the point, saving A Ye isn't that difficult. A Ye is currently the 'vessel,' and the Rakshasa True Word is the 'water.' If the vessel isn't big enough, the water will naturally overflow. So, we just need to increase the volume of the vessel."

"Speak like a human being!" Xiao Wu hates people who speak in riddles and embellishments.

"You should try to understand the situation a little... To put it simply, as long as A Ye himself becomes stronger, the volume will naturally increase, and the water won't overflow."

"Considering what you said about 'devouring'... do you mean we need to find something for Xiao Ye to devour before it's too late, so she can become stronger?"

"That's right, and I also know exactly what I'm going to swallow, ta-da~"

As if by magic, Givinia produced a folder.

"The information about what it's going to devour is inside."

"Is this it?" Xiao immediately reached out to take it.

"Don't touch it!!!" Xiao Wu suddenly grabbed her hand, and at the same time pulled out the Black Star and pointed it at Givinia's forehead.

"Huh? W-what happened..." Xiao was at a loss for words.

"The design of this folder... it's probably a top-secret document from the archives. I've seen similar ones before during missions. They're full of all sorts of traps; if you accidentally touch one, you won't even know how you died."

Upon hearing Xiao Wu's explanation, Shino immediately broke out in a cold sweat. At the same time, she looked at Givinia in astonishment—how did she get her hands on something like that?

"Don't be so nervous, Miss Xiao Wu. Since you dared to bring it out, I naturally removed all the restrictions on it."

"Then you must also know that anyone who dares to tamper with top-secret documents will only meet a death sentence, right?"

"Look at what you're saying, as if you're going to kill me."

"You..."

"I'll be frank. While they were assassinating Yekaterina, the Black Crows were also robbing a classified document transport vehicle. I had already obtained the documents recording the vehicle's schedule, so when the Black Crows were on the move, I double-crossed them and stole all the top-secret documents being transported—don't glare at me like that, Miss Xiao Wu, it was all for A Ye's sake."

"Ha... As Scavengers, I should have executed you on the spot... But for Ye's sake, I'll spare you."

Xiao Wu shrugged helplessly. Compared to the rules of the Central United Academy, the lives of her companions were far more important.

"Stop talking nonsense and get to the main text. Xiao Ye, she..."

Haoyue eagerly opened the folder and pulled out the file--

The four of them crowded around.

Four large characters came into view.

"... The Serpent's Egg?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Quest item information obtained~