The Smile Hadn't Disappeared

What are thirteen-year-olds doing these days?

Xue Ming didn't know--

But he can remember his school days from over a decade ago.

That was a poor middle school near the air force base in the suburbs of Pingyang County. Every morning, they would get up at 6:15, run two laps slowly on the playground, and then get a bowl of rice noodles for breakfast from the canteen. Immediately afterwards, they would begin their sentry duty, much like the alarm mechanism of a lemur troop.

Several classmates would take out thick novels from under their desks to pass the boring time during morning self-study, while Xue Ming would keep an eye on the two gates in front and behind. If the homeroom teacher came to patrol, he would have to warn the other lemurs in the group to prevent the teacher from taking away the deposits they left at the book rental store.

He remembered that there was a rich guy who wasn't afraid of teachers confiscating his books because he already owned high-end items like MP4 players. His family was wealthy, his parents had strong connections, and he was someone teachers wanted to curry favor with. In middle school, he had the freedom to choose his partner, including being named one of the top ten singers on campus. He could be called a school bully who started dating early.

Putting all that aside, Xue Ming didn't have high expectations for the kids in Galahad these days. He just hoped that no one would become a War King and silently prayed that no high-end guys with MP5s would pop up.

The young teacher, who had no teaching experience, had already prepared the teaching materials and was heading to Class 78.

In order to find some youth that had long been buried in the ground, with grass growing up to his waist, Xue Ming asked someone to buy him a cassette player. However, unlike Teacher Victor's Walkman, Sony's high-end product still costs more than a thousand yuan today. That was not his junior high school life; it was a noble imported product from Japan that was extremely rare even among the rich.

When David Tao, who sang Sprite commercial jingles when I was a child, popped out of the cassette player again, singing "Find Yourself".

Xue Ming handed over the headphones and greeted A Xing, the teaching assistant who had just arrived from the dormitory building next door.

A Xing received the earphones and, without saying a word, put his hands in his pockets and hunched over to deal with Ming Ge's height disadvantage. The two of them, one big and one small, walked into the classroom, swaying their heads.

Gunsmith teacher and assistant teacher A Xing had just stepped onto the podium--

The two brothers were immediately stunned.

The scene couldn't be described as simply chaotic; it was at least a chaotic free-for-all.

The only saving grace is that all fifty-five little ones are here, and they're all wearing school uniforms.

Unfortunately, in an effort to connect with the students, Xue Ming deliberately didn't wear formal attire and even A Xing to dress casually.

Our male lead chose a very sunny, almost adorably headless beige hoodie, and his pants made him look baggy. At 172 centimeters tall, he was considered short among this group of overnourished children.

Meteor went even further, wearing a pink bunny-head plush pajama set even in the freezing cold.

The little ones in the first two rows are engrossed in their phones, passionately greeting each other's parents in the world of Honor of Kings, or trying to become each other's parents.

In the middle of the classroom, several hungry ghosts were still eating breakfast, their books piled up like a protective wall, serving as shelter from chalk stubs—they were experienced warriors.

The last row, near the blackboard and the trash heap, is the absolute main spot by the window. There, indeed, is a wild boy dressed as the main character, who has just celebrated a birthday with a beautiful female classmate, and the cake is still in her hands.

Xue Ming shouted, "Class begins!"

No one responded.

Meteor shouted, "Class is starting!"

The crowd remained silent, looking at the two brothers as if they were extremely rare creatures. Compared to the other serious and ruthless teachers, Ming Ge and A Xing were far too approachable.

Meteor seemed to be infected by the students' lively atmosphere, and kept grinning foolishly.

He saw the young couple at the back of the classroom, the girl smearing cream on the Xiao Shuai's face with her bare hands, and he immediately burst into laughter at this prank.

Until the girl leaned in and licked the dessert off the boy's face.

--Meteor stopped laughing. She involuntarily started to feel emo.

The smile didn't disappear; it simply moved to Xue Ming's face.

Meteor: "Ming Ge, aren't you angry?"

Xue Ming simply smiled and asked in return, "What were we doing when we were thirteen?"

These words left A Xing speechless, and he could only wait for Xue Ming's next move.

They're here to be teachers, so they can easily bond with the children in terms of atmosphere. If it doesn't involve some tough work, they'll probably bond with them physically.

Xue Ming remained silent, thinking to himself--

--Since talking won't work, let's take action.

He picked up a box of chalk from the podium and just pulled out a bullet.

The neatly stacked books have formed trenches, and the barriers of thought seem indestructible. These little darlings have long been tempered by the barrage of other teachers' criticisms; they are seasoned veterans.

The chalk exploded in the air with a loud crack, sending up clouds of dust.

Counting from left to right, Xue Ming struck each one individually. The fragile chalk sticks shattered into pieces upon hitting the thick stack of books, causing the bookshelves to tilt and fall. Then, one by one, panicked little heads appeared, only to be struck by the chalk tip and cry out in pain after just one glance.

When it was the turn of the male protagonist in the last row, that kid had the advantage of distance, and was also quick-witted and skillful. He caught the hidden weapon thrown by the teacher and gave a wicked smile—this wicked smile really did resemble the crooked-mouthed dragon king.

Xue Ming grabbed three pieces of chalk and threw them at the same time.

The male protagonist caught them all with both hands simultaneously, his eyes carrying a hint of provocation.

Xue Ming clapped his hands clean, as if applauding this troublemaker.

The boy immediately raised his prize high and shouted, "Hey! What's up? Out of ideas?"

Before he could finish speaking, his girlfriend, looking disheveled and covered in chalk candles and white dust, silently retreated to her seat, her face pale and grim, as she watched her boyfriend's smug expression.

The smile didn't disappear at that moment.

--It just landed on the face of the student sitting next to me.

"I have no other requirements," Xue Ming said sternly to the students. "First of all, no eating during class time, especially snail rice noodles."

"Secondly, no dating."

Thirdly, listen to me.

"Those who cannot do these three things will not receive credits."

The once noisy classroom became quiet.

Xue Ming shouted loudly, "Did you hear that!"

A few scattered responses came from the audience.

Xue Ming: "Clear the desktop!"

The sound of someone flipping through pages of a book could be heard from below the stage.

A full minute or so passed before the students were all ready.

Xue Ming opened the roster. "Start taking attendance."

The reporting process was very rapid; these post-2010s kids have a clear advantage in reflexes compared to children on the ground.

Most of them are descendants of psionicists, and even those from ordinary families possess extraordinary psionic talents.

However, even the roll call part proved challenging for Teacher Xue Ming.

--Because Class 78 has five astral hybrids, that is, descendants of calamity beasts, who are astral beings who cannot speak the language.

The fifth seat in the second row belonged to a child from the Bear Clan. He took up two seats, and if Meteor hadn't seen the student introductions on the roster, one would have thought an over-aged transfer student had arrived.

The third person in the second row is a crocodile hybrid. His school uniform has many tears from the scales, but you can still tell he's human. His head is bald and hairless, and his pair of bright yellow eyes are quite frightening. He often wears a healthy smile on his face, and his jaws almost extend to his ears.

The fifth person in the third row is a Raven-type Crowman, who is also the Beast Transformation Disease patient that Tang Ning saw in the beginner quest.

The fourth person in the third row is the groundhog, who sits next to the owl. These two have a great understanding, just like their ecological cooperation in nature. The groundhog often keeps watch for the burrowing owl.

These five astral hybrids all spoke the dialects of their homeland, which are extremely rare languages, and also included many slang terms. Their pronunciation is related to their throat and tongue organs, making them very difficult for Homo sapiens to imitate and learn.

The scene left A Xing speechless.

"--Wake up!" Xue Ming grabbed the teaching assistant's rabbit ears and started pulling them.

Meteor immediately explained, "Ming Ge! Ming Ge, I can use sign language! I've learned sign language!"

Xue Ming turned his head to look at the few adorable little ones from the Astral Plane, "Can they understand it?"

Meteor immediately began to control his limbs, striking a few poses with the little bear in the second row, fifth position.

Little Bear immediately stood up, growled, and raised his hand.

Meteor chuckled and said, "Look! He understood! I called his name, and he responded immediately!"

Xue Ming: "There's such a thing?"

At this moment, Daniel stepped in to resolve the situation.

"Gunsmith teacher! These astral beings can understand sign language. Because their vocal organs are different, although our language system is difficult for them to learn, body language is common—they also have human genes, and their brains are fine."

"Then let me introduce it," Xue Ming said, while Liuxing gestured.

Xue Ming: "My name is Gunsmith."

Meteor immediately assumed a gun-aiming stance, then pulled a bottle of ketchup from her pajamas and shook it vigorously.

Xue Ming looked at the shooting star and remained silent for a long time.

Meteor: "That's right. There are guns and sauce. 'Gunsmith' is an obscure compound word! It's very difficult to translate!"

Xue Ming spread his hands and introduced, "This is my teaching assistant, his name is Bu Liuxing."

Meteor immediately stepped onto the desk of the student in front of him, showing off his muscular physique, assuming a stance of drawing a bow and arrow, and letting out a strange cry.

"Whoosh—Bang!"

He gestured with his two little paws, howling and howling, as if he had fallen to the ground and died, sticking out his tongue.

Daniel wanted to say something, but couldn't get the words out.

Xue Ming also wanted to say something. He could roughly understand that the meteor was using abstract sign language to say that an asteroid had destroyed the dinosaurs. Although he had seen many of the amazing things that the entertainment people had done, it still gave him a little bit of crazy shock.

Meteor: "How was it, Ming Ge? How was it? Wasn't I amazing?"

Xue Ming: "Wow!"

Getting back to the main point, Xue Ming continued speaking to his students.

"I believe you have received the notification as well."

The meteor, mimicking the gesture of a little carrier pigeon, rushed in from outside and transformed into the original bilingual appointment letter on the blackboard.

Xue Ming: "I am your knightly combat skill."

Before he could finish speaking, Amin felt a weight on his right hand, and a light sword belonging to an Iron Knight appeared in his hand, resting on A Xing's shoulder. A Xing knelt on one knee and devoutly accepted the title.

Xue Ming: "Instructor of Knight Combat Techniques, Magic Defense."

In the blink of an eye, Daniel was pulled onto the stage by Meteor, where one man wielded Iron Knight's warhammer and club, while the other wielded a light sword, and they engaged in fierce combat.

Xue Ming added an extra comment.

"You don't need to use students as props for a sign language performance, do you?"

Meteor: "Just tell me if it's useful or not."

Xue Ming: "Wow!"

After the translation, the children were all smiles, their eyes shifting from their phones to the two teachers.

"I know you all disagree with me," Xue Ming continued, appealing to both emotion and reason. "I've only just arrived in Galahad, so let me tell you some practical things."

The meteor's hand gesture of making an "X" sign means that all of this is just empty talk and polite formalities, and there's no need to listen to it carefully.

Xue Ming: "Mastering this course will definitely be a great help to you. In the future, you will inevitably encounter some vicious criminals, and what I teach you will come in handy then."

Meteor began to leap, unleashing several sharp kicks followed by a backflip, accompanied by a Bruce Lee roar.

Xue Ming: "You must have heard of the Madness Butterfly Sect."

The meteor, leaning against the wall, did a handstand.

--Because the Madness Butterfly of the Bloodletting Church is also a symbol of an inverted cross, the religious ritual of the Antichrist is fully performed.

When the children in the audience heard the name of the Madness Butterfly Sect, their expressions turned serious. To them, it was as if the demons in fairy tales were real, and their parents must have told them these things.

"Like the Blood Bat Rose Sect," Xue Ming said earnestly and confidently, "A monstrous creation made from rat kidney cells and bat blood."

Meteor opened his mouth, revealing his short, pitiful canine teeth, and pretended to be super fierce, letting out a hissing howl, spreading his arms, and running back and forth in the classroom.

Xue Ming: "In one operation, our Nameless Gang killed over three hundred people."

Meteor grabbed Ming Ge's hand, and after two blows, he shook his head and collapsed unconscious.

Xue Ming: "Our leader, also known as the Big Sister."

Meteor immediately got up, striking a seductive pose, gesturing wildly, and using her fingers as a gun to blow out the gunfire and smoke from her hand.

Immediately after being frightened by Ming Ge's fiery gaze, he became so terrified that he dared not cause any more trouble.

Xue Ming: "The new War King is also my family. We've found this technology to be very effective against the Calamity Beasts."

Immediately afterwards, Meteor shrugged and laughed, summoning his spirit to make four Thumb, transforming into a madman, and began to sway.

Xue Ming: "Today's first lesson is also the most basic mental technique."

Hasben and Tang Ning have already experienced this mental technique, but there are still some details that haven't been explained. It can be considered the most basic unrestricted fighting internal skill.

Before the words were even finished, the meteor dashed out the door.

--Amin initially thought the kid had gone to the bathroom and didn't pay much attention.

The knightly combat skills course had to be conducted outdoors, so there was very little that could be taught in the classroom. Xue Ming didn't pay much attention to the astral students and continued to explain the basics to the other Homo sapiens children in a simple way.

"Next, we will be discussing a crucial element from beginning to end, called the hypothetical enemy, which we will refer to as the villain."

"This technique teaches how to deal with criminals in various environments and protect our own lives and property. First and foremost is our own life, then the lives of our relatives and friends, and finally, preserving our property to the best of our ability. Following this order, we should try our best to destroy the enemy's fighting capacity."

"The most important thing in the first lesson is..."

Before he could finish speaking...

The truck's front end crashed into the classroom's front door, smashing half of the podium and nearly scaring the students in the first row to the point of wetting themselves.

A shooting star jumped off the car, as if it had gotten carried away with a sign language performance.

"How was it?! Was it timely enough? Was the translation satisfactory?"

Teacher Xue Ming, holding the two children, hid behind a desk, staring at the shooting star in disbelief.

"This is beyond the curriculum! We haven't even reached this part yet! Do I look like a teacher who's about to teach a thirteen-year-old how to drive a dump truck and cause an accident?!"

Meteor: "Like"

Xue Ming: "."

Meteor: "Oh, you don't look like it! You don't look like it!"

The smile on Leziren's face vanished, replaced by deep disappointment. He climbed back into the car, put it in reverse, and drove off.

Xue Ming sighed.

"Today, I'll start with a very simple theory: based on your own elemental qualities, you need to have a clear assessment of your combat capabilities. I'll call this lesson the 'Know Yourself' lesson."

Meteor wanted to cause trouble as soon as she walked in.

Xue Ming immediately raised his hand and called out to stop.

"Don't translate this sentence."

Meteor: "Why?"

Xue Ming: "How do you want to translate this?"

Meteor: "Oh, oh."