Whale-Kill Boxing Hall

As Lin Ye entered the office, bright morning light streamed in through the window. A few potted plants on the sill were dusted with a faint layer of gray.

By the window, an elderly man with silver hair and a youthful face sat behind his desk. He smiled at Lin Ye and set down his pen.

"Have a seat." He waved a hand, indicating the chair opposite him.

After sitting down, Lin Ye looked at Zhuang Huaizhang. "Professor, you wanted to see me?"

Zhuang Huaizhang smiled, removed his glasses, and gently wiped them.

"After the summer break, you'll be a senior. I intend to have you join the lab as my research assistant. According to the rules, seventy percent of your tuition can be waived."

Lin Ye's breathing caught. Seventy percent waived—that was forty-two thousand!

He stood up excitedly and gave a deep bow. "Thank you, Professor!"

Zhuang Huaizhang pressed his hand downward and put his glasses back on.

"Sit down. You're my student, so naturally I'll help where I can."

"If you have any other difficulties, tell me. There's no need to feel embarrassed."

"I know you're strong-willed and don't want to trouble others, but I'm your professor and you're my student. There's no need to stand on ceremony."

Lin Ye blinked several times unconsciously, then nodded. "I understand, Professor."

After sitting back down, he looked at Zhuang Huaizhang with some curiosity.

"Professor, is the assistant work you mentioned related to the medicine my senior brothers are researching?"

Zhuang Huaizhang gave a hum. "That's right, Secret Potion. But for now, you'll only be doing some auxiliary work."

"You'll also need to sign a confidentiality agreement then."

At that, he smiled and waved his hand.

"I'll explain those things in detail after the semester starts. For the summer break, just relax properly. Don't think about all that."

Lin Ye nodded slightly. So it was related to that confidentiality agreement.

Of course, he could also tell that his professor genuinely wanted him to relax. Once school started, he likely would not have many chances like this.

"Thank you, Professor. Sorry to trouble you."

Zhuang Huaizhang smiled helplessly. "You, why are you always so polite?"

"Oh, right. There'll be a gathering before the semester starts. You should come too."

Lin Ye's gaze lifted slightly. This gathering was probably where his professor would formally announce to certain friends that he had become his student.

"Thank you, Professor."

"You brat. All right, there's nothing else. Off you go." Zhuang Huaizhang smiled and waved.

Lin Ye got up to say goodbye. He turned and walked to the door, just about to open it, when Zhuang Huaizhang spoke.

"Little Lin."

Lin Ye turned back. Zhuang Huaizhang looked somewhat conflicted.

He pushed up his glasses, folded his hands before him, and rested his chin on them. The lenses reflected the light, obscuring his eyes.

"This... your professor understands that young people are full of energy. It's normal, especially during summer break, but you should still exercise restraint."

Lin Ye's eye twitched slightly as he recalled the excuse he had given yesterday for taking the Black Spiral Grass.

"Professor, I... actually..."

Before he could finish, Zhuang Huaizhang raised a hand. "All right, I'm not some old fossil. Just be careful. Go on."

Leaving the laboratory building, Lin Ye looked back at the location of his professor's office on the third floor.

At a previous gathering, one of his senior brothers had gotten drunk and told him a few things about Secret Potion.

But at the time, he had only called it a specially formulated medicine and had not said it was Secret Potion.

According to that senior brother, the Pharmacy College had partnerships with some of the city's martial arts halls and was responsible for preparing medicines used in martial arts training.

Only a small number of senior students working in the laboratory building, as well as students like him who had caught the eye of Pharmacy College professors, could access this information.

For the vast majority of Pharmacy College students, let alone gain access to it, they might never even have heard of it.

As for the other colleges at Coast University, he had no idea what their situation was.

In truth, the original owner of this body had never thought anything was strange before.

But now, this Secret Potion was probably not simple. Perhaps it was something similar to magical potions, something involving the mysterious side.

It was precisely because it involved such hidden matters of the mysterious side that access was strictly controlled and confidentiality agreements were required.

Walking beneath the shade of the trees, he looked up at the sky. Sunlight filtered through the leaves in scattered patches.

The martial arts halls in this world were probably extraordinary too. They were not like the martial arts halls from his previous life that could not even beat Sanda or boxing.

After what he had experienced at the Church that night, he was certain that this world... really was different.

He took out his phone and searched for information on martial arts halls. Before long, he found one nearby.

Without lingering, he strode away.

"South Bank Green Pool Terrace, arrived."

After getting off the bus, Lin Ye looked at the huge artificial lake before him. The lake was called "Green Pool."

But this was not his destination. He followed the edge of Green Pool northward.

There was a plaza beside Green Pool, paved with marble and occupied by quite a few people.

An old-fashioned newsstand stood in one corner, looking out of place, as though it had been abandoned by the times. A stooped old man used a feather duster to brush the dust from the newspapers.

Before long, after crossing the plaza, he came upon a commercial street.

A few minutes later, he arrived before a three-story building at the end of the street.

It looked like a modern gymnasium. The opaque wall of glass reflected his figure.

A stone monument stood beside the entrance to the martial arts hall. At its top was carved some kind of whale, posed as though leaping from the sea.

The four large words "Whale-Kill Boxing Hall" were carved into the monument, colored with blood-red dye for a striking visual effect.

"Closed?"

Lin Ye glanced at the calendar. Today happened to be Sunday.

After standing there for a while, he turned and left.

At dusk, Lin Ye removed the Black Spiral Grass he had baked crisp over an alcohol lamp, then picked up a palm-sized mortar and pestle from the side and began grinding it.

Before him were prepared White Tin Powder, ground Black Goat Horn granules, and Black Goat Blood in a glass beaker, giving off a rank, fishy odor.

It was from a castrated goat. He had personally confirmed it at noon.

Before long, he finished grinding the grass. He poured out the Black Spiral Grass powder and mixed it with the White Tin Powder, forming a powder mottled with black and silver.

He picked up a square glass plate about half a foot across and used the powder to draw the "Dark Night" rune upon it.

The "Dark Night" rune consisted of two circles, one large and one small, arranged vertically, with the large one above and the small one below.

In the Ancient Rhein Civilization, the sky was boundlessly vast, while the earth was finite yet unfathomably deep. Thus, the larger circle was above and the smaller one below.

A vertical line connected the two circles. Inside the larger circle were three dots; if connected, they formed an equilateral triangle.

Those three dots represented the starry sky, while the invisible lines of the equilateral triangle represented the wind.

Inside the smaller circle was a wavy pattern, with a line beneath each of its three crests.

The waves represented flow and, by extension, the transformations of all things in the world.

The three lines beneath the troughs represented paths leading into the unfathomable depths of the earth.

Overall, the "Dark Night" rune represented a world without sunlight after the sun had set.

After drawing the "Dark Night" rune, Lin Ye picked up the prepared Ignition Incense and lit it.

The glowing tip of the incense lightly touched the powder, and the black-silver powder immediately caught.

There was no open flame. Instead, it spread like burning charcoal.

Several minutes later, the entire rune had burned away. He used a small brush to collect the ashes.

After completing all this, he sat quietly by the window and watched the sun gradually set.

At last, the sun completely sank beneath the horizon.

Without hesitation, he poured the Black Goat Horn granules into the glass containing Black Goat Blood and shook it evenly, then added the collected "Black Night Rune ashes."

After shaking it several times and confirming that everything had mixed evenly, he sealed it with a wooden stopper and carefully placed it by the window.

Since it was related to the night, moonlight should have some promoting effect too, right?

He rubbed his palms together, too restless to sit still, then got up, lay on the floor, and began doing push-ups.

More than four hours later, Lin Ye lay sprawled over his computer desk, staring fixedly at the glass.

He checked the time. 23:59:56... 57... 58... 59... 00!

It was midnight!

He hurriedly looked at the glass. Wisps of brilliant white radiance appeared over its walls, like moonlight.

The moonlight spread into the glass like twisting silver worms, and the originally dark red, impurity-filled blood rapidly became clear.

All of the dark red color was absorbed by the Black Goat Horn granules within, forming particles of blackish red.

It worked!