Professor Jeffrey

After parting ways with Gallo at Moonlight Cafe, Professor Vanason hurried back to Imperial Industrial University, thrilled at having discovered a prodigy.

He headed straight for the ivy-covered red-brick office building where the professors worked.

Then he went up to the third floor, where the History Department was located.

However, as he reached the corridor containing his office, his pace slowed when he passed one particular room.

Though he had already walked past it, he turned back.

He saw that the office door was actually left ajar.

The owner of this office was none other than his colleague and co-author of A Millennium of the Askia Dynasty on the Southern Continent, Professor Jeffrey Gito.

Even though he had already received a letter from Professor Jeffrey informing him that he would finish the archaeological excavation on the Southern Continent and return within the next few days,

Vanason still could not calm his excitement. More than anything, he desperately wanted to know whether Jeffrey had made any other major discoveries during this excavation.

After all, in the letters Jeffrey had sent from the Southern Continent in the past, his excited tone had always set Vanason's imagination racing.

Vanason even somewhat regretted not going to the Southern Continent with Jeffrey.

However, Jeffrey's archaeological expedition to the Southern Continent had not been funded by the university. Some outside organization had provided the money and entered into a partnership with Jeffrey.

Even if Vanason had wanted to go, it would have been troublesome. For outside collaborative projects, the university rarely sent more than one or two professors from the same department.

Vanason knocked on the half-open office door. He could hear someone moving inside, but received no response to his knock.

He gently pushed the door open and entered.

"Jeffrey!

When did you get back?

Yesterday..." Vanason's words caught halfway through.

The sight in the office stunned him.

Books and documents were piled everywhere, several times messier than before Jeffrey had left.

And Jeffrey himself was slumped in an armchair amid that mountain of books and papers.

He looked much thinner than before his departure, with deep-set eye sockets, prominent cheekbones, and the fatigue of a long journey written across his face.

But beneath that exhaustion was also a... nameless terror.

His fingers tapped unconsciously against the armrest, and his gaze was somewhat unfocused. Only when Vanason entered did his eyes suddenly sharpen, as though he had been startled awake.

"Vanason?

Oh... yes, I'm back.

I only got back not long ago." Jeffrey's voice was hoarse and heavy with weariness.

"You look... exhausted. Why didn't you rest at home for a few more days?" Vanason asked with concern, pulling over an empty chair not covered in books and papers.

Jeffrey rubbed his brow, looking utterly drained. "They didn't give me much time.

I have to finish the remaining work as soon as possible, or else... I'll be in serious trouble."

There was no excitement in his tone, only a heavy fear.

"They? The people funding your expedition to the Southern Continent?" Vanason asked.

Jeffrey looked up at him and said in a complicated tone, "I don't know whether this expedition to the Southern Continent was fortunate or unfortunate.

All I can say is that the work ahead will be troublesome. But more than that, I hope you can keep what I just told you a secret. Don't let it slip."

Jeffrey grabbed Vanason's hand and gripped it tightly, saying earnestly, "Especially not to the university. Don't tell anyone at the school.

Publicly, I'll only say that this expedition went smoothly and that we made major discoveries."

"Alright... alright, don't worry. I won't say anything." Vanason pulled his hand back, but Jeffrey's mental state struck him as deeply abnormal.

He guessed that the outside sponsors might have been dissatisfied with Jeffrey's progress and pressured him.

He sighed inwardly. What kind of people would make life difficult for a harmless archaeologist?

Professor Vanason looked around the office at the vast amount of material and reflected on just how tedious Jeffrey's upcoming work would be.

Without the help of teaching assistants or student members of the expedition, organizing so much material and turning it into a professional academic report would be a long and exhausting process.

But then he immediately thought of Gallo. Leaning forward excitedly, he said, "Jeffrey, I was just about to tell you!

Today, I met an unbelievable young man on Lubo Lane!

He possesses an almost miraculous ability to read and analyze. He can grasp the entire contents of a book and identify its core points in an extremely short time!

I want to recommend him to you. Perhaps he can help you..."

"Not interested." Jeffrey cut Vanason off directly, his tone stiff and irritated. "I don't have the energy to meet some strange genius off the street right now.

Vanason, things on my end are very... complicated."

Vanason froze. Jeffrey could be stubborn at times, but he had never been so rude or impatient.

His doubts deepened.

"Alright, alright." Vanason softened his tone. "Then at least let me see the materials you brought back this time.

I know the site you investigated on the Southern Continent was once the political center of the Askia Dynasty."

Seeing Jeffrey's thoughtful expression, Vanason added, "Of course, anything you let me see must not affect your partnership with the sponsors."

Jeffrey fell silent for a moment, then wearily waved a hand toward an open leather suitcase in the corner.

"Over there... there are some preliminarily organized documents, as well as rubbings I took from inscriptions on ancient buildings.

Take them and look for yourself.

The rest... I'm still organizing. Some of the contents... I need to verify again."

Professor Jeffrey looked at Vanason and said, "I hope that after you read those things... you won't think I'm insane!"

"What? Why?"

Jeffrey shook his head. "You weren't there. It's difficult for me to explain what happened."

He took out a thick leather-bound notebook. Just as he was about to hand it to Vanason, Jeffrey pulled it back.

"Forget it. This is my diary. I'll still need it later."

Vanason did not ask any more questions. He walked over to the suitcase, where several documents were indeed scattered messily inside.

He carefully gathered them together, then closed the suitcase holding the large amount of expedition material.

"Thank you, Jeffrey. I won't stay any longer. Get some proper rest." Vanason looked at his old friend, whose condition was clearly off.

Jeffrey merely gave a vague "Mm," his gaze turning toward the office door.

A crisp knock drew Vanason's attention as well. Outside the office door, which he had left open when entering, stood a tall young woman with platinum-blond hair.

"Professor Jeffrey." Her voice was clear and cool.

After greeting Jeffrey, she looked at Vanason beside him.

"Professor Vanason, this is Sacia Taylor, one of the students I led on this expedition," Jeffrey said.

Vanason drew in a breath. The surname Taylor was not common in the Iron Glory Empire. Twenty years ago, that name had represented honor and glory.

"I won't disturb your work."

As he was leaving, Vanason gave the tall young woman another glance. Her skin was fair, and she was the kind of beautiful girl who was difficult to forget after seeing her once.

Her expression was simply too cold, though. There were probably no shortage of admirers at the university.

Carrying the heavy suitcase full of materials, Vanason left Jeffrey's office.

He had originally planned to study them himself first, but Jeffrey's abnormal mental state lingered in his mind like a thorn.

He had a faint feeling that these materials might conceal the key to Jeffrey's strange behavior.

If he read through an entire suitcase of materials by himself, it would probably take at least half a month, and that was only if he did nothing else with his time and energy.

But he still had classes to teach every day.

"If this had happened before, there really would have been no way. But now..."

To analyze these scattered, lengthy materials quickly and accurately, who could be more suitable than that young man who had just left him utterly astonished?