Revisiting an Old Haunt

In front of the gate of the Eastsea Academy, Tang Wulin, Xie Xie, and Xu Xiaoyan stood there like trees, completely motionless.

Gu Yue, standing next to Ye Xinglan, also looked quite emotional.

"Eastsea Academy... I remember you came from here?"

"Yes, I was only 12 years old then."

Xu Xiaoyan looked over and asked, "How about I take you inside to have a look?"

Yuanen Yehui nodded. "Okay."

The gatekeeper was a middle-aged man in his fifties with gray hair. He poked his head out of the window and sized up the group of people.

The seven people standing there each had a distinct aura.

"Who are you looking for?" The gatekeeper pushed the window open a crack.

"Please inform them that they are looking for Director Long Hengxu."

Xie Xie leaned halfway into the windowsill, his hands bracing against the windowsill, and said with obvious familiarity, "Just tell him his former students are back: Xie Xie, Tang Wulin, Gu Yue, Xu Xiaoyan —he'll definitely remember them."

The gatekeeper looked at them with some skepticism, his gaze sweeping over them several times. The young man in front did look somewhat familiar; he seemed to have seen him on campus before.

He hesitated for a moment, then picked up the communicator on the table and dialed the internal line.

"Director Long, a few young people have arrived at the door. They say they were your former students... Yes, one is named Xie Xie, and there's Tang Wulin, Gu Yue, and Xu Xiaoyan... Hmm, hmm, good, good."

After hanging up the phone, the security guard's expression relaxed considerably. "Director Long said to wait at the gate for a moment; he'll be down shortly."

Xie Xie stepped back and winked at the group. "Just wait, I bet Elder Long will be shocked when he sees us."

"Why?" Ye Xinglan rarely spoke up, tilting her head.

Gu Yue laughed and said, "Because the Class Zero back then weren't exactly well-behaved kids."

Tang Wulin touched his nose. "Actually, it's mainly because of Xie Xie."

"Hey! Old Tang, that's not fair! Who came up with the idea of sneaking out for a late-night snack?"

"I came up with the idea, Gu Yue designed the route, you carried it out, and Xiao Yan kept watch. The division of labor is clear; no one can escape responsibility."

Ye Xinglan raised an eyebrow slightly. "So you two have this history. Yuan En, did you know about it before?"

Yuanen Yehui crossed her arms and laughed, "I know a little bit, but I didn't hear the whole thing. Xie Xie only told me how impressive he was."

"What's so impressive about it?"

Xu Xiaoyan mercilessly exposed their misunderstanding, "That time we were caught red-handed by Elder Long after sneaking back over the wall. The four of us were made to stand in the office until 10 p. m., and in the end, we each wrote a 3,000-word self-criticism. Then Teacher Wu took us back with a dark face."

Just as Xie Xie was about to retort, a figure appeared at the end of the tree-lined path inside the school gate.

He was of medium build, wearing a clean gray-blue shirt, and walked at a steady pace, exuding the composure characteristic of someone who had worked in education for many years.

As I got closer, I could see the expression on that face clearly. At first, there was surprise, and then a clear smile slowly appeared.

"It really is the four of you."

Long Hengxu stood inside the gate, looking at the four of them one by one through the iron bars. His gaze went from Xie Xie's messy hair to Tang Wulin's much stronger shoulders and back, and finally landed on the faces of the two pretty girls, Xu Xiaoyan and Gu Yue. He nodded.

"You've all grown taller! How are things going now that you're all in Shrek?"

Xie Xie grinned. "Everything's fine, Elder Long. It's only been a year, but your hair has turned quite a bit whiter."

"It's not all because of you students that I'm upset."

Long Hengxu snorted, but couldn't hide the smile lines at the corners of his eyes. He turned and waved to the gatekeeper, opening the door. "Come in. Don't just stand there like you're on display."

Seven people filed in.

The moment Xie Xie stepped into the school gate, his steps suddenly slowed by half a beat.

The teaching building in front of us has been repainted; the original gray-white exterior walls have turned light blue. The sycamore trees by the playground have grown much thicker, their shade covering half of the running track.

But the stone path that leads directly from the school gate to the teaching building is still there, though some parts of the path are cracked and covered with fuzzy moss.

Long Hengxu led them around the teaching building, stopped by the small flower bed in front of the office building, and turned to look at the group of young people in front of him.

"Back then, you guys were all quite the troublemakers. Gu Yue was alright, Xie Xie was always getting into trouble, Tang Wulin seemed honest on the surface but secretly he was just messing around, and Xu Xiaoyan was more clever than anyone else when it came to keeping watch."

He paused, his gaze becoming more distant, "But you were the first batch of students to get into Shrek Academy after graduating from here. The academy even posted your admission notices on the bulletin board later."

Ye Xinglan listened quietly from the side, then asked softly, "Can we go upstairs and take a look?"

Long Hengxu glanced at her, then looked at Xie Xie: "Who are these people?"

"My classmates are all from Shrek too."

Xie Xie to the side, "This is Ye Xinglan, this is Yuan Yuanen Yehui, this is Yun Jingheng, this is Gu Yue —they're all from our class."

Long Hengxu's eyebrows visibly raised, his gaze sweeping over the group before he finally nodded. "You're all promising talents. Come on, I'll take you to see your old classrooms. Although it's final exams these days, it won't affect anything."

As they went up the stairs, Yuanen Yehui lagged a few steps behind and gently nudged Xie Xie's elbow. "Did you used to go to school here?"

"Yes."

Xie Xie's voice was lower than usual, carrying a nostalgia he himself didn't realize, "Back then, I complained every day about how ugly the school was, how bad the food in the cafeteria was, and how much Elder Long meddlesome—looking back now, it was actually pretty good."

The walls of the corridor are still covered with honor rolls from previous students, and the youthful faces reflected in the glass frames have turned yellow.

Xie Xie suddenly stopped walking and pointed to one of the photos. "Hey, found it!"

A few people crowded around to look. In the photo, four teenagers were standing on the podium. Xie Xie on the left was smiling, showing off his white teeth. Tang Wulin in the middle looked a little shy. Xu Xiaoyan Gu Yue on the right were making a peace sign.

The title below reads "First Place in the First Eastsea Academy Competition (Team)".

"Back then, my Soul Power hadn't reached level 20 yet."

Tang Wulin recalled, "After the competition, the four of us went to the school gate and ate three bowls of wontons. You ate two bowls by yourself."

"It's because I'm growing," Xie Xie matter-of-factly.

"By the way, Elder Long, is Class Zero still there?" Gu Yue asked Long Hengxu.

Long Hengxu smiled and nodded, "Yes, this training model has been continued after you graduated."

As Long Hengxu finished speaking, his gaze swept over the seven faces with a familiar, calculating look characteristic of a dean of students.

Xie Xie instinctively took half a step back. "Elder Long, I know that look of yours all too well. Whenever you look at someone like that, it's never anything good."

"A good thing, how can it not be a good thing?"

With his hands behind his back, Long Hengxu spoke slowly, "It's perfect that you're back. You're once again the benchmark of our Eastsea Academy. Those kids in the New Zero Class have been training for more than half a year. It's a good opportunity to let them broaden their horizons."

Tang Wulin blinked: "You mean—"

"Let's have a match. It'll be the four of you old Class Zero against the New Zero Class."

Long Hengxu pointed at Xie Xie, Tang Wulin, Gu Yue, and Xu Xiaoyan, "Of course, your current strength is definitely overwhelming compared to theirs, which is unfair, so we have to restrict you. Your Soul Power is suppressed to level 25, and you can only use two Soul Skill at a time, with no time limit."

Xu Xiaoyan's eyes lit up. "That's interesting."

Gu Yue didn't immediately express her opinion, but the slight upturn of her lips said it all.

Ye Xinglan spoke first, her tone unusually interested. "What about the three of us?"

"You guys are the audience."

Long Hengxu chuckled and glanced at her. "Shrek students can watch, but we can also let the seniors challenge you. Let those kids learn something."

Yun Jingheng hissed softly, his gaze shifting from Xie Xie to Gu Yue and then to Tang Wulin:

"I don't have any problem."

"But even if the four of you suppress your Soul Power against the current Class Zero... I still think it's bullying."

Xie Xie got all excited, rolled up his sleeves, and said, "Elder Long, I'll take this job! Wulin? Xiao Yan? Gu Yue?"

Tang Wulin and Xu Xiaoyan exchanged a glance and smiled simultaneously.

"OK."

"I'm fine."

Gu Yue nodded almost imperceptibly.

Yun Jingheng looked at the two women, "Xing Lan? Yuan En?"

Ye Xinglan and Yuanen Yehui nodded.

Long Hengxu's smile deepened, and he turned around, took out his communicator from his pocket, and dialed a number.

The call was answered quickly, Long Hengxu spoke crisply, "Principal Yu, I have a last-minute suggestion... Yes, the four kids from Class Zero back then have returned, and I'd like them to have a sparring match with the New Zero Class, limiting their Soul Power to level twenty-five and granting them two Soul Skill."

"There are three more Shrek students who can be challenged by older students. What do you think?"

There was a two or three-second silence on the other end of the communicator, followed by a deep, slightly amused voice. "Director Long, are you talking about Tang Wulin and his group?"

"It's them."

"Good!"

Yu Zhen's voice suddenly rose a octave, "I'll issue a notice immediately: all exams this afternoon are canceled and postponed to tomorrow. All teachers and students are to assemble on the playground to watch this match! Tell them to get ready; it will begin in twenty minutes."

After ending the call, Long Hengxu put the communicator back in his pocket and gave the four men a meaningful smile, "Did you hear that? Twenty minutes. You can go warm up; there's a training field on the west side of the playground."

"I'll go call them from New Zero Class."

Xie Xie was already clenching his fists, eager to try. "Twenty minutes is enough! Let's go, Wulin, it's been a long time since we sparred—"

"It's been a long time since we played together," Tang Wulin corrected him, but he had already taken a step forward.