The Unanswered Message

A few days later.

The morning meeting at the Sea God Pavilion ended half an hour later than scheduled.

When Yun Jingheng came out of the Council Hall, the sun had already risen completely, and the morning mist over the Sea God Lake had mostly dissipated, leaving only a few thin wisps of white still clinging to the willow trees on the island in the middle of the lake.

He carried a stack of meeting minutes in his hand and walked slowly through the corridor. As he passed the corner, he greeted an elder of the Inner Court, who replied, "Young Master Yun." His lips twitched, but he ultimately did not refute it.

It's unclear who first uttered this nickname, but it spread throughout the entire Sea God Pavilion in just a few days. Yun Ming only raised an eyebrow when he heard it and said nothing.

"Young Master Yun," someone called out to him from the other end of the corridor.

Yun Jingheng looked up and saw Cai Yue'er coming down the stairs, holding a cup of hot tea, the steam rising gently in the morning light.

She wasn't wearing her signature black robe today, but a dark blue casual outfit. She looked less dignified and more approachable than usual, but her glasses still scrutinized him from head to toe with a sharp gaze.

"Aunt Cai, please don't join in their commotion." Yun Jingheng stopped and waved his hand helplessly.

"This isn't just making a fuss; it's following the rules. Your current position is that of an intern councilor of the Sea God Pavilion. Although you don't have a formal seat, your right to attend meetings is personally approved by the Pavilion Master, and you are also responsible for compiling and archiving the meeting minutes."

"According to the Sea God Pavilion's custom, all attending council members are addressed as 'Elder.' Since you are young, adding 'young' is perfectly reasonable."

She took a sip of tea, her tone as calm as if she were reading an official document, but the fine smile lines at the corners of her eyes betrayed her. "What, not used to it? You have to get used to it."

"Your father started from this position too. He was twenty-three when he attended the meeting, and was called 'Young Grand Secretary Yun' for five whole years until he was twenty-eight, when the 'young' part was finally dropped. You were several years ahead of him."

Yun Jingheng was taken aback.

He truly knew nothing of this past event— Yun Ming had never mentioned it to him.

He looked down at the stack of meeting minutes in his hand, still smelling of ink. The cover had his own handwriting on it, with the date and agenda: Third Extraordinary Meeting in September, agenda: Review of the new component of the Sea God Fate scheme.

This was a meeting that just ended this morning, and it was the fourth formal meeting he had attended.

He was an observer in the first session and didn't say a word from beginning to end; in the second session, he was called on once and made a few suggestions about the reform of the Outer Court curriculum. After he finished speaking, the elders were silent for a while. It wasn't that they didn't agree, but the perspective of a junior who was not even twenty years old was a bit unexpected to them.

Starting from the third session, people took the initiative to ask him, "Jing Heng, what do you think?" By today's session, two elders had come up to him after the meeting and said, "Elder Xiaoyun, please think about the point you just raised."

"Okay, Aunt Cai," he replied resignedly, and continued walking towards his room.

As I passed the corner on the second floor, I was stopped again. This time it was a steward from the finance department, who was holding an approval form for Soul Tool research funding for me to check and sign.

He took it and glanced at it, discovering it was the funding application he had submitted last month for the Energy Conversion Array Disk. The amount allocated was 30% less than what he had applied for, and the remarks section stated, "It is recommended to make payments in stages, with further discussion based on the results after the first phase is completed."

He returned the form to the deacon, said, "No problem, do it this way," and then signed his name in the signature column.

The butler glanced at him as he took the form, a subtle curiosity in his eyes.

He was probably thinking that a young man under twenty years old, facing a budget cut without any dissatisfaction or willingness to fight for it, was either too experienced or too spineless. Although it wasn't good for him to cut someone's budget on his first day at work, he still wanted to save as much as possible.

However, Yun Jingheng's thinking was very simple: the Energy Conversion Array Disk is still in the theoretical stage, and even the experimental model has not been completed. At this stage, it is unreasonable to ask for full funding.

The finance department was already being generous by offering the initial payment because he was the prince of Shrek Academy; any further haggling would be ungrateful.

He continued walking forward, and when he was almost at the door of the room, he encountered another tutor from Outer Court.

The other party is here to submit a draft plan for a joint practical exercise between the Outer Court and Inner Court. Because it involves the coordination of courses between the two departments, they need the Sea God Pavilion's preliminary opinion.

Yun Jingheng stood in the corridor, flipped through the draft, offered two suggestions for revision, and then told him that the plan would be included in the discussion agenda at next week's meeting, and that someone would formally notify him at that time.

After his tutor from the Outer Court left, Yun Jingheng finally pushed open the door to his room, placed the meeting minutes on his desk, then slumped into his chair, closed his eyes, and rubbed his temples.

The spiritual plants on the windowsill were still shimmering with a silvery-blue light. There was still half a pot of cold drink left in the glass pot. He poured himself half a cup and took a sip. The coolness slid from his throat all the way to his stomach, and only then did he feel his mind clear up a little.

I've had busy days before; the intensity of God Trial is much higher than a meeting. That tearing feeling that comes from the depths of my bones makes any administrative trifle seem like a vacation.

But attending meetings and practicing meditation are two completely different kinds of exhaustion.

Cultivation is tiring for the body and soul, but it empties the mind.

Meetings are mentally exhausting. You have to discern the stance and subtext of each person among a dozen elders, organize your thoughts into a coherent argument when called upon, and synthesize everyone's opinions into a logically coherent summary after the meeting.

Most importantly, every word he says could be taken seriously, so he can't speak carelessly.

He opened his eyes and his gaze fell on the stack of meeting minutes on the table.

Today's morning meeting was to review the proposed additions to the Sea God Fate event. The six elders put forward four different proposals, and after nearly an hour of discussion, no decision was made.

Aunt Cai advocated adding a practical combat coordination segment, arguing that previous Sea God Fate focused too much on showcasing academic skills and lacked assessment of combat teamwork.

Another elder suggested adding an intellectual puzzle element to test the adaptability and compatibility of both parties' thinking.

Another elder proposed an even more radical idea: why not have all participants submit a personal resume and mate selection criteria when registering, so that the Sea God Pavilion could conduct a unified audit and screening, directly filtering out applicants with impure motives?

The proposal was rejected on the spot because it did not conform to the original intention of "free love" in the Sea God Fate.

What did I say when I was called on?

He thought about it and concluded that the core contradiction in the new process lies not in its form, but in its balance.

The most attractive aspect of previous Sea God Fate was their unpredictability and entertainment value. If the new events are too focused on practical combat or puzzle-solving, the Sea God Fate will become just another Soul Master assessment, losing its essence of social interaction.

However, if no new elements are added, the Sea God Fate will appear too loose under the increasingly complex scrutiny of various forces.

Therefore, he suggested keeping the original segments unchanged and adding a low-weight compatibility test segment, placed between the talent show and the confession, which would both increase the appeal and prevent it from overshadowing the main event.

He remembered that after he finished speaking, the conference room was silent for a few seconds.

Then Yun Ming nodded and said, "The direction is feasible; we'll discuss the specific plan next time."

These four words—"the direction is feasible"—are the highest praise his father could give in public.

Yun Jingheng finished the last sip of his cold drink, got up, walked to his desk, sat down, turned to the next page of the meeting minutes, and began to organize the summary of the resolutions from today's morning meeting.

As he wrote, he silently calculated the remaining time of the day: finish compiling the minutes and submit them to the archives before noon; in the afternoon Zi JI would urge him to go to the Sea of Spirit for restorative training; and in the evening, Xie Xie and the others would definitely come knocking on the door.

Over the past few days, they've made it a habit to come to his place every evening for a cold drink and to inquire about gossip about the Sea God Fate.

If his mother doesn't have any more impromptu meetings scheduled for tonight, he plans to build the experimental model of the Energy Conversion Array Disk and at least finish drawing the basic rune array.

As he wrote the third line, Xie Xie's voice came from downstairs, carrying a righteous and urging tone. "Yun Jingheng--! Is the meeting over? Did you go crazy in the meeting? Open the door! We've come to see you--by the way, do you still have your cold drink?!"

They arrived before evening?

Yun Jingheng put down his pen, responded to the window with "Yes, yes, wait," then closed the meeting minutes. As he got up to open the door, he caught a glimpse of the unfinished stack of files on his desk.

When he opened the door, Xie Xie was already standing there, holding an oil paper package in his hand, the fragrance of which wafted into the crack in the door.

"I waited in line for ages to get some from that new barbecue stall at the East Gate—you take care of the cold drinks, I'll take care of the meat, fair trade!"

Yun Jingheng stepped aside to let them in, then picked up the glass pot from the table and shook it.

"Cold drinks are plentiful, and you can put the meat on the table first—but not on my file! Xie Xie, watch your step, those are meeting minutes I just wrote today, and if they get oily on them, Aunt Cai will make me rewrite them five times!"

Xie Xie quickly moved the oil paper package to the windowsill, then skillfully rummaged through the cupboard to find a cup for himself and poured a drink for everyone else as well.

Xu Xiaoyan leaned closer to the desk, curiously looking at the cover of the meeting minutes, and read aloud, "Third extraordinary meeting in September... The agenda is the review of the new component of the Sea God Fate scheme -- Hey hey hey! This is an internal file, right? Can we look at it?"

"No." Yun Jingheng turned the page in front of her, but didn't actually send her away.

He sat on the windowsill, took a piece of roasted meat from the oil paper package Xie Xie had brought, took a bite, and commented, "Not bad, I can buy it again next time."

"You're quite good at ordering people around." Xie Xie rolled his eyes, but the corners of his mouth were turned up.

Tang Wulin leaned against the desk, holding a cup in one hand and Communication Soul Tool in the other. His gaze swept over the cover of the meeting minutes before landing on Yun Jingheng.

"I heard you got praised again today? I ran into Elder Cai on my way here, and she told us to learn from you."

"Learn from me? Learn what from me? Learn that I don't have to go to class?"

Yuanen Yehui took a book from Yun Jingheng's bookshelf. "Perhaps it's about us learning from you and sharing the burdens of the academy?"

"Sharing burdens? I was always drafted. But she probably just wants you guys to stay out of trouble."

Yun Jingheng rubbed his temples. "Where's Xing Lan? Didn't she come with you?"

"Xing Lan went for her assessment; she skipped a grade today to take the exam for Inner Court spot." Gu Yuena leaned over to Yuanen Yehui and started flipping through the pages together.

"Didn't I tell you this a while ago? Have you forgotten?"

"Did you say that?"

Yun Jingheng paused for a moment, thought about it carefully, and seemed to recall something.

Two days ago, when Xie Xie and the others came over for some cold drinks in the evening, Xu Xiaoyan mentioned that Ye Xinglan was preparing for the Inner Court's grade-skipping exam and had doubled her training volume during this period.

He was pouring his fifth cold drink at the time, his mind still racing with the scoring criteria for the Sea God Fate compatibility test, and he forgot about it as soon as he heard it.

"Xing Lan will definitely pass," Xu Xiaoyan, holding the cup with both hands, her tone as certain as if stating a proven fact.

"She had a sparring Simulation with senior students from the Inner Court yesterday, and won all three matches. In the second match, she even fought a higher-level opponent. Teacher Wu said that her current sparring level is already at the middle level of the Inner Court, and she's just missing a formal assessment score."

"If she doesn't pass, no one in our year will pass."

Xie Xie precisely picked out the largest piece from the oil paper wrapper of the barbecue and stuffed it into his mouth, adding mumbled words.

Yun Jingheng nodded, his gaze inadvertently sweeping over Tang Wulin.

Tang Wulin was still leaning against the desk, holding a cup in one hand, while his other hand was constantly gripping the Communication Soul Tool, his thumb resting on the edge of the screen, glancing down at it every now and then.

He spoke much less today than usual; from the moment he entered until now, he's basically only said a few words.

The roasted meat was placed on the windowsill, not far away, within easy reach, but Xie Xie had already devoured a third of the meat in the oil paper package, and Tang Wulin hadn't touched a single piece.

Yun Jingheng climbed down from the windowsill, walked to the desk, picked up a piece of roasted meat, and stuffed it directly into Tang Wulin's hand.

Tang Wulin was pulled back to his senses by the sudden warm touch in his hand. He looked down at the roasted meat, then looked up at Yun Jingheng.

"What's wrong?"

Yun Jingheng leaned against the desk, holding his cup in his hand. "You don't even eat barbecue—that's not like you. Are you not feeling well?"

"No."

Tang Wulin shook his head, took a bite of the roasted meat, chewed it and swallowed it, then turned the communicator over and glanced at the screen.

There's still nothing there.

Yun Jingheng didn't urge him.

The others in the room also noticed something. Xie Xie slowed down his eating, Xu Xiaoyan blinked and looked over while holding her cup, Yuanen Yehui's hand stopped turning the pages of his book in mid-air, and Gu Yuena leaned against the bookshelf, her gaze quietly fixed on Tang Wulin.

Tang Wulin swallowed the roasted meat in his mouth, remained silent for a few seconds, and then looked up at Yun Jingheng.

"Jing Heng, do you know an Inner Court student Xu Lizhi?"

Yun Jingheng paused for a moment, his hand holding the cup still.

The reaction was subtle, but Tang Wulin noticed it.

He certainly knew Xu Lizhi.

The list of Inner Court students was in the file folder on his desk. Although he didn't have a formal seat, his permission as an intern councilor of the Sea God Pavilion was enough for him to access the basic files of all the Inner Court students.

He had come across the name Xu Lizhi more than once. It wasn't that he deliberately looked it up, but because there were few Food-type Martial Soul among the Inner Court students, and even fewer who could enter the Inner Court with Food-type Martial Soul. This name stood out in the list.

"I know this person exists."

Yun Jingheng took a sip of his cold drink, his tone no different from usual in conversation, "Food-type Martial Soul, leaning towards support, solid cultivation, and a good personality; the Inner Court's evaluation of him is quite high. So, you two know each other?"

I guess so.

Tang Wulin placed the communicator on the desk, screen facing up. There were no new messages on it, only the chat interface with Xu Lizhi.

The last message was from him; the green message bubble hung forlornly on the left side of the screen. Scrolling up, there were two more messages, also from him, but the other party didn't reply to either.

"I met him in Shrek City during the holidays, around the time we parted ways. I had nothing to do, so I went out to find something to eat."

"There's a barbecue restaurant near the East Gate that's open late at night. I was sitting alone in a corner eating skewers when he pushed the door open and came in."

"He was a size bigger than me, and his eyes squinted into slits when he smiled. He greeted the owner as soon as he came in; he was obviously a regular customer."

That night, there was only one empty table left in the shop. He came over with his plates and asked if we could share the table. I said, "Sure, you can sit here."

"Then he sat down across from me and ordered a table full of meat. I ordered a table full of meat too. We sat facing each other and ate our own food. At first, neither of us said a word. Later, the owner brought out a pot of boiled fish. He picked up a piece with his chopsticks, and I picked up a piece with mine. We both looked up at each other, he smiled, and I smiled too."

Tang Wulin's lips curved slightly as he said this.

"Then we started chatting. We talked about food, which restaurant had the most authentic signboard, which side of the barbecue area, East Gate or West Gate, had more flavorful meat, and why the braised pork in the cafeteria could never be as caramelized and fragrant as the ones outside."

"As we talked, I found out that this wasn't the first time he had seen me. He had delivered nutritional meals to the younger students in the Work-Study Student Dormitory and had seen me before, but we had never had a chance to talk."

"Then I added him as a friend."

Tang Wulin picked up the communicator, swiped the screen, and scrolled down a few pages of the chat history.

The early conversations were all about food. Xu Lizhi sent a photo of a newly discovered barbecue stall late at night, and Tang Wulin immediately replied with coordinates, telling him to go and test it out first.

Tang Wulin ate a pretty good braised pork in the cafeteria, took a picture and sent it to Xu Lizhi. Xu Lizhi replied with a long list of suggestions for improvement, analyzing everything from the caramelization and cooking time to the fat-to-lean ratio of the pork belly.

"We arranged to have dinner together a few days ago, at the same restaurant and the same time. He said okay, see you then."

"Then I went—but he didn't come. I waited until closing time, sent several messages, but didn't get a single reply. He treated us that day. You don't understand him... Even if something happened, he would definitely tell me..."

Yun Jingheng put down his cup, his gaze lingered on Tang Wulin's face for a moment, then shifted to the half-open window behind him.

Outside the window, the surface of Sea God Lake shimmered in the midday sun, willow branches swayed gently in the breeze, and everything was so quiet that nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

Missing...

Yun Jingheng still had a strong impression of Xu Lizhi. He was present at the Sky Sea Grand Competition back then and even paid 260,000 Federal Coin for someone.

Hmm? Wait, didn't I ask him for the 260,000 back? Did he return it to me?

Holy crap... I have absolutely no recollection of this.

He looked away, picked up the now-cold piece of roast meat from the windowsill, and took a bite.

"I'll ask about the Inner Court students' whereabouts later."

He said in a low voice, as if he were agreeing to something trivial, "It's probably just something holding you back, don't overthink it."

Looks like we have to catch him. Why didn't we ask him for money when we got back to Shrek?

Oh right, right, the Evil Soul Master attacked, and then it seems like things got delayed, and eventually I forgot about it.

Go ask Brother Lan, get your money back first. It can't be that he just disappeared because he owes you food money, can it?

Tang Wulin nodded and put the communicator into his pocket.