After taking Gu Yue back to the Spirit Pagoda, Lin An didn't return to the academy right away.
Instead, he doubled back to the Universe Building.
The lab's cold, white lights came on again.
Shadow Brake stood in the doorway, watching the boy who had left and returned.
Her blood-red pupils contracted ever so slightly, so quickly it might have been an illusion.
"Is everything ready?" Lin An asked.
Shadow Brake said nothing.
She raised a hand, and two specially made sealed boxes slid out of a storage compartment and hovered in her palm.
A thin layer of frost covered one box, its chill biting.
The other glowed faintly red, hot to the touch.
A Century Ice Crystal Fruit.
A Century Red Flame Fruit.
Lin An took them, checked that everything was in order, and turned to leave.
That blood-red gaze pinned him in the back until the elevator doors closed, cutting it off.
By the time he returned to Eastsea Academy, it was completely dark.
The lampposts by the sports field cast rings of dim yellow light.
Quite a few students were still running laps on the red track.
Soul Masters trained their bodies day and night, but most people were already sprawled out by this hour.
Only one person kept up a steady pace.
His steps were measured, his breathing long and even.
His sweat-soaked uniform clung to his body.
Tang Wulin.
Lin An stood beside the track and watched for a few seconds.
He sighed inwardly.
No wonder he was the original protagonist. He really knew how to grind.
He trained every waking moment.
He was leagues better than that silly dragon who did nothing but eat and wait to die.
Tang Wulin spotted him from afar. His pace faltered, then he sped up and ran over.