"Among Hybrids, the vast majority can awaken only one innate Spirit Word in their lifetime. It's determined by their bloodline and can't be learned or changed later."
Angers explained, then turned a curious gaze on Luo Qiusheng.
"What made you ask?"
"Just curious." Luo Qiusheng smiled.
His fingers tapped rhythmically on the armrest. Looking at Luo Qiusheng again, Angers slowly spoke once more. "I remember you're from China too, aren't you?"
"Yeah. Why?"
"Nothing. I've just had this feeling lately that something's about to happen. Anyway, that's all. You don't need to worry about the Judgment Tribunal. I'll take care of it for you, and don't go thinking about dropping out or anything." Hilbert von Ange paused. "I looked into your past. Your parents were both ordinary people, and they died in a car accident ten years ago. You were later taken in by an orphanage."
Seeing Luo Qiusheng watch him with a calm expression, Hilbert von Ange cleared his throat twice. "All right, all right. You really are no fun. That little Lu Mingfei is more interesting."
To Angers, Luo Qiusheng felt like a wily old fox, despite being only a teenager. In the end, Angers didn't think much of it, merely assuming that life had worn away the boyishness in him.
After Luo Qiusheng had left for good, Hilbert von Ange sighed helplessly and murmured the question Luo Qiusheng had asked earlier. "Can Hybrids really use only one ability?"
From the depths of his memory, the boy aboard that train more than ten years ago suddenly came to mind.
"Perhaps..."
After leaving Angers's private office, Luo Qiusheng headed straight for the cafeteria at Kassel College. The college offered a delivery service, but he had a feeling he'd eat much more than usual today.
As he walked, the students at Kassel College were still hurrying about.
Caesar wouldn't show up in the cafeteria, because it would lower his status; Chen Motong wouldn't show up either, because she was Caesar's girlfriend. Lu Mingfei and Finger usually ordered takeout.
When Luo Qiusheng reached the third floor of the cafeteria, he immediately spotted Chu Zihang sitting alone in a corner, quietly eating noodles.
After ordering lunch, Luo Qiusheng walked over and sat across from Chu Zihang, curiosity getting the better of him.
Chu Zihang, slurping his noodles, sensed someone approaching and instinctively looked up. His eyes met Luo Qiusheng's.
"What are you planning to do this afternoon?"
"Read, practice swordsmanship. Um, did you need something?" Chu Zihang asked, looking at Luo Qiusheng curiously.
Why had the person who suddenly disappeared not long ago suddenly shown up again?
Chu Zihang thought back over every time he had met Luo Qiusheng. He seemed to have always been alone, just like Chu Zihang—but not quite. He was friendly with everyone, yet beneath that friendliness there seemed to be a layer of shadow that was impossible to see through.
"Nothing. You were sitting here all by yourself, looking kind of lonely, so I came over to keep you company." Luo Qiusheng gave an awkward laugh.
"You seem to have changed..." Chu Zihang finished his last mouthful of noodles, then spoke again. "You used to be better at hiding your sharpness. Now you're full of openings."
Without waiting for Luo Qiusheng to reply, Chu Zihang picked up his tray and left.
"Changed? Probably. When you realize your strength might be enough to match anyone, you might not bother hiding your edge either."
Luo Qiusheng didn't find it strange that Lu Mingfei had noticed he'd changed, thanks to Little Devil's warning. Chu Zihang had figured it out from a few words. What about the others?
What about Hilbert von Ange?
How much had Chen Motong, with her profiling ability, learned during the few days he'd been gone?
At that moment, in room 303 on the first floor, Lu Mingfei was hesitating over whether to call his senpai. Little Devil wasn't beside him.
Finger leaned over curiously to take a look, then immediately teased him. "Well, well, junior. Calling your senpai?"
Lu Mingfei impatiently shoved Finger away. "Senior, don't you think Luo Qiusheng's acting strange since he came back?"
Finger blinked at that. "Strange? How?"
Lu Mingfei couldn't shake a feeling of wariness. There seemed to be something inside Luo Qiusheng that even Little Devil couldn't see clearly.
Before the call connected, Lu Mingfei turned off his phone. Chen Motong's number still glowed on the screen.
"Maybe I'm overthinking it."
It was White Day. Luo Qiusheng was still in his dorm, puzzling over alchemy, when a sudden knock came from the door.
Qilan glanced at Luo Qiusheng, who was tinkering with strange-looking things at the workbench, then quietly got up and went to answer the door.
"I was wondering if you had any sugar. I might need to borrow some."
When he saw who it was, Qilan froze. "Caesar?"
"Hm? Isn't this Luo Qiusheng's dorm? Are you his roommate?"
Qilan immediately ran to the kitchen, grabbed a bottle of sugar, then hurried over and handed it to Caesar.
Luo Qiusheng had just finished working when he glanced over his shoulder and saw that Qilan had already closed the door.
"Who was that?"
Qilan replied, "Caesar came to borrow some sugar. Oh, right, isn't today White Day?"
"White Day?" Luo Qiusheng murmured, slowly getting up and walking toward the door.
Qilan suddenly asked, "Where are you going?"
"To see Principal Angers. I want to go back to China for a while."
When he stepped out of room 304, he noticed the door across the hall was open, and the door to room 303 next door was open too.
Inside the room across the hall, Chu Zihang, president of Lionheart Society, had drawn Murasame, the blade he rarely let out of his sight. He stood with his back to Caesar, his wrist twitching as he made precise, powerful cuts... slicing the salmon on the table into thin pieces, one cut at a time.
As he worked, Caesar deftly sliced tomatoes with one hand and sprinkled pepper into the boiling pot with the other.
The two of them were as expressionless as ever.
Luo Qiusheng walked straight down the corridor, but Finger called out to him as he passed. "Want to come to a party? It's no fun being cooped up alone!"
Luo Qiusheng gave Finger a faint, somewhat strained smile. The exhaustion of staying up all night to finish his alchemical weapon left him looking a little haggard. "Thanks, but I'll pass."
Finger noticed the detail at once and hurried over to grab Luo Qiusheng's hand. "Aw, don't be so polite. We're neighbors, after all. We're bound to see plenty of each other."
Unable to refuse the invitation, Luo Qiusheng reluctantly sat at the same table as Lu Mingfei. Mingfei seemed eager to sit with Nono, but her prospective boyfriend was right there. Wasn't Mingfei being a little too obvious?
Luo Qiusheng leaned close to Lu Mingfei's ear. "Do you like Chen Motong?"
At Luo Qiusheng's words, Lu Mingfei's heart skipped a beat. Had he been that obvious?
"You... Y-you're talking nonsense! Senior Nono is Caesar's girlfriend. How could I possibly..."
Seeing Lu Mingfei stammer for ages only to manage that one sentence, Luo Qiusheng couldn't help feeling a wave of sorrow deep inside.
He wasn't Lu Mingfei. He didn't understand Lu Mingfei's personality or all that nonsense he said, but he wanted to turn around certain tragedies that had yet to happen.
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