Zhou Yi Was Murdered!

Uncle Chen set the stacked plates on a small cart beside him, then turned around with an honest smile on his face. "Didn't you know? I'm your personal chef now."

Tang Wulin's hand holding the cup paused. He blinked. "...Personal chef? Since when did Shrek Academy have a rule like that?"

"There wasn't one before." Uncle Chen rubbed his hands together and explained with a chuckle, "But you eat too much. One meal for you is worth dozens of people's. The Academy discussed it and decided that, rather than have you taking up a whole long table in the outer academy cafeteria every day, they might as well transfer me to the inner academy to handle your three meals a day. They even gave me a raise, saying that as long as I make sure you eat your fill and eat well every meal, nothing else matters."

Tang Wulin stood there with his cup for quite a while before lowering his gaze to the gently rippling water within. The corner of his mouth twitched.

Well damn, eating a lot came with benefits like this?

He set down the cup and nodded at Uncle Chen. "All right. Then I'll have to trouble you from now on, Uncle Chen."

Uncle Chen waved his hand. "Not at all, not at all. Being able to eat is a blessing. The biggest eater I've ever seen was Xuan Lao, but compared to you, even Xuan Lao eats rather elegantly."

Tang Wulin gave a dry cough, declining to continue that topic. He stood, put away his stool, said, "I'm leaving," to Uncle Chen, then lifted the curtain and walked out of the cafeteria.

The sky outside had completely darkened. Dim yellow soul tool streetlamps lit both sides of the inner academy's bluestone paths, their soft halos spilling over the road and illuminating the flowerbeds and low shrubs into fuzzy outlines. The night breeze blew in from Sea God Lake, carrying the damp scent unique to aquatic plants. It brushed against his face with a cool chill.

Tang Wulin followed the streetlamps all the way to the school gate. From afar, he saw Yan Shaozhe standing before the tall iron gates, holding a list as he quietly discussed something with several Academic Affairs Office assistants.

Outside the gates, the crowd that had begun gathering that afternoon had yet to fully disperse. Small groups of commoners and children from minor clans sat or stood in the open space outside, clutching those yellowed expulsion notices as they gazed eagerly toward the Academy.

When Yan Shaozhe saw Tang Wulin approaching, he immediately straightened. Before even putting down the list in his hand, he called out, "Little Tang, you came at just the right time. We're counting the students who came with Zhou Yi's expulsion notices. There are already more than twenty. However, a few only have notices from back then and are already too old to meet the outer academy's new student admission standards. How do you think we should handle them?"

Before Tang Wulin could answer, hurried footsteps suddenly sounded behind him. A disciple in an inner academy uniform came running from the administration building, panting heavily and looking flustered. Before he could even steady himself in front of Yan Shaozhe, he shouted, "Dean Yan! Something terrible has happened! Zhou Yi... Zhou Yi was murdered!"

The moment those words fell, several people inside and outside the school gate who had been quietly conversing all fell silent.

The list in Yan Shaozhe's hand snapped shut.

Tang Wulin frowned and strode over to the inner academy disciple. He gently placed a hand on the man's shoulder, his voice calm and low. "Repeat what you just said."

His touch seemed to steady the disciple somewhat. After taking a deep breath, the man finally managed to speak clearly. "Zhou Yi—the expelled Teacher Zhou—was found tonight in the small courtyard she rented in the western part of the city... murdered. Our people just arrived at the scene. She had already been dead for quite some time."

Tang Wulin did not speak immediately.

He removed his hand from the disciple's shoulder and turned around, his gaze passing through the gaps in the iron gates to settle on the faint outline of the city walls in the distant night.

Yan Shaozhe's expression darkened as well. He took two steps forward and stood beside Tang Wulin, lowering his voice. "This matter... may be difficult to handle. Although Zhou Yi had her cultivation crippled and was expelled, she was still once a teacher of the Academy. She was murdered only days after being thrown out. If word gets out, people may think the Academy sent someone to do it."

Tang Wulin glanced at him from the corner of his eye, then turned back to look at the people still waiting for an answer outside the gates. After several breaths of silence, he said, "Investigate. Send people to find out who did it. If it was merely someone Zhou Yi harmed coming for revenge, there's no need to pursue it. Every debt has a debtor; the lives she owed, she can repay herself."

He paused, and his voice grew colder. "But if someone is taking advantage of this chaos, trying to use Zhou Yi's death to provoke Shrek Academy, then kill without mercy. No matter their rank of nobility or whether they are an insider, there will be no leniency."

As he spoke, he took out a silver token from his sleeve and casually tossed it to Yan Shaozhe.

Every elder of Shrek Academy had a different token, each one effectively custom-made. Clearly, Tang Wulin's token carried greater prestige and greater authority to issue orders.

Yan Shaozhe's fingertips trembled slightly as he caught it. He lowered his head and looked at the token's surface, gleaming coldly beneath the moonlight, then nodded solemnly. Turning around, he hurried toward the administration building with the inner academy disciple.

Tang Wulin remained where he stood. The warm yellow soul tool lights at the school gate stretched his shadow long and straight across the bluestone pavement.

The people gathered outside the gates seemed to have heard the commotion as well. Their gazes turned toward him in unison, filled with curiosity and caution, yet not one of them stepped forward to speak.

In the shadow of an old locust tree beside the gate, a thin young man in a dusty gray short jacket sat leaning against the roots. He held a worn bundle tightly in his arms, his gaze quietly fixed on the upright figure within the gates.

His face was hidden in the tree's shadow and could not be seen clearly, but his eyes appeared exceptionally bright in the dim light.

Tang Wulin keenly noticed that gaze. He tilted his head slightly and looked toward the old locust tree.

The youth beneath the tree did not dodge. Instead, he stood up, brushed the grass clippings from his trousers, and gave Tang Wulin a slight bow. Then he turned around, sat back down against the trunk, placed the bundle on his knees, and lowered his head to look through something.

Tang Wulin withdrew his gaze and did not look in that direction again.

He raised his head and glanced at the moon, half-obscured by clouds in the night sky. He inhaled the cool air carried by the night breeze, then slowly breathed it out.

Zhou Yi's matter, Fan Yu's matter, tomorrow's Sea God Pavilion meeting, the revision of the admission rules...

One issue after another piled together, like a jumbled chessboard someone had spread before him without sorting it out.

He tucked both hands back into his sleeves, turned around, and headed toward Sea God Island.

Aaaah!

Damn Zhou Yi!

Tang Wulin's heart was filled with rage at the overtime he was about to have to work!