Guderian's Distant View

Night fell over the outskirts of Chicago, and a flock of crows rose from the clock tower outside the library windows.

Guderian stared blankly at the densely packed words on the document while Schneider calmly explained its general meaning:

"A temporarily assembled but well-trained assault team. It contains at least three elite A-rank instructors, while the rest are veterans with more than six years of field experience. Nominally, they belong to the Executive Department, but in reality I have no authority to deploy or command them. My temporary authority is a title in name only. They answer directly to the Board of Trustees. You know... there are far too many situations like this. The people truly in charge of this school are not us."

"Once Lu Mingfei is deemed to pose an excessive danger... this assault team will swiftly execute him."

"If his danger level truly exceeds the threshold, don't harbor any false hopes. Even Caesar and my student Chu... even Caesar would likely find it difficult to resist pursuit by such a well-equipped and premeditated combat team." Schneider had originally intended to include his student, Chu Zihang, but he suddenly remembered that Chu Zihang seemed to have completely mastered that forbidden Lionheart Club technique.

Once someone possessed that ancient technique for unleashing Lionheart, they could no longer be viewed through the same lens as before.

His palms were so sweaty that he nearly could not hold on to the document. Professor Guderian raised his disheveled head.

"They... what will they do to... How can they treat Mingfei like this? Mingfei isn't some stock that needs to be dumped. He could become the academy's finest student in nearly forty years. How could they..."

"What... what will happen to Mingfei? What do you mean by execution?" Guderian shuddered and continued asking.

Schneider said hoarsely, "It's not as serious as you think. At worst, it'll be life imprisonment, and the later procedures can still be changed. He'll be sent to a small island in the South Pacific. During the capture, they'll show restraint and prioritize Frigg bullets. Besides, you've overlooked the premise I mentioned: if he isn't dangerous, then he'll enroll safely."

Guderian's voice rose by more than a dozen decibels. He stared tensely at the document, bracing himself against the library conference table. "That still won't do! He's only a student! A harmless rising star with an excellent record! An innocent, kind-hearted good student who hasn't even seen the world of mixed-bloods! How can the Board of Trustees be so indiscriminate?"

"He isn't even a real S-rank yet! He hasn't attended a single day of academy classes! Is it necessary for them to be so guarded against a child?" he protested loudly, looking genuinely indignant.

The more indignant he appeared, the more terrified he truly was. He knew Schneider was not exaggerating. Perhaps he had spent too long in a comfortable position; before coming here, he had subconsciously forgotten just what kind of terrifyingly violent organization the Secret Party was.

Schneider found Guderian's reaction somewhat hard to understand.

Why did he keep calling him a good kid? Was he really that familiar with the Mingfei he kept talking about?

He had only seen the relevant files a few days ago. They probably had not even met.

"About Fingel..." Schneider said thoughtfully.

Guderian cut him off. "Is Fingel still at school? My student graduated long ago and went to Cuba, where he wanted to go!"

Schneider froze. How could Guderian not know that Fingel had been held back and would remain until eighth year? Over the past two years, Guderian had privately shown no small amount of concern and anxiety over Fingel's situation... It was only because he knew Fingel was a clever student that Guderian had played dumb and pretended not to know, unwilling to disturb him.

Whether a person was truly outstanding could never be hidden from a mentor who had once been close to them.

Thinking it over, Schneider suddenly felt that he could understand why Guderian was acting this way. Guderian had once gone through an unpleasant experience of being treated as a specimen and studied without mercy.

And the principal had surely made Guderian some sort of promise, something like, "Once Lu Mingfei enrolls, he will definitely be your student."

Even if Lu Mingfei was actually all bark and no bite, Guderian would still show the enthusiasm expected of him. Perhaps it would diminish somewhat, but he would still happily say that Mingfei was excellent, because he was his new student. That naturally triggered a resonance between them... or rather, a resonance within Guderian's heart.

Resonance was truly a rare thing. It could easily trigger a compensatory mechanism displaced through time, and among mixed-bloods who possessed Blood Sorrow, this was not uncommon.

When a middle-aged man resonated with a younger person who had just come of age, it clearly meant he saw his former self in them. So he wanted to make up for what had been lacking: what I did not have, my student must have; what my first student never had the chance to possess, my final student must have the chance to possess.

"I'm only mentioning this possibility. The odds of it actually happening might not even be one percent. It's merely a precaution by the Board of Trustees. I told you because I want to lower those odds even further. Be more enthusiastic toward your student."

Schneider's tone softened somewhat, but he still had to say everything that needed saying. It would be best if Guderian truly intended to devote himself to his student.

"So what I mean is, don't think the responsibility on your shoulders is light. Your student's safety is basically in your hands now. Show him goodwill as much as possible, and let him return that goodwill to you."

"Let the school know that he is a good child whose bloodline will not easily spiral out of control. The principal will not allow this child to be put through too much hardship either."

After Guderian left in deep thought, Schneider briefly flipped through the stack of documents he had brought over. Then he pulled out one from the bottom, an inconspicuous-looking file that the principal had probably asked Guderian to deliver along with the others.

"A freshman temporarily added to the admissions plan, not among the proposed slots?" Schneider pondered why this file required approval from the Executive Department. It did not look like a situation similar to Lu Mingfei's; all it needed was for someone to conduct a basic investigation. Handing such a matter to the Executive Department was no different from asking professional bounty hunters to find wealthy people's lost cats and dogs.

If someone from the Executive Department other than him had gone through these documents, they would probably have dealt with this inconspicuous file casually and without much thought.

Trustees at Cassell College had the authority to grant special admissions. When exercising it, they either needed approval through discussion by the Board of Trustees or the principal's approval. Usually, the principal's approval was enough.

This special admissions authority was rarely used because there was no real need for it. It merely meant making a nomination and taking a route with fewer formalities; there were no other privileges whatsoever.

Caesar Gattuso had originally enrolled through a similar method. Once he learned that the person who nominated him was his father on the Board of Trustees, he forcibly demanded that his method of admission be changed.

"Nono, turn off some of the lights. Can you find out which trustee nominated these three freshmen? Can I access the relevant details?"

The library lights returned to a dim yellow glow.

"You cannot make the second and third requests, sir. With your authority level, I can only tell you that they went through two different approval procedures."

Two different approval procedures. In other words, it was very likely that two trustees had exercised their authority this year.

And both had done so anonymously.

Schneider fell silent for a moment. His authority was actually considered high within the academy, but when trustees were involved, it truly did not carry enough weight. He scanned the names of the three freshmen in the file once more.

"Zero Razumovskaya Romanova."

"Abdullah Abbas."

"Ronald Tang."