Angers

The next day.

It was a sunny morning.

In the classroom for "Genealogy of Dragon Families."

Li Lin entered the curved lecture hall carrying a textbook thicker than a dictionary and a newly purchased copy of Invincible Iron Man. He found an inconspicuous corner in the back row and sat down.

Normally, he brought both textbooks and a favorite comic or novel to class. The former was out of respect for the class; the latter was out of respect for Xia Mi.

Not long after he sat down, Xia Mi's lively, cheerful voice came from beside him.

"Morning, Li Lin. How did you sleep last night?"

"I got ten full hours."

"Wow, you're practically a pig."

The young girl made no effort to hide her disdain for Li Lin's excessively healthy schedule.

Ordinary middle school students could be scolded for slacking off even if they only slept six hours a day. The academic pressure Li Lin and Xia Mi faced was theoretically even greater: not only did they need to complete the homework assigned by regular schools, they also had to deal with all kinds of courses arranged by the preparatory class.

Yet Li Lin might as well have had the word "slacker" written across his face. He had a negative attitude toward homework, dozed off in class at the drop of a hat, and never reviewed before exams. But every time, he and Xia Mi still fought fiercely for first place in their grade. His talent for martial arts was also something Xia Mi had never seen before. He could even be called a heaven-blessed prodigy; if he had been born a few dynasties earlier, he would have been a shoo-in for the military champion.

Xia Mi often felt that Li Lin had to be cheating somehow. Either that, or he had awakened "Word Spirit: Evolution," or something even more outrageous—"Bloodline Engraving: Mirror Eyes."

But Li Lin truly had not awakened a Word Spirit, and Xia Mi could find no evidence that he was cheating. She could only accept that this guy was a remarkably gifted human cub.

Xia Mi sat close beside Li Lin, snatched the comic from his hands, and flipped through it carelessly. Seeing the red-and-gold armor, she lost interest and tossed it back. Then she leaned almost against his ear and asked,

"May I ask whether you saw any soap last night? If this topic hurts your self-esteem, then you don't have to tell me. I'll pretend I know nothing."

"Soap?"

"Like the famous 'CPB,' the legendary 'aristocratic ritual' that costs a hundred dollars per bar, or the pure gold commemorative soap promoted by Japan's Tanaka Precious Metals... A gold bar shaped like a bar of soap sounds like it would be enough to keep you busy all night."

"Damn it, could you read less trashy fiction? Don't you know Italy is a country where Catholicism is widespread and homosexuality is openly opposed?"

Xia Mi kicked Li Lin in the heel and glared at him with narrowed eyes.

"So you're saying that a senior you'd never met before, one with considerable power and status, had his subordinates help organize your room on the very first day you met, lowered himself to punish himself by chugging an entire bottle of champagne meant for bathing, treated you to two meals worth a thousand dollars, and even gave you a thirty-thousand-dollar laptop—yet had absolutely no improper intentions toward you?!"

The more Xia Mi spoke, the more unbelievable it seemed to her.

At that point, Li Lin had no choice but to take out his laptop, search for the name "Caesar Gattuso," then use Cassel College's intranet to access an informational page on the Gattuso family. He turned the screen around and showed Xia Mi its homepage, which contained tens of thousands of words of introduction.

Xia Mi fell silent.

Suddenly, she clasped her hands together and flopped halfway into Li Lin's arms, her eyes narrowing with foxlike cunning. "My dear benefactor Li, when you rise to high office and riches in the Student Union, don't forget about this humble woman."

Li Lin pushed away the little girl whose mouth never stopped running with some distaste. He propped the comic beneath the cover of his textbook, preparing to continue enjoying Tony Stark's marvelous adventures.

Don't listen to Xia Mi's nonsense. If Li Lin really joined the Student Union, she would probably turn on him right there and then.

Xia Mi had yet to successfully turn Li Lin into her lackey, yet he had gone and started hanging around Caesar. In that case, Caesar probably would not be able to escape Xia Mi's fists unscathed.

Just then, waves of commotion rose from around the classroom.

Even from far away, Li Lin could vaguely hear the soft sound of books being set on the lectern. In an instant, the room fell completely silent, and curiosity made him look up.

It was an old man in a custom-tailored black suit. His hand-painted Italian leather shoes gleamed brilliantly against the floor. His silver hair had been carefully combed back and, rather flamboyantly, slicked with pomade. Even more excessive, he had tucked a vivid red rose into his breast pocket.

Li Lin recognized him at once. He had seen him on a balcony yesterday when Caesar had driven him around. This was the principal of Cassel College.

He suddenly flipped open the new edition of the textbook before him and saw a famous name listed among the co-authors: "Hilbert Jean Angers."

"My god, what an outrageously flamboyant old bastard!"

Xia Mi's near-whispered jab from beside him almost made Li Lin burst out laughing.

Angers on the podium seemed to have been watching Li Lin and Xia Mi all along. He could hear Xia Mi's words, and his expression became somewhat subtle, but he still smiled magnanimously.

"I imagine many of the new students have already heard my name during this time, but let me introduce myself briefly. I am your principal, Hilbert Jean Angers. I believe we will continue to have dealings with one another for many years to come."

"All right, students. Let us begin class."

Angers clapped. Even through his suit, the full, bulging muscles of his body were visible. It was as though time's curse had completely lost its effect on him. A physique as exaggerated as Dr. Livesey's in Return to Treasure Island should have belonged to the bodybuilding champion of a beauty pageant, not an elderly man over one hundred and thirty years old who was supposedly nearing death. He looked as though he could roll up his sleeves and punch through a wall at any moment.

Li Lin had to admit that the moment Angers began speaking, he carried a weathered gravitas tempered by time, along with a passion for dedicating himself to dragon slaying. There was something almost magical about the way he spoke, making people wonder what kind of legendary dragon-slaying epic would emerge from his mouth.

For a moment, Li Lin lost all interest in reading his comic. He quietly stuffed it into Xia Mi's desk drawer, sat upright with the posture of an exemplary student, and began listening to the lecture.

Xia Mi's reaction was surprising as well.

Normally, she would have started fooling around with Li Lin in secret by now. Yet at this moment, she was actually observing Angers on the podium with some caution—though only Li Lin could sense the sudden wariness in Xia Mi's emotions. To everyone else, she remained that carefree girl with an adorable, beautiful face like a fairy's whenever she smiled.

Angers was discussing the King of Earth and Mountains among the Four Great Kings.

While pointing out the Dragon King's "immortality," he also mentioned that according to archaeologists' discoveries, this Dragon King, who symbolized absolute violence, had actually played the roles of emperors or nobles in many Chinese dynasties, and had even been famous scholars and craftsmen.

He raised his hand and wrote neat, square regular script on the blackboard, signaling for the students to prepare to take notes.

Li Lin scribbled furiously in his textbook while asking Xia Mi beside him,

"If the King of Earth and Mountains awakened, do you think it would disguise itself in modern society as a materials expert in charge of concrete?"

"Uh, if it really woke up, it would definitely disguise itself near a genius hybrid like you. The moment it found an opportunity, it would reveal its true form and eat you without anyone noticing."

With that, Xia Mi raised both hands at Li Lin with a fierce yet adorable expression and let out an "Awoo," as though she truly were the King of Earth and Mountains.