Sorrow of the Cod

Leaving the preparatory class base, the two supported each other as they set off for home.

A handsome boy and a beautiful girl covered in bruises inevitably drew repeated stares from passersby.

"I guessed you suddenly got upset earlier because you couldn't bear to leave your family."

"It's fine. I'm in a great mood now."

"Of course you are. You beat me up—how could you not be in a good mood?"

Li Lin accidentally tugged at one of his wounds and shivered from the pain.

"Hey! How could you put it like that? I deliberately let you hit me ten extra times! You nearly ruined my face! The face of a super cute girl like me is much more delicate than yours!"

Xia Mi hurriedly protested, waving her claws at him for a while.

Watching Xia Mi bounce around so energetically, Li Lin felt a little envious. Though his face and body were not much different from his previous life, he had indeed grown up in an orphanage in this life.

He had heard that hybrids were outsiders in human society, born with a powerful sense of loneliness because they did not fit in physically or mentally.

But Li Lin felt that he was no worse when it came to loneliness.

He still remembered the pampered life of the northern family, the gentle words of his elders, and the laughter of his companions gathered around campfires during their travels.

Yet in the blink of an eye, he had become all alone, like a cod suddenly thrown into an unfamiliar school of fish. The people around him gathered together like a shoal of cod, naturally forming groups, discussing topics he could not understand and caring about things he did not care about. Even though Li Lin clearly knew that he was an ordinary human just like them, he had always felt that this icy sea did not belong to him.

That was why, during the summer vacation of elementary school, when Xia Mi pulled open a crack in the door to the world of "hybrids," he followed her inside without a second thought.

Li Lin's rental apartment was a very typical school-district property.

The landlord was quite old, with a classic Aryan face, yet he spoke fluent, authentic Mandarin. Rumor had it that he had run an antiques business in BJ for decades and was a genuine old-money type.

Mr. Lin Fenglong often looked after Li Lin in daily life. Every now and then, he would drop off several cages of parrots for Li Lin to watch, then pay him a rather generous sum.

The old man was walking his birds around the residential complex in a bamboo-fiber shirt. A plump, well-fed macaw perched on his shoulder spotted Li Lin limping closer and shrieked repeatedly.

"Li Lin got beaten again! Li Lin got beaten again!"

Hearing the parrot's cries, Lin Fenglong smiled at Li Lin. "Oh, did you get into another fight with Xia Mi?"

"Yes."

The knee on the side Xia Mi had kicked still sent waves of piercing pain through Li Lin.

Fortunately, Xia Mi's recovery ability had been praised by the instructors. With the help of the Binding System, Li Lin's recovery ability was now on par with hers. Injuries of this level would be mostly healed after one night's sleep.

Lin Fenglong could tell that Li Lin was distracted. Thinking of Li Lin's concise, spotless personal file, which had been placed on the Secret Party's conference table countless times, he offered a kind reminder.

"I remember you said you were going abroad for a period of study. It should be soon, right?"

"Yeah. My flight leaves tomorrow morning."

"Then make sure you get plenty of rest. Oh, and there are plenty of expenses when you go abroad. If you're short on money, don't force yourself. Just borrow from me. Leave me an IOU, and when you can earn money in the future, pay me back slowly."

"Thank you for the offer, Uncle Lin, but I received a large scholarship after getting into Peking University High School, so I'm not worried about that for now."

At that, Lin Fenglong looked a little disappointed.

He was certain that once Li Lin went to Cassel College, he would never have to worry about money again. He waved a hand. "All right, then. I'll get back to walking the birds. Remember to turn off the water and electricity when you leave tomorrow, then drop the keys off at the guard station."

After bidding farewell to his German-looking landlord, Li Lin supported himself against the wall as he returned to his room. Then he picked up the Kassel College Admission Guide, which had only been delivered to his door yesterday, from the coffee table and began reading through it carefully.

The book had been custom-made by the artificial intelligence serving as the college secretary based on Li Lin's personal circumstances. It was practically an idiot-proof admission guide, detailing every step required to travel from BJ to Cassel College.

It included, but was not limited to, passports, visas, choices of ground transportation, precautions for flying... It even provided a series of procedures for dealing with hijackings and plane crashes.

Below that were recommended lines for negotiating with criminals in various situations, as well as emergency passenger-aircraft piloting formulas. The only thing it did not include was how to efficiently and swiftly kill criminals, which clearly showed that Cassel College had never worried about Li Lin's combat ability.

After all, he and Xia Mi fought in the preparatory class base every few days. Those combat recordings had been sent back to the main campus, and the Executive Department's analysts had gotten excited over them countless times.

When he turned to the final page of the guide, it finally spelled out the destination of the journey.

All he had to do was go to Chicago Train Station and board the CC1000 Express to reach Cassel College in the outskirts of Chicago.

Although the school's message said they were attending a qualifying examination,

both Li Lin and Xia Mi knew perfectly well that this was essentially letting them start college early. They would only remain enrolled at Peking University High School as a cover for their identities.

Dragon-slaying was war. If someone was exceptionally gifted, even a child had to take the field early.

Especially since Li Lin and Xia Mi already had thousands upon thousands of real combat recordings, Executive Department agents wrote enthusiastic letters to the headmaster every day, praising the sixteen-year-old boy and girl to the skies. They were practically ready to line up outside the headmaster's office and kneel for them.

The headmaster had been driven nearly mad by the constant pestering. In the end, he nodded and agreed to specially admit the two preparatory class students, whose bloodlines were estimated to be above A-rank, into the main campus for training.

After all, letting two children who knew dragons and hybrids inside out, and stood on the verge of bloodline awakening, run around outside every day was indeed hard to feel comfortable about.

After finishing the Kassel College Admission Guide, Li Lin took out the plane ticket Norma had helped purchase from its inner compartment, then glanced at the wall clock.

It was already evening.

His stomach was growling. Looking at the burgundy sunset squeezing in from the balcony into the living room, he checked the boarding time marked on the ticket again and planned to go next door to call Xia Mi and her brother out for dinner.

Li Lin had a good impression of Xia Mi's brother.

Though he was a huge fool with an inborn intellectual disability, he was honest and simple, fairly good-looking, and kind and pure-hearted. He and his troublemaking younger sister were practically complete opposites.

What had left the deepest impression on Li Lin was probably the first time he and Xia Mi fought after school, then ran back together covered in injuries to figure out how to apply medicine to each other.

They had accidentally been seen by that big guy, who seemed not even to have a name. Or perhaps he did have one, but could never remember it.

He thought Xia Mi had fallen out with the friend she had finally managed to make. So even if it meant going hungry that night, he secretly took out the money he had earned from selling the bottles and cans he collected as scrap and treated Li Lin and Xia Mi to ice cream.

Once Li Lin learned the full story, he was moved to tears. On the spot, he grabbed the big guy and wanted to become sworn cousins with him, but Xia Mi stopped him with a dark expression. The matter was never mentioned again.