Roommate from Gattuso

Li Lin and Xia Mi followed Professor Manstein through the VIP passage without obstruction and boarded the CC1000 express train.

As soon as they got on, the professor took out the uniforms he had prepared in advance from a storage cabinet and handed them to the two freshmen, indicating that they could change in the compartments.

Li Lin held the dark green suit in his hands. In his previous life, the standard color scheme for Earth Sect disciples had been dark green paired with yellow-green. Rubbing the soft, thick fabric, he felt a strange sense of familiarity. Opening the collar, he found a rose-red neckerchief and several spare buttons tucked inside. After fiddling with the school emblem embroidered on the breast pocket for a while, he headed into a compartment to change.

By the time he returned to the carriage in uniform, Professor Manstein had already prepared all kinds of documents requiring the freshmen's signatures, including that mixed Latin-and-English "Abraham Covenant."

Li Lin was already used to these mysterious confidentiality agreements. What concerned him most was the "Student Dormitory Safety Commitment" sitting on top.

"Do I have to pay dorm fees to live on campus?"

"All tuition and miscellaneous fees are waived!"

Manstein's answer was utterly decisive. Cassel College had special policies for talented dragon-slaying prospects from poor families like Li Lin.

"Then are meals in the cafeteria free too?"

"Once you sign these forms, the full scholarship for the first semester—thirty-six thousand dollars in total—will automatically be transferred to your card. Do you really need to worry about that? Besides, the food in our cafeteria is basically sold at cost."

Manstein looked at Li Lin with an odd expression.

Of course, Li Lin could not say that he was worried something might go wrong during the 3E Exam, turning those thirty-six thousand dollars into a one-time swan song.

He picked up the pen, unscrewed the cap, and mechanically signed the documents. Then he gave an answer that left Manstein momentarily speechless.

"I've been poor all my life. I want to save some money."

Manstein shook his head. Seeing Li Lin reading the "Student Dormitory Safety Commitment," he raised a hand and tapped the page.

"Don't pinch pennies when you need to spend money. If you really have difficulties, tell me. If you think I can't help, you can go straight to the principal. Cassel College will never shortchange its students in their daily expenses."

With no other choice, Li Lin changed the subject and asked Manstein.

"Professor, it seems I'm assigned to a double room."

"Students generally live in double rooms. Or you can pay out of pocket to rent one of the unused clubhouses or vacant rooms in the dorm buildings."

"I just want to know who my roommate is."

Hearing that question, Manstein turned to look at Xia Mi beside him.

Xia Mi stacked up the documents she had signed and waited for Manstein's answer with the same curiosity.

The professor in charge of student discipline waved a hand. "The first stranger you see when you push open the dormitory door—you realize that he will be an indispensable friend throughout your college life. Then, after introducing yourselves, you get to know each other and come to accept each other. That youthful beauty of going from nervousness and anticipation to delight is the first gift university gives to young people."

Seeing that Manstein refused to answer, Li Lin and Xia Mi exchanged a glance. They could only get up separately and browse the bookshelves around them to pass the time.

It was worth mentioning that Xia Mi mainly looked for books on the history of dragon-blooded families, while Li Lin had already opened The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, reading its rather taboo detailed descriptions with great interest.

Thanks to Xia Mi's diligent studying, Li Lin, through being bound to this serious and hardworking girl, now had English skills good enough for effortless international communication and could read all kinds of professional journals without difficulty.

The train passed through a red pine forest. Through the windows, rolling distant mountains appeared hazy and blurred in the sunlight like thin mist. The view gradually opened up, revealing an old and magnificent castle-like complex of buildings scattered among them.

They were almost at the station.

Professor Manstein stood up and lightly tapped the table with the pen in his hand, signaling for the two students to pay attention to him.

"All right, take out your phones. Before entering the school, there's something you need to do first: register your own account on the Night Watcher Forum. Students, professors, and even the principal post there. You can share information or issue paid bounties. Any disputes can be resolved directly on the forum by @-mentioning the other party."

After bidding farewell to the hurriedly departing Professor Manstein,

Li Lin and Xia Mi stood on the platform, staring blankly at the campus map.

"Give me my luggage. I'll take it to the dorm myself."

In the end, Xia Mi held out her hand to Li Lin for her suitcase. Having arrived at an unfamiliar school, everyone needed to find their own dorm first and greet their unfamiliar roommate.

Li Lin readily agreed. "All right. I hope your roommate is a graceful, understanding, well-read young lady."

Xia Mi waved her little fist at Li Lin menacingly. "Then your roommate is definitely going to be some rich, generous, loyal, broad-minded bastard."

"Not a bad blessing."

Carrying his bulging backpack, Li Lin dashed down the broad stone road before him toward the medieval-style student dormitory in the distance.

He had very little luggage: a pile of socks and underwear, a few summer outfits, a spare pair of sneakers, and various identification documents, all just enough to fill his backpack.

Along the way, he saw many blond, blue-eyed students walking about, as well as an enormous church and white doves perched among red bricks and gray tiles.

After leaving Beijing, where he had lived for sixteen years, the phrase "foreign land" suddenly became something tangible surrounding Li Lin. Yet it gave him an indescribable sense of peace.

He considered himself an oddity. Even if his bloodline did not yet qualify him as a dragon-blooded person in the usual sense, living among a group of oddities would at least allow him to become part of this school's common sense.

Dormitories for freshmen were assigned online by Norma. Li Lin found his name on the notice posted beneath the dormitory building.

His room was Dorm 403 in Area One, and the name his roommate had left was Caesar.

Gaius Julius Caesar?

The name of that Roman emperor immediately popped into Li Lin's mind.

This can't be a fake name, can it? he wondered, then carried his backpack upstairs.

He soon found the corresponding room number on the fourth floor of the dormitory building.

Li Lin stood at the door for a moment before pushing it open.

He gathered his courage, preparing to introduce himself to his unfamiliar little dragon-man roommate.

Then a pair of spectacular pectorals that suddenly filled his vision choked back every word Li Lin had painstakingly prepared.

Li Lin stared at the Italian man before him, bare-chested in the bathtub and pouring a bottle of champagne over his head, and his expression instantly became extraordinarily vivid.