The glow of the rally had vanished from the Air-Raid Shelter, taking its spirit with it.
Ziwei raised a hand. Two battered wooden desks of uncertain origin dropped to the floor. Their tops were cracked, and a stone propped up one leg.
Two brand-new Exercise Books landed on the desks. The covers bore the words Gaokao Sprint Test Papers.
Starshine and Azure Gale exchanged a look.
"What are you waiting for? Sit down and get to work."
Starshine could not help asking, "Teacher, but... what about our special training?"
"This is your special training. Training for your brains."
Neither girl wanted to, but with the Ziwei they admired standing before them, they eventually dragged themselves to the desks.
A faint scent of spirit stones drifted through the Air-Raid Shelter. A few light crystals embedded in the walls lit the math papers and English reading exercises spread across the desks.
In the blink of an eye, the Star Team Secret Base had become the most oppressive evening study hall in the city.
Starshine stared at her paper for three minutes, chewing on her pen cap without writing a word.
Azure Gale went a step further. She laid her cheek against the paper, trying to absorb knowledge through her face.
Ziwei watched them shirk their work, then tilted her head forty-five degrees toward the stars and said:
"I've seen far too many demon hunters in the Monster Hunting Bureau's files who got carried away by their own false glory."
"When they were young, they took bounty jobs through brute force, spent money like water, and never studied or planned ahead."
"By their forties, their magical Star Rings had begun to deteriorate. They couldn't take jobs anymore and couldn't even afford a discounted eight-p.m. boxed meal."
"They ended up by a sewer in