A dead leaf was swept along by the breeze.
Silently.
Early winter's chill washed across heaven and earth, laying a thick blue-gray undertone over the world beyond the window. Barely ten minutes had passed since the dismissal bell rang, yet the entire teaching building was already deserted, like an aged beast crouching in a corner, its life force rapidly draining away as deathly silence spread around it.
Just like the world outside, gradually withering.
Deep in the second-floor corridor of the teaching building, amid the fading light, two wizards in black robes stood by the window. The older man watched the young students hurrying past outside, as well as the little orange-red fires scattered along the Linzhong Lakefront.
The younger man vigilantly kept an eye on both ends of the corridor—there were no portraits on these walls, nor were there any wandering ghosts, sparing him quite a bit of trouble.
"The Teaching Assistant Group found another laboratory."
The Magical Creatures Studies Lecturer wiped the frivolity from his face. Lowering his voice, he delivered his report rapidly. "I received a message from Number Seven ten minutes ago... everyone evacuated safely, but a batch of test subjects could not be destroyed in time. There's a very high chance they'll fall into those ticks' hands."
Ticks were parasites found on cattle, bloodsucking and stubborn.
Professor Monteria lowered his eyelids.
"I've reminded you many times," he said in a voice barely above a whisper. "The laboratories in the Silent Forest are not your Zoar, but Sodom and Gomorrah. At every moment, they face the possibility of utter destruction... The closer we come to success, the greater the risks our laboratories face. This is the calamity fate has brought upon us."
Zoar was a small ancient city where magicians gathered, located east of Jerusalem and