Messenger

It was three thirty in the afternoon.

Less than two hours remained until the weekend's great liberation. Since classes were in session, the entire academy was shrouded in silence.

After leaving Room 101 of the teaching building, Zheng Qing hurried a few steps. The moment he was out in the corridor, judging that no one could hear his footsteps, he broke into a run and raced back toward the dormitory.

Along the way, aside from the sound of his open-mouthed panting, all he could hear was the occasional cold wind sweeping past the treetops with a low, mournful howl. On an ordinary day, with the cold wind blowing like this, the young wizard would definitely have slapped a few windproof warming talismans onto himself, then hunched his shoulders and trudged along slowly, never allowing those icy gusts to slip down his collar.

But today was different.

The young wizard was pressed for time—he had tricked Teacher Zhang into giving him half a class off through a bit of guided persuasion. He absolutely could not waste it strolling along at a leisurely pace.

Yet even though he rushed all the way back to the dormitory, he still had to stop outside for several minutes and wait for Fifth Master Ni to let him in.

Unlike the anxious young wizard, Fifth Master Ni seemed to be forever unhurried.

It lazily opened its eyes, lazily opened its mouth, and lazily stuck out its tongue to roll the discarded cigarette pill Zheng Qing offered into its mouth. Then it smacked its lips with lingering satisfaction. The only difference was that today, Fifth Master Ni gave the young scholarship student a few extra looks, seemingly surprised that he had returned so early.

Because Fifth Master Ni almost never spoke to the students and had always