Li Zhengming froze. "Of course I'm telling the truth."
Duan Ming took a deep breath. "In a dream."
"What?"
"I learned saber techniques in a dream."
Li Zhengming blinked, unable to process that for a moment.
Was he getting old and hard of hearing?
"You're saying you learned saber techniques in a dream?"
Duan Ming nodded solemnly. "That's right. I learned them in a dream."
Li Zhengming fell into thought, then continued, "All right, who taught you in the dream?"
"I did."
Li Zhengming's expression instantly turned grave. He leaned back in his chair and clasped his hands together.
He hadn't made that gesture in a very, very long time.
"All right, then how did you learn saber techniques from yourself in a dream?"
Duan Ming said with a perfectly straight face, "For eleven years, ever since I was eight, for more than four thousand days and nights, whenever I went to sleep, I had nightmares."
"What did you dream about?"
"I dreamed about myself and countless monsters. I dreamed I had a saber in my hand, and I hacked those monsters apart until there wasn't a scrap left."
Li Zhengming asked, "You never dreamed about anything else?"
"I did."
"Then they weren't all nightmares."
"No, I mean that sometimes they weren't necessarily monsters. My opponents could be people too."
Uh...
"You can learn saber techniques in a dream?"
A mixture of emotions showed in Li Zhengming's eyes. It was impossible to tell whether he believed him or not.
"I don't know if anyone else can, but I can."
Li Zhengming fell into thought once again.
Could such a thing really happen?
Why couldn't I learn saber techniques in my dreams?
Never mind learning anything; by the following afternoon, he might have forgotten almost everything he'd dreamed the night before.
Could the boy be lying to me?
His brow was tightly furrowed, his two white eyebrows perched on his forehead like a pair of caterpillars.
The more he thought about it, the more bizarre it seemed.
But after so many years as a principal, he had seen all kinds of students and weathered countless storms. Under normal circumstances, he wouldn't laugh.
"I've heard about your situation from Captain Du. He said you didn't seem like someone who had just started cultivating Qi."
"Mm, well, it really was my first time in real life, but I've used Qi many times in dreams."
No!
I can't laugh!
I'm the principal!
If I laugh out loud on such a serious occasion, how can I save face?
But damn it, from what the boy was saying, he clearly wasn't treating this as a serious occasion either.
"I see. Let's suppose, hypothetically, that you have a friend."
"Principal, you're making a friend out of thin air."
"I said suppose. Suppose you have a friend."
"All right."
Li Zhengming continued, "This friend of yours has never had any experience with cars, but every night he dreams that he's driving. Then, after enough time passes, he learns how to drive, and the first time he drives in real life, he even pulls off a drift. What do you make of that?"
Duan Ming nodded slightly. "Mm, it is a little outrageous."
So you fucking know it's outrageous!
"Principal, do you think I'm lying to you?"
"No, my experience is just too limited."
This sort of thing was hard to imagine, all right?
It was at least as outrageous as the appearance of the Dual Divine Marks.
A boy who had never cultivated Qi and had never practiced saber techniques before had actually learned both in his dreams!
And he had taught himself, at that.
Did that make any river-sense?
Although many unreasonable things still existed in this world,
this one really was beyond his understanding.
"Duan Ming, I don't believe you, but I don't disbelieve you either. Until the matter has been verified, what you've said remains to be confirmed."
Duan Ming nodded. "Mm, I know. It does sound a little exaggerated, but I have no reason to lie to you."
Li Zhengming remained half believing and half doubting anything that could not possibly happen.
He wouldn't believe such things existed, but he certainly wouldn't deny them either.
"We deeply regret what happened to your classmate, your friend."
"If we hadn't kept it secret at the time, perhaps this could have been avoided."
"Your Teacher Lin had nothing to do with this. I was the one who told everyone to conceal the news and announce that it was a drill."
"After all, this kind of thing could be serious or minor. Once word got out that monsters had appeared in the city, the city's millions of residents would all be thrown into panic."
Duan Ming said, "Mm, I understand. I'm also responsible for what happened to Zhao Jie."
"All right, don't dwell on it. You're a man, a real man. How can you let one small setback defeat you?"
Li Zhengming greatly admired the boy sitting in front of him.
Although the boy still had room to grow,
he seemed to catch a faint glimpse of the boy one day becoming someone who would far surpass him!
"Go to class. Your classmates are waiting for their hero to return!"
A hero?
It was the first time that word had been applied to Duan Ming.
He didn't think he was any kind of hero.
But he had to admit, the principal was just as good at motivating people as Du Qinggang.
After Duan Ming left, Du Qinggang came to the principal's office from another office.
"How did the talk go? Did he tell you the truth?"
Li Zhengming, who was a full head shorter than Du Qinggang, took a sip of his scalding hot goji berry tea.
"When old age comes, there's nothing to be done but steep goji berries in a thermos."
"Principal, could you stop changing the subject all the time..."
Li Zhengming really wanted to roll his eyes.
Li Zhengming blew on his tea to cool it. "For now, the conversation went fairly well. As for whether what he said was true, that's still unclear."
"What did he say?"
"He said he learned saber techniques in a dream."
Du Qinggang froze. "In a dream?"
Li Zhengming grunted in confirmation. "He said that for eleven years, ever since he was eight, for more than four thousand days and nights, whenever he slept, he had nightmares about himself slaughtering monsters. That's how he learned saber techniques."
Du Qinggang looked incredulous. "Th... that can't be possible!"
Li Zhengming shook his head. "Even an old fellow like me, who's lived more than half his life, has never heard of anything like this. But that's not important. What matters is that this boy is talented!"
"Principal, you rarely praise anyone like that."
"Who says? I often praise you for eating a lot and shitting a lot."
Black lines covered Du Qinggang's forehead.
"For now, it seems you can put your concerns to rest."
"My concerns?"
"Mm. Haven't you always worried that if a genius like him went astray one day, he would become a terrifying opponent?"
"For now, the boy seems decent. He could clearly have kept the truth hidden, and no one would ever have known, but he still admitted that he was the one who told the classmate who met with trouble to take the shortcut."
"There are probably very few people in the entire school who would have the courage to admit their mistake like that, aren't there?"
"That includes you and me."