FXDL V1C3

Fun fact…this chapter is 6666 words in total.

Translated by: TaffyGirl13

Previous             Index              Next

---

Chapter 3: The hazy twilight is suited for attacking roommates at night

Fu Xing awkwardly stood at the doorway, momentarily unsure of how to react. This was clearly his room, yet he felt like a shameless person that had mistakenly charged into someone else’s territory. His intuition was telling him to leave.

“Oh, so your roommate is Leon.” Compared to the frozen Fu Xing at the doorway, Rocort’s reaction was quite casual and laid-back. He openly strode inside, then turned around to wave at the other two still by the door. “Hurry up and come in, you guys.”

“Mm, I think I’ll just go back to charge the battery.” Emerald smiled brightly and patted Fu Xing on the shoulder as he whispered, “Don’t worry, the soulstone will ensure your safety.”

“Really?” Fu Xing asked back in doubt.

Don’t tell me that this unremarkable-looking soulstone actually possesses the hidden ability to “summon the elder”?

“If he attacks you, you can smash the soulstone down on him…”

“Wow, what an amazing ability!” What kind of shit is that?!

Emerald shrugged with a sympathetic expression, then candidly turned to leave.

Seriously no sense of loyalty at all! Fu Xing closed the door and walked further inside the room.

“Good evening, classmate Leon,” he politely greeted the other person. However, Leon’s gaze never left the book from beginning to end, treating Fu Xing’s existence as empty air.

This made Fu Xing feel slightly more relaxed. He had not held any prejudice against Leon, he simply had not figured out how to deal with the person yet. Furthermore, he had just offended Leon during class earlier, which forced him to take a step back away from this callous classmate. In short, now was not a good time to establish a friendship. It’s still best to ask for Rocort to leave first—

Right as Fu Xing was thinking this, he saw Rocort’s tall figure casually stroll up to Leon.

“Leon, have you eaten dinner?”

“Rocort, my bed is over here. Don’t go disturbing others!” Fu Xing hurriedly spoke.

He was extremely concerned that Rocort’s naturally excessive actions would anger Leon. According to the records in Introduction to Special Animate Beings, darkbloods were one of the dangerous races that had been bolded and marked with red underlines. If he provoked this person, even a hundred soulstones wouldn’t be able to save him!

“I won’t disturb him.” Rocort bent over at the waist so that his head was next to Leon’s. “What book are you reading?”

“Rocort…” Please, don’t pressure him more!

“Do you want candy?” Rocort pulled out his Swiss candy.

“Rocort!”

Is this guy’s pocket connected to a different dimensional space? Where is he getting all that candy—No, that’s not the important part. The important part is that I need to quickly chase Rocort out of the room before Leon gets angry.

“Fu Xing, are you angry?” Rocort stood up as he asked this suspiciously.

“No!” He was just anxious.

However, fortunately for Fu Xing, Rocort left Leon’s side and walked over.

“Fu Xing, Leon’s a great person. He’s very quiet. It’s really fortunate to be his roommate.”

“Mm, it is.” As Fu Xing said this, he snuck a glance over at Leon to gauge his reaction. However, Leon’s expression remained as indifferent as before, seemingly not loosening up from the praise.

Rocort entered Fu Xing’s bed area and casually surveyed the objects inside. “But Leon is also very fortunate.”

“Not at all, Rocort,” Fu Xing replied in embarrassment.

“It’s true.” Rocort picked up the Doraemon alarm clock Fu Xing had placed on top of the bed’s headboard, playing around with it as he said, “Fu Xing smells exactly like a human. If Leon gets hungry, he can directly grab you to suck [blood]. Hahaha!” He paused for a moment. “Oh, of course, Fu Xing is also a good person.”

“Eh…haha…Rocort, stop joking!” Fu Xing wiped his cold sweat away and pretended to chuckle dryly as he shifted Rocort’s attention. “Oh, if you press the red button on the bottom of that alarm clock, it will play music!”

That subject is anything but reassuring. Rocort is way too talkative. If Leon uses Rocort’s suggestion and uses me as reserve food, I’ll be doomed!

“Really?” Rocort pressed the button and ear-piercing electronic music began to play. When the music stopped, there was an awkward silence.

“This is great!” Rocort seemed addicted, pressing it several times in succession. For a while, the lively music filled the room.

“Argh, don’t press it anymore!” Fu Xing quickly tried to stop it. “Leon is reading, don’t disturb him with the noise…” As he said this, he cautiously checked Leon’s reaction.

It turned out that the impassive face still had not changed, not at all in a fit of rage because of the noisiness. Leon’s lips were pursed into a straight line, his gaze unmoving from the book as if an invisible membrane separated him as he was immersed in his own world.

Fu Xing was somewhat surprised.

He had originally assumed the Leon would be like Brad, an impulsive terrorist with a fiery temper. However, it seemed that this was not the case. In comparison to Brad, who picked on him for no reason, Leon was much more “docile”.

Maybe Leon is only fierce on the outside and is actually a sunny boy that loves peace and is fond of small animals on the inside!

Rocort rummaged around the things in Fu Xing’s bed area for a while, the two occasionally chatting. On the opposite side, Leon still did not show any response as he quietly read his book. This made Fu Xing a bit more confident in his own conjecture, decreasing his trepidation towards Leon by quite a bit.

It was not long before Rocort grew tired of playing in Fu Xing’s bed area. His voice floated in Leon’s direction, “Leon, can I take a look at your bed area?” As he said this, he directly began to walk over to the other side.

Leon lifted his eyes with an expression that said, “I dare you to try and see!”

“Rocort, that’s not good. Leon hasn’t agreed.” As Fu Xing said this, he followed Rocort into Leon’s bed area pretending to stop it, while actually taking advantage of the opportunity. After all, he was really curious about Leon.

“He didn’t disagree either.”

“I guess you could say that too…” Fu Xing turned his head to glance at Leon, whose gaze had already shifted back to the book.

Leon’s attitude could not be called generous and open, but rather completely indifferent. It was as if Fu Xing and Rocort were not enough to interrupt enough, not enough to incite any reaction. He simply turned up his nose arrogantly at everyone aside from himself.

Leon did not have many possessions. There were only the distributed class materials and stationery placed on the desk, with no other private belongings. After circling around once, Rocort lost interest and opened the closet.

When the wooden door opened, a flash of light shot out. The two of them squinted, then slowly opened their eyes wide—the space that had originally been meant to hold clothes was instead filled with glittering, sharp weaponry giving off a cold, silver glow.

Rocort opened the entire row of cabinets. Inside each of the four compartments were also filled with weapons.

Fu Xing couldn’t contain his gasp of admiration. This was truly too magnificent of a sight, far surpassing Lin Lin’s complete set of housewife knives. There were daggers, sabres, longswords, paladin swords, halberds, and a mix of other types. It was like a small-scale weapon exhibition.

Who knows if these weapons are meant for collection, or meant to be used…

Fu Xing had expected for Rocort to do something regretful like run over and randomly fiddle around with the weapons. But unexpectedly, Rocort only took one glance at them before closing the door in disinterest and running back to the desk.

Phew, danger eliminated…

“Leon, what is this shiny thing on your desk?” Rocort picked up a long and flat piece of metal from the steel pen holder.

Fu Xing look at it and helpfully answered, “It’s a paper knife.”

“But it’s very sharp.” Rocort gripped the handle and stabbed the surface of the desk twice. He then lifted his head and exclaimed, “Hey! Leon, the wall in front of your desk has a hole.”

As Rocort said this, he used the paper knife to jab at the groove in the wall, sticking the blade inside the crack and digging it in. When he let go, the paper knife was still sticking straight out of the wall.

“It’s probably a remnant of a previous student installing something.”

“Oh.” Rocort yanked at the hilt, then suddenly let go. The resulting opposite force made the blade vibrate up and down like a spring, making a flapping noise. This piqued his interest, and he got addicted to playing with this, constantly repeating the action over and over.

“Hey, that’s very danger—”

Fu Xing’s warning fell short as the sharp end of the paper knife stuck in the crevice was instantly sent flying outwards from the excessive weight at the tip. The instant Rocort lifted his finger, the knife shot out and cut through the air in a perfect arc.

Like tourists enjoying a meteor shower, Fu Xing and Rocort dumbly watched the flying golden blade flash with a brilliant glow in midair, then—

It began to fall towards Leon.

Swish!

The paper knife stabbed straight into the book Leon was holding, [sticking up] like a gravestone. Just a few centimetres off, and the tip of the blade would have landed on the top of Leon’s head.

“Oh, oh, oh, sorry, it flew out.” Rocort jogged over to Leon, pulling out the upright “sword in book” nonchalantly. “How dangerous, why leave this kind of thing in a random place outside? It should be properly stowed away instead.”

After he said this, he carefully grasped the paper knife and walked over to the cabinet, extremely reverently placing it next to a pair of daggers before closing the closet doors.

“Alright.” Rocort wore an expression of successful accomplishment.

Fu Xing stood rooted in place, nervously watching Leon.

Despite remaining silent, the lofty and isolated Leon that had stayed out of everything this entire time now had a vein bulging from the corner of his forehead. In addition to his raised brows, his murderous aura was exposed.

“Le-Leon? Are you alright?” Fu Xing inquired uneasily.

Then, he received Leon’s first response tonight—

“Get out…”

Fu Xing dragged Rocort out from the scene and waited until late at night before returning to the room. He had originally wanted to properly apologise and clarify things with Leon, but Leon had already left the room, only returning to rest in the early hours of the next day. As a darkblood mainly active at night, Leon’s active and rest times were completely different from Fu Xing’s. Consequently, the two of them rarely had moments of overlap.

On Wednesday afternoon, Fu Xing received an order from Advisor Grod to retrieve some class materials from the Forbidden Tower.

Being the class’s only representative position did not mean he had the authority only second to the advisor, but that he was responsible for all forced labour. His status was not much different from a lackey that did odd jobs.

With the professor’s public memo in hand, Fu Xing walked out from the mathematics building in the northern area and crossed through a large part of the campus to advance towards the Forbidden Tower in the southern area.

Shalom was remodelled from an ancient castle. When school had first started, the new students had gathered in the hall of the main bailey, located at the centre of the ancient castle. There were six marbled paths that split out from the main bailey towards the direction of the dorms, library, mathematics building, specialised instruction building, field, and the Forbidden Tower.

Lying above the inner ward was the “Babel Tower’s Stone”, the reason why there were no language barriers on the campus grounds.

The story of Babel Tower was recorded in the Holy Bible as something mankind used to share one language during ancient times with everyone living together in one place. Back then, mankind had planned on constructing a tower tall enough to reach Heaven and thus angered God. God destroyed the tower, mixed up the human language, and scattered mankind across the world.

The Babel Tower’s Stone in Shalom was said to have been a remnant from that time. The stone had been touched by divine force, thus possessing magical power that could combine all languages.

The general knowledge classes unrelated to special abilities would usually take place in a normal school building, such as mathematics, history, fine arts, etc. Classes that were more closely related to special animate beings were taught in the specialised instruction building, including Special Ability Application and Basic Witchcraft. Apparently, the specialised instruction building was set up with its own defence enchantments to allow mutually clashing magic to be used in the same space without losing effectiveness. Classes related to physical abilities were carried out in the field.

As for the Forbidden Tower, it was a clock tower that stood on the campus’s southernmost end. There had only been a simple line saying, “Normal students are forbidden from getting close” written in the campus introduction.

A very concise introduction that emitted an attractive mysterious feeling. If there was a stupid main character in a B-grade horror film, they would definitely try any means to sneak into the clock tower in the middle of the night. Then, they would get ripped to shreds by an animal or a non-animal with sharp teeth or massive claws.

When he walked up to the end of the large marbles path, the Forbidden Tower appeared before him. The white steeple stood tall and upright like a sharp blade piercing through the sky.

Fu Xing walked into the tower, and a solemn, chilling air surrounded him. A sense of “unease” took physical form, tightly wrapped around his skin. It was a very loathsome feeling…that made him just want to break into a run and flee.

Fu Xing walked towards the administrator and passed the memo over.

The old fairy squinted at the memo for a moment. “In twenty minutes, come find me at the entry of the back storage room for these.”

“Oh, okay!” Fu Xing affirmed the instruction and then immediately raced out from the main door, not wanting to stay in this space for a single second longer.

When Fu Xing reached outside, he took in a deep breath. He then slowly began to walk around the gardens surrounding the tower, heading towards another gate.

The outside of the Forbidden Tower was identical to the rest of the campus grounds, filled with planted trees and flowers to give a cosy feeling. As Fu Xing strolled through the gardens, he faintly sensed a pressure seem to come from the inside of the tower.

What is the Forbidden Tower used for…It’s so tall, what’s being kept inside? Why is there such a powerful oppressive feeling—

Crack! The tip of his foot stepped onto something hard that was not part of the lawn. Fu Xing looked down to see a volleyball-sized obsidian sphere embedded into the ground.

What’s this?

Fu Xing bent down to examine the stone. There were two circular, bronze rings along the edge of the sphere, making it look like Saturn, but half buried in the dirt. The bronze rings had exquisite runes engraved on them, partially covered by the dirt and thus impossible to see clearly.

Fu Xing reached out with itchy hands to pick at the area around the rings, wanting to see if he could dig the object out. However, after digging at it for a while, the item still did not move a single bit.

It’s really buried deeply, what exactly is it? A decoration? But if it was randomly buried under the grass, it shouldn’t be too important, right…

As if he was possessed, his outstretched hands continued to dig away the area around the rings in attempt to unearth the strange object entirely.

In reality, if one looked down from the top of the tower, one would be able to see that aside from where Fu Xing was, there were other crystalline spheres similarly buried in the ground at the four corners of the Forbidden Tower’s hinterland. Connecting the five spheres together would draw out a pentagram with the tower in the middle.

If one looked further out, one could see that between the Forbidden Tower and the other areas on the north side, there were paved, white paths that linked together to create another large pentagram. Then, the main road from the bailey to the south was like a single vector that pointed towards the Forbidden Tower at the very end.

“Ahhh!”

Due to misuse of strength, a fingertip struck against the bronze edge. A portion of the nail was ripped off from the finger.

“So painful!”

Crimson blood dripped down and hit the centre of the crystalline sphere.

Bzzt! An invisible wave vibrated through the air at a high frequency and low amplitude, making it difficult to detect.

Fu Xing placed his finger in his mouth to ease the pain.

Hurts so damn much!

Anyways, what am I even digging up this rock for?! It’s not like I’m Emerald and want to excavate it to sell for money!

“Class 1-C representative! Where the hell did you run off to?! Do you want your things or not?!” The administrator’s roar rang out from the back gate.

“Oh-oh! Coming, coming!” Fu Xing hurriedly stood up and left the scene.

 

The materials Grod had requested were in a large cloth bag, and were quite heavy. As Fu Xing carried it on his shoulders, he felt as though he was labouring at a construction site.

“So heavy…” Fu Xing struggled to walk down the path while hunched over with the bag. After much difficulty, he arrived at the vicinity of the main bailey, feeling as if his legs were about to break. Grod, this is abuse of child labour! Ah, no, I can’t be called a child anymore considering my age…

“Wow, seems very heavy.”

A low voice suddenly rang out. Fu Xing lifted his head to see a youth that appeared to be around his age sitting on a corner of the lawn with a smile, an open book resting on his legs.

The youth had completely black hair, and his delicate and refined temperament made him seem like an East Asian. However, his abstruse facial features also carried a hint of European appeal.

“Erm, who are you?”

“Who are you?” The other person asked in response.

“I’m He Fu Xing, a new first year student. Jingguai type, a bat spirit.”

The youth grinned. “I’m more or less the same as you.” He stood up and walked towards Fu Xing. “Do you want to rest for a bit? I’ll help you take those instead.” As soon as he said this, he reached out to lift the heavy bag.

“Ah, ok…” Fu Xing panted out. “Thanks!”

Despite having a similar statue to Fu Xing, the youth was much stronger. After putting the bag on one shoulder, he easily walked back to stand where he had previously been sitting. “Come on.”

Fu Xing followed and went forwards to sit on the lawn next to the other person. “Thank you. You’re also a jingguai type?”

“You’re welcome.” The youth smiled and went up to Fu Xing to sit down. “You can just call me Youny.”

“Youny…” What a strange name. “What year are you—”

“Why not use your ability to move this?” Youny spoke up without warning, cutting off Fu Xing’s question.

Ability, as in special ability?

“Er, that’s…” Fu Xing scratched his head in embarrassment. “Um, my condition isn’t very good. I’m still practicing…”

“You need to practice?” Youny asked in an astonished tone.

“My level is a bit behind, so…yeah.” Fu Xing had no intention of continuing this topic, so he changed it. “Then what about you? What are you doing here? Waiting for someone?”

“Yep.” Youny grinned and said, “Waiting for you.”

“You know me?”

“I do.” The youth’s smile was very bright, like that of a child who had just gained a toy. “You’re Prince Phillip.”

“Prince Phillip?” Who’s that?

“The Prince Phillip that broke the curse and woke up Talia in Sleeping Beauty~”

Is this guy delusional? Or is this the so-called American humour?!

“Ahem, thank you for the praise, but aside from my mom, I’ve never kissed anyone before. Hahaha.” Fu Xing gave an awkward, hollow laugh to act candid.

“Hehehe…but, just as the little fairy predicted—” The youth chuckled. Then his expression suddenly sobered as he used a low, hoarse voice to speak to Fu Xing in an ancient language the latter had never heard before. “You broke this damned curse.”

Although the youth’s change in expression vanished instantly, he still emitted a sinister air that made even the slow-witted Fu Xing instinctively feel uneasy. “Um, is-is something wrong?”

“Oho, nothing, nothing.” The youth smirked and then chuckled, “It’s just that I’ve been shut in for too long, so I lost a bit of control for a moment.”

Fu Xing suspiciously studied Youny for a while. He guessed that this person might be a student that had taken the same classes as him before.

“Then, what there a reason you were looking for me?” Youny’s words and actions were just as strange as his name. However, the words and actions of a special animate being were originally different from a human’s. Thinking back to the first meeting with Rocort, Youny’s attitude could be counted as fairly normal.

“Came to see you.” Youny continued to smile, giving a relaxing feeling. “You’re very special.”

“I’m not special at all…” Fu Xing was extremely embarrassed to face such a declaration. “Then Youny, you—”

“Speaking of special abilities,” Youny interrupted Fu Xing’s words. “Is Introduction still being taught by that old fartface, Samukawa?”

Youny’s dialogue did not have any sequential connections. Fu Xing had originally wanted to ask more about the meaning of Youny’s words, but hearing the other person address Samukawa in such a way automatically made him sputter in laughter. “It’s indeed Samukawa.”

“Who else’s classes are you taking?”

Fu Xing reported all the classes he had chosen. Youny seemed to have taken every possible course, as he commented one or two sentences about each professor.

“The mathematics [professor] Minas is a minotaur. If you aren’t able to answer her questions in class, she’ll be very unhappy.”

“Yeah! What about Grey then?”

“He’s an elf. As a side note, he was formerly a priest.”

“For real?!”

Youny knew many things. Fu Xing guessed that this person was probably a senior, though from beginning to end, Youny never said what year he was in.

“I had a great time chatting with you.” When it was almost time for afternoon class to start, Fu Xing reluctantly bid farewell to Youny.

“Sorry, I still have something to do, so I can’t help carry your stuff back to the dorms,” Youny apologetically said.

“No worries. Fu Xing smiled. “Which dorm do you live in? How can I find you?”

“I can’t come out much…” Youny, who had been smiling the entire time, showed a somewhat distressed expression at this moment. “But, if I get the chance, I will come find you.”

 

A week passed in the blink of an eye, and they were met with Friday’s Special Ability Application class once more. Since they had offended Samukawa in the last session, Fu Xing could sense Samukawa’s furious, loathing gaze directed at them throughout the entire class.

Fortunately, Grod was there. Even though Samukawa was resentful, he could not openly retaliate. However, the feeling of thorns digging into their back for a whole class was not easy to endure, and as soon as the dismissal bell rang, Fu Xing’s group immediately fled out of the classroom as quickly as possible.

Then, as soon as they left the room, they were blocked by four female seniors wearing the upper year uniforms.

“He Fu Xing, yes?” A girl with a ponytail and dark brown eyes stood with her impressive chest raised high, one hand resting at her hip as she somewhat disdainfully looked at Fu Xing.

“Ye-yes.” Fu Xing replied, trembling with fear.

“I’m a second year, Lunia. Jingguai type, nightingale.” Lunia ran her fingers through her long hair, the action widening her originally low-cut collar even further.

Fu Xing gulped, his gaze unnaturally shifting to Lunia’s face to ignore the distracting part. “May I ask the reason senior sister came to find me?”

Waiting for me outside the room after class, could this be the legendary confession?! Ahhhh! Heavens! I’m so excited! What do I do?! Would going to a park for a first date be too old-fashioned?

“You live in 305, right?”

“Um, yes!” How did we suddenly get into the topic of rooms?! God, I’m not ready yet! Both mentally and physically! To an Asian otaku like me, the Western style is too spicy. Should I download some Western-style romance action movies from online as reference?! Arghhhh! Fu Xing! You’re too low-level!

“You live in the same room as Leon Sagveiss?”

“Er, yes!” This-this! Not even letting a roommate go?! Holy shit! He felt all the blood in his body suddenly gather in a certain spot—his face, which burned like a motorcycle’s exhaust pipe!

“In that case, accept this trial.”

As soon as she spoke, a short-haired girl behind Lunia passed over a parchment scroll. She pulled off the blue ribbon tied around it and spread out the paper before Fu Xing. There was a pale blue watermark printed on the paper: three arcs linked to form a triangular shape, with each side extending out towards the same direction somewhat like an electric fan. The paper was densely packed in flowery writing, with Lunia’s signature at the bottom.

“This is?”

Emerald softly sighed. “It’s an approved order for the new student trials.”

“What?!” So it’s not a confession!

Lunia smirked and declared in a clear voice, “2-D’s Lunia requests for 1-C’s He Fu Xing to take three or more photos of Leon Sagveiss’s sleeping appearance. Time limit: five days. Accept this approved order.”

“Whaaaat?!” What kind of rotten mission is this?! There’s no way Leon would agree to this kind of thing!

“Not accepting?” Lunia narrowed her eyes to glare at Fu Xing.

“I advise that you don’t. The punishment for avoiding a mission isn’t something to be trifled with.” Emerald quietly warned, “In Shalom, disobeying the upper levels is a serious matter.”

“Don’t worry, we can help you, Fu Xing!” Rocort beamingly stated.

Fu Xing looked at Emerald and Rocort, then glanced at the overbearing group of female seniors before helplessly letting out a long sigh.

No other way. I can only do it in secret…if Leon finds out, who knows what will happen to me.

Fu Xing felt shivers crawl down his spine when he thought of the closet full of weapons.

He reached out to take the paper. The moment Lunia let go, the octavo-sized scroll burst into pale blue specks of light and immediately vanished. Fu Xing’s hand froze in mid-air as he stared dumbly at the change in front of him. He found that there was now a faint mark on his own palm in the exact same shape as the watermark.

“Alright, the mission conferment has been completed.” Lunia smiled. “I wish you good luck.” With this, she loftily turned around and led her companion away.

“Does Fu Xing have a camera?”

“I do….” His cellphone had the capability of taking 6 million pixels of photos. However, it was a Japanese phone, and would make an annoying sound when taking photos.

Emerald grinned. “Seems like a trial that is more based on luck.”

“You seem to be pretty happy about it.”

“Dried sleep herb: burning it will give off a scent that induces deep sleep.” Emerald raised a brow, lips curled up in a smirk. “Five euros, but I’ll give you a friend discount price of 60%, so just three euros. The school grant has already been sent out, hasn’t it?”

“You shark!” Fu Xing glared at Emerald for a bit. “I’ll buy it!”

“Thank you for your patronage.”

“If it’s not effective, you’re doomed!”

“If it’s not effective, you’ll be doomed first. Mm, or maybe ‘killed’ would be more appropriate.” Emerald chuckled. “But don’t worry. My merchandise quality is guaranteed.”

I hope so.

 

Now that he had accepted the trial, Fu Xing remained hung up in his thoughts. After gloomily eating his dinner, he returned to the dorm and began to ponder over countermeasures. But no matter how much he thought about it, he could not come up with the most effective, more surefire method.

This mission was simple in itself; it did not need a particularly complicated procedure. The key to whether or not he succeeded was luck.

At night, Leon was not in the dorm room as usual, which gave Fu Xing a decent amount of time to prepare. He placed the dried herb in a metal bowl, then used a pillowcase to make a thick, crude facial mask. He then put it on and laid down on his bed, quietly waiting for his “prey” to return.

How exciting, it’s like I’ve become a vampire hunter! But my weapon isn’t a cross or a stake, but a 1.5-year old cellphone and four pieces of dried grass worth six euros.

Early at about four in the morning, the front door of the room opened and Leon returned from outside. Fu Xing was burrowed inside his blankets, warily listening the sounds inside the room.

Leon first entered the bedroom, then shifted into the bathroom. Soon, there was the sound of running water. About thirty minutes later, Leon finished washing and returned to his own bed area.

Fu Xing quietly waited, not daring to rush rashly. Only after the brilliant sunlight filled the room did he leave his bed with his tools and tiptoe to the living room.

With the mask on his face, Fu Xing lit up the sleep herb. He then placed it next to the entrance of Leon’s bed area to let the smoke spread outwards. Once the herb turned into ash, and the smoke had dispersed, Fu Xing removed his mask. He switched on the living room lights, letting the beam shine into Leon’s area to make taking a photo easier.

Emerald had assured repeatedly that inhaling the [smoke from] the sleep herb would make the person in the room sleep even through a singing performance inside the room. However, Fu Xing did not want to use his physical body to test the limits of the merchandise’s effect.

The lump on top of the bed covered by the blanket was his target: Leon.

“Leon?” Fu Xing walked up to the bed and tried to softly call out the name. Leon remained in a steadfast state of sleep.

Great, just stay like this. I can leave as soon as I take the photo!

However, there was a problem with the scene in front of him. Leon slept on his side, his face towards the wall. From Fu Xing’s position standing next to the bed, there was no way he could directly capture the face. Fu Xing circled the bed, trying to find an angle for taking the photo, but it was in vain.

No other options. He sighed and walked over to a spot near Leon’s shoulders. Then, he mounted the bed with one knee, his body leaning forwards with his hand pressed against the wall to support himself.

Very-very good, just like that. Trembling with fear, Fu Xing stretched out his cellphone towards Leon.

Leon’s normally arrogant and austere face was significantly milder when sleeping. Although Leon had outstanding looks, nobody would dare to look straight at him for too long with his usual imposing expression.

Fu Xing pressed the shutter, making a clear and loud click.

Right at that moment, the closed eyes suddenly opened to meet Fu Xing’s face dead-on.

Fu Xing inhaled sharply. In his panic, he dropped his phone, which fell next to Leon’s pillow.

Crap! I’m definitely dead!

Just as he was about to run, his hand was gripped by a force and pulled downwards. For a moment, everything spun around Fu Xing, and then the next thing he noticed was that he was buried in Leon’s blanket.

What-what the heck is going on?!

“Le-Leon?”

“Hahaha…you’ve come to cause trouble again? You naughty devil…” Leon’s eyes shifted downwards as he murmured this tenderly.

Again?

“Ah, no, this is my first time…” This is my first time in all aspects! If possible, I really would rather not want to have a first experience in a certain respect!

Leon closed his eyes and one arm wrapped around Fu Xing’s waist to pull him into an embrace. “Let’s go out again at nighttime.”

“Wha—!” What?! Not just now, but at night too?

Fu Xing restlessly wriggled about. Although he really wanted to establish a deeper friendship with Leon, he didn’t want it to be “deep” to this degree!

Leon furrowed his brows. “Lia, just a bit more sleep. Don’t move around…”

Fu Xing froze. “Le-Leon?”

“Lia, be good…I’ll go to the library with you again later…” Leon spoke disjointedly, “Just let me sleep for a moment longer….”

Fu Xing understood the situation now. Leon had not awoken but was only semi-conscious and currently sleep-talking.

But who is Lia…is she Leon’s girlfriend? Or relative? I never thought Leon would have such a soft side too…

Fu Xing stiffened, not daring to move around carelessly. After waiting for Leon to fall into deep sleep once more, he grabbed the phone next to the pillow and pressed the shutter button while still at an extremely close distance.

Click.

This time, Leon did not wake up, serenely immersed in the land of dreams.

After taking several photos in succession, Fu Xing began to wriggle downwards bit by bit like a worm to free himself from Leon’s embrace and leave from the end of the bed.

Successfully accomplished!

 

In the evening, Fu Xing, accompanied by Rocort, Emerald, and Zhu Yue, were sitting in the communal hall of the female dorms to meet with Lunia.

“Here! These are the photos you wanted!” Fu Xing passed over the printed photos to Lunia.

“Oh, pretty fast, huh?” Lunia accepted the photos and excitedly shared it with her companions while discussing it. “Not bad! Even able to get such a close-up! Hahahaha, good job! And here I thought you would mess up.”

“I want a copy!” A girl next to them said.

“Me too! Three each of a three-inch and a five-inch!”

After watching the five girls excitedly cry out at Leon’s sleeping face, Fu Xing couldn’t help but ask, “May I ask if the objective for having me take these photos was to test my capability as a spy?”

“No,” Lunia studied the photo. “It was simply because we wanted to obtain a photo of our handsome junior brother.”

This answer made Fu Xing both shocked and angry. “How could that be?! Grod said that the new student trials were to hunt new students. I thought it would be very serious!” Who would have expected it to just be filled with female seniors just trying to satisfy their selfish desires by getting their juniors to do odd jobs instead?!

“That’s just to scare you guys off. Nobody uses that term. The new student trials’ true alternative name is ‘fooling new students’!” After the short-haired brunette said this, the people around them roared in laughter.

“Of course, not every trial is this easy.” Lunia continued, “In my time, someone was ordered to summon a magical beast within a week.”

“Oh, someone had to duel with Samukawa,” another girl added. Soon after, the group of girls once again returned to their gossipy status.

“Can we leave now?” Fu Xing gloomily asked while feeling like he had been played.

“Oh, you can.” Lunia placed the photo down and cleared her throat. “Trial accomplished.”

As soon as she spoke, Fu Xing felt a burst of cold come from his palm. He opened his hand to see the blue mark had already disappeared.

 

As they headed towards the dining hall, Fu Xing was full of grievance and couldn’t help but rant.

“What kind of meaning is there behind such a trial. I originally thought I’d be using this as a pretext to learn many things, but in the end, they were just playing around with me…” What ‘fooling new students’?! More like treating others as idiots!

“It’s fine if you want a meaningful trial too.” Emerald calmly spoke, his tone somewhat resigned. “There’s a chance right now.”

“What do you mean?”

Emerald opened his palm, where a pale blue tornado mark had been imprinted.

“Oh, Emerald also accepted a trial.” Rocort smiled as he asked. “Whose photo do you have to take this time? Or do you have to kiss or hug someone for thirty seconds?”

“Not everyone wants photos—wait, Rocort, what did ‘kiss someone for thirty seconds’ mean?!” Fu Xing asked pressingly.

“That’s my task.”

“Rocort is very popular in the female dorms,” Zhu Yue explained with a faint smile. “Many senior sisters tossed him trials that just requested for Rocort to hug or kiss them for thirty seconds. I heard that there were too many people applying for trials like this, so the school had to later reject them from being approved orders.”

“What?!” How is that moral, Rocort! Using your looks to cheat your way through life? This world is seriously too unfair!

“What is Emerald’s mission?” Zhu Yue turned the focus to the main topic.

“Pluck three strands of hair from an arctic fox’s tail. Target is restricted to new students, has to be completed within three days.” Emerald laughed bitterly. “Jingguai usually don’t change back to their original forms. Moreover, to a fox spirit, the tail is the source of their demonic power; they’re extremely protective of it. Enough of a challenge, isn’t it?”

“Don’t worry, we’ll help you.” Fu Xing added, “For free.”

“Thanks,” Emerald chuckled without any mirth.

“If it’s a fox spirit, I recall that our classmate Momiji is a fox spirit.” Zhu Yue tilted her head in thought. “She forms her tail when she bathes to specifically wash it up.”

She smiled encouragingly. “You’re very lucky, the female dorms have a public bath, and Momiji loves bathing there. I frequently bump into her at the pool.”

Emerald raised a brow. “What part of that is lucky?”

“You can sneak into the girls’ bath and secretly pluck her fur from behind…”

“Sounds pretty indecent, could you not say it in such a way?”

Zhu Yue grinned, unfazed. “Infiltrating into the girls’ bath isn’t an easy matter. But once you smoothly sneak in, there shouldn’t be any difficulty afterwards. If you need me to supply some kind of information or assistance, please let me know. I will help you as best I can.”

“Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.” Zhu Yue chuckled and followed behind Fu Xing as she softly whispered, “I’ll help you guys sneak into the girls’ bath this time. Next time I want to sneak into the boys’ bath, I’ll have to ask for you guys to take care of me…”

“What did you say just now, Zhu Yue?” Why does it seem like I just heard a shocking statement?

Zhu Yue did not respond. The corners of her lips merely curled upwards to form a smile as gentle as that of Virgin Mary.

---

Previous            Index              Next