CH 4

After the Shadow Academy students had dispersed, the school compound was completely tranquil at night.

The lights were already off for the main building, with only the entrance of Block B shining dimly. It was the light coming off Aunt Liang’s television.

Under the gentle wind, the hazy moon shed its light onto the building, dyeing the outer walls a pearl-like sheen.

In midst of that silvery moonlight, there was a light golden mist, thin and dim, making it hard to be discerned. Following the night breeze, the mist entered through a gap in a window, vanishing completely.

The dark room swirled with gold mist, and in the next moment, a handsome face with a sinister smile emerged.

Byriel’s snapped his fingers to call on a dim circle of light. He turned to look at his surrounding, with was a room filled with various different costumes and tools.

This was the Drama Research’s storeroom.

Although he could have chosen to directly enter the Supernatural Research’s classroom, he didn’t want to accidentally attract someone’s attention, so he had entered through an empty room on another floor.

Byriel stepped lightly toward the entrance door, and just as he was about to open it, a hand unexpectedly reached out to circle around his waist, turn him around, and press him up against the wall.

“Careful.” A gentle voice traveled past his ear, “There’s a tracking spell on the door. It’ll stick to you the moment you touch it.”

Byriel turned his head, Dongya’s genial smile entering his vision.

He couldn’t help smiling.

Dongya released his grip. Byriel smiled after righting himself, “Why are you here?”

“The same reason as you.”

“I know.” Byriel furrowed his eyebrows, “But this isn’t your style.”

“Oh, you clearly do not know me enough then.” Dongya gave him a pleasant smile in return.

“I just know that the food you cook cannot be eaten, and that’s enough. Hehehe…”

Dongya shrugged.

“We can’t use the door. Do you have any ideas?”

“Through the air vents.” Dongya pointed upwards at the ceiling, “It passes through the Supernatural Research classroom, but the file room is inside an airtight space. We’ll have to find some other way to get in.”

Byriel eyebrows raised, “Let’s talk about that after we get in. Lead the way.”

A light breeze brushed past, and the two inside the room vanished. The wind rolled into the air vent, passing the complicated channel, at last reaching the Supernatural Research classroom.

The two stood, only to see a figure standing tall in the center of the room, seeming to have arrived not long ago.

Quetzal turned around, unsurprised to see them.

“Good evening.” Dongya smiled.

Quetzal did not answer, walking towards the file room. He stared at the door for a moment, raising his hand, and the shadows on the walls and floor rushed forth like a tide. Billowing from all for sides into the center, it transformed into a tiny shadow bead, infiltrating through the gaps of the door.

The gaps of the door lit up with a red glow, and the spell hidden within emerged, lighting up with a complicated mark. The spell had detected something unusual and tried to start up, but was clamped up by the shadow that had permeated through, only able to operate at the previous step. The magic circle spasmed slightly, like a gear lodged by a tenon.

Quetzal twisted the doorknob and entered the file room, Dongya and Byriel tagging behind.

Byriel walked towards the cabinet that held Cao Ji Xian’s casefiles following his memories. He found the serial number of the file and took it out.

“This one.”

He flipped through the file, reading the page that had recorded the residence. They hadn’t been able to read it earlier at daytime, so the three of them thoroughly scanned all three short pages of information in that file once.

The original owner of that house had been an exile of the underworld, a kind that had willingly slipped into another world from theirs. They were what the Summoners called ‘Usurpers’— Not summoned, demons that had snuck into the human world.

The demons of the underworld could not come into the human world easily, nor did they have the means to survive. For them to reside within the human world, if they didn’t bind a contract with a human, they needed to consume those belonging to this world, increasing their own presence in this world.

Those Usurpers needed to consume unceasingly, in order to stabilize themselves. Like a balloon that had a hole, it needed to keep on sucking in air to keep its form.

The former owner had been incredibly cautious, hunting outside at irregular periods, not letting anyone discover his tracks. But in the end, he had been discovered by a miemoshi.

But before the miemoshi could arrive, the former owner had already been annihilated.

Phantom Symbol 5775.

“There’s something strange about this.” Byriel suddenly spoke. “If the miemoshi’s mark can detect contracts and attack them, why were we unscathed after binding a contract with Feng Ping Lan?”

“Not just him, Kaido and Tan Hua were fine after moving in.” Dongya tilted his head to think, “Is there really a mark?”

“…The miemoshi’s barrier was placed on ourselves. All spells were removed after Feng Ping Lan released the seal.” Quetzal slowly said his inference. “Although the spell has been released, the mark should be still there.”

The mark could be anything, a kind of object, or a seal. After the spell had been released, it would have turned into something ordinary.

“Is there anything else?”

“Nothing in this one.” Byriel pointed at the words ‘Phantom Symbol 5775’, “But there could be something here.”

“What?”

Byriel closed the file in his hands, ‘Exceed 16100-16800’, written at the side.

“All the serial numbers of the files on this shelf start with the character ‘Exceed’, and a string of numbers after it. The words ‘Phantom Symbol 5775’, tells me any files starting with the character ‘Phantom’ should have other records.”

Dongya had an admiring expression on. “How did you know that?”

“I guessed. It could be wrong, it could be right, hehehe.”

Quetzal raised his eyebrows, “…The theft of the Royal Family’s collection of ancient scrolls that year…”

“Aiya, why are you mentioning something that happened so long ago? Hehehe.” Byriel smiled, then turned to size up the cabinet, “Let’s find if there are any cases that start with the ‘Phantom’ character first.”

The three took one round around the file room, but nothing came up.

Just when Byriel and Dongya thought they were to end up empty-handed, Quetzal stood by the corner of a small window. There was only one side of the window, looking as if it was made to be pushed outwards.

“What is it?”

“This doesn’t feel right…” Quetzal looked at the scenery out the window. “The view is wrong.”

From this angle, they couldn’t see the cross on the administrative building.

“Oh?”

The shadows rose, covering up the image on the window. Like spilled ink, the guise on it melted off, drip by drip.

Plop.

The moment the disguise was lifted, a faintly mixed sound came through the air, barely discernible.

At the entrance of Block B, the pair of eyes staring at the television suddenly narrowed, slowly turning its gaze up to the ceiling.

“Looks like they’re hiding something in here.” Byriel looked at the safe cabinet after the disguise had been taken off, rubbing his chin, “If this is just a case file deposited here, it really seems like too much effort put into it.”

It felt pretty unusual.

“It must be classified information. Could it be because it has something to do with miemoshi, so it has been kept secret?” Donya guessed.

“Possibly, we’ll know the answer once we open it.” Byriel stretched his hand out towards the cabinet, but was stopped by Quetzal.

“What is it?”

“…Something’s coming.” Quetzal listened to the sounds coming from outside, and the unclear vibrations sent by his shadows.

A beast’s roar rang out, and then heavy running closed in on them from beneath.

“Aunt Liang?” Byriel was astonished, “How did she notice?”

“Looks like she isn’t as slow as she seems.” Dongya frowned, “Do we leave? Or temporarily hide? A middle-class demon shouldn’t be a threat…”

“That isn’t a normal demon.” Quetzal muttered, “That’s a barbaric beast.”

“You’re sure?”

“From the sound and its odor, it’s possibly a Border Wolf.”

Border Wolves were a brutal and obstinate type of barbaric beast, a kind that was a huge headache for the Royal Clan.

For this kind of barbaric beast to appear in the human world, the Summoners of the Shadow Academy were pretty intractable.

The footsteps closed in, already approaching the hallway outside the Supernatural Research classroom.

“Go!”

Quetzal dived into his shadows, and Byriel and Dongya transformed into wind and mist, passing through the air vents just a moment before Aunt Liang entered the room. They left the building quickly.

The three met up at the rooftops of a building.

“Using a barbaric beast as a guard dog, the Summoners are crazier than I’d thought. Hehehe…”

“We can’t have left any traces, right?” Dongya spoke worriedly, “We need to leave the school quickly.”

“No.” Quetzal stopped him, glancing at the school’s entrance, “The barriers have been strengthened.”

Just like that day they had entered the Shadow Academy, the moment the barriers were strengthened, the demons within it couldn’t get out anymore. For them, if they forced their way out, they would only be seen as criminals caught red-handed.

Quetzal’s sight suddenly turned blurry. He had used too much strength in entering the building earlier, and at this moment, it was pretty hard keeping his own consciousness.

“We can’t just keep on hiding.” Dongya muttered distressedly, “Do we have any other way of bluffing our way out of it?”

“There is!” Byriel had a idea, “We have a good reason for appearing on campus, as well as a good means to leave.”

*

“Good evening.” A light voice transferred over.

Feng Ping Lan was gripping a hose. He saw a golden figure at the entrance, a snow-white figure following at the back.

“The smell really isn’t graceful, hehehe.”

“Byriel? Dongya?” Feng Ping Lan was astonished, “Why are you guys here?”

“To express our sympathies.” Byriel smiled, “We also bring you a gift to convey it.”

“What gift? A midnight snack? Sorry, but I don’t really have an appetite—” Feng Ping Lan’s words, upon seeing the black figure that had appeared, stopped short, his eyes widening in pleasant surprise.

“Q-Quetzal?”

Quetzal’s expression was apathetic as usual, but had a slight bit of awkwardness to it, seemingly uneasy about appearing here.

“Quetzal!” Feng Ping Lan yelled excitedly, subconsciously squeezing down on the hose in his hand. It put pressure on the hose, and water spurted out, splashing Ivan and Igor who stood by the side from head to toe.

“What are you doing! Isn’t that just a Contract, you’ll see him every day, why are you making such a fuss?!” Ivan complained as he flicked the water off his body.

“Aah, sorry sorry! But…” Feng Ping Lan turned his head, about to explain his innocence. He forced himself to calm down, then carefully turned his gaze towards the entrance, then burst out excitedly, “It’s Quetzal! It’s not an illusion!” Quetzal was visiting him?!

The hose in his hands shot out once again, thoroughly soaking Ivan and Igor a second time.

“Are you doing this on purpose?!” Ivan raised his voice resentfully.

“I’m sorry I’m sorry! I’ll go clean that part up, okay?” Feng Ping Lan hurriedly apologized, then turned to Byriel, “Why did you guys come so suddenly?”

“We missed you. Is that bad?”

Feng Ping Lan sucked in a breath, “O-of course it isn’t! Q-Q-Quetzal too?”

Quetzal wanted to immediately leave, but the circumstances before him forced him to stay. He breathed in deeply, then nodded at Feng Ping Lan with much difficulty. It could be considered a greeting.

Feng Ping Lan backed away a few steps, hand at his chest to force down the frantic beating of his heart.

Goodness, was he dreaming… Could something this great happen to him? If this was a dream, it really was such a beautiful dream! Although it was a little smelly, the pros outweighed the cons!

Ivan snatched away the hose in Feng Ping Lan’s hands, pressing down, and splashed in on Feng Ping Lan’s face.

“Finally awake? Alice?”

“Cough cough! …Cough…” Feng Ping Lan spat out a mouthful of water, “Mm, thanks…”

“It must be tiring, staying back after school to clean for the past few days. So we came to look at the situation, and help as well.” Dongya said gently, sweeping a gaze at the toilet’s interior. When he saw the dirty and damp start inside, a complicated expression flashed across his eyes.

Loathing, distress, and… Mm, Feng Ping Lan couldn’t really tell if it was astonishment or pleasant surprise, and complete fighting spirit, like the expression a rock climber would give when faced with a steep mountain rock.

“Uh, you don’t need to! The teachers told us we couldn’t ask our Contracts for help…”

“Oh, you did not ask me for help, I was the one who thought of helping.” Dongya took up the brown brush, surveying the toilet, “May I ask, has this toilet never been washed since the day it was built?”

“That’s probably exaggerating it.” Feng Ping Lan looked at Dongya’s eager look, trying to dissuade him, “You really don’t nee—”

Before his words could fall, Dongya summoned his wind.

The wind forced the tiny window open, flushing all the dirty air out, also blowing out most of the dust on the walls, the window’s grooves, and ventilation fans. The flowing wind brought in fresh air, the rubbish on the floor gathered to one side, and the damp floor was mostly dried.

“Woah.” Liu Yi Chen whistled appreciatively, “You should have made him come earlier.”

Feng Ping Lan hadn’t wanted to trouble Dongya, but his expression looked incredibly joyful. He could only let him do it.

Turning, Feng Ping Lan glanced at Quetzal who stood at the entrance. When the two locked gazes, his mouth cracked out a foolish smile.

He was still there… It really wasn’t a dream…

Quetzal turned his head away, standing in the hallway by himself. He gazed at the night sky, the barrier shrouding the school compound, observing the change in surroundings without a sound.

There seemed to not be someone chasing after them for now, but they didn’t know when a problem would arise…

This was the suggestion that Byriel had offered. As Contracts of a Summoner that had to stay back after school, being there as well was a pretty good reason. Their movements were quick, and with it being just around twenty minutes after Shadow Academy had ended, as well as Dongya’s help with cleaning, their appearance was very reasonable.

Quetzal turned his head a little sideways, glancing at Feng Ping Lan who was frantically helping clean.

Why was it only when he saw him, he would become so excited…

Just because he had appeared…

His train of thought hooked on a past and distant memory.

Quetzal, you’re here.

The young prince let out a happy and relieved smile upon seeing him appear.

That was the first words the two had exchanged, in the short interval of time before the Twelfth Prince’s coming-of-age ceremony.

Those were incredibly light, incredibly earnest, that was fitting and restrained for the occasion. The joy that had leaked out of those eyes, had been the last of the prince’s naivete.

The coming-of-age ceremony was one of a Royal Clansman’s most important events of his life. It was the dividing line between an easy and comfortable life, and a life of seizing power and bloodshed. The prince before coming of age had been well-protected, his brothers keeping a harmonious facade around him. After that, all those pretenses had been torn off, and all the malice and enmity had all been spread out before him.

The protection that had been shrouded around him had been penetrated through, and after that, not a single person had reached out a hand to help him. He could only rely on himself. Facing all this, any prince wouldn’t feel secure, which was also the case for Shuekan.

But, the uneasiness in his heart had turned resolute and confident, the moment he saw Quetzal.

Quetzal would never forget that moment, Shuekan’s words, that expression.

That moment made him really feel that he was actually important. There was some value in his existence, because there was someone that actually needed him…

He understood why Prince Shuekan why attached so much importance to him, relied on him, and that was why he could feel honored for being such to Prince Shuekan.

But, what about Feng Ping Lan?

Feng Ping Lan did not need his protection, did not need him to fight, did not rely on him to fulfill his desires, did not need him to become a king.

So why was it that Feng Ping Lan would feel happy, upon seeing him?

Almost as if getting an undeserved reward, he hated this feeling…

That’s right.

The only merit this guy has is the sweet, sweet blood that flows in his veins…

The craving of his instinct unexpectedly led on his train of thought, tossing out an alluring notion in his head. And then, a burning thirst lit in his throat.

Quetzal reached out his palm to touch his neck, forcing down that agitated thirst.

Footsteps rang out in the hallway, pulling Quetzal out of his thoughts.

He saw Seno, with a singlet, boxer shorts and blue-white sandals, coming unhurriedly over. When he saw Quetzal and the other two, he stopped short.

“Why did you come so early today?” Liu Yi Chen looked at her watch, “It’s only been half an hour.”

Su Li Wan stealthily pulled on Liu Yi Chen’s sleeve, saying quietly, “We’re done…”

“What?” Liu Yi Chen turned, only to see that during her break, the toilet had turned sparkling clean, not a dust to be seen. Even the shabby old brush looked new mascara seemed to have been put on it, the tips clear and sticking up.

“What are you guys doing here?” Seno asked Dongya and all.

“Accompanying our Summoner, of course.” Byriel smiled, “We don’t know when such a dirty toilet will be fully cleaned, you know.”

“You’ve been here all this while?”

“What do you think?”

Seno poked his head in to sweep a gaze around the clean toilet, and a moment of awe flashed through that lazy expression.

“Mm, good, it’s cleaner than my room…” They must have used up a lot of time to clean this.

Seno turned, “But Contracts are not allowed to help. You can’t do this next time.”

“Understood.” Dongya replied humbly.

“You look quite dirty as well, how about giving you a wash on the way out?” Byriel mocked.

“Let’s talk about that when the weather’s hotter.” Seno scratched his head, “We’ll end things here for today, you guys can go.”

Byriel, Dongya and Quetzal silently glanced at each other.

Crisis averted.

*

The next day.

The school compound was the same as usual, not any different from before. When it was time for class, Yi Su Shuang would occasionally sweep a suspicious glance at Feng Ping Lan and the others, but didn’t ask either.

When afternoon came, Feng Ping Lan and the others once again entered the building to survey the clubs.

As they passed through the lobby for the first floor, Aunt Liang was still in the same spot, but the number of nutshells on her desk had increased. Aunt Liang grabbed a fistful of peanuts and shoved them into her mouth, crunching on them agitatedly, then spat out the disintegrated nutshells. Through the way she ate, anyone could tell she was in a really bad mood, but no one knew the reason.

Byriel and Dongya were slightly worried about going through the entrance, but Aunt Liang just glared at them, just like how she glared at the other students. She didn’t react more than that.

Fourth floor, Magic Research Club.

What entered their vision the moment they stepped into the Magic Research Club was a stage and fan-shaped seats. There were students acting out on stage, with the audience concentrating all their attention on the play, even taking notes. It didn’t seem like a performance, more like undergoing an experiment.

When Feng Ping Lan and the others arrived, Ivan rushed excitedly over.

“Hi hi, why were you guys so slow? For you guys, I actually obediently stayed behind in the club, you know!”

“Are you guys having a performance right now?” Feng Ping Lan saw the person on stage make a glass of water disappear, then pouring an unending stream of juice out of a plastic cup. He really wanted to go over and have a look.

“Oh, that’s a routine experiment. Club members will go on stage to perform magic, and the ones below the stage need to observe and unravel his trick.”

“What’s so amazing about that? I can easily turn a glass of water into a well.” Conglong objected.

“You can turn a car into fertilizer when you sit in it.” Byriel hummed lightly.

“That’s not magic. One of the Magic Research’s rules forbids the use of any curses or spells.” Ivan smiled, “The club president’s not here, so I’ll bring you guys around then! Want to see a person cut in half? Or the water-prison escape?”

Zong Yu’s eyes lit up, seemingly very interested in this.

“May I ask…” The gloomy voice asked tentatively, “Just how high… is the failure rate of the magic tricks?”

“It won’t fail since they’re using special equipment. There shouldn’t be a problem as long as the procedures are done correctly.”

“May I ask… How do I do the procedures incorrectly?” That voice held an anticipating tone.

The others were momentarily speechless.

“Can we come in just like this?”

“Of course you can! Didn’t I tell you? The club president’s not here.” Ivan pulled Feng Ping Lan on with a smile, leading the others forward, “Hurry, hurry!”

The Magic Research’s clubroom didn’t look very large from on the surface, but there were actually many extra rooms behind the stage, separated for the use of various magic practices.

Ivan brought them through a small hallway and entered a room, where Igor and a few other students were in.

There were quite a lot of first years practicing inside this room. Upon knowing that all these tricks weren’t achieved by using spells, the demons were pretty amazed, their gazes attracted by different types of magic tricks.

Igor stood by an instrument that looked like a guillotine, a cut-off cucumber lying before it. Seeing Feng Ping Lan and the others, Igor nodded slightly in greeting.

“What’s that?” Feng Ping Lan rushed forward, circling around the machine in amazement, “So cool! What does this do? Teach me teach me!”

Ivan was silent for a moment, seemingly a little hesitant. At last, he came to a decision, using a flat and stiff voice to say, “Okay… Firstly, put in the gherkin.”

“Does it have to be a gherkin? I don’t like gherkins.”

Igor paused for a second, “You can also put in carrots.”

“Radishes or white radishes?” Feng Ping Lan questioned seriously.

“Anything is fine.”

“Are there any options?”

Igor paused for a second, “There is.” He then turned, taking out a basket from the toolbox under the stage, various kinds of vegetables and fruits placed within it.

“Wow wow wow, there’s so many! There are bamboo shoots! I want the bamboo shoots!”

Igor took out the bamboo shoots and placed them into the gap of the little guillotine, then recited as if he was reading from a script, “Please have a look. This machine is not false in any way, the blades are incredibly sharp.” He then pressed down on the handle.

Screech! The moment the blade descended, the bamboo shoots were cut in half.

“So cool!” Feng Ping Lan clapped with all his might, and continued to urge, “The next one is the corn!”

Igor tried to open his mouth to say something, but looking at Feng Ping Lan’s expectant expression, took a corn, placed it in, and pressed the handle.

Screech! The corn snapped in two.

“Amazing! So awesome!” Feng Ping Lan was overjoyed, and continued to pick out the vegetables, “The potato next!”

Screech!

“Celery!”

Screech!

“Oh! There’s yam too, put it in put it in! And the okra!”

Screech screech screech!

That crisp cutting sound rang out continuously.

“What are you doing?” When Ivan turned around to find Igor, he found a table full of sliced vegetables.

Igor paused for a few seconds, seeming to want to explain, but finally giving out a simple word, “…Demonstrating.”

“This magic trick isn’t done this way! After cutting the vegetables, you need to ask him to put his arm into the machine, then start it, and his hand will be perfectly unharmed after the blade falls!” Ivan corrected exasperatedly, “You’re not doing a magic trick this way.”

“Of course he is!” Feng Ping Lan’s hand shot up, “Look, Igor made a fresh plate of salad out of thin air!” He then munched on a piece of celery, “It would be great if you could make some thousand island sauce appear, hahaha!”

The corner of Igor’s lips lifted, giving a light smile.

“Don’t influence our Igor! You’ll make him turn stupid!” Ivan protested.

In the other corner of the room, Morris was watching a super-strength performance.

“Please have a look, this steel rod is extraordinarily stiff, but after chanting on it, it bends.” The club member explained to Morris, “This isn’t done by spells or magic.”

“This doesn’t need any spells at all, anyway.” Morris took the steel rod, and twisting with both his hands, the stiff rod instantly turned into a curved boomerang.

The club member was struck dumb, and taking the rod that couldn’t be returned to its original shape back, didn’t know how to react.

Simo was really interested in the magic of turning water into juice. She gathered her courage and walked towards that unfamiliar male club member, shyly asking, “Excuse me…”

“You want to learn this?”

Simo nodded her head with all her might, “Um… Can you turn it into wine?”

The club member smiled, “You could theoretically do it, but we’re forbidden from bringing alcohol on school grounds, so nothing can be done about that.”

“Oh…” Simo’s shoulders dropped in disappointment.

In another corner, Dongya’s gaze was caught by a Magic Research club member who had turned a dyed black clothing as clean as brand new.

“This is extraordinary.” Dongya gave heartfelt praise, “Please, you must teach it to me, I get huge headaches in dealing with the dirt on collars.”

“Uh, we used special ink for this.”

“Oh…” Dongya’s shoulders dropped in disappointment.

Byriel watched a female club member perform a card trick with abundant interest. Under Byriel’s gaze, she seemed clearly uneasy, her moments at shuffling the cards becoming not as fluent.

“Is this the card you chose earlier?” The female club member picked out a card.

Byriel raised his eyebrows, “Indeed it is.” He walked forwards ruminatively and fetched the card in her hand. Flipping it over a couple of times, “How mystical. Will you tell me how you did it? Hehe…”

“T-this is mind reading magic…”

“Oh? You can really guess the thoughts in my heart?”

The female club member acted unperturbed, “Yes.”

“Liar.” Byriel smiled and moved closer, secretively whispering beside the female club member’s ear, “If you knew what I was thinking, you would immediately back away, and pay more attention to your own shirt button. Hehehe…”

The female club member’s face immediately reddened, the entire deck of cards in her hand scattering onto the ground.

“Are they trying to raze the entire club to the ground…” Liu Yi Chen looked at the chaotic classroom, shaking her head helplessly.

After touring around the Magic Research club for a bit, although they had plenty of things that interested them, they left due to time constraints, moving to the Drama Research Club.

*

Third floor, Drama Research Club.

Upon pushing open the huge door, they were greeted with a spacious room with various stage settings. There was a classroom, a business office, a cabin, a bedroom etc. The workmanship was incredibly realistic as if they were in the actual setting.

There were several large tables in the corner, with a few people working on stage props there. In the other corner were people sitting before the dressing tables, putting makeup on themselves.

Feng Ping Lan looked all around, “Where’s Li Wan?” Su Li Wan had mentioned being in this club in the morning, and he thought she’d be here.

“I spot a few troublesome bastards instead…” Liu Yi Chen glanced at another corner of the club room.

Three people sat conversing in the corner. One of them was the Supernatural Research’s president Cao Ji Xian, and the other two were clearly the Drama Research and Magic Research’s presidents. One club member walked over to the three conversing people and stood beside the female student’s side reporting quietly. Then, all three of their gazes turned to the direction of Feng Ping Lan and the others.

Byriel and Dongya exchanged glances, more or less having guessed what it was about.

“Hi, it’s Senior Cao! Why are you here? Could you be switching clubs? Hahaha!” Feng Ping Lan greeted with a smile, walking towards the three of them.

The three looked at each other, then raised their lips into polite smiles.

The girl with delicate features and haughty manner spoke first, “I am the Drama Research’s club president, Reina De Baer. Does everyone want to enter this club?” Her gaze turned to Zong Yu, “I remember that you’ve already been kicked out, isn’t that so?”

“I was just accompanying them.” Zong Yu said this as he picked up an exquisite mask at the side, laughing faintly in disdain, “This is worse than the one I made when I was five… Xixixi…”

Reina’s eyebrows pinched together.

“Can we take a look around first?” Feng Ping Lan asked.

“Oh, please do. This is our main activities room, and our storeroom is on the other side. You can tour around as much as you want, but there are people in every corner.”

“By ourselves?” Feng Ping Lan scratched his head, “I thought we’d have someone give us a tour.”

“Oh, I believe you all are very used to entering and leaving someone’s territory.”

Feng Ping Lan didn’t understand what she was talking about, but Liu Yi Chen frowned. Conglong, Simo and Morris were all baffled too. Only Dongya and Byriel knew where all that hostility had come from.

The group took a round around the club, and like a flower viewing from horseback wandered through the activities room, then turned to the storeroom.

“What’s that meddling woman getting all aggressive for!” Liu Yi Chen cursed.

“I don’t like her attitude…”

“Just what did you do, why does everybody you meet seem to hate you?” Conglong complained to Feng Ping Lan.

“I didn’t do anything!”

Arriving at the storeroom, Liu Yi Chen busted the door open with one kick. It was dim inside, with just one light bulb lit in the corner.

One person sat under the light bulb, and raised their head upon hearing the noise.

“Oh, good afternoon.” Su Li Wan waved with a smile, a needle in her hand. Before Feng Ping Lan’s arrival, she had been sitting at the table in the corner fixing the stage props.

Liu Yi Chen couldn’t help frowning, “What are you, Cinderella? Did everyone in the Drama Research Club die out!”

“The other members are very busy with missions, so they have no time to mend these things.” Su Li Wan smiled in reply, “There has to be someone doing these things, and I seem to be expert in it. Having some quiet time with myself is a good thing…”

“Good thing my ass! You’re not a maid!” Liu Yi Chen grabbed the clothing placed before Liu Yi Chen.

That was a gorgeous black satin evening gown, with a low-cut design, and a slit at the side to reveal the thigh. Liu Yi Che stared at that dress in disgust, “Doesn’t this belong to that shameless bitch! What right does she have to make you mend this!”

“She’s really busy because she’s the president. And she just wants me to slightly alter it to be more well-fitting…”

Liu Yi Chen’s eyebrows furrowed, and aggressively pulled the front side apart on both sides, the originally low V-cut torn to the stomach area.

Everyone was flabbergasted by Liu Yi Chen’s actions.

“This is the most fitting.” Liu Yi Chen randomly threw the dress into one corner, “You can now see her cleavage to her stomach, the foul smell leaking from the side. It suits her.”

“C-Class Rep, you’re too domineering!”

Su Li Wan forced a smile, “The president won’t be happy about this.”

“Just switch clubs! This isn’t the only club in the school!”

“Has everyone finished touring around?” The question rang out from the back.

They turned to see the presidents of the three great clubs at the door, looking at everyone in the room with a look that divulged in their ill purpose in coming.

“You’re friends?” Reina glanced at Su Li Wan, “You must be quite popular. But you have to choose your friends carefully.”

“Oh, she will.” Liu Yi Chen cut in. “That’s why she’s not friends with you.”

Reina’s almond eyes widened, clenching her teeth. Just as she was about to explode, she was pulled back by the Magic Research president Aidi.

“May I ask if there is something wrong?” Dongya looked at the three presidents’ appearance, sensing something wrong with the situation, but still asked politely.

“It’s like this.” Cao Ji Xian coughed pretentiously, “Just yesterday night, an intruder sneaked into the Supernatural Research club and entered the file room.”

“Really?!” Feng Ping Lan said in shock, “Did something get stolen?”

Cao Ji Xian smiled coldly.

“The thief was able to bypass the first stage of spells behind the cabinet, but clearly lacked the ability to steal it. They did not take away the Xingzhu Gem, which is the treasure of our club.”

Byriel smiled lightly, so a gem was hidden in that cabinet. What they wanted wasn’t that piece of useless rock, but information on the miemoshi. Looks like they didn’t find what they were looking for and had instead attracted some trouble this time.

“Is that so.” Feng Ping Lan nodded, releasing a sigh of relief, “It’s good it didn’t get stolen.”

“That’s right, it’s good it didn’t get stolen.” Cao Ji Xian replied with a fake smile.

Reina cut them off, “Have you decided on which club to enter?”

“Not yet. We aren’t very clear on the Drama Research Club yet, and the Magic Research too…”

“No need to look around anymore,” Reina spoke. “Before any of you pass the entrance test, you may not take a single toe into any of our clubs. We’ll only allow our official members to pass.”

“Ah? The Drama Research has an entrance test?”

“Not just the Drama Research, the Magic and Supernatural Research too.” Reina said haughtily, “Also, I have also spoken with the other presidents. I believe there will be new rules set for allowing new members in for the next few days.”

“There wasn’t any entrance test before this, right?” Conglong asked.

“There is now. So that there won’t be unhealthy club members polluting the pure environment the clubs have.” Cao Ji Xian said arrogantly, casting a sidelong glance at Feng Ping Lan.

“Is there anything here that hasn’t been polluted? A whole pot of mice droppings with a few sparse grains of rice dropping in, and you’re not appreciating it?” Liu Yi Chen immediately shot back.

“You’re the mice droppings!” Reina screamed back, “Don’t think you can torment others just because your Contract is a teacher!”

“What does Yerde have to do with it?” Liu Yi Chen smiled coldly, “If I really wanted to torment others by relying on someone, you wouldn’t even have the chance of throwing yourself at everybody like a slut!”

“Who did you call a slut!”

The two female lions roared at each other, both of them not backing down.

“Um, do we still want to tour around…” Simo who stood by the side asked quietly.

“Those two keeps on picking a fight with us for some reason.” Conglong glanced at Cao Ji Xian and Aidi, then looked at Liu Yi Chen and Reina, “And those two seem to be starting a battle.”

“Oh.” Morris crossed his arms in overflowing interest, “I’ve never seen two female humans battle it out before.”

“Yi Chen, calm down…”

Just when the scene was about to turn awfully chaotic, someone abruptly raised his hand, stubbornly entering the fray of the battlefield.

“I have a question.” Feng Ping Lan had his hand raised, asking guilelessly, “So we have to take the test, no matter which club we want to join?”

No one had expected that in the middle of the chaos, Feng Ping Lan would remain calm and think about the matters of joining a club.

“Yes.” Aidi replied, “You need to pass the entrance test to join.”

Among the three club presidents, Aidi was the more impartial and neutral one. He didn’t have a very good relationship with Cao Ji Xian and Reina, only caring about increasing the budget for his club, and joining hands as the three great clubs would be advantageous to him, which was why he worked with the other two.

Feng Ping Lan scratched his head in distress, “When do we take the test? Do we take them at the same time? We need to hand in our club forms by the end of next week.”

The three presidents exchanged looks.

“We’ve discussed, and to save up on time and human resources, we decided to combine the test.”

“Oh, alright.” Feng Ping Lan agreed without thinking about it, “What is the test about then?”

Cao Ji Xian started to narrate an unceasing torrent of words, “Us three clubs have always had the Association as our goal, to become outstanding Summoners, to become a member of the Associ—”

“Get to the point!” Liu Yi Chen cut in.

Cao Ji Xian’s eyebrows furrowed in dissatisfaction, “Simply put, we want you to execute a mission with your own power.”

The crowd looked at each other in dismay, “A mission?”

“Generally speaking, the members of the Supernatural Research will scour the internet or magazines to find suspicious incidents, this needs a sharp observation skill and the ability to distinguish—”

“Get to the point!”

“That is to say, you need to find your own mission.”

“What?!”

“Of course, we won’t make you fish a needle from the sea.” Cao Ji took out a whole stack of case files and gave them to Feng Ping Lan, “These are cases the Supernatural Research has pursued for the past four years, but have never actually verified. You can choose an incident from there to investigate.”

“Wow, how kind of you.” Liu Yi Chen crossed her arms and said sarcastically.

“We will give you points on the results of the investigation. In the process, you may need to disguise yourselves and sneak into the scene, and you might need to create a believable lie to deceive the people. All these are the normal activities of the three great clubs. We will test on your abilities to become an official member of our clubs.”

“If we can take charge for all this, why would we even need to join the club? The fuck would we even need to learn if we already knew how to do it!” Liu Yi Chen was incredibly dissatisfied with the contents of the test, grabbing the documents from Feng Ping Lan’s hands, “Who would know which incident has a problem, which incident is just full of rumours? If it was really caused by demons or Opposers, who would ensure our safety?”

“We have always been going through these too. Risking our safety to investigate, wasting a huge amount of time, money and human resources, just to prove an empty lie.” Aidi placated, “Besides, if we were the ones choosing the cases, we might be accused of deliberately making things hard for you.”

“This isn’t fucking called being hard on us!” Morris said resentfully, he really hated Cao Ji Xian’s pretentious appearance.

“That’s right!” Liu Yi Chen chimed in.

“Calm down, guys. We didn’t do anything, why would they deliberately make things hard for us? Hahaha.” Feng Ping Lan mollified in his own happy-go-lucky way.

Dongya lowered his head in embarrassment by the side, but Byriel smiled without a care in the world at the three.

“There are plenty of clubs to choose, there is no need to pick the three great clubs.” Aidi slowly recited his own crafted words for them to hear, “As you all are first years, we have bent things a little. As long as you pass the test, you can enter whichever of the three clubs you want.”

“But if we don’t pass, we can’t enter any of the three?” Feng Ping Lan did not get fooled by those seemingly advantageous terms.

Aidi paused for a moment, “…Yes.” He hadn’t expected Feng Ping Lan to react so quickly, and started to worry if Feng Ping Lan would actually think of these conditions as unfair, even protesting about it to the teachers.

Feng Ping Lan nodded, and continued to ask, “Then, can we enter all three clubs?”

The presidents hadn’t expected to hear Feng Ping Lan ask this question. Exchanging looks, they inwardly nodded their heads.

“You can.”

“Oh, that’s great. So what we have to do is pick a suspicious event from those files, then investigate the site, prove that there is really something unusual happening in that area, no matter if it is caused by demons, Opposers or miemoshi, then report it to Association, is that correct?”

“Yes.”

“We just have to prove it? If the situation turns dangerous, and we can’t report it immediately to you, can we deal with it directly?”

“Yes, as long as you can give us proof and report it, there’s no problem of handling the problem yourself.” Aidi looked at Feng Ping Lan, “But you are at most a level three…” Even a student of more than level twenty and above might not dare to do as such.

“I’ve already been upgraded to level four.” Feng Ping Lan smiled happily, “Alright then, I’ll accept this test.”

“You agree?” Cao Ji Xian asked to confirm once again, “If you agreed to this, you can’t back out of it.”

“Mmmm, I know.” Feng Ping Lan smiled and agreed, “You guys too, you can’t back out when the time comes.”

“Hold it!” Liu Yi Chen and Morris seemed to jump out at the same time to block them.

“Those conditions are completely unfair—”

“Why do you need to listen to their instructions—”

“Relax, relax.” Feng Ping Lan waved his hand with a smile, comforting them, “It’s all good.”

“But—”

“You cannot take it back after agreeing to it. Of course, you can also forfeit.” Cao Ji Xian sneered. “After all, since you are all incapable…”

“You’re the incapable one!” Liu Yi Chen, Morris and Conglong rebuked at the same time.

Reina smiled, “We anticipate your performance.”

Although the crowd was unreconciled to it, it had already gone through Feng Ping Lan’s agreement. And since they were unwilling to be treated as powerless, they could only force down their anger and leave indignantly.

*

“Why did you agree!”

“You’re too impulsive!”

“You already know that those three have absolutely no good intentions, they’re deliberately picking fault with us!”

Upon leaving the Drama Research, the angered questions crashed mercilessly onto Feng Ping Lan’s head.

“Oh.” Feng Ping Lan scratched his head, “It shouldn’t be hard just undergoing an investigation, right?”

“Don’t forget, the three clubs mostly operate by dividing the workload amongst their club members. Even if they were experienced club members, it would be hard to complete the entire mission smoothly!”

Liu Yi Chen was almost spitting rage. She was extremely discontented with this test, even more discontented with the three club presidents!

“I see.” Feng Ping Lan nodded, “But we’re not the same.”

“That’s right! We’re amateurs!”

“No no, not like that.” Feng Ping Lan said optimistically, “What I mean is, our teammates are stronger. We could go against the Royal Clan’s soldiers before this, so just an investigation should be no problem.”

Liu Yi Chen paused, “We were helped by the teachers that one time…”

“We fought for a long time even before they came.” Feng Ping Lan turned around to look at the demons, “Besides, everyone is here this time around. A mission to investigate is just a piece of cake.”

They didn’t expect Feng Ping Lan to think like that. So Feng Ping Lan hadn’t agreed out of impetuousness, but out of the trust he had in them.

Although in the past, with their status as the Royal Clan’s generals, they were already used to the praise and esteem everyone held in them, but the simple and direct affirmation and trust Feng Ping Lan had for them made them momentarily unaccustomed to it.

“Humph, I guess I’ll praise your way of looking at things.” Morris nodded his head in satisfaction.

“Why do you insist on joining all three clubs?” Byriel was curious.

“Joining the clubs will give us a chance to look at the files, and we might know more… Mm, interesting information.” Since Liu Yi Chen and Zong Yu were present, Feng Ping Lan told a tactful reason.

So, it was for them?

“Even if you join, they might not allow you into the file room.” Byriel smiled.

Looking at the attitudes they had been given, their days in the clubs definitely wouldn’t be great. Although they really were the thieves, what they wanted wasn’t what the club presidents wanted to protect.

“Mm, possibly. It doesn’t matter, there’ll be a way! But if we don’t join, we won’t even have a chance in approaching the truth.”

Feng Ping Lan tilted his head to think, and a few ideas flew through his mind, but those were just vague plans on how to tackle the problem.

Perhaps there was really a way to openly read the case files of all three great clubs.

But, the plan was too general, and they were lacking in too many things.

If they could put up with it, if it was was feasible… Then—

Feng Ping Lan’s train of thought was cut off but a mixed sound in the back.

They turned around to see a few teachers rush down the staircase with darkened faces, and there was a familiar face in the crowd.

“Kaido!”

Kaido was in the center of the group of teachers, being carried along and handled like a criminal.

Hearing his name being called, Kaido turned his head, and the unyielding features curled into a cold smile upon seeing Feng Ping Lan.

“…We don’t owe each other anymore.”

Feng Ping Lan tried to ask more, but Kaido had already been brought away by the teachers.

“What did he mean by that?” Feng Ping Lan turned around to ask his companions in bafflement.

“Who knows.” Morris did not give a single care in the world about what happened to Kaido.

“Looking at things, that guy must have caused some problems again, hehe.” Byriel smiled.

Feng Ping Lan looked at Kaido’s back, blinking.

Just what had happened? Kaido…

Before leaving the building, they passed by Aunt Liang. The peanut shells had already amounted to so much that they fell onto the ground, piling up like a mountain.

It reminded Feng Ping Lan of the school dorm’s administrator.