Chapter 20: Relative
Big news!
Earth-shattering news!
The former number one student of the Sentinel Academy, this year’s newly appointed Chief Sentinel, after three years in the military, was driven directly to the teaching building in an unknown vehicle on his first day back to class!
According to an insider, when this person got out of the car, his lips were still moist and looked very suspicious!
Unfortunately, the class bell rang at that moment, and the Sentinel Academy’s punishment system was quite strict. Even the students who had found an excuse to gossip could not continue to linger outside.
They had to use class time, risking being caught by the teacher, to frantically chat with their friends on their personal terminals and post furiously on the academy forum.
As for the Guide Academy, there was a little less information, but gossip always circulated. Many Guides had also infiltrated the Sentinel Academy’s anonymous forum. The two sides could be said to have had a heated discussion during the first class of the morning. Soon, several were caught red-handed by the teachers.
As one of the parties involved, Zhu Hui sat in the back row by the window, opening the academy forum with a calm expression.
If his ears weren’t red, this “unruffled” demeanor might have seemed a little more real.
The top few latest posts and hot posts were all about the same topic. He casually clicked on a hot post.
Title: [Do you guys know what just happened downstairs at the 9th Teaching Building?]
1L: It’s like this. The original poster is an unremarkable high-level Sentinel. This day, I was sitting by the window with sleepy eyes, looking into the distance, waiting for the first class bell to sing. At this moment, my sharp hearing suddenly caught some unusual movement downstairs, so I stuck my head out to look.
2L: ?
3L: So what did you see?
4L: I will never let go of those of you who speak in halves…
5L: I’m also in the 9th Teaching Building, but I was going up the stairs before. Now I’m in my seat. There doesn’t seem to be anything special outside?
6L: How come none of you saw it? Let me tell you! It was Zhu Hui downstairs just now. The noise the OP heard was probably a car. I’ve never seen that car before. Anyway, it’s not one of our academy’s teachers’ cars. Zhu Hui got out and went into the 9th Teaching Building. I don’t know who else was in the car.
7L: I saw this at the gate. It was Xu… uh, Teacher Xu’s car. The former Chief Guide’s car, you know?
8L: ???
9L: I almost thought the academy forum was malfunctioning.
10L: So what 7L means is that Zhu Hui came to class in… his car today? And was dropped off at the teaching building?
11L: No way. Didn’t they say yesterday that their relationship wasn’t good?
12L: But seeing is believing. Which Sentinel gets this kind of treatment, being dropped off at the building… I’m a little envious.
Mm-hmm, that’s right. Well said.
Zhu Hui was in a great mood as he read. He continued to scroll down, nodding in agreement in his heart.
…
31L: Anyway, I don’t think their relationship is an act. The conspiracy theories upstairs are a bit much. There’s no political struggle, so why would they act for us to see?
32L: The relationship between a Sentinel and a Guide is hard to fake anyway. Don’t listen to the nonsense upstairs. Feelings are one thing, but you can’t fight physiological attraction. By the same token, you can’t hide physiological disgust, okay?
33L: I’m here, I’m the OP. How do you guys type so fast? I didn’t finish my post because I realized Zhu Hui was assigned to our class. He just came in and sat behind me, scared me half to—
34L: ?
35L: ?
36L: What about this time, OP?
37L: Was it because you were gossiping on the forum and revealed your location, so you got disciplined?
At this moment, a faint, unsettling feeling flowed from his fingertips. Zhu Hui quickly closed his personal terminal in 0.001 seconds.
He lifted his eyelids with a blank expression.
“Look, another one playing with their terminal in class! What’s with you guys today? So restless.”
At this moment, a Sentinel teacher with a rather old-fashioned attire and hairstyle had already walked up to him—to the side of the seat in front of him.
This was the second student the Sentinel teacher had caught. Clearly, his anger had escalated.
“You don’t listen during combat theory. It seems you think you’ve mastered it well? You’re not a low-grade student anymore, where you can still fool around in the White Tower. You’re graduating in a few months! What are you going to use to fight cataclysmic beings out there? Your personal terminal? Or have you already found a job with the Imperial Capital Guard?”
The caught Sentinel lowered his head like a quail, trembling and not daring to speak. Unfortunately, not speaking did not lower the teacher’s anger level.
The teacher used his ultimate move:
“You look down on theory class, don’t you? The few of you who were playing with your personal terminals in class, come with me to the training grounds after class for a practice session!”
“…Yes.”
The original poster’s face was ashen.
Zhu Hui was not nervous at all. He glanced at the Sentinel teacher, then lowered his head and began to plan in his mind how to find Xu Xunyue at noon.
Sigh.
I want to send a message to brother right now.
But I already promised brother yesterday that I would attend class properly.
Brother even looked at my class schedule last night.
I’ll just have to endure it a little longer.
On the other side, at the Guide Academy.
The resources allocated to students and teachers at the academy were abundant, and the space was naturally very ample. The offices were in a dedicated office building, one for each person. Each floor also had a discussion area and a conference room for teachers to discuss teaching plans and various course assessment content.
When Xu Xunyue arrived at the academy, he first greeted Dean Xia Feng, then arrived at his office on the seventh floor.
He first scanned the entire room with his spiritual power to confirm that there were no cameras, listening devices, or anything of the sort, before completely closing the door.
To the left of the entrance was a simple kitchen and a water dispenser. To the right was a cold-resistant potted plant. Further in the center of his vision was a hard, redwood desk, equipped with a new computer connected to the academy’s core system and two large, equally wooden chairs.
To the left of the desk was a two-seater sofa against the wall, spacious enough for someone to sleep comfortably on. To the right was a wall of cabinets for storing books, documents, instruments, and so on.
Further in was a huge floor-to-ceiling window. The academy’s office building used a new type of one-way glass, which both ensured privacy and did not block the light. When one’s nerves were tense, it was also very suitable for standing here and looking at the scenery downstairs and the students coming and going. At the very back of the room was a small door, inside which was a small bed and a few pieces of furniture like a bedside table and a coat rack.
All the above-mentioned items were new. Dean Xia Feng said that this was a vacant office specially selected for him, which no one had used before.
Letting his spiritual body out to mop the floor, Xu Xunyue began to sort through the documents and lists he had gotten from Xia Feng.
Probably because he was pleased that Xu Xunyue was willing to come out, Dean Xia Feng was very considerate and had only arranged for him to teach the practical class on mental interference for the graduating Class 1. However, because it was a graduating class and they would be leaving the White Tower to join the army or work in a few months, the classes were scheduled a little more densely than for the lower grades.
Xu Xunyue’s first class was in an hour, at the Guide Academy’s Second Teaching Building.
Just as he was browsing the list of Guides in Class 1, the roar of an engine suddenly came from downstairs.
Following the sound, he walked to the floor-to-ceiling window and looked down. A young man with shoulder-length hair and a denim jacket was parked downstairs on a modified motorcycle from the old era.
Also with long hair, Xu Xunyue’s low ponytail was more elegant, making one feel mature and steady. This one, however, looked quite unruly, with a faint air of a delinquent youth from the previous era.
The young man kicked the ground with his long leg and got off the motorcycle, but he didn’t park and leave immediately.
On the contrary, he leaned against his modified motorcycle and lit a thin cigarette.
White smoke diffused into the air. It was unclear whether it was intentional or not, but as it rose and dispersed, it actually formed many smoke rings of different shapes.
Quite a rare sight.
But in the end, it still dissipated.
The white smoke was quickly diluted by the air, disappearing without a trace like ink in the sea.
This was the homeroom teacher of the graduating Class 1 at the Guide Academy.
Also, in Zhu Hui’s memory, the older brother of the deceased baby-faced Xu Yan’an.
Xu Mengwei.
What a coincidence, Xu Xunyue thought. The person I wanted to meet has arrived.
Xu Mengwei smoked three cigarettes downstairs. After finishing, he entered the office building crisply.
Xu Xunyue was not in a hurry. He stood by the floor-to-ceiling window and looked at the scenery for a while longer.
They were both teachers of Class 1, so they would have interactions eventually. Perhaps Xu Mengwei would even take the initiative to find him. After all, Zhu Hui used to be Xu Yan’an’s captain, and now he was his Sentinel.
The weather was nice today. The snow that had been falling for several days had finally stopped. The entire Guide Academy was bathed in the warm sun. Looking east, one could vaguely see the shadow of the Sentinel Academy’s buildings.
Ding-a-ling-ling-ling—
The bell for the end of the first class rang.
Almost at the same moment, Xu Xunyue’s terminal screen suddenly lit up.
Message pop-ups with special reminders began to flash frantically.
[[Relative · Zhu Hui] has sent you 1 message.]
[[Relative · Zhu Hui] has sent you 2 messages.]
…
[[Relative · Zhu Hui] has sent you 7 messages.]
