Our gaze shifts to Illinois, across the ocean, at 9:56 AM Chicago time.
Chu Zihang was swinging his sword in the Kendo Club, Caesar was considering whether to throw a party in a few days, and Fingel was still lying in bed, talking in his sleep.
Kui Men Plan?
That batch of A-ranks had already been notified of the cancellation. While regretful, they were also helpless. They didn't have the power to force a change when an S-rank personally handled the mission. If they insisted on going, they would probably just be drinking red wine on the ship, toasting the S-rank underwater for their success.
Perhaps he had a wonderful dream, as Fingel suddenly sat bolt upright from his dorm bed, exclaiming, “I want a Roujiamo!” It took a while for him to realize no one had responded, and then he woke up: Lu Mingfei still wasn't back.
Life without his junior brother was truly difficult. The cafeteria chefs didn't care about his demand for Chinese delicacies, and it was all their fault that the food column in the newspaper hadn't taken off.
Now that Lu Mingfei was gone, the dorm room was a mess again. Fingel stretched out a hand and pulled open half a curtain. Not having to wake up early to supervise Lu Mingfei's training these past few days meant sleeping in, which was quite blissful.
The sun was just right outside the window, and the shadow of a pine tree fell on the floor, reminding Fingel of the dream he hadn't finished. So, he decided to dive back into a glorious nap. “Come on, blanket! Our war is a fight to the death!”
But when his peripheral vision caught an email from EVA, he suddenly became excited again, every cell in his body filled with vitality, as if he had just finished a five-kilometer warm-up run.
“Latest news: S-rank student Lu Mingfei single-handedly defeated two Next Generation Species three minutes ago.”
“Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh!” Fingel let out an excited monkey-like cry. His junior brother was indeed his lucky star; today's headline was secured.
“If you had woken up a bit earlier, the content of this message would have been ‘one minute ago’.” Another email arrived.
Fingel scratched his head sheepishly, “It’s just that I haven’t slept this soundly in a long time.”
“I've checked the surveillance. You went to sleep at 4 AM today. Before sleeping, you were shouting, ‘Everything is for the Zerg Queen, I am the Swarm’.” EVA unceremoniously exposed Fingel's lie.
If Lu Mingfei saw this email, he would probably argue and refute the principal's promise to protect student privacy, seeing as everything was being watched so clearly.
“Lu Mingfei is that amazing, taking down two Next Generation Species by himself? Then I really have to question his file.” Fingel jumped down with his laptop and placed it on the table in the center of the dorm room. From this angle, EVA wouldn't be too intrusive watching him.
“There’s no mistake. S-ranks always have something special about them.”
“Is that a catch-all excuse?” Fingel, for once, washed his face, holding up a mirror and picking up his razor.
“Yes.” EVA offered no defense.
“Sure enough, it’s the fault of a small sample size. If S-ranks were everywhere, this kind of lie wouldn’t fool anyone.” Fingel gave himself a thumbs-up in the mirror. “Indeed, I, Fingel, am still as handsome as ever!”
“Aren’t you going to draft something for the forum yet?”
“No hurry. I can only speak about this after the big shots do. Do you remember who accompanied Lu Mingfei to China?”
EVA fell silent. The surveillance camera in the dorm room focused on Fingel's unusually clean face, then went still.
“He’s truly extraordinary, junior brother. He’s already killed Next Generation Species less than a month after school started. If this were a game, they’d be complaining about power creep half a month after launch, wouldn’t they?” Fingel muttered, beginning to draft a post in the forum’s backend.
The hourly chimes outside the window rang on time. Sunlight streamed down, white doves soared with wings spread in the brilliant light, and footsteps and conversations echoed on the crisscrossing flagstone paths.
And among these people, the few A-ranks stopped in their tracks.
Noma Message One: “The Moniyahe has safely docked. The Kui Men Plan has been successfully completed, and we have obtained important data. Thank you all for your efforts. This dragon-slaying operation was a complete success. From Principal Angers.”
“Ultimately, what did this mission have to do with us?” Nono grumbled, leaning against her pillow in the girls’ dorm room, looking at Su Qian who was standing diagonally across from her.
“Alright, at least our half-month of practice wasn’t in vain,” Su Qian comforted with a motherly air.
“Ugh, the more I think about it, the more I feel ripped off. Do you think if I had been more assertive back then, the S-rank would have obediently joined the Student Union as my subordinate?” Nono tilted her head, looking at Su Qian.
“Who can say about such things? You didn't even accurately guess his thoughts with your profiling back then. Joining the Disciplinary Committee, how could he have thought of that?” Su Qian said.
“Ugh, who knows if Fingel tampered with that file? According to that file, Lu Mingfei should have definitely joined the Student Union under my lure!” Nono said, annoyed. “I’m upset, Su Qian, let’s go eat cake.”
She abruptly put on her slippers and stood up, full of energy.
“Instead of this, aren't you concerned about Caesar's thoughts?”
“I think you’re concerned about Chu Zihang, aren’t you?” Nono turned back, grinning at Su Qian. “If you don’t confess to Young Master Chu soon, be careful you don’t get defeated by some beautiful girl who drops from the sky.”
Su Qian smiled and said nothing.
“They dare to announce the mission’s successful completion even before finding you? Aren’t they afraid I’m a human trafficker who’s abducted our lovely Miss Ling?” The long-legged woman stood behind Ling, looking at the tablet screen, and said.
The first thing the stoic girl did after arriving here wasn't to replenish her energy or drink a bowl of warm brown sugar water, but to ask Chip Girl for a tablet to log into Kassel College's Night Watcher Forum.
Thanks to the precise location given by the boss, otherwise they might not have been able to wait for the stoic girl.
Speaking of which, the boss was really considerate towards Ling, even having them boil brown sugar water, saying it was Ling's period today.
Wow, it was the first time she knew that the boss even knew when their periods were.
“Is there a video of Lu Mingfei slaying the dragon?” Ling finally spoke her first words after arriving here.
“Of course, Chip Girl paid a hefty price to record the moment Arrogance was unsheathed. If Lu Mingfei wasn’t a bit too green, I might even have considered dating him.”
Ling glanced at her without speaking, silently accepting the software Chip Girl sent.
Indeed, unparalleled. The one who can wield this weapon in the world should be like this.
“By the way, is no one going to pay attention to me?” Old Tang huddled in a corner, watching the three beauties gathered together, chatting and laughing. He could only stare blankly at a brass can. In such an environment, not picking up a girl would be a waste of his handsome face and his seasoned flirting techniques.
“No.” Chip Girl’s head was buried behind her laptop, simply replying to Old Tang. The video of the second dragon-slaying was being transferred. Three S-ranks making a move was truly earth-shattering and ghost-wailing.
Old Tang retreated to the corner with a tearful face, comforting himself that it was good to be alive.
A moment later.
“I’ve finished watching. You can send us back now.” Ling exited the Night Watcher Forum, and the tablet screen went black.
The long-legged girl massaged her forehead and sighed.
“I really can’t do anything with you.”