It was an extremely simple room.
Red was the dominant color of the room.
A deep red carpet extended from the doorway to the windowsill. On the carpet, there was only a bookshelf, a desk, and three soft leather armchairs.
A massive mahogany bookshelf occupied an entire wall. Inside the transparent glass display, thick, voluminous books were neatly arranged, like soldiers awaiting inspection.
A figure with a slicked-back hairstyle sat behind the date-red desk, puffing on a pipe.
Pale blue smoke billowed from the pipe, accumulating into a dense cloud at the ceiling.
A pile of scattered documents lay on the desk.
The room's owner squinted, frowned, and rustled through the papers.
“Dong, dong, dong!”
A steady knocking on the door sounded rhythmically.
“Come in.”
The room's owner took the pipe from his mouth, tapped it against the Edge of the desk, and commanded in a hoarse voice.
The door opened silently.
A tall figure entered the room.
He wore a loose black robe with a high collar that stood stiffly, obscuring half of his face. His grizzled hair contrasted sharply with his smooth forehead.
The guest glanced at the smoke accumulated beneath the ceiling, frowned, and opened the spell book in his hand:
“The Bandit Wind blows!”
A gentle voice sounded.
A small breeze swirled out of nothingness, sweeping the smoke lingering on the ceiling out of the room.
“Professor Emma has reminded you many times, hoping you would smoke less.”
“You’re late.” The room's owner tapped the desk, saying in an even more displeased voice, “The University has a pile of matters waiting to be dealt with, and you’ve made me stay here for an extra half an hour.”
“There’s a new development,” the grizzled-haired guest said in a low voice.
“Things are always developing, aren’t they? Is there anything in this world that truly stands still?”
“Nikita and Thomas are lovers.”
“That’s no secret,” the room’s owner replied dryly.
“Thomas discovered a loophole in the special plane a long time ago, and he only told Nikita.”
The room fell into a long silence.
“That’s a very serious accusation.” The owner took a heavy drag from his pipe, the glowing red tobacco flickering in the white smoke.
“We don’t intend to accuse anyone,” the grizzled-haired man’s voice remained calm. “Actually, Thomas told us this.”
“Where is he?”
“North Sea. For some reason, Thomas has always been able to track Nikita’s whereabouts. He discovered that Nikita has boarded the Mist twice in a row, so…”
“So you only reported it when things were completely out of control?!” The room’s owner roared, rudely interrupting the guest’s explanation. “Who gave you the guts?! How dare you?!”
“Is this your first day dealing with Sea Demons? Don’t you know what state Nikita is in now?!”
“That Little Fairy who escaped from the Silent Forest was taken away by Nikita, do you know that?!”
“That Little Fairy’s life lamp completely extinguished the first day she was taken aboard the Mist! Do you know that?!”
“Who do you think this protection can save?”
“Is it Nikita? Or Zhou Zhou?!”
“This is dereliction of duty!!”
“This is murder!!”
“You’ve disappointed me greatly!!”
The grizzled-haired guest remained silent.
Only the owner’s heavy breathing remained in the room.
After a long time.
Smoke slowly drifted from the pipe again, beginning to accumulate slowly beneath the ceiling.
The guest stood silently in the smoke, not using a Spell to clear the choking fumes.
After a long pause, the room's owner spoke again, his voice somewhat hoarse, but his tone had calmed down:
“How much do you think those demon brats know?”
“Not much.” The guest thought carefully, slowly replying, “Zhou Zhou and her mother have limited access to information. Any demonic art that erodes memory loses a lot of information. Thomas believes that Nikita’s attempt to infiltrate the special plane merely indicates they sensed some clues. This means they are still hesitating.”
“That little brat Mist never hesitates. Not to mention that brute Iceberg. Since they’ve made a move, it means they’re already stirring. Without a bloody clash between the two sides, this round won’t pass.” The room’s owner exhaled a thick puff of smoke, his tone somewhat helpless. “Send a message, tell that brat Thomas to get back here first. He’s been wandering around the North Sea every day; be careful he doesn’t get caught off guard by that bunch of demon brats.”
The guest nodded silently.
“What about Shi Hui?”
“Vice Principal Shi is the rotating warden of Black Prison this month,” the guest cautiously reminded. “Last week, you already signed off on the Professor Joint Conference’s duty plan for this academic year.”
“Is that so?” The owner rubbed his smooth, slicked-back hair, laughing awkwardly. “There are too many things. That old immortal Vice-Principal doesn’t know where he’s gone to die, leaving behind a mess that’s driving me crazy, hahaha.”
The grizzled-haired young guest shrank his head deeper into his collar, a hint of helplessness in his eyes.
He desperately wished he could disappear from this office right now.
After all, he was not the Dean of Nine Provinces College.
…
At the same time.
A Little Fairy in the North Sea was also trying hard to reduce her presence.
She eagerly hoped that the four terrifying Sea Demons before her would completely ignore her existence.
But her wish was destined to go unfulfilled.
In the North Sea, in late summer and early autumn, the cold wind was not yet so strong.
The dark blue sea surface was like a huge frosted glass, murky, calm, without a single ripple.
Four Sea Demons sat opposite each other.
Not far behind them, four Legend warships lay anchored in the north wind, silent and still.
This was the Sea Demons’ second meeting in a short period.
If the Wizard Alliance were to know about this, they would probably be so scared they would immediately enter a full state of readiness.
Nikita maliciously speculated on the Wizards’ reactions, trying to distract herself.
She no longer felt the excitement of her first encounter with the four Sea Demons.
Only fear and unease remained in her heart.
Three heavy gazes fell upon her head.
The Fairy was very certain that if it weren’t for the figure of Mist Captain in front of her, she would definitely be torn to shreds by those three gazes.
A sea fish leaped out of the water.
Then it fell heavily onto the calm surface, turning into dust.
Iceberg Captain’s small, crimson eyes swept over the sea fish, then returned to Mist Captain.
He let out a dull roar.
“We’ve all heard about the First University special plane incident.” Vortex Captain’s voice was still sharp and grating, and his words were exceptionally harsh. “Leaving such a critical matter to a kid, Mist, you still haven’t grown up! Now that things are messed up and have alerted those Wizards, someone has to take responsibility!”
Nikita hid behind the Captain, her body trembling slightly.
She closed her eyes in panic, fearing to hear something terrible.
Mist Captain’s face no longer held the smile he had in the cabin.
He looked coldly at his colleagues in front of him, his voice still gentle. “Although my crew member didn’t enter First University, the purpose of the probe was achieved.”
The other Captains showed curiosity in their eyes.
“According to custom, new student flights require three to five full-time Professors to randomly guard them. But based on the actual reaction, there were only a few low-ranking Assistant Teachers on the plane.” Mist Captain’s lips curved slightly, appearing to be in a good mood. “From a certain perspective, this means that First University is severely short-staffed.”
“But that doesn’t mean that old immortal has already left the University!” Vortex Captain shrieked.
“That’s why we need to continue probing.” Mist Captain looked gently at the others. “The next question is, who among you will make the second move?”
Iceberg Captain lazily shook the fat on his body, then raised a claw to scratch his chin.
Vortex Captain smoothed out the seaweed hanging on his body, took off his shoe, and tapped a seashell out of it.
Sea God Captain sat cross-legged, holding a huge wine gourd in his hand, gulping down wine.
Hearing Mist Captain’s suggestion, he put down the wine gourd, wiped the wine from his beard, and burst into laughter. “My probe has already begun.”
Mist Captain raised his eyebrows.
“Thanks to that little Lich of yours causing trouble on the plane, my people have successfully entered the University.”