by Feng Yue
The leopard cat yawned lazily. Its beastly eyes were filled with humane brilliance. It was Ludwig’s incarnation. “Look at them and then look at you.” Ludwig exhaled loudly through his nose. “I’ll be much less worried if you all can have some brains! You don’t even care about strategy and just do everything forcefully. Don’t be like the unlucky team from Modifications and get toyed as soon as you enter the field.”
“Rest easy, Professor.” The lazy girl before the leopard cat whistled. “That won’t happen, even if we get the history department next.”
“Huh, James and those idiots thought the same thing.”
“But we have different strengths, and a game is still a game. Unless we’re allowed to kill people, Modifications will always be the most restricted team.” The girl scoffed and suddenly laughed. “After all, if we have an advantage in numbers, then we’ll have the biggest advantage.”
The large black cheetah in her arms woke and yawned lazily. It rubbed against its owner with its head, squirmed, and went back to sleep. Under the bench, beside her feet, in the lockers of the room, behind her, in the corner…nineteen black cheetahs yawned in unison, as if their yawns were contagious.
One seemed to have slept enough and stretched, scratching the ground. With a screech, a deep gash appeared in the smooth floor. Above the cheetah, a colorful parrot cawed. It flapped its wings and flew.
The locker room, large enough for thirty people, instantly became filled with flying and jumping animals. Shadow leopards, steel-back apes, six-eyed lava dogs, eight-limbed crawlers, silver-scaled snakes in clay pots, constantly-changing mist spirits sealed inside a glass flask…these strange creatures that had been raised inside musicians’ minds were now let loose in reality. They cried happily, making a flurry of sharp noises.
“Preparation is a must.” Ludwig gazed at the girl helplessly. “Elsa, have I spoiled you all too much? The Professor is talking. At least sit properly.”
“Professor, relax.” Elsa rubbed her hands in excitement. “Other than the School of Royalty, just wait for me to completely cream the rest…”
Ludwig sighed. The leopard cat blurred and disappeared. The last moment before vanishing, it looked back in a certain direction with a gloating smile. It seemed that some people were going to lose their temper.
-
The locker room of Modifications was in ruins now. After fiery winds and thunderous storms had swept through, all the students looked like refugees. Their faces were burnt black and they looked pathetic.
“You lost?! You actually lost!” The cracking of ice and crackles of flames mixed together, forming Egor’s roar. James and others hung their heads and stood obediently in the corner of the wall for punishment.
The other team had been dragged into this for no reason and was not far better.
“I can accept losing to Revelations, Summoning, or Royalty, but you lost to the department that is close to being scrapped? How humiliating is that? Tell me, how humiliating is this?!”
The students hung their heads obediently and did not dare to reply.
“Seems like your training is too light. After today, everyone will meditate in the thunder pool for three hours before you sleep! If you can’t make it, no one’s allowed to eat. James, did you hear me?!”
James nodded with a bitter expression. “Yes, Professor.”
“And you!” The frost and fire voice turned, landing on another student. “What are you still waiting for? Glenn, go pick the lot! If you get those b*stards from the history department, use your most powerful music score to wipe them out! Did all the formulas go to waste?!”
Glenn hurriedly stammered a reply and fled. He heard another boom come from the locker room and wiped cold sweat from his forehead. In all these years, no team had caused all four schools to become unlucky at the same time…
Now, the history department was a durian-like player. Spiky, inedible, and with a foul smell…Those *ssholes would drag their opponents to their lowly level and then use their rich experience to defeat the opponents. They were tricky as f*ck.
Apparently the East believed in star reincarnation. Was Concertmaster Ye the reincarnation of some baneful star? It seemed that no one related to him would have good results.
Thinking of this, Glenn could not help but sigh. “Hopefully I won’t get him again. Otherwise, everyone would have it bad.”
Thankfully, they might be able to win if they went all out…They could use strength, numbers or observe each and every of the opponents’ moves. Each school had their own solution. And if they could set down their determination, they could win a lot.
The history department probably had more than ten thousand points now, right?
A glimmer of cold light flashed past Glenn’s eyes. The risk was worth all those points. He began calculating carefully.
Similarly, at the high podium for the lot picking, everyone exchanged glances. After collecting all the information, they all glanced at the history department. It was such a rich lump of meat. It all came down to how it would be eaten.
Glenn, Bart, and Elsa glanced at each other’s expressions. After realizing that they all had the same idea, they instinctively grew cautious. Behind them all, Banner watched coolly from the side. Rather than joining their fight, he looked off into the distance. Beside him, the manticore’s eyes rolled, making it seem more menacing. Stared at by those beastly eyes made one feel like prey and was filled with fear.
This was today’s last event. The lots chosen would determine tomorrow’s competing teams. All team representatives were at the podium.
“Have all the representatives arrived?” Sydney took attendance and his brows furrowed. Why was it the history department again? No one had come! F*ck, it was always them who did not follow the rules? “History department? Have they arrived?” His expression darkened. “If not, then it’ll be seen as quitting the game and all points will be cleared…”
The crowd was silent. Someone coughed awkwardly. “Mr. Sydney, their representative has arrived.”
“Then why did no one answer when I took attendance?” Sydney roared. “Where? Come out! Where are your manners?”
The crowd moved and quickly separated. And out came…a dog.
Yes, it was that golden dog—that evil dog who was prouder than a king, more confident than a prime minister, and more disdainful than the principal!
It was him again! They met once again after all these months, but the disdainful gaze scarred Sydney again.
“What the f*ck is this?” Sydney’s face reddened in fury. “Do they look down on everyone else? Are they causing trouble on purpose?”
The dog glanced at him lazily and dropped the crumpled paper in his mouth at Sydney’s feet. It was written on the paper that Old Phil was an honorary member of the history department and had all the qualifications of a regular player! There was also a signature in the bottom right corner that Sydney was extremely familiar with.
“Maxwell?”
Sydney thought he was going crazy. He looked up at the stands and saw the principal whistling with an innocent expression.
“Just keep thinking of ways to mess with people! One day, you’ll get hit with karma!” Sydney thought. His face turned livid and he looked back, squeezing out from his teeth, “Begin choosing.”
202 The Draw and Express Shipping
In fact, it was not the Music History department purposely being the troublemaker. It was just that everyone was used to their bad luck. They always had a bad time. Each one was worse off than the one before.
Ye Qingxuan knew very well how unlucky he was. He could end up getting hunted just by being on the street. Bai Xi was worse, and Charles was the worst. He drew one of the strongest six teams in the first round, which almost destroyed their department. As foreign aid, Bench Guy said that he refused to draw on behalf of them and disappeared.
In such an extremely helpless situation, they could only let the boss Old Phil to do this draw. Since Old Phil used to find dozens of
dollars from time to time, it must have better luck than anyone of them.
Soon, every group finished their draws. Every team held a nameplate and looked urgently at the arrangement of their next duel. Soon, the registration was over and all the arrangements were displayed on the list.
“09?” Glenn looked down at the nameplate in his hands, looked at the opponent on the list, and finally looked in the direction of the School of Royalty. Seeing Banner and those elite graduates by his side, Glenn’s face darkened considerably and he muttered a curse.
The others gloated immediately. It seemed that the two teams of Modifications would both fail in the first two days.
Elsa of the School of Summoning whistled and squinted at the other team of Revelations. Watched by Elsa, the leader’s complexion suddenly paled. Revelations were not good at face-to-face combat in the first place. Now they had to face a crowd of psychos from Summoning?
Musicians who raised monsters in their brains were more or less neurotic. As their leader, Elsa was the craziest. Apparently their opponents today quit the game because too many players were taken out…He already began to calculate how much time they could last facing this female lunatic.
After the game had been arranged, each team leader began to find their opponents according their number. Some were happy; others were complaining. In the end, the six big teams confirmed with each other, and unexpectedly found that…no team was going to fight with the music department in tomorrow’s game?!
Suddenly, everyone’s eyes fell on the golden-haired dog, their eyes full of hatred and jealousy. They wanted to know who had gotten the juicy morsel that was the history department.
Facing those troubled eyes, Old Phil huffed out its nostrils. Without even looking at the list, it threw the nameplate in its mouth under the podium.
Ye Qingxuan casually caught the card and took a look. His expression went slack on the spot. “No way, Old Phil…”
“Let me take a look!” Charles also came to join the fun, but after reading, he also fell into complete speechlessness. He had no idea whether to cry or laugh.
“What on earth is this?” Ye Qingxuan looked at him. Their complex expressions and troubled eyes reached a new level.
Seeing their expressions, the people on the podium instantly began to whisper. In the end, Elsa raised her eyebrows, growled at her players, “What do you mean you don’t know? Go and check! Who are their opponents…Who dares to take them from me? Do they want to die?!”
“No need to check,” Bart suddenly said. “The result is out.”
In just a few minutes, Bart had confirmed the result by calculating the numbers in his mind. By comparing the list of arrangements, he had reached the conclusion.
To be honest, Bart did have some talent for the School of Revelations, especially for information processing and summarization. In just a few minutes, he had already guessed the result through various clues.
Hearing his voice, everyone looked over at the tree diagram in his hands. At the end of the list was a lone number—035—it was an awkward odd number. It seemed impossible to pair and had no arranged opponents.
“Are you kidding?” Glenn’s face stiffened.
Elsa’s mouth twitched. “How can it be?”
“They drew nobody.” Bart clenched his teeth with a livid look. “They have no opponents.”
Hearing this, everyone looked to Elsa. It was this girl who had forced a team to retire its players until they could not even gather enough people, and finally gave up the game.
Yes, they were short one team. Therefore, there was bound to be a team who had no opponents and qualified directly for the next round…But how could they be so lucky? And it was a dog that had drawn!
Seeing that the juicy morsel had suddenly flown away, the leaders of the six strongest teams suddenly grew furious. They were so angry they could tear the quitters into pieces!
Old Phil coldly watched them sink into silence. It huffed from its nose again and turned away. Huh, a group of weaklings.
But Ye Qingxuan and the others did not know what to say. Even a dog’s luck was better than theirs. Old Phil was not a regular dog, but they still felt slight frustration, as if they had been defeated from all aspects!
“I’ve decided!” Ye Qingxuan patted his thigh. “From now on, let Old Phil do all the drawing!”
May the almighty Old Phil cheat you!
-
However, the good mood did not last long. Just as Ye Qingxuan was excited and the music history department cheered, a man in a postman’s uniform outside the crowd arrived on horseback.
After asking around, he looked into the direction of the youth and squeezed in from the crowd. Studying Ye Qingxuan, he asked quietly, “Are you Concertmaster Ye?”
“Yes.” Ye Qingxuan asked in confusion, “What’s the matter?”
“There’s an urgent letter for you.” The postman pulled out a sealed letter from his bag. Ye Qingxuan’s name and address were written on it in beautiful flowing handwriting. The pronunciation of the Eastern characters were even written in the lingua franca. Also on the envelope was the heraldry which Ye Qingxuan was very familiar with.
“Lola?”
Feeling the envious eyes on him and Bai Xi’s unhappy expression, Ye Qingxuan felt his scalp going numb. What had Lola planned this time?
-
It was late at night, at one of Avalon’s abandoned ports in downtown. After mixing with a large amount of industrial waste, the seawater had a disgusting stench. The lantern shone on the oil film and reflected a sickening rainbow.
In the sea breeze that smelled of dead fish, the waves crashed on the rotten stakes, echoing emptily. A hunched man with the scars on his face stood at the front of the dock with a cane and a lantern in his hand. The shadow of his hunchback left an ugly projection in the thick mist. From afar, it looked like a beast stooping to eat a corpse.
Illuminated by the lantern’s lights, his eyes under the shadow of hat flickered. He looked around with vigilance, waiting quietly. A chuckle seemed to sound in the distant mist.
Instantly, the hunchback spun around in shock and pulled out a crossbow, aiming in all directions. “Who’s there?”
“Me.” Behind him, someone bent over and whispered in his ear, “Don’t get so excited. Put that little toy away.”
Hearing that familiar voice, the man paused for a moment, and slowly put away his crossbow. He whispered indignantly, “Young Master Sherlock Holmes, why bother frightening a cripple like me?”
“Just wanted to say hello. After all, you were once the Pyramid King. There’s no reason for you to be so scared, right?” The newcomer chuckled. Leaning on his staff, he lifted the edge of his hat, revealing his eyes. It was Ye Qingxuan. He had come as invited.
At dusk, Lola’s letter made Ye Qingxuan the topic of gossip again and thoroughly proved the rumors of “seducing the professor”. But he did not expect that Lola would make such an effort in front of everyone to send this letter to him, just to ask him to run an errand for her.
“I haven’t been in a good mood and I don’t want to go out for my delivery. Go to Pier No. 19 tonight and get me something. That guy will show you the way.”
At the end of the letter, some extremely ambiguous words were written: Remember to be fast. I prepared a candlelit dinner.
And then there was a lip print.
What the f*ck was a candlelit dinner? The so-called candlelit dinner was just dinner for Lola. If she was hungry, she should have just said so…
Ye Qingxuan could already imagine him lying on a plate, all tied up. Lola would pick up a knife and fork, open the red lips that had left the lip print on that letter, and enjoy her dinner. He sighed and stopped thinking about those things. He would just wait for the ship to arrive.
Soon, on the sea, light reached out from the thick fog. It was the fog lamp necessary for sailing in such a heavy fog. Under the rhythmically flashing lights, the Pyramid King raised his lantern and skillfully responded to th
e code.
Soon, a ship’s shadow silently appeared in the mist.
“I didn’t think you still had people under you,” Ye Qingxuan exclaimed in amazement. “I thought the Shaman had already wiped the Pyramid Scheme clean.”
“I was the leader after all and there’s nothing strange with having some smuggling resources.” The Pyramid King glanced at Ye Qingxuan meaningfully, and said slightly, “Moreover, you should always leave an alternative for yourself. The cusp is not a good place to be.”
“Is it?” Ye Qingxuan sneered. “It seems that you didn’t do that for yourself.”
At the thought of being mercilessly betrayed by his employer, the Pyramid King’s expression grew serious and he stopped talking.
Soon, the ship docked.
Naked black-haired men carried a large box and stepped ashore. Behind them, the grizzled captain came ashore as well. He glanced at the Pyramid King and Ye Qingxuan, then drew back his sight.
“Erzi, put the things down and go back to the boat,” the old man commanded the sailor in the Eastern language, and put on a smile to greet the two men.
Ye Qingxuan was stunned. He did not expect that this smuggler was an Eastern man. The old man smiled and handed a list to the Pyramid King. Then he said in fluent Western language, “Everything the Professor asked for is here. Take a look?”
“You’re half a month late.” The Pyramid King looked at him. “A full half month.”
“The Professor’s request was too strict. Even scrapped waste is hard get,” the Eastern old man said in a low voice. “The workshops of Shaofu are under the management of the martial law. If we’re found to be smuggling these things, I won’t be the only one to be executed. You have to let me think of my family.”
“How’s the quality?”
“It was better than expected. One batch from the Tai Lok Department happened to come.”
“Very good.” The Pyramid King inspected the things in the iron box and nodded with satisfaction. He threw a leather sachet to the old man.