Fortune's Wheel Turns

The dim blue stone lamps in the circular hall went out one by one, and the ancient murals on the mottled walls began to fade as seawater soaked them.

The stone statue of a child kneeling before the blank door lost all its luster, and the seven hidden buttons carved across its chest were covered in fine white cracks.

Chen Guan stared at the statue for a long while before speaking.

"You can call me next time you're going to another door."

Chen Guan tilted his head toward the properly serious Guan Jinyue and agreed readily: "Sure, next time I find a door, I'll let you know."

Having the Demon King's Guardian volunteer to escort him—why not take that offer?

Baal let out a snide remark in the spiritual space: "Lord Xuanwu really has connections now. Even a Ten-Billion Bounty Criminal is voluntarily making plans with you."

Chen Guan completely ignored that useless comment. He turned around and saw Guan Jinyue step to the edge of the circular pool, raising her hand to press against empty air.

The binding force inherent to the ruins receded along with the complete dissipation of the illusion, and a ring of silvery-white spatial threads spread outward from her fingertips.

Space tore open in a long seam, and beyond the gap the deep, heavy darkness of the extreme ocean floor was directly exposed.

No seawater rushed in when the passage opened. Guan Jinyue stepped through the rift first, and Chen Guan followed right behind.

As they crossed the threshold, the damaged mural behind them made a scraping sound. Chen Guan looked back and saw that in the final painting, the carved stone figure without eyes had slightly lifted its face.

Even though it was only a lifeless statue, Chen Guan could sense a tangible gaze landing on his back.

Before he could inspect further, the last bit of light behind them was fully cut off, and the silvery passage behind quickly sealed shut.

The ruined corridor of the undersea ruins appeared before them again. The runes on the walls stopped pulsing, and the formerly labyrinthine maze of branching paths now appeared startlingly clear.

Guan Jinyue manipulated the spatial threads to clear the way smoothly ahead. Perhaps because they had cleared the level, her spatial abilities had recovered, and Chen Guan felt exceptionally at ease following the Demon King's Guardian.

The two walked on without encountering any further obstruction.

Chen Guan stepped out of the exit and once again ran into Chen Beixuan, who was waiting outside.

Chen Beixuan sat cheerfully on a broken pillar, his thermos still steaming.

The deep-sea water pressure was kept out half a zhang away from him. Dark blue seawater flowed around that empty space without even a ripple touching the soles of his shoes.

"Over here, over here. Welcome back. Looks like I can clock out now."

Chen Beixuan screwed the lid back on and let his gaze sweep between the coffin on Chen Guan's back and the sword in Guan Jinyue's hand.

"So, not going to say anything?"

Chen Guan asked, "What do you want to hear?"

"Like, whether Beidou called me out for slacking on the job."

"He didn't. He never mentioned you."

Chen Beixuan visibly relaxed: "When the boss doesn't chew me out, it means I'm doing a decent job."

With that, Chen Beixuan stood up, patted his pant legs for dust that wasn't there, and stretched lazily.

"Since you're both out, I won't walk you further. This ruin is sealed for now—nobody gets in, no matter who they are."

He looked at Chen Guan, his smile deepening.

"Of course, if you want to go back in yourself, I couldn't stop you."

Chen Guan caught the hint of entertainment in his tone, but there was no time to ask more questions.

Guan Jinyue raised her hand, and silvery-white spatial threads spread from her fingertips, carving a clean gash through the seawater.

On the other side of the rift was the night of the city.

In the distance, the lights of high-rises stretched into lines. The sky over North City was stained dark red by neon, completely different from the deep blue of the frozen sea.

Guan Jinyue only said, "Let's go."

Chen Guan stepped forward to follow, and then Guan Jinyue led him through the spatial rift.

The seawater was left behind, and weightlessness lasted only a moment before Chen Guan's feet landed on an abandoned rooftop in North City.

The wind cut through the high-rises, carrying the smell of city dust and the greasy smoke of late-night food stalls.

The distant lights of Huaxia Academy flickered weakly in its direction.

Guan Jinyue withdrew her hand, and the spatial threads dissipated in her palm.

She stood at the edge of the rooftop, her silver hair blown back by the night wind, with an apologetic expression: "I can only take you this far. I still have a bounty on my head, so it's not safe for me to go inside."

That statement was perfectly honest.

North City was one of humanity's core cities, and in this special period especially, Huaxia Academy was tight on the outside and guarded within; the Great Wall and the Superpower Association always had people around.

If Guan Jinyue, as Ba Er's Contractor, walked in through the front gates, she might not walk back out.

After saying goodbye to Guan Jinyue, he leapt down from the rooftop, using the walls to absorb his force a few times, and quickly landed on a street corner.

Huaxia Academy was just a few blocks away.

Normally, the academy shouldn't be this quiet at this hour.

When Chen Guan approached the school gate, he found only one duty teacher in the guard booth, holding a hot-water thermos while reading an internal notice.

When the teacher saw Chen Guan walking in from outside, he first looked up, then the cup in his hand nearly dropped.

"Ch—Chen Guan?"

Because his appearance was so distinctive, even teachers who didn't have Chen Guan in their classes recognized him.

Chen Guan stopped.

"Hello, teacher."

The teacher's face shifted through several expressions, then he immediately stood up, almost knocking his chair over.

"You're back? It hasn't even been seven days..."

His voice trailed off, growing almost nonexistent.

"Teacher, I'm a living person."

"No, no, that's not what I meant." The teacher grabbed his phone, pressing the screen several times to wake it: "Don't leave yet. I need to notify Student An and the others. They specially told me to watch for you before they left."

Chen Guan caught the problem in that sentence.

"They're not on campus?"

The teacher's gaze became even stranger.

"You don't know? Student An, Su Yuehe, Long Ao, plus Hong Yuan and Yin Chen from the neighboring Demon Capital Academy—they all went to the Northern Frontier."

Hearing that, Chen Guan had a feeling something terrible was coming, but he still pressed on: "What for?"

The teacher looked at him with a complicated expression.

"To avenge you."

In his mind, Baal slammed the table and burst out laughing.

"HAHAHAHA! Wait one more step and you could've made it back just in time for your own funeral."

Chen Guan pressed his brow with a hand. The worst case scenario had happened.

The duty teacher beside him was frantically dialing numbers, getting no answer after several tries.

"The Northern Frontier has entered temporary war-zone status. Communications are unstable."

Chen Guan asked, "How long have they been gone?"

"They left this afternoon. They just got there a little while ago."

Chen Guan felt a slight sense of relief.

With An Changqing's strength and background, nothing major would happen in a short time. Besides, Chen Beixuan was still in the Northern Frontier.

A teacher wouldn't just abandon his students, right? And Long Ao was there too. Given their usual scheming nature, wouldn't they set up a little trap for their colleague?

And with the cowardly nature of those demon beasts, there probably wasn't any major problem.

But the problem now was that he was back but couldn't reach anyone.

This situation was a bit awkward.

The tables had turned—now An Changqing and the others were giving him the cold shoulder.

Chen Guan thought for a moment, then said to the duty teacher, "Teacher, I'll head in first."

With that, Chen Guan walked into the academy. He planned to go find Simeon Ming first. As the vice dean, Simeon Ming would definitely be able to get in touch with them.