Azure Dragon

It wasn't ideal to drag an old man out this late, but there was no other option now.

At night, the lights around Huaqing Academy were sparse. Most students were out on joint missions; those who remained were either asleep or in the training zones. Huaqing didn't require campus runs, so there was nobody outside.

The plane trees lining the road had shed quite a few leaves, and stepping on them produced a faint rustling sound.

As he neared the logistics department, he stopped in his tracks.

On the second floor of the warehouse ahead, one window was open.

The window was only cracked slightly.

No lights were on inside, but Chen Guan could see a shadow slip over the sill and drop in.

The logistics department at Huaqing Academy stored mission supplies, student files, and temporary holding items.

Someone sneaking in through the window at this hour—

It was hard to explain that as innocent theft.

Baal's tone was leisurely. "Well, well. You just got back, and the school's already serving you a midnight snack show."

Chen Guan glanced toward the dormitories, then back at that window.

Logically speaking, he should deal with the news of his own death first.

But a thief was right in front of him.

Catch the thief first!

Chen Guan circled around to the side of the logistics building, tapped his toes against the protruding edges of the outer wall, and quickly climbed to the second-floor window.

Inside, he could hear a cabinet door being pulled open.

And someone's suppressed breathing.

Chen Guan leaned against the window frame, in no hurry to enter.

Inside, the intruder worked skillfully—first using elemental power to sever the ground alert lines, then sending a thin stream of water into the gap of the safe.

The water snaked through the metal lock mechanism; moments later, the safe door swung open.

Chen Guan raised an eyebrow.

That ability looked a little familiar.

The person inside reached in and pulled out a black box.

The box had Huaqing Academy's temporary seal charm stuck to its surface.

Just as the intruder was about to tear off the seal, Chen Guan's voice came from the window.

"Need a hand?"

The intruder's hand froze on the box.

The next instant, a surge of water swept up from the safe door and slammed toward the window.

Chen Guan raised his hand, bracing the base of his scythe against the window frame as he leveraged himself inside.

The water rushed past his shoulder, struck the wall, and scattered a row of files into chaos.

In the darkness, the intruder spun and fled, water mist spreading underfoot, the body reduced to a streak of shadow.

Chen Guan didn't chase.

He planted the scythe on the ground and stood there, remarkably composed.

The intruder had just reached the door when the lock clicked shut on its own.

Not an ability.

Just a piece of iron Chen Guan had tossed ahead of time, wedged into the door gap.

Crude.

But effective.

The intruder turned back and sent a blade of water sweeping across the floor.

Chen Guan raised his scythe, pressed the water blade down with the flat of the blade, and snatched a stray textbook off a nearby desk, hurling it.

The book was shredded by the water mid-air.

Pages scattered everywhere.

Chen Guan walked through the rain of paper and stopped with his scythe pressed against the intruder's throat.

For someone like Chen Guan, who had fought plenty of final bosses, coming back to school made every opponent feel disappointingly bland.

The room fell silent.

Moonlight spilled in through the window, illuminating a face that looked strangely familiar.

Messy black hair, one side of his collar damp, the usual swagger of his brows dimmed by the night, leaving only a barely concealed gloom.

Liu Feiyu.

Chen Guan looked at him: "Did your family go bankrupt? Now you're stealing from the school's storage?"

Liu Feiyu recognized Chen Guan's face, and his expression was even more dramatic than the duty teacher's had been.

"You're not dead?"

"Sadly, I am not."

Chen Guan inched the scythe forward half a step.

"Want to start by explaining what you're holding?"

Liu Feiyu's fingers gripped the black box, refusing to let go.

He seemed to be calculating his chances of escape.

Chen Guan gave him a light warning: "Feel free to try."

Liu Feiyu glanced at the scythe, confirmed this was someone he couldn't beat, and finally set the black box back on the table.

"I'm not here to steal."

Chen Guan nodded, face full of belief: "Sneaking through the window into logistics, cracking a safe, taking sealed items—I guess in your book, that's called a tour."

Liu Feiyu, of course, caught the sarcasm in Chen Guan's tone, and his face darkened.

"This thing was never supposed to stay with An Changqing."

At the mention of An Changqing's name, Chen Guan's gaze dropped to the black box.

He reached out and lifted the lid.

Inside lay a token.

It was neither metal nor jade in material, and aside from that, it looked entirely unremarkable.

Chen Guan recognized it.

The unidentifiable token they had stumbled upon in the Black Wind Ruins.

At the time, they couldn't figure out its use, so they'd handed it to An Changqing for safekeeping, planning to investigate after returning to the academy. Clearly, An Changqing had found nothing, and eventually probably forgot, leaving it here to gather dust.

Which had now prompted Liu Feiyu to steal it in the middle of the night.

Chen Guan picked up the token.

As it entered his hand, the faint patterns on its surface slowly revealed a dragon shape in the moonlight.

Blue-green.

Curving and winding.

Like a dragon with its eyes still shut, coiled deep within the token.

Liu Feiyu stared at that dragon pattern, throat bobbing.

"So it's true—you can activate it."

Chen Guan looked up, genuinely surprised this time: "You know what it is?"

Liu Feiyu didn't answer. Chen Guan raised the scythe an inch, reminding him he didn't have the right to stay silent.

"When I ask questions, I'd advise you to cherish the opportunity. I don't have much experience catching thieves at night, and it's perfectly reasonable if my hand gets a little heavy."

Liu Feiyu's face shifted through several expressions before he gritted out: "The Azure Dragon Token. Don't tell me you don't know what that is."

Chen Guan looked at the token in his hand. Quite a coincidence.

Beidou had just said that the Azure Dragon seat was being saved for someone.

And now, the Azure Dragon Token was in his hands.

Talk about timing.

But Chen Guan had a new question, and he wasn't shy about asking: "Who told you about it?"

Liu Feiyu gazed at the token, the greed in his eyes hardly kept in check.

"My older brother's notes."

"Your older brother?"

The eldest of the Liu family—Liu Chengjun—a well-known businessman.

Liu Feiyu's lips twitched.

"No need to fish for information, Chen Guan. I admit I took a risk tonight, but this thing matters to me."

"So all that time you spent getting close to me—it was for this too?"

Liu Feiyu didn't deny it.

"After the Black Wind Ruins, I found out the token was a joint find, but it ended up in An Changqing's keeping. You and An Changqing are close, so I couldn't get it from him directly. I had to get chummy with you first. And even if I got my hands on it, I couldn't activate it—I still needed you."

Chen Guan thought back to Liu Feiyu's earlier two-faced behavior. So that explained it.

In all his time in this world, this was the first time Chen Guan realized that the Guiyuan Group was a hot commodity. Guan Jinyue was dying to get in, and now Liu Feiyu wanted in too.

Beidou said he was holding the Azure Dragon seat for someone. Did that someone mean Liu Feiyu? Or someone else entirely?

Chen Guan also noticed that the token was missing a corner. That was probably why it had looked so unremarkable before.

The reason it had activated now, according to Liu Feiyu, was because of him.

"You went to the Northern Border back then—was that because of this too?"

Liu Feiyu shot him a glance.

"With the Azure Dragon Token, I can get into the real inner circle and change my fate."

With that, Liu Feiyu stepped half a pace forward: "Chen Guan, I'm begging you. Give it to me."

The scythe crossed in front of him once more, forcing Liu Feiyu to stop.