Contact with the White Tiger

In simple terms, all outdoor activities are suspended. Just sit tight and attend the academic classes.

After Chen Guan finished reading, he looked up.

"Teacher, how is this any different from being grounded?"

Teacher Zhou thought for a moment. "When you're grounded, you have to write a self-reflection. This time, you don't."

Chen Guan: "..."

Might as well write the reflection!

Teacher Zhou patted him on the shoulder.

"The academy isn't trying to lock you away forever. We just want you to rest more. Also, you just got back—the impact of what happened before is still unknown. Dean Situ wants to keep you under observation on campus for a while longer. At school, there's always someone to look out for you."

Chen Guan tucked the form into his storage ring.

There wasn't much he could say to argue with that, since Dean Situ meant well.

And he couldn't exactly tell them that he'd welded his named blade to his own body.

For the rest of the morning, he went to the Superpower Basic Assessment Room.

The evaluating teacher looked at his test results with the same expression as the people in the medical building last night.

The instruments showed that Chen Guan's aura was stable, his physical strength was off the charts, his recovery rate was off the charts, and his mental strength was off the charts—though there was still a blank segment in his mental wavelength.

The evaluating teacher stared at the screen for a long time, then finally wrote a single line on the form:

[Not recommended to evaluate by conventional standards.]

Chen Guan stood nearby: "So how do you recommend evaluating me?"

The teacher pushed up their glasses. "My recommendation is to evaluate less."

Chen Guan felt that the teachers at Huaqing were already starting to avoid him out of sheer overwhelm.

Around noon, he went to the cafeteria for lunch.

This time, there were even more people.

Quite a few students pretended to walk by, but they were actually staring at him. Chen Guan had already spotted several people who kept pacing back and forth to rack up steps.

Chen Guan held his tray and overheard someone at the next table say: "I heard from the student council that the photo frame from last night has been sealed away."

Another person asked: "Sealed where?"

"The Crisis Education Material Room."

"And the title?"

"I heard it's called the 'Read and Acknowledged' file."

Chen Guan's chopsticks froze mid-air.

Long Ao sat across from him and couldn't help but let out a laugh.

An Changqing's expression didn't look too good.

Hong Yuan, on the other hand, looked very interested: "Can we go see it?"

An Changqing immediately turned to stare at her. Stare~

Hong Yuan quickly backed down and lowered her head to eat: "Just asking."

"Just looking," An Changqing said, turning away.

Chen Guan finished his meal, got up, and headed back to the dormitory. An Changqing immediately followed a couple of steps.

Chen Guan turned around: "I'm going to my room."

An Changqing looked at him: "Resting at noon?"

"Yeah."

Long Ao asked from the side: "Not heading to the school gate?"

Chen Guan said: "No."

Hong Yuan asked: "Not the array platform?"

"No."

An Changqing pressed further: "Not contacting the Northern Border?"

"No." Chen Guan paused, then said: "Everyone here is so talented, and everyone talks so nicely. I really like it here."

That line sounded questionable.

An Changqing looked at him but didn't press further.

Chen Guan returned to his dorm room and closed the door.

There were no footsteps in the hallway, but he could sense at least two presences still nearby.

One at the stairwell.

One at the end of the corridor.

As for Hong Yuan, she'd probably found a sunny spot outside the dorm building to squat in—after all, this was the male dorm.

Baal chuckled: "You're so popular, it's like being in prison."

Chen Guan hung up his jacket and walked to the desk to sit down.

"Even prisoners get yard time."

"If you actually ran, they'd be heartbroken."

Chen Guan rubbed his forehead. How was he supposed to explain that he really wasn't trying to run away? Why would he keep wandering outside for no reason?

He took a token out of his storage ring.

It was his Xuanwu token.

Chen Guan placed the Xuanwu token on the desk and pressed his fingertip against the emblem in the center.

A dark sheen rose from within the token, like a layer of water pushed open by the wind.

The watery light inside the Xuanwu token rippled gently, and a second later, White Tiger's voice came through.

"Oh, a rare visitor."

In the background, there was the sound of wind and the clashing of metal—it didn't sound like he was indoors.

White Tiger's tone was as lazy as ever.

Chen Guan looked at the token: "I just came back from the Northern Border yesterday."

"I know."

A beast's roar came through on White Tiger's end: "You also signed the academy's photo frame while you were at it."

Chen Guan: "..."

White Tiger laughed. "'Read and acknowledged, not to be activated for now'—pretty creative. If the Guiyuan Unit ever needs to set up a protocol for handing over remains, I might consider quoting that."

Chen Guan's face darkened. Pervert.

"You read the forum too?"

"I like checking up on your news. When I'm bored, I search my own subordinates. It's a hobby."

The wind noise on White Tiger's end grew louder. He must have moved somewhere else—the background static died down a bit.

"Alright, get to the point. Right now, you're being watched by An Changqing, Long Ao, and Hong Yuan. If you're making time to contact me, this can't be just a 'how's your health, boss' check-in."

Chen Guan frowned slightly. This evil big cat seemed to be keeping tabs on him. "You sure know a lot."

White Tiger sounded pleased with himself: "Who am I? I'm your reliable, top-tier boss."

Baal scoffed in Chen Guan's mind: "Reliable people usually don't have to announce that they're reliable."

Chen Guan silently thought to himself—just like how a benevolent demon god wouldn't brag about being benevolent.

He got straight to the point: "That coffin in the Northern Border—what's the situation?"

A few seconds passed before White Tiger spoke: "Oh? So you already know I've taken full responsibility for that matter?"

"Yeah."

White Tiger sighed helplessly: "The coffin in the Northern Border—the Great Wall has already taken over. You don't need to go there now, and even if you did, you wouldn't see it. It's sealed off with layers upon layers of cordons, and a bunch of old-timers are standing watch."

"This thing—I can't be too blatant about it, after all, Kong Chen was the one who dragged me into this. If I step too far out of line, it'll reflect badly on him. And if he finds out, he'll end up fighting me. You wouldn't want to see your good boss getting into a brawl with someone, would you?"

After wallowing in self-pity for a moment, White Tiger got back to the point: "That coffin in the Northern Border—I'll handle it. Give it some time. Once the cordon stabilizes, I'll take you to see it."

Chen Guan looked up: "How long?"

"Depends on when it stops acting up."

"It acts up?"

"Yes."

White Tiger's tone carried the casualness of someone talking about an unruly little pet.

"Last night it shone with patterns. This morning it was suppressing the formation. Half an hour ago, it scared off a rank-ten snowfield demon king. The demon king had already been cornered by the Great Wall, but as soon as it got close to the valley, it turned tail and ran faster than anyone."

Chen Guan was silent for a moment: "Sounds pretty useful."

"Don't get any ideas about it."

White Tiger warned quickly.

"The Northern Border is in chaos because of it right now. The beast tide has receded, and the pressure on the defense line has eased, but no one dares let their guard down. Things that can scare away demon beasts aren't necessarily on humanity's side."

Chen Guan nodded. He took note of that sentence.

Things that can scare away demon beasts aren't necessarily on humanity's side.

White Tiger usually joked around, but when it mattered, he never talked nonsense.

Chen Guan set that first question aside for now and reached into his storage ring to pull out another token.

The Qinglong token.

A chipped Qinglong token lay in his palm, its green patterns incomplete.

The watery light on the Xuanwu token rippled more noticeably the moment the Qinglong token appeared.

Chen Guan looked at it: "There's one more thing."