Mother and Daughter

Still, oddly enough, Beishi had sent thirteen people this time, Demon City eleven, and Huaqing the most at seventeen. Even the other, relatively smaller academies had sent representatives. Only Shencheng had not sent a single person.

Su Jin flipped to the next page of the booklet, her gaze sweeping across the projection screen and the student representatives seated in the room.

“White Eagle left a preliminary draft of the support personnel assignments before he departed. I’ll read it out now. If anyone has an objection, raise it on the spot.”

She picked up another document from the table.

“Eastern Reconnaissance Team One: eight from Huaqing Academy and four from Yanjing Academy. The team leader will be An Changqing of Huaqing.”

An Changqing gave a slight nod to indicate that he had no objections. In truth, he was somewhat surprised that a first-year student like himself had been given such an honor.

“Western Reconnaissance Team One: seven from Beishi Academy and five from Demon City Academy. The team leader will be Cen Yuan of Beishi Academy.”

A tall young man sitting toward the left of the middle row stood up, nodded, and sat back down.

“Northern Reconnaissance Team One: nine from Huaqing Academy, with one member drawn from each of the other academies. The team leader will be Fu Wenyu of Huaqing Academy.”

Fu Wenyu, a fourth-year student seated in the front row, acknowledged him.

“Eastern Reconnaissance Team Two…”

Before long, Su Jin had finished reading all the assignments. Deputy Commander Song finally found an opportunity to make his presence felt and cut in during the pause.

“The detailed personnel lists for each team will be sent to everyone’s terminals within half an hour after the meeting.”

Wang Shuo raised his hand again. “Chairwoman, I have a question.”

Su Jin looked up at him. “Go ahead.”

Wang Shuo stood and swept his gaze across everyone present. “Why hasn’t Shencheng Academy sent anyone?”

The meeting hall fell silent for two seconds.

Deputy Commander Song coughed. “Shencheng replied that they have internal matters to deal with and are unable to spare any personnel at the moment.”

“What internal matters?”

Wang Shuo’s tone was blunt. In his view, why should everyone else work themselves to the bone while the people from Shencheng disappeared as a group?

People might not fear scarcity, but they feared unfairness. He was willing to make sacrifices—but only if everyone else was making them too.

“That doesn’t fall within the scope of this coordination meeting.”

Deputy Commander Song’s answer was airtight—a textbook case of dodging the question.

Wang Shuo was clearly dissatisfied. He turned to Su Jin. “Chairwoman, Shencheng Academy is one of the Four Famous Academies. For a joint operation of this scale, they haven’t sent a single person. They owe us an explanation.”

Su Jin set down the document, interlaced her fingers, and rested them on the table.

“Student Wang Shuo, you seem very concerned about Shencheng’s movements.”

“I’m concerned about the fairness of the operation. With one of the Four Famous Academies absent, the personnel allocation itself is flawed.”

Su Jin did not respond to his words. Instead, she turned to Deputy Commander Song.

“When did we receive Shencheng’s reply?”

Deputy Commander Song flipped through the records at hand. “Three days ago.”

“Who signed it?”

“Shencheng Academy’s vice president, Zhao Heng.”

“The vice president signed it?”

Su Jin spoke more slowly. She had not paid much attention to the matter before. She was simply too busy—reports from every corner of the world kept flooding her desk. Even if the Three-A Country grew too hot, she was expected to deal with it.

At present, there was no way she could investigate the matter immediately.

Su Jin withdrew her gaze. “I’ll look into it separately. It won’t affect the current deployment. Continue.”

Wang Shuo opened his mouth, but in the end he said nothing more and sat back down.

Nearby, Hong Yuan was whispering again. “Do you think something’s going on with Shencheng?”

Chen Guan did not turn around. He heard Yin Chen say in a lowered voice, “Hard to say, but it’s definitely not normal.”

“For a joint operation of the Four Famous Academies, have you ever seen Shencheng sit one out?”

Hong Yuan thought for a moment, then shook her head. “No, I haven’t. I’m telling you, Shencheng is planning a rebellion.”

“Don’t say things that undermine unity.”

The meeting ended at 9:40 p.m. Su Jin left them with one final instruction.

“We depart at ten tonight. Each team is to arrive at the assembly point half an hour early to collect equipment. Anyone who is late will be removed from the operation immediately. There will be no second chance.”

The crowd gradually dispersed, and the corridor filled with the disorderly sound of footsteps.

When Chen Guan stepped out of the meeting hall, An Changqing was waiting by the door.

“You’ve been assigned to the eastern team, so you’ll be with me.”

“Got it.”

An Changqing’s gaze fell on his left arm. “Doctor Zhou said you shouldn’t engage in high-intensity combat. Are you… really all right?”

“This is a reconnaissance mission, not a breach operation. It shouldn’t be a problem.”

It was the same answer as before. Now that Chen Guan had come all this way, there was no chance he would merely stand by and watch.

An Changqing sighed helplessly. He knew there was no way to change Chen Guan’s mind. All he could do was hope that their luck would be a little better this time.

He genuinely felt that his luck was terrible. He was the sort of person who could drink a glass of water and somehow end up with the River God inside it.

Chen Guan followed An Changqing toward the temporary quarters. Hong Yuan caught up after a few steps, still muttering under her breath.

“What the hell are those people from Shencheng up to, backing out at a time like this?”

Yin Chen called out from behind them, “Do you really think they simply couldn’t spare the manpower?”

“Only a fool would believe that.”

Hong Yuan had thrown caution to the wind by now and began gossiping loudly.

“When have they ever missed a joint operation involving the Four Famous Academies? And this time, not only are they absent, they couldn’t even be bothered to come up with a decent excuse. They just had the vice president sign off on it and called it a day.”

Long Ao, walking on the outer edge of the group, spoke in a muffled voice. “What about the principal?”

“Exactly. What about the principal?”

Hong Yuan slapped her thigh. That was the real question. If the principal were present, when would it ever be the vice president’s turn to speak?

Liu Feiyu wandered over from behind them, the cord of his earphones swaying against his collar.

“Have you considered another possibility?”

“Maybe Shencheng doesn’t want to come. Maybe they simply can’t.”

After saying this, Liu Feiyu did not slow down. He walked straight past them and turned down the path leading to the dormitories.

The others exchanged bewildered looks.

Hong Yuan opened and closed her mouth. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Chen Guan went over Liu Feiyu’s words in his mind. Being unable to come and not wanting to come were two entirely different things.

Clearly, the Third Young Master knew what was going on—but was being deliberately cryptic.

An Changqing finally spoke. “Forget about Shencheng for now. We still have ten hours before departure. Everyone, go back and prepare your equipment. Check the consumables in your storage rings, and collect anything you’re missing from logistics.”

“The team leader has spoken. I’d better go report to my own team leader.”

Hong Yuan gave an awkward, halfhearted salute and dragged Su Yuehe away.

It was obvious that the team leader was a lie. She simply couldn’t care less.

Yin Chen and Long Ao also went their separate ways.

Chen Guan remained where he was. At the bend at the end of the corridor, he saw Su Jin speaking quietly with Deputy Commander Song. The deputy commander was bent at the waist, nodding repeatedly.

Su Yuehe had only taken two steps after being pulled away by Hong Yuan when she stopped as well. She had also noticed her mother.

Hong Yuan followed her gaze and released her hand.

“Why don’t you go say a few words to your mother?”

Su Yuehe stood beneath the eaves of the barracks and did not move.

“What would I say?”

For a moment, she could not tell whether she was asking Hong Yuan or herself.

“Just… talk about anything. It’s been so long since the two of you last saw each other.”

Hong Yuan scratched her head. This question was beyond her expertise. She had never seen her own mother. Even her current name had been given to her by a kind stranger she had met only once, many years ago.