Zhuang Li was speechless. “You two—you lose all your caution the moment you see a celebrity? Didn’t you notice he cast a Mingruo spell on Ye Ye? If Ye Ye runs into danger, he’ll be able to sense it.” Bai Jun was an elder of such a major clan as the foxes—there was no way he’d be that unreliable. Otherwise, the fox clan would have fallen apart long ago.
“So that was the Mingruo spell,” Ye Yang said thoughtfully. He had keen senses and had noticed it at the time, but since it didn’t feel harmful and he trusted Bai Jun, he hadn’t said anything.
Zhuang Li was even more exasperated. “You’re way too trusting. Don’t ever do that again.” Even though Elder Bai certainly wouldn’t harm him, he couldn’t just be so clueless—getting hit with an unknown spell and not even asking about it?!
Bai Jun’s appearance put everyone more at ease.
With Shen Ming, the Northern God, on one side, and Bai Jun, a powerful old fox spirit, on the other—not to mention the many capable people stationed permanently at the Dongzhou Operations Department—how could a mere rogue cultivator cause any trouble in a place like Dongzhou, where gods and demons gathered?
Now that Dongzhou was on alert, the moment Liu Chen showed his face, he’d be captured. No one doubted that.
—
The next day during break, Li Chanyi was scrolling through his phone when he suddenly said, “Hey, Bai Jun actually came to Dongzhou. Wow, so many people have already run into him!”
A moment later, he muttered to himself, “Should I try my luck too? I wonder how long he’s staying in Dongzhou…”
Ye Yang looked up. “You like Bai Jun too?”
Li Chanyi tapped his phone screen. “I wouldn’t say like, exactly. My dad really enjoyed that drama he starred in. I watched it with him, so I know who he is. He’s a pretty good actor, and yeah, he’s handsome… Whoa, look how many fans he has!”
Ye Yang touched the stack of signed photos and photo cards Bai Jun had stuffed into his bag. He thought for a moment, then decided not to pull them out in public. He’d give them to Li Chanyi when no one else was around.
Not until all the morning classes were over did Ye Yang find a chance. He called out to Li Chanyi, who was rushing to the cafeteria. “Wait, I have something for you.”
Li Chanyi was dragged to a quiet corner. He scratched his head anxiously. “What’s so important that it has to be this secretive?”
He’d been craving the beef rib from the second floor of Cafeteria 2 for ages but had never managed to get it. Today, he’d finally gotten out of class a little early, and now this delay meant he’d probably miss it again.
But the next second, he completely forgot about the beef rib.
“Holy crap!”
“Wow, how do you have these? Wait, this one looks like a limited edition—I’ve seen these go for four figures on resale sites!”
“Geez, how much is all this worth?”
“Wait, these are all for me? You’re giving them to me?!” Li Chanyi held the stack of paper goods Ye Yang had handed him, his eyes shining like two light bulbs.
But after being excited for a good while, he pushed them back into Ye Yang’s hands. “Ah, no, no way. This is way too valuable. I can’t take this.”
Ye Yang was an orphan. How could he accept something so expensive from him? And if he were to buy them himself… well, he didn’t like Bai Jun that much.
Ye Yang was even more shocked than Li Chanyi. He looked at the stack of paper goods—which seemed completely useless to him—in disbelief. “These things cost several thousand yuan? Based on what?!”
“Probably even more, honestly. You’d better hold onto them.” Li Chanyi gave them one last reluctant look.
Ye Yang scratched his head, said nothing, and simply stuffed them straight into Li Chanyi’s backpack.
“Hey, hey, hey?!”
“I don’t have any use for them anyway. They were free, so no loss. If you like them, just take them.”
“Really? Thank you so much, Ye Ye!” Li Chanyi looked as if he’d found treasure. “I’m so lucky to know you! You’re seriously the sweetest little cutie in the world!”
“That’s way too exaggerated… And stop calling me little cutie!” Such a blunt compliment made Ye Yang embarrassed.
“Oh right, where did you even get these? Why’d you say they were free?”
Without a second’s hesitation, Ye Yang shifted the blame: “My senior dormmates gave them to me. I don’t know where they got them. They have a lot.”
Li Chanyi nodded. He couldn’t help pulling out that limited-edition card again, took a photo, and posted it on his Moments. Then he turned off his screen and just basked in the constant “ding-ding-dong-dong” of incoming notifications.
—
“Not again?” Li Chanyi was holding Ye Yang’s backpack, looking a little pitiful.
Ye Yang looked troubled too. “You know that part-time job of mine has been really busy lately…”
Li Chanyi silently grumbled to himself. What kind of part-time job is so weird that it makes someone skip class every single day? Ye Ye can’t even come up with a plausible excuse when he lies, honestly…
He barely managed to hold back his sarcasm. Still, Li Chanyi felt he should say something. “No offense, Ye Ye, but don’t you think you’ve been missing a few too many classes lately? And forget about yesterday’s classes—today’s class is Teacher Shen’s.”
Shen Ming never took attendance, but one glance was enough for him to know who wasn’t there. And that was especially true since he and Ye Yang were so familiar.
“Even for you, Teacher Shen won’t go easy.”
Ye Yang pressed his lips together. It wasn’t so much that Teacher Shen never played favorites and treated everyone equally—it was that he was even harder on his own disciple. No matter the reason for skipping class, his participation grade would definitely take a hit.
“It’s fine. I won’t fail the course.”
“Maybe not fail, but what about your scholarship?”
The moment Ye Yang thought about losing another few thousand yuan from his scholarship, he couldn’t help but feel a pang of pain—that money could cover half a year’s rent!
But then he thought about the message he’d just received. Gritting his teeth, he said firmly, “No, I have to go.”
…
Watching Ye Yang’s figure quickly disappear into the distance, Li Chanyi sighed and turned to walk back to the classroom.
As soon as he stepped inside, the class monitor stopped him. “You’re back alone? Where’s Ye Yang?”
Li Chanyi’s heart sank. This is bad. Even worse than I thought. If the class monitor found out Ye Yang was skipping, there’d be trouble.
His mind raced, but his expression remained calm. “Oh, Ye Ye? Seems like he ate something bad. He’s got a stomach issue.”
“Really? He seemed fine last class…” Just then, the bell rang. The monitor couldn’t exactly go check the bathroom, so he walked away, half-convinced.
“Hey, Xiao Chan!” The long-haired girl in the front row called out Li Chanyi’s nickname in a low voice. “Did Ye Ye skip class again?”
Li Chanyi wanted to cover for his good brother, but the long-haired girl sat with them every day and knew them pretty well. She wasn’t as easy to fool as the monitor.
“Alright, don’t overthink it. I know he skipped again. I’m just letting you know—starting today, class attendance isn’t my responsibility anymore. I can’t help cover for you guys.”
The long-haired girl’s name was Ji Yunrou. She was their class’s academic committee member and had been in charge of attendance records.
“‘You guys’? I hardly ever skip class,” Li Chanyi protested. Then he asked, “What happened?”
“What else? It’s because of the class monitor.”
The short-haired girl next to Ji Yunrou rolled her eyes and whispered, “Before, Xiao Rou always marked everyone as present. The advisor never said anything about it. But the monitor saw it and insisted there was a problem. Now he says he’s going to keep the records himself.”
Li Chanyi looked up slightly and happened to meet the class monitor’s gaze from the front row—the monitor had suddenly turned around to look at him. A bad feeling instantly rose in his chest. He shrank back and asked Ji Yunrou, “When does the monitor start taking attendance?”
Ji Yunrou gave him a helpless look. “Today.”
Oh boy. I’m doomed.
—
Ye Yang had no idea he was about to be in trouble again. Right now, he was rushing to the Field Operations Department.
Just a few minutes earlier, he’d suddenly received a mission notice from the department.
The mission read: gather at the Operations Department with other team members and await instructions. The mission brief was largely blank, with only one clear entry under “Objective”: Rescue demon clan cub(s).
The objective was incredibly vague. It didn’t specify how many cubs, what kind of cubs, or even what danger they were in.
And the mission rank? A glaring S.
Ye Yang’s heart tightened. Thoughts raced through his mind.
He’d never seen a mission like this. A rank this high shouldn’t have been sent to him. Barring a distribution error, there was only one explanation: the mission was so urgent they hadn’t even had time to write a proper brief.
The brief didn’t mention the danger level, but since it was an emergency, the risk definitely wasn’t low.
He hadn’t ignored Li Chanyi’s advice. But this was about saving lives.
He couldn’t just ignore a rescue mission. And the fact that it had been sent to him probably meant that all the more capable field agents had already been deployed—and there still weren’t enough. What if he didn’t go… and it turned out they were short just one person?
That might sound a bit self-important, but Ye Yang couldn’t bear the thought. If his refusal led to the mission failing, he’d feel so guilty he wouldn’t be able to sleep!
Even if it was just so he could sleep soundly at night, he had to go.
He hesitated for less than a minute before decisively accepting the mission. Dodging the crowds, he sprinted to the Operations Department.
Sure enough, the mission had been sent out en masse. The department’s lobby was already packed with every available field agent, all waiting for instructions.
Ye Yang spotted a familiar face.
“Director Tu? What are you doing here?”
Director Tu turned around, smoothing her newly permed wool-like curls. “Oh, it’s Xiao Ye. I knew you’d come too.” She was smiling, but her expression was tense and carried a barely concealed anger.
“We’re really short on hands, so I’m putting in some overtime.” Director Tu pulled Ye Yang aside by the wall. “You don’t know what’s going on yet, so let me give you the short version. The only son of Luoyang City’s lord has been captured by the rogue cultivator Liu Chen. The last sighting was right here in Dongzhou.”
Ye Yang was stunned. “Him again?!”
Who could have guessed? Everyone, including Ye Yang himself, had been on guard against Liu Chen coming after him. And instead, he’d gone after the child of Luoyang City’s lord?!
Typical of that cunning rogue cultivator—always unexpected.
“So everyone who could come, did. They even pulled in some non-combat personnel.”
Ye Yang looked around. Sure enough, he spotted Lu Xun, the yellow dog demon he’d worked with once before—someone who normally handled post-mission inspections, now being sent out into the field.
“Was only one cub taken?”
“What do you mean ‘only’? Do you know who was taken?!” Tu Manli’s eyes widened.
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