"Of course I looked for it."

Old Hu shook his head. "But firstly, kings and nobles all have their own responsibilities. Unless it is an extremely urgent matter, it takes a certain amount of time to ask a king or noble to take action. Secondly, everything happened too fast. When the king or noble finally descended in person, only a month had passed, but dozens of students had already gone missing."

"After the king arrived, did he discover the truth of the matter?" Shen Qian asked.

"It's both yes and no."

Old Hu touched Jiang Chengye's tombstone with a complicated expression. "Wang Hou quickly pinpointed the source of the matter to Chengye, but... Wang Hou also failed to find any trace of that woman."

"Did she really leave the military?" Shen Qian asked doubtfully.

"Of course not... Cheng Ye, who refused to speak, was temporarily locked up. At the time, the Earl of Pingyang, who was in charge of the matter, originally wanted to ask another prince who was more skilled in mental magic to directly read Cheng Ye's memories, but something happened that very night."

"The Earl of Pingyang?" Shen Qian raised an eyebrow in surprise.

You know?

"I just saw him a few days ago..."

"I almost forgot that on the day the results were announced, many nobles and dignitaries came to watch you, kid," Old Hu chuckled.

What happened that night?

"That woman suddenly appeared and kidnapped Cheng Ye."

Old Hu paused for a moment, then continued, "But actually, this was also the Earl of Pingyang's scheme. He just didn't expect that woman to actually show up. The Prince originally intended to suppress the two of them on the spot, but something unexpected happened..."

A look of surprise appeared in Old Hu's eyes.

"I've been in the military for decades, and it wasn't until that day that I learned that there was actually a 'gate' in the Jiangzhong military..."

"'Door'?"

"Judging from your expression, it seems you know about the 'door'."

Old Hu skipped the explanation and nodded, saying, "Moreover, that 'door' is Grade A!"

"You might not know what Grade A means, so let me put it this way: since the spiritual energy revival began, among all the 'gates' that have appeared, those above Grade A are extremely rare, as scarce as kings and nobles. And every time a gate of this rank appears, it causes immense disaster..."

Shen Qian listened intently, vaguely recalling the "door" that appeared in Toothless Valley, which was described as a Class C by Captain Sun at the time.

If a monster from the mountains and seas emerged from the C-level "door," then the A-level "door" would only be even more terrifying.

What's inside the 'door'?

"have no idea."

"Don't know?" Shen Qian was taken aback.

"The 'door' was opened by that witch, or to be more precise, by the blood of the students of Jingcheng."

Old Hu's face showed pain. "Those foolish children all rushed out to plead for Jiang Chengye. Before Wang Hou could even make a move, the woman standing behind them had already raised her butcher's knife..."

"Sixteen lives were lost, yet they became the last straw; blood became the catalyst, and the 'door' was pushed open."

"That was an extremely serious accident."

"The moment the 'door' appeared, it destroyed most of the school, swallowing hundreds of people, including students, teachers, and... her..."

Hearing the old man's ambiguous tone, Shen Qian realized what was going on, "Your crush, that professor?"

"She pushed me away at the last moment, and that's when my left leg... was gone."

Old Hu said in a daze, "Before more people were affected, the Marquis of Pingyang acted decisively and sealed that 'door'."

"Why not just destroy that 'door'?"

Shen Qian thought of the hazy light and mist, some near and some far, in the sky above the forbidden zone, and couldn't help but exclaim in surprise, "Could it be that all the 'doors' are indestructible?"

"The 'door' connects to unknown dimensions, or parallel spaces. Whatever it is, it is equivalent to a spacetime tunnel. How is spacetime destroyed?"

Old Hu shook his head. "Even kings and nobles can't get through. In fact, there are many 'gates' that only kings and nobles can't pass through. I don't know why."

He remained silent, processing this information.

Although there are still many mysteries surrounding it, he has finally figured out the general outline of the incident that caused such a huge uproar ten years ago.

"So because of this incident, many teachers and students lost their lives, and Jiangzhong Military Academy was forced to close?"

"Yeah, it's been ten years since I closed myself off..."

Old Hu sighed, "I used to think ten years was a short time, but now I realize how long it has been."

"The chain reaction triggered by that incident was too great, countless families were affected, and I also lost my military post..."

"The higher-ups have issued a gag order. After all, the 'gate' matter itself is a secret, and the impact of this matter is too bad... Jiang Chengye, along with the sixteen people in Jingcheng, naturally became a taboo."

Shen Qian suddenly realized, "No wonder no one has mentioned them for so many years, and no one knows where they went."

Looking at the seventeen weathered tombstones, Shen Qian didn't know whether he should feel sorry for them.

“The people I loved are gone, the people I considered my own children are all gone, and I’m just a cripple. I carried their clothes back to Jingcheng and buried them behind this cemetery. I can’t even afford to buy them a proper burial plot…”

Old Hu burst into tears again.

"But I'm really not willing to accept this..."

"They shouldn't be treated like this. They are all innocent children. They may have acted impulsively, but it's not an unforgivable sin!"

"Even Cheng Ye, I always felt that he might have some kind of hardship, don't you think?"

Shen Qian didn't know how to answer Old Hu's hopeful question.

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!