Chapter 87 Students
Time was running out. Building a newspaper from scratch in such a short period of time was no easy task, not to mention the school duties. The lights in the study came on later and later, and the students at Baita University also noticed that their "big devil" had become increasingly quiet in class. Before, he would occasionally tell some unfunny, more like some kind of weird, mocking "jokes" to "livelyn up the class atmosphere," but now he rarely rambled on. The dark circles under his eyes and the furrows between his brows deepened, leaving only his gray eyes, which shone eerily bright, and the occasional glances he gave were increasingly frightening.
Perhaps because of Rabbi Madel, many students were discussing this privately. His death was clearly linked to the professor's unusual behavior, seemingly a profound blow to him. Those who remained in the theology classes at Baita University naturally refused to believe the Vatican's "heresy" rhetoric, but what was the truth? Many began to wonder.
As the eerie atmosphere grew, someone finally spoke up just before class ended to question the alleged "murder victim." Under the students' tense gaze, the black-haired young man paused, then raised his head. His eyes behind his glasses calmly scanned each young, uneasy face, his mouth tensed into a sharp, pale arc.
"—I know there's been a lot of news lately. Many seemingly authoritative sources have convicted Rabbi Mardel of White Tower University, declaring him a mad, cruel, and daring heretic."
There was a sudden burst of whispers from below, but the noises soon died down.
For some reason, many people didn't dare meet those gray eyes. They could only lower their heads silently, letting the other person's calm, cold, and slightly hoarse voice echo in the quiet classroom: "But as students of Baita University, you must be vigilant, questioning, and inquisitive about all information that enters your mind. And Madel Rabbi is a classmate you spend every day with. Even on the legendary 'day of the crime,' many of you went to and from school with him. So I hope you will first use your eyes and brains to observe and think, and then try to draw a conclusion."
After a brief silence, a student whispered, "He's a nice guy, not very smart. I've never seen him lose his temper with anyone."
"He's a little sentimental, a little inarticulate, but not a bad person."
"I haven't returned the book I borrowed from him yet..." Someone sobbed softly.
The previously suppressed grief gradually became unending, and more and more people began to cry—for their classmates, for themselves, and for the increasingly uncertain future. What should we do? The person who had been leaning against the podium, silent all the time, gently closed the lecture notes.
"If you want to know my opinion..."
He stood up straight, his eyes lowered, his emotions unclear, but what the other party said next shocked many people who were still immersed in grief.
Their professor's tone was tired and cold: "Rabbi Madar, an unfortunate, pure and noble young man, fell victim to the despicable struggle of those in power who disregarded law and justice and were seeking power and profit."
Everyone present understood who the "people in power" referred to, and everyone began to think that he was crazy - he had unscrupulously torn off that bloody outer layer in public, revealing his hideous true nature.
"But at the same time, his death will irrefutably nail Baita University to the pillar of shame forever." Amidst the madman's gazes, the black-haired young man remained cold and calm. "Because we, who call ourselves teachers, failed to protect an innocent student, a young and vibrant life was tragically lost."
"…It was my fault. Rabbi Madar's death made my survival seem so despicable."
Everyone held their breath, staring blankly at the man who used to be always arrogant and reserved, now lowering his head towards the students and bowing solemnly to them.
At this moment, the bell for the end of get out of class happened to ring. The students of Baita University could only hear those words accompanied by the bell. Even though the other party had left, they still resonated heavily in everyone's chest, and something unspeakable began to take root.
"--So as an ordinary person, as a teacher, I will do something, even if it is just to expose hypocrisy and deception, to attack greed and filth, to pursue justice and truth... I will give for this what Rabbi Madar gave on my behalf."
…
It wasn't until he returned to the office and the door closed that the black-haired young man's body suddenly shook.
Someone held his shoulders.
"...Thank you." Nova used the support to stand firm, and then instinctively wanted to move away. But he soon found that the hand on his shoulder was very tight, not causing pain, but making it impossible to break free.
"Your average sleep time these days has been no more than four hours." Another person explained softly, but only when listening carefully could one detect an inexplicable tinge of anger in his words.
He even forced people to rest during these four hours.
"...Just wait until the newspaper is officially published." Nova didn't hear what he heard and rubbed his brow tiredly: "I know my own body well."
"Yeah."
The other man smiled calmly, suddenly loosened his grip, and instead pinched a spot on the back of his neck, neither too hard nor too light.
An inexplicable soreness and severe pain suddenly hit Nova, and he subconsciously groaned, but found that his limbs became extremely weak as if they were out of control, and he had no choice but to fall down towards the other party.
"This doesn't look like 'knowing'." Letting his old enemy hang limply on him, Azuka supported the other man's waist, which had become increasingly thin in recent days, lowered his eyes, and mocked him softly in a cold tone.
“…Let go!”
"Are you sure?"
The fingers that were originally massaging the other person's increasingly stiff shoulder and neck muscles suddenly increased their strength, immediately triggering a few suppressed gasps.
"Even though professionals have expressed their willingness to provide a range of assistance, you still insist on completing all the work yourself." The man's tone remained calm, almost to the point of being unusually harsh and unsympathetic. "Should I say you have an overly strong sense of responsibility, too proud of your own abilities... or are you atonement through self-torture?"
The Savior is always a very perceptive person, and the hypocrisy and struggles of human nature cannot be hidden from him. Normally, he doesn't speak, but once he drops the disguise of "gentleness and consideration", it is common for him to make people collapse with just a few words.
"This guy is so bad, he deserves to be beaten up one day." Ole had been broken down by his taunts several times. Not only did they have a big fight, but they also cursed each other hatefully from time to time afterwards.
“…”
The male protagonist's brows slowly raised, and what answered him was a sharp dull pain in his shoulder.
His old enemy bit him.
Unlike the two previous times of gentle and intimate sucking and biting, which were mostly for teasing, the savior could feel the other party's sharp and ruthless canine teeth deeply embedded in the flesh even through a layer of shirt.
It's quite painful.
"Don't make assumptions about me." The man coldly squeezed out a few words from between his teeth. It sounded like he was going to punch you right away if he wasn't so weak. Unfortunately, because he was biting his teeth, his words became unclear, and the threat that should have been so imposing suddenly changed its tone.
The taste of blood in his mouth grew stronger. Nova could clearly sense the throbbing of hot blood vessels, the subtle tensing of muscles, and the suppressed breathing of another person, transmitted through the clenched teeth. He frowned, suddenly wondering why he had just gone crazy. How could he have been assimilated to someone so easily that he bit them?
——Am I really too tired during this period?
The black-haired young man loosened his teeth and subconsciously licked the blood that was spilled, and immediately tasted the sweet fishy taste of human blood.
...a bit disgusting.
The professor, who was confused and disgusted with himself for going crazy, did not notice the other person's sudden stiff reaction and slowly tightening arms, until he suddenly trembled all over, and then reacted violently and pushed away the other person's hand.
“…I said let go!”
This time, the God's Favored One finally allowed the cat, now completely furious, to wriggle out of his arms. Seeing the cat's face tense as it darted three meters away, glaring warily, he narrowed his eyes and calmly recalled that he had accidentally touched the cat's... waist?
"What a crappy habit, like a cephalopod." Nova rubbed his waist with a dark face, which was almost sprained. People who work at a desk for a long time basically have some big or small problems with their shoulders, necks and lumbar spines. The sudden and creepy heat that seeped through his clothes just now still lingers, and the strange soreness is still vaguely rising up along his spine, making his scalp numb.
"I'm not so fragile as to resort to self-abuse to atone for my sins and seek psychological comfort," the black-haired young man said coldly. "This is our first publication, and I must do it myself. There are so many things that need to be improved. I must at least lay a model and establish rules for the next few months, if not years, so that the newspaper can continue to operate normally even if I am no longer involved."
"As for what was said in class..." Nova was silent for a moment, then suddenly raised his eyes and met those blue eyes that seemed to see through everything. "It was a mixture of truth and falsehood, and some of it was inflammatory and deceptive."
At this moment, he became extremely cold and ruthless: "Young intellectuals are always the fuse of change. They are passionate, pure, and easily inspired by the so-called pursuit of ideals and justice. So I am taking advantage of those naive students... I am accelerating their death."
The Savior looked at his nemesis silently, even with some compassion.
The other party had already sentenced himself to a heavy crime that was difficult to define. But even if he did nothing, those young people would have been reduced to burnt firewood along with the seminary - and this is history, cruel history, where individual struggles and sacrifices are always so insignificant.
But his professor didn't seem to need his comfort. He looked like he had already walked out of the gray fog of confusion. Something invisible, huge, and heavy enough to exhaust him was pressing on his shoulders, but that person still stood taller and farther away than him.
"Madal Rabbi is just the beginning. People will die, and many more will die. I can only protect a portion of them... but I won't stop." The man pulled his mouth tiredly. "Who calls me the villain?"
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