The Night Before (VIII)
On the blue brick floor, spots of light form strange blocks of color.
Pinkie Pie stood at the intersection of light and darkness, and she noticed that the corner where Lucien usually stayed was now empty.
She lowered her head and moved her fingers almost imperceptibly.
"Nine replied that he was unable to return to the temple during the preparations for the ladder tournament. No abnormalities were found in Subject 0."
“Click——”
The crystal glass between Flora's fingers cracked, and the bright red wine dripped down her pale fingers.
"Is that so?" She chuckled, her voice as sweet as honey. "Then let him prepare well."
No abnormalities found?
Scarlet threads extended freely from her fingertips and swam silently around her cuffs.
She was too familiar with this kind of perfunctory treatment. Twenty years ago, when she first took this position, those people were just like that, using respect to cover up their contempt, as if she was still the sweet, ingratiating little pet that belonged to the Palace Master.
Throughout the entire palace, she couldn't even muster a few decent confidants; almost everyone stood by and watched, waiting for her to fall. The Frosts pressed her relentlessly, until she destroyed half the laboratory. Finally, fear dawned on them, and they were willing to temporarily compromise with her.
——Even if she achieved this, the position of the next hall master would eventually be handed back to the Frost family.
And now, Number Nine actually started to treat her perfunctorily and deceive her in this way.
Something chaotic exploded in his mind, the bloody smell of the past surged up, and Electra Frost's gray, unbelievable face before her death appeared before his eyes.
Ridiculous. She was the one who killed Electra.
No one, no one could defy her.
"Shall we try something new in this ladder tournament?" She stroked the bloody wine stains on her skirt and smiled seductively.
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The big supermarket at the school gate has always attracted ordinary students with its cheap prices and large quantities. The cheap fluorescent lights buzzing overhead make the packaging of various fantasy beast supplies and human snacks on the shelves glow with a greasy light.
A group of boys and girls who are about to set off are doing a shopping spree on the last day before training.
Yuzhu was holding a large bag of fantasy beast teething sticks, and the horned python followed slowly behind her, occasionally using its tail to roll up human snacks on the shelf and secretly stuffing them into the shopping basket in its owner's hand.
Not far away, Belle frowned slightly, arms folded, and followed the group, trying her best to minimize her size and avoid any unnecessary interaction with the surrounding environment. With every second she persevered, she marveled at her own efforts to "fit in."
Han Jiangxue, along with Clouded Leopard, enthusiastically chatted with everyone. As she passed Belle, she asked her why she wasn't buying anything. Before she could notice Belle's forced smile, she had already passed her and resumed chatting with Crystal.
As expected, two people fell behind the team.
Song Baiyue, carrying a shopping basket and drooping her eyelashes, casually asked the people around her, "Do you usually read the school forum?"
"No. I don't use the internet much."
Rinyin was about to pick up a bottle of painkillers and throw it into the basket, wondering why he suddenly asked this, "What's wrong?"
Song Baiyue's attention was drawn to the bottle of medicine. It didn't have a brand name, and the "Special Offer" label on the bottle obscured the already blurred production date.
"Did you buy medicine here before?" He had to breathe lightly to relieve the pain in his chest. "Don't buy medicine here anymore."
Linyin shrugged and didn't put the medicine back.
She wasn't that delicate. Moreover, after acquiring the Infinite Qi, her headaches rarely occurred. Painkillers were only for precautionary measures; there was no need to buy expensive ones.
Just as the medicine bottle was about to fall into the basket, Song Baiyue suddenly reached out and grabbed her wrist.
The palms of my hands felt slightly hot.
Linyin looked up in surprise, meeting his gleaming gaze. Song Baiyue seemed to be startled by her own impulsiveness, her ears rosy at a visible speed, but her fingers stubbornly did not loosen.
The air between the two of them seemed to suddenly become sticky, and the noisy voices around them gradually faded away.
"Bang."
The discounted painkiller fell to the ground and rolled a distance away.
"Boss! The ladder competition has new competition rules, and the school asked everyone to go back and gather immediately..." Her voice stopped abruptly.
The two people's clasped hands quickly separated.
"The Fantasy Beast Hall has suddenly issued a new competition system. If any player doesn't have a Fantasy Beast, it will affect the entire team's score." Belle got the news faster than anyone else. She glanced at Linyin with concern and said soothingly, "What do you think? If you need a Fantasy Beast, I'll be responsible for finding it for you."
Linyin shook her head slightly. She would not accept such a precious gift.
"This ladder tournament will re-evaluate the top four and eight players based on their rankings, so even a small point deduction could have a huge impact. Isn't this just forcing the combat students without mythical beasts to withdraw from the competition?" Belle huffed. "How despicable."
"Actually," Song Baiyue suddenly interjected, "not participating might not be a bad thing."
Linyin looked at him with some confusion, "Why?"
Clearly, their school lacked any capable students. Otherwise, it would have been unlikely for the Mountain Giant, with over 70% of its abilities suppressed, to have managed to squeeze into the top seven with Crystal in this selection.
In other words, if she did not participate in the competition this time, Thorn Flower might even lose her place in the eighth grade.
The palms of their hands, which had just separated, still retained some warmth, but Song Baiyue's heart was growing colder.
Each of these orders forced the participating students to contract a phantom beast. It seemed like a standard practice for the Phantom Beast Hall to exclude martial arts contestants, but he knew it wouldn't happen by chance.
The Palace Master may have become suspicious of him and no longer trust his observations - she is using the new competition system to force Kitten to show his true ability.
If Rinyin brought the kitten into the competition, it would officially enter the Fantasy Beast Hall's sights, and from then on, they would be subjecting it to various tests under the guise of competition. He couldn't imagine what would happen to Rinyin, who had brought the kitten back to life and even exceeded the expectations of the experiment.
Only if Linyin gives up the competition for this reason can the Palace Master dispel his suspicions.
Song Baiyue's Adam's apple rolled, and the confession that was about to come out swirled on the tip of his tongue, but he swallowed it back. He saw his reflection in Linyin's eyes, so clean that it made him feel ashamed.
"I..." His voice got stuck in his throat. If he confessed now, all those deliberate approaches and the secret "secret glances at her" would seem despicable and dirty. He couldn't imagine what Rinyin would think of him then.
Linyin waited a moment, and when he didn't say anything else, the warmth in her eyes cooled. She turned around and sorted her backpack, her movements a little heavier than usual, and the metal buckle made a crisp clinking sound.
"Let's go." She said calmly, "Back to school."
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The fountain in the central square of the school worked day and night, its splashing water reflecting tiny rainbows. In front of the deed registry office on one side of the square, Fianna and Jerry were talking to seven students.
"We just spoke with the principal." Fianna looked at Rinne gently. "She also agreed with our decision. Even without a contracted mythical beast, Rinne is still a reliable enough contestant."
"Or maybe just contract a mythical beast," Belle added. "Staple's mental stabilizing potion is already on the market. It's right there," she pointed to the strikingly different stone house at the edge of the square. "You can buy it at the Contract Registry."
Crystal took out her wallet from her pocket and said, "Boss, if you don't have enough money, we can give it to you." The money saved to buy the Frost Wolf phantom beast eggs has not been touched yet.
"I've asked the Lan family, and the only Earth-level mythical beasts they can acquire today are... the Fiery Suan Ni, the Icefield Mad Fox, and the Escape Earth Spirit," Belle said, looking at the terminal. "The others will take time. Do you think there's anything you like among these three?"
Belle said she would take responsibility, and she really would.
Crystal's eyebrows flew up, she took a deep breath, and silently put her wallet away. She and Yuzhu looked at each other, both happy that the boss had hooked up with a truly rich woman.
The kitten was originally sleeping in Rin's pocket, but now it poked its head out.
"Bo."
"Bang."
A bubble was quickly launched near Belle and then burst with a loud bang.
The kitten gave Belle a bomb bubble to express his dissatisfaction.
Linyin rubbed the kitten's head with her left hand and patted Belle's shoulder with her right hand, "Thanks. But I'll just make a contract with the kitten."
"What's the deal?" Belle poked the kitten's head with a hint of disdain, nearly getting bitten. "It's cute as a pet, but too weak as a mythical beast."
However, she knew she couldn't change any of Rin's decisions, so she had to pull Rin under the shade of a tree and said, "Um... after you buy the potion, just pretend to drink it."
Linyin didn't understand and her face was full of question marks.
"Oh, just pretend to drink it, but actually pour it out or spit it out." Belle was sorry that she couldn't tell Rinyin the reason.
"Will that still be useful?" Lin Yin was puzzled.
"It works! Just trust me! Just don't drink it."
Huh? Could it be that the potion works just by opening the bottle and smelling it?
Linyin was pushed to the door of the ancient stone building with a suspicious look on her face, and was almost bumped into by a staff member.
She stopped at the door. There were not many people here today, and the electronic screens used for queuing were all turned off.
The staff member who almost fell into her arms yawned: "You can put the fantasy beast here, and the compartment over there can be used."
"Well," Linyin took out her mental examination report, "I need to buy a mental stabilizer first."
The staff member glanced at the report and suddenly came to his senses. "This needs to be recorded in the system before we can get your medication. Let me see your electronic ID."
Linyin opened the terminal, and the staff carefully checked the information, lit up the floating screen, and started operating it unskillfully.
"Hey, hey, hey... what's the request code for the mental stabilizer?"
She was the only one on duty today, and there was no one to turn to for help. She had no choice but to ask Rin to wait while she began to read the guide to the Eudemons Registration System line by line.
"Ah, found it. Type this..."
Lin Yin watched the staff's clumsy operations, Wuji Zhenqi flowing in her eyes. In her golden vision, the encrypted information on the floating light screen suddenly became clear and readable.
The staff first entered various secret keys, went through a complex identity verification process, and then brought up an interface that shocked Rinyin.
Through the innate energy, what appeared on the screen was the federal citizen database.
When there was a bug in the library's borrowing system, she taught herself "Terminal Language Encyclopedia for Beginners" and "Building a System from Scratch" and completed the day's book management tasks by directly entering command statements.
So she saw at a glance that the content the staff member was entering was very similar to the command to modify the borrowing record. Under Rinyin's incredulous gaze, the staff member changed her mental stability index to 80...
Is this the legendary "mental stabilizer"?
That's ridiculous.
Without the Qi, the colorful blocks of color on the screen are completely confusing.
"Excuse me, does what you input have any special meaning?" Linyin couldn't help but ask.
"Special meaning? What special meaning? I've been following the manual." She continued typing while checking the instructions. "Don't worry, I'm new here and unfamiliar with the business, but I'm very fast. You won't have to wait long."
The staff member had a sunny expression and looked like he had no idea what he had entered.
"Alright. The potion is on the shelf over there, just grab a bottle and drink it right here."
Belle should have known something, that's why she asked her not to drink.
She felt a real dizziness coming over her, the physiological discomfort that came when her cognition was overturned.
"I suddenly remembered something urgent. I'll come back to sign the contract another day."
After saying that, he picked up the kitten and turned away without hesitation.
"Hey, hey, hey, you can't do this! You haven't paid yet!" The staff member was completely awake now. "Oh, how do I withdraw this application record..."
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