“Don’t talk too much later. Just follow me closely!” Song Junlang looked very carefree. His skill was not that high, especially when faced with the guards that even included a dragon.
Yet, from the time they entered, no one dared to stop them. Every guard that tried to stop them would look like a frightened cat the moment they saw Song Junlang, and quietly move away.
They faced no obstructions the entire way, and Xiao Lin felt quite shocked. He felt like those people might actually not recognize Song Junlang, after all he was only the Logistics Department Head for the last two years. Those of them who graduated before then might not even know what Song Junlang’s name was. Yet, they still did not dare to stop him. Xiao Lin could not help but glance at that unassuming emblem in front of Song Junlang’s chest, and could not help but whisper in a half-joking tone.
“What kind of emblem is that? It looks quite useful; why don’t you give me one?”
“Alright, as long as you’re willing to come to my experiment room. I can even give you a dozen,” Song Junlang teased as well.
“Then forget it.” Song Junlang’s experiment room was as good as a tiger’s den in Xiao Lin’s eyes.
“… Are you not going to consider it? This emblem is very useful. Have you ever heard about a golden immunity plate from ancient times? It regularly features in dramas. With just one plate in hand, everything goes much more smoothly. This thing is pretty much the same,” Song Junlang said half-seriously.
“Where did you scam it out of?” Xiao Lin asked suspiciously.
“Hey, why did you say I scammed it!”
“Some of the guards I saw earlier seem to have left,” Xiao Lin suddenly said after turning his head around.
“Yes, probably to look for someone. They don’t dare to stop me, but I have no way of stopping them from summoning someone either,” Song Junlang said, having foreseen everything.
“Then what do we do?”
“Hurry up; even though I’m not afraid of anyone, it’s never a good thing to cause a scene. This is already violating my principle of keeping a low profile.”
“You, keeping a low profile…” The corner of Xiao Lin’s lips twitched.
The treatment room was not in Dawn City; it was at a cave over a dozen kilometers away from the city. The cave had completely been dug out. Rumor had it that, during the first war against the orcs, it used to be a military warehouse. It had been abandoned after the war, and was perfectly suited for a quarantined treatment room.
When they reached the deepest part of the cave, outside a stone room, a man and a woman blocked them. This time, they did not wear any armor, but both of them had large blades glimmering with elemental energy. Song Junlang’s smiled. “I never expected the final guards to be the two of you. When did you come back?”
The two of them looked at each other before the middle-aged woman said in a magnetic voice, “We rushed back the moment we heard about the ambush on the dean. We heard some commotion earlier… I never expected it to be you. It’s been awhile, Monitor Song.”
“These are my old classmates.” Song Junlang explained to Xiao Lin, but did not introduce Xiao Lin to the other two. However, they smiled as they observed Xiao Lin before the man furrowed his eyebrows and said, “Is he the new student the dean mentioned before?”
“Who else would it be, but since the old fart made the two of you guard this place, I guess he never planned on stopping it. I shouldn’t have brought the emblem here.”
Song Junlang sighed, seemingly disappointed at his miscalculation. Looking at Xiao Lin, who was sweating, he did not explain when he pushed Xiao Lin into the stone room as he said, “Go meet the dean. We’ll stand guard here.”
Xiao Lin stumbled into the narrow stone room; the small room only had a large light blue orb in the middle. The orb had taken up most of the space in the room, and was floating in the air. Other than that, there was no one and no other objects to be seen.
Xiao Lin felt that it was strange, and could not help but reach out to touch it. He immediately felt a very strong suction coming from the orb. The orb soundlessly cracked open in the middle, and a row of stairs appeared. Xiao Lin followed the stairs into the space within, and the orb closed behind him.
Inside the orb was a completely isolated space, and in the warm white glow, there was a white bed. On it was a serene looking old man.
It was the dean.
Xiao Lin rushed over, but he was blocked by an invisible membrane a few meters away from the bed. He angrily began to hit it, and even wanted to pull out his Holy Sword to break it.
“Ah, that’s useless. If my shield was so easily broken by you, then I would lose all my dignity!” the old dean teased.
Xiao Lin gaped, “You erected it?”
“The curse I was inflicted by is very special, and we’re not sure if it’s infectious, so this is for your own good.” The dean had a white patient’s outfit on. He sat up in bed, but did not stand. He seemed to have more wrinkles on his face, and looked a lot older. In truth, in terms of age, that old man was already a few hundred years old; it was just that his strength meant that no one dared to treat him like an old man.
“Can the curse be undone? I know some people from the dark clans that might be able to help.” The calmer the dean was, the more Xiao Lin’s heart ached, and the more he tried to solve the problem.
The dean smiled as he shook his head. “Are you referring to the dark races who stay in the Rosa Kingdom? Back then, even Ivanovich did not succeed. This curse is currently incurable.”
Xiao Lin suddenly remembered that the St. Claude clan had met Ivanovich before, but the dean’s words contained an even more shocking secret, which made Xiao Lin cry out in shock, “Dean, do you mean that Ivanovich had died to this curse as well? Who is the one harming you in the shadows?”
The dean smiled, seemingly having accepted death. “That’s no longer important. What’s happened has happened, and nothing will change the truth no matter how much we investigate. Xiao Lin, I don’t think you came to see me for a matter as trivial as who the assailant was, right?”
Xiao Lin fell silent. He obviously knew he could not do something like that with just himself. After composing himself, he prepared to tell the dean everything that happened in the royal city.
Yet, the dean raised his hand to stop Xiao Lin, saying, “You don’t have to waste your breath, I already know of everything that happened in the royal city.”
Xiao Lin was perplexed and astonished.
The dean explained, “Astrology can somewhat predict the future with certain special methods, and I already had someone use astrology to predict the matter.”
“Then do you know where Asabanor currently is?”
“That’s impossible. Astrology is not omnipotent, and Asabanor himself is a very strong astrologian. If you have the time, you can head to the library to understand the art; I think it will help you… Ah, we’re going off topic. This time, I want to talk to you about the future — Planet Norma’s future, the future of the colonists, as well as the future of Earth.”
