It was a long and cumbersome project. Plus, they were short of manpower. Fortunately, there was Bell, the artificial intelligence–or artificially-intelligent life-form. She could archive and organize a large number of videos and then replay them to Xiao Lin and the others to watch one by one.
For example, she would first cut all the trivial Wang Dalin time out of the video, such as eating or sleeping in class and so on. The president still had absolute confidence in the courses and teachers that he arranged, and it was impossible for someone to learn forbidden techniques in class. It could only be done in private.
Soon, their investigation focus fell on the library again, because they found that in the last two months of the last semester, Wang Dalin spent a considerable amount of time in the library. For this reason, they brought up Wang Dalin’s borrowing records.
However, after a busy half-day, nothing was found. In the afternoon, the president had to attend meetings and left first, leaving Xiao Lin and the little girl with the white blouse in the office.
After the president left, Bell started to become lively again and started to unwittingly chat with Xiao Lin. Xiao Lin was also starting to get extremely bored. Wang Dalin was not even a beautiful woman. Looking at images of him all day long would drive anyone mad with boredom.
“Actually, I have been following you since you first enrolled.” The little girl’s voice was crisp and lively. Anybody who did not know of her identity beforehand would have a hard time telling if she was real. However, Xiao Lin already knew that what he saw with his eyes was merely a phantom formed by virtual graphics. This girl was, as she said herself, intangible.
Xiao Lin froze, not knowing why.
Bell curled her mouth and said, “Hehe, you should thank me. I was the one who processed and summarized all the data of your admission health screening. If I hadn’t sent your data to the dean in time, do you think you would have received the same treatment afterward?”
“As an artificial intelligence, these things are supposed to be your job anyway,” Xiao Lin said feebly. He was very interested in artificial intelligence, and he did not expect Dawn Academy to have such a thing. However, half a day’s boredom had long driven his curiosity away.
“I’ll say it again, I am not artificial intelligence! I am an artificially-intelligent life-form!”
“Which is to say, there isn’t really any difference.”
“I was not created in your world. I am a life created by the laws of Planet Norma. Again I am not what you call a computer program, I possess intellect. To put it simply, if you give me a body, I would be indistinguishable from you humans!”
“A man-made life-form?” Xiao Lin pondered for a while and suddenly thought of the Big Bai that Silverlight had entrusted to him before her death. That magical life form seemed to be also created with Atlantean technology, and it also possessed a high level of intelligence. With that said, this Bell should be similar to Big Bai.
“Speaking of which, your progress is really slow.” Bell seemed to have a habit of babbling, and she droned on. “You have an SS-level talent, and up till now, it’s been more than half a year, and you’re still only a Black Iron-rank. This speed is not even as good as an S-level talent.”
Xiao Lin understood this. He was indeed dragged down by too many complicated matters in the last semester. However, he suddenly thought of something and quickly took the little girl by the arm. It was a pity that his hand just passed through the little girl’s arm. Paying it no mind, he asked hurriedly, “Wait, did you just say that you were responsible for the statistics of the admissions health screening? In other words, you are able to look into all our files?”
“Of course. As I said, I am in charge of the entire academy’s computer files.”
“Then what about my admissions notice? Can you look into this file?” Xiao Lin thought about what Wang Yuelan told him previously, that his notice had been encrypted, and ordinary people would not be able to read it.
“Admission notice? Of course I know it. However, those are sealed and encrypted under the dean’s repeated instructions,” Bell said indifferently.
So, it was the dean.
Xiao Lin stabilized himself internally. He trusted that the dean was protecting him, but that actually seemed more strange. It was just an admissions notice, but it was encrypted, even to the point of top-secret level encryption.
“The dean mentioned that the admissions notice cannot be shown to anyone without permission.”
“Not even me?” This girl made Xiao Lin itch for more. Feeling his curiosity mounting, he could not help but ask, “It’s my own admission notice, so I should have permission, right? The dean would certainly not mind.”
Bell hesitated. The girl seemed to be very intelligent, but she also seemed to lack contact with people. It was probably due to this reason she became so energetic when she saw Xiao Lin today. It was difficult to withstand Xiao Lin’s badgering, and he even pulled tricks that were used to fool children on her.
Of course, Bell knew the importance the dean placed on Xiao Lin. After hesitating several times, she finally relented in a low voice, “Okay, okay, I can show you. Actually, it is no big deal, so I guess the dean won’t blame me. But, you must promise me not to tell anyone. This time, I’m making an exception for you because the dean values you.”
“Don’t worry, my lips are sealed tight. I will not betray you!” Xiao Lin pounded his chest to indicate his promise.
Looking really unsure, Bell floated to the window and looked from side to side. In fact, this was the president’s private office. Usually, unless with his permission, no one would have the courage to break into this place for no reason.
It was a good long while before the girl drew the curtains and floated back down, clutching her dress. She stretched out her hand onto a screen and pressed at it several times, but the feed was dizzyingly fast. After entering a password that was completely invisible, a virtual screen dropped, and the admission notice was displayed on the screen.
“This is a virtual copy. The original copy was destroyed long after admission, so only the virtual file was kept.”
This familiar-looking admissions notice was the culprit that brought Xiao Lin into this academy at the start, and he could not help but sigh when he saw it again after such a long time. By the looks of it, the short admissions notice did not look any different from any other.
The notice did indeed exist, but Wang Yuelan insisted that the school had never admitted him. Wang Yuelan probably made a mistake.
Xiao Lin was starting to feel relief when he suddenly read something that was off. Looking at the text on the admissions notice, his eyes went wide, and his heart sank all the way to the bottom…
