Book 4: Chapter 4: Bribe

“This is...”

After a brief moment of confusion, being dazed, and mind going blank, Mord finally realized that he was being sucked up tightly against a drum, in an extremely ungraceful posture.

“What the hell is this?! Why am I here?! Release me at once!”

“Kinda rude to talk about an invention that someone else had put in a lot of effort to make that way,” Kumar commented in dissatisfaction.

“Professor Kumar?! Why are you here?” Mord was bemused shortly before realization dawned on him. He gritted his teeth, “So in other words, Professor Kumar, it was your great invention that brought me here?”

“Indeed.” Professor Kumar nodded, then patted Mord on his shoulder sympathetically. “Elder Mord, you should read more books from now on. Don’t give up on yourself, there’s still hope.”

“What do you mean?” Mord was dumbfounded.

Professor Kumar shook his head and said nothing else. Or perhaps, he couldn’t bear to speak any more than that.

Mord was even more confused.

“PFFFT...!”

Lilith finally lost it and burst out laughing while clutching her stomach.

“E-Elder... Mord... How did you... end up being sucked... Hahaha...!”

I can’t! I can’t!

I’m gonna die laughing!

Since Elder Mord got sucked in, that meant...

He was the creature with the lowest IQ within a radius of one kilometer from here!

All brawn and no brain!

I didn’t expect the chief disciplinarian would have such an adorable side.

Running away isn’t important anymore.

Let me laugh this one out first.

Although Lilith was fully aware of how dangerous the situation was, she still couldn’t control herself.

“You again! Little b̲a̲s̲t̲a̲r̲d̲!”

Although Elder Mord didn’t know what Lilith was laughing at, he was extremely triggered by the sight of his enemy.

“Give me back my hairstyle!” Elder Mord instantly roared at her.

“Hairstyle?” Lilith looked at the little burnt curly strand hanging in front of Mord’s forehead and asked, “What hairstyle?”

“Don’t act dumb! You were the one who stuffed an explosion scroll inside a pillow and threw it in the dorms area this morning, weren’t you!!”Explore new novels on novelbin(.)com

“Pillow...? Scroll...?” Lilith was taken aback before she suddenly remembered about the pillow that she had destroyed this morning...

She then looked at the little burnt curly strand...

Professor Kumar reached for the button with his other hand.

Mord’s smile gradually turned sinister.

“Wait!” Instead of running away, Lilith stopped him again.

“Professor Kumar, you... are short of research funding, right?”

Kumar stopped, “How do you know?”

Lilith breathed a sigh of relief at his response. It seemed like she made the right guess.

“It’s very easy to see that. Although Professor Kumar said it was for the sake of better ventilation, no passionate inventor would pass up on a spacious, ventilated and distraction-free lab.”

She pointed to a workbench that was overgrown with vines. “It must be really inconvenient to do research in this kind of place, right?”

Kumar nodded. “Yes, the reason why I work in the open air is because I sold off my previous lab due to insufficient funds. I wish to have my own lab too. But then again, would it make a difference if you know these?”

“Hmph.” Lilith smiled slightly, “Of course it would. Professor Kumar, I’ll provide you the funding you need... How about that?”

“You?” Kumar looked at Lilith, whose clothes were in tatters, and said in disbelief, “Do you know how much funds I need every year?”

“Nope, and I don’t need to know either.”

With a wave of Lilith’s small hand, loads of gold coins fell from the sky like hail.

In just a flash, the ground was covered by shimmering gold.

“I may not look like it, but I’m a real second-generation rich kid.”

Mord was rendered speechless by all the gold coins that covered the floor.

Kumar instantly went down on his knees. Grabbing the coins in his fists, he mumbled to himself, “This huge amount of money... is enough to fund years of research.”

Lilith smiled smugly. “How about it? This is just a gift for our first meeting, Professor Kumar. As long as you give me a nod, you get to keep all of this and I’ll also sponsor you one million gold coins every year.”

“One million!” Professor Kumar began trembling. “My annual funding is only thirty thousand... One million... Thirty years... One year... One million...”

“Are you crazy, you little b̲a̲s̲t̲a̲r̲d̲?! No matter how rich you are, you can’t go around spending it like that! Do you realize that sponsoring Professor Kumar is no different than wasting your money? Your family will not murder you if they knew!”

“Of course. None of that matters.” Lilith grabbed a handful of gold coins and threw them on Elder Mord’s face. He could feel the pain on his face. “I lack everything except for money.”

“As for my family, the value of money is less than stones in a latrine pit to them.”

Mord was speechless.

These damn second-generation rich kids, they’re really f̲u̲c̲k̲i̲n̲g inhumane.

“Kumar! Don’t forget that you’re a professor of this academy! Accepting bribes from students is forbidden by the academy! If you accept it, you will be skinned alive when the dean comes back!”

“The dean...” A look of conflict appeared on Kumar’s face.

It was at this moment, Lilith placed her hand on Professor Kumar’s shoulder. Like an understanding older sister, she spoke with great pains, “Professor Kumar, I understand the position and difficulties you face being a professor in this academy. I also understand the struggle in your heart at this very moment, but...”

Lilith suddenly looked at Mord fiercely. “Even if you accept my bribe... sponsorship, only the three of us will know about this. I definitely won’t tell anyone. So as long as...”

“Elder Mord is dealt with, then everything will be fine, right?”