Qin asked anxiously.
The professor glanced at her and said,
*"The headquarters spent seven days decoding it, barely translating it into words that are roughly understandable."*
*"——Beneath the cluster of stars to the south, resides The Monarch of Anomalies, the Two-Faced Son, with the power to reverse and endless Steel Feathers; one must have the force to slay to nonexistence, for the evening bells of twilight to resonate——"*
After the professor finished, numerous question marks appeared above the heads of everyone present.
*"This... it's as if I recognize every word."*
The rigid tone came from the man beside Qin.
*"As expected of His Highness, the Oracle is indeed profound and enigmatic, truly challenging to decipher."*
The professor nodded calmly: *"In any case, that is the situation... Since the Oracle clearly implies the 'south,' all the southern branches have received orders to investigate the details of the Oracle."*
*"I have conveyed the order, so let us disband... Qin, you stay behind."*
After everyone else had left, the professor approached Qin and whispered a few words into her ear.
*"Ah? You want me to play the good cop?"* Qin scratched her cheek in distress.
...
In a restaurant with stylish and modern decor, Xue Jing sat across from his sister, Xue Wan.
*"Oh~ those two made the news."*
Xue Wan stuffed a piece of sweet and sour pork into her mouth, laughing as she watched her phone.
She flipped the phone toward Xue Jing, who was chewing his food,
*"Look!"*
Xue Jing glanced up as he chewed.
The phone displayed a news headline, posted 3 minutes ago.
[Shocking, U19 contestants outrageously do this in public——]
The cover photo showed the two teenagers at the port's waiting hall, lying on the ground, huddled together and unconscious.
It was hard to tell whether it was the posture of the two or the cunning angle of the photographer, but the image seemed to convey that they had a great relationship and were peacefully sleeping in each other's arms.
Fortunately, the text below didn't fabricate stories, but honestly explained why they ended up like this.
It began by introducing the resumes of the two young geniuses, recounting their past grievances, then described how they unexpectedly met at the docks today and started fighting, the process, and finally their mutual defeat by another mysterious young powerhouse...
And the comments section below the news, although only a few minutes old, was already bubbling with suggestions of "shipping them," "good chemistry," and "I've been pairing them together for a while" and other such rotten comments...
At that moment, Xue Jing felt a rare sense of guilt towards the lives of others.
He could imagine how, no matter how much the two denied it, they would be teased by those who reveled in chaos, and how their ship label would only deepen...
*"What a sin..."* Xue Jing sighed lightly.
*"It's strange, there's no photo of you in this news."* Xue Wan put away her phone, puzzlement on her face.
Although she wasn't very familiar with the news industry, she knew how appealing a good-looking person could be for attracting traffic.
Even an unrelated bystander, if captured by a camera by accident, could make it to trending searches just because they were visually appealing.
Let alone Xue Jing, who had defeated two already well-followed young prodigies...
Even his sister, who was used to his face, thought her brother was unbearably handsome. With his looks, plus the fact that he was the protagonist of the event, his appearance in the news would definitely be a huge traffic driver.
How could these journalists let that go?
*"Could it be I've misunderstood the average moral standard of the journalism industry? Are there actually reporters who, because of personal ethics or portrait rights or the like, would miss such a big story?"*
Xue Wan fell into thought.
But she soon cast aside this insignificant issue, turning her head to look at Miao Miao, who was squatting on the table next to her, gnawing on a steak.
Miao Miao extended a claw, hooking up a piece of steak cut by Xue Jing, blew on it twice, and then chewed it, squinting her eyes as if savoring the taste.
*"...Little Feng Wan is so impressive, I've never seen a cat with so much spirit."*
Xue Wan was somewhat surprised.
*"Is it okay for her to eat this? All the seasonings are added according to human standards, won't that be bad for her body?"*
Xue Jing took a sip of canned cola and said casually,
*"Don't worry, she's always eaten the same things as me, and there's never been a problem, her peeing and pooping are all very norm—"*
*"Hiss!!!"*
Miao Miao's face anthropomorphically flashed a shade of shame and anger, letting out an intimidating 'hiss,' bristling all over, lashing out at his wrist with her claws.
Feeling a slight pain and seeing several white marks appear on his skin, Xue Jing laughed, reaching out to soothingly rub her feline face.
*"Anyway, there's nothing to worry about."*
Xue Wan kept shaking her head, "No, no, how come it seems like it even has a sense of shame? That's just too abnormal."
She looked at Miao Miao with a face full of suspicion, "This cat…it couldn't possibly be the product of some crazy scientist's experiment, like putting a human brain inside a cat or something?"
Xue Jing was taken aback.
That was indeed a line of thought grounded in reality. Why hadn't he thought of that when he encountered Miao Miao?
"Meow~"
Miao Miao walked up to Xue Wan and sat down in front of her, meowing quite coyly.
Xue Wan was silent for a while, then directly reached out to hug it in her arms, rubbing her face against it nonstop, her face filled with bliss.
"Oh well, no matter what, as long as it's cute, that's good enough. Ahh, my Little Feng Wan, how can you be so adorable? Mommy loves you..."
As Miao Miao was being rubbed, it glanced at Xue Jing with the corners of its eyes, looking quite pleased with itself.
Xue Jing pinched his chin and smiled without saying a word.
...
After dinner, the time had reached 8 p.m.
His sister, Xue Wan, lived in the university dormitory, which was about to close for the night, so Xue Jing planned to say goodbye to his sister for now and take Miao Miao for a walk around Maple City, also to meet the agent Wu Youqing had arranged for him.
But Xue Wan was quite reluctant to part with Miao Miao and expressed her desire to take it back to the university dormitory with her.
After seeking Miao Miao's opinion with a glance, and receiving an affirmative response, Xue Jing agreed as well.
He hailed a cab at the door, watched Xue Wan and Miao Miao get into the car, then Xue Jing stood on the street alone, with his wheeled suitcase in hand.
He took out his mobile phone, scrolled through the contact list for a while, found the agent's number, and dialed it.
As if the agent had been holding the phone, waiting for Xue Jing's call, the phone was answered without even a single ring.
"Hello, is this Mr. Xue?" seaʀᴄh thё NôᴠeFire.ηet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.
A respectful female voice came through the earpiece.
Xue Jing said, "Yes, it's me. Wei, are you free right now?"
The agent was a woman named Jiang Siwei.
"Yes, yes, I've been waiting for your call," Jiang Siwei hurriedly replied.
Xue Jing smiled and said, "Then let's meet now. I'll send you the address..."
After sending the hotel location booked by the wealthy domineering boss to Jiang Siwei, Xue Jing also hailed a cab and headed for the hotel.
...
Knowing that Xue Jing was from out of town, the chatty driver introduced Maple City nonstop along the way.
After nearly twenty minutes, the car stopped in front of a hotel named Yunlu that looked quite luxurious.
Xue Jing took out his mobile phone to pay via QR code, thanked the driver, and was about to get out of the car when suddenly a figure flew over from a distance.
"Bang!"
The figure crashed onto the car's front hood, causing a loud noise and making the entire vehicle shake on impact.
The hood was deeply dented, and the car immediately shut off; the windshield burst into a ring of shattered white lines.
"Eh? What's this? What happened?" the driver exclaimed in panic.
Seeing this, Xue Jing frowned, opened the car door, and got out.
"Damn, this woman's tough. I like that!" Xiahou Shen climbed off the hood, patting his shirt that now bore a large footprint.
As a contracted fighter of the Xuanjiao Martial Arts Club, he was past the age limit for the U19 category and wasn't there to compete but to accompany a younger teammate with little competition experience from his club.
He hadn't expected that while booking the hotel for the team, he would run into a woman with an exceptionally sturdy build...
Upon seeing that strong and powerful backside, he couldn't resist and reached out to touch it.
And then he was kicked flying away.
Xiahou Shen grinned, ignoring the car's dented hood he had caused, and stepped forward, intending to return to the hotel lobby to continue interacting with that woman.
At that moment, however, a slender, jade-like hand pressed down on his shoulder.
A flat and unemotional voice came from behind him.
"What, are you trying to hit and run?"
...