Chapter 45: Preparation

“I told you before, I was brought to the Academy at 13,” Xia Yin said, striding down the corridor.

Xueqiu trailed him like an attendant, careful not to fall behind.

“Wuyue Liuli—mentioned her before, my senior back then. Like I’m guiding you now, the Academy assigned her to mentor me. I wasn’t an early-admission student, though. Got in probably because of my dad.”

“Your father?” Xueqiu asked.

“Him? His stuff’s irrelevant, so I won’t get into it.” Xia Yin snuffed the topic like a candle flame.

“Let’s talk about Wuyue Liuli. This is about how I got stronger, not how great my dad was.”

“Even if I talked about him, you can’t meet him now, right? And we’re not close enough for family introductions—though you don’t have family, and neither do I…”

Xueqiu wanted to stop his rambling, but he seemed oblivious, veering off-topic before even starting.

“Ahem, back to the point,” he said, clearing his throat. “Ignoring my chuunibyou phase, my senior was strong. How strong? You remember my Contract, right?”

“Yinglong,” Xueqiu said softly.

She didn’t fully understand his Contract, only its name.

“Right. Funny thing—her Contract was Yinglong too, and she wielded it better.”

“You know what ‘Yinglong’ is? Well, doesn’t matter if you don’t. Heard of magic? Turns the mundane into miracles. Yinglong’s similar—basically slashing and killing in a certain range, about as good as magic.”

Xueqiu’s mind struggled to connect the dots.

Turning decay into miracles versus slaughter was like comparing spaghetti to concrete.

But she recalled ‘Yinglong’ was a domain-type Contract, matching his description.

“She was strong, so I wanted to be too, or I’d hold her back. I thought like you do now,” Xia Yin said.

He paused, as if recalling something bad, and added softly, “For two years, freshman to sophomore, I studied every class, aced my GPA. Not like now—I can’t even remember which class is in which room.”

To Xueqiu, Xia Yin seemed lazy now, uninterested in most things.

“Then what?” she asked, eyeing his drooping sleeve.

“Then? Uh, then…”

Cough, cough.

A deliberate cough cut off what seemed like a one-sided storytelling session.

Xueqiu looked up to see they’d reached another corridor junction.

By a room on the left stood Old Gu, his bearded, burly figure holding two bags—one large, one small, both black.

“Done chatting? Take these clothes, try them on. If they fit, wear them this afternoon.”

Xueqiu took the smaller bag, recalling the last time she got clothes—her school uniform.

Though a university, the Academy required uniforms: navy for most, black for the student council.

“Hazmat suits, Old Gu? Youdu doesn’t have radiation, does it? If it does, these won’t help,” Xia Yin said, inspecting his bag.

“They reduce issues from Shadow Gene concentration, keeping certain Shadow Ghosts off you,” Old Gu replied, his tone less casual, more like a serious lecture.

Xueqiu remembered Shadow Gene concentration.

Hers was 8.04%—without these clothes, she’d likely seem like an ordinary person to Shadow Ghosts.

Before enrolling, she hadn’t known what Shadow Ghosts were—whether they attacked out of instinct or purpose, to eat or for bloodlust.

In recent months, she’d learned they were driven by bloodlust.

But she didn’t ask Xia Yin about it now.

For now, she’d focus on wearing the black clothes and figure the rest out later.

—

Time shifted from morning to afternoon, but Youdu’s sky stayed the same—red, cold, and grim.

Under the scarlet sky, sand swirled.

Yet amid the sand, a small path, untouched by wind or cold, carried a team of about a dozen marching steadily.

Xueqiu was among them, along with Xia Yin, Ou Ziyun, and Su Xi, all clad in black, faces exposed.

Logically, the windblown sand should’ve battered their faces, but they were fine, their pace unaffected.

This was thanks to Old Gu, leading the group. His Contract seemed to create a limited domain, keeping wind and sand at bay.

Still, Xueqiu doubted it provided oxygen.

Yet Youdu had breathable air.

The team’s core was Old Gu and the researchers.

They carried bags and silver-gray guns—part submachine, part shotgun—loaded with “Ghost-Breaking Bullets.”

Xueqiu and the others were more like precious cargo, positioned near the back.

Though Ou Ziyun and Su Xi held gun-like weapons, and Xueqiu had a pistol at her waist—not from the Investigation Team, but Xia Yin’s—she felt out of place.

Xia Yin carried only his black longsword, “Mist Cutter,” a cold weapon clashing with the modern firearms, like it belonged to a blade-wielding dynasty.

Perhaps bored, Xia Yin started rambling to Xueqiu again.

“Feel like you’re on an alien planet? First time I saw this, I thought it was Mars. But wearing these on Mars…”

“Shh.” Ou Ziyun pinched his waist, glaring and signaling silence.

Their path wasn’t pure wilderness. Buildings dotted the area—short, wind-worn houses, like late-century self-built homes.

But why were there houses in barren Youdu?

Xueqiu recalled that morning on the road to Ting’an with Xia Yin and Carlos.

The sky was scarlet then too, the highway in ruins.

ps: The feature and heart boost have faded, and the book’s stats and rankings are slipping. Hopefully, things improve.
Double updates are posted together. Thanks for sticking with it. Double update continues tomorrow, same time.
Haven’t begged for monthly tickets in a while—please, I’m begging! (Loud hiss)