Chapter 59: Current Situation

What’s wrong with me?

When did protecting Xia Yin become instinct?

All this time, he was the one protecting her.

Even if she’d rushed forward, she’d only have taken a blade for him.

The dreamlike haze clung to Xueqiu. When her vision cleared, she realized she’d been walking beside Xia Yin.

They passed Teaching Building 9, taking the shortest path to the dorms. Xia Yin, the injured one, supported her to keep her trembling body from collapsing.

Chang Mu carried Xia Yin’s sword and the mask. The sword was Xia Yin’s; the mask’s owner had vanished.

After its head was pierced, the masked figure’s body and head turned to ash in under two minutes—no, not even ash remained.

As a mere freshman, Chang Mu had no clue why. He hoped his “big bro” Xia Yin would explain.

Or not. He just wanted to get to the dorms—anything to be safe.

The student handbook said dorms were the safest in such situations, followed by the library, but the library was a detour.

Chang Mu wanted to offer to help support Xueqiu, but seeing the silent duo ahead, he swallowed his words.

“Is it dead?” Xueqiu asked tentatively as they crossed a lawn.

She’d snapped out of her half-dazed state, noticing Xia Yin still holding her up. She pulled away.

He was the injured one, not her.

Though her ‘Mirror Demon’ mimicking a healing Contract had eased his knee injury, it should’ve been her supporting him, not the reverse.

“Ahem…” Xia Yin cleared his throat, ready to answer.

“Biologically, it’s dead. Its brain was destroyed, and I obliterated its heart. No way it survives that, but…”

“But?” Xueqiu was used to his trailing speech.

“But it vanished into thin air. You saw it—poof, like a game mob. No particle effects, no bones or arrows, just that junk,” he said, pointing to the white mask in Chang Mu’s hand.

Xueqiu recognized it. Ten minutes ago, it was on the masked figure’s face.

After she shot its head, her focus was solely on Xia Yin, missing how the body dissolved in under two minutes, leaving no blood.

“I’m not sure if it’s magic or something else. Can’t be actual magic, right?” Xia Yin muttered. “I think it’s a Contract—one I know, because someone I know has a similar one. But that’s impossible, because…”

Because what?

Xueqiu wanted the answer, but Xia Yin didn’t elaborate.

Instead of teasing, he looked like he’d just remembered something, his mouth agape.

“Right! You’re weird too, Snowball. Yeah, you,” Xia Yin switched topics.

“Me?” Xueqiu stared, her ice-blue eyes brimming with curiosity.

She knew she’d been off but couldn’t pinpoint how.

Was it fear of Xia Yin leaving her?

“It’s weird because you used a Contract in the Academy. That’s not normal,” he said, pointing to his barely functional knee.

Like treasure unearthed from sand, Xueqiu understood.

The Academy, isolated from Youdu, blocked students and staff from using Contracts on campus.

Except in specific places, like Contract exam rooms, no one could use them, willingly or not.

“If I could’ve used ‘Yinglong,’ I’d have sliced that guy into pieces without moving. But I couldn’t. Chang Mu, you too, right?”

Xia Yin turned to Chang Mu, who drooped like a wet puppy.

“Same, Boss. Can’t use my Contract here…” Chang Mu mumbled.

“So why could you use yours, Snowball? Is it ‘Mirror Demon’? And that ‘because’ I mentioned—the guy used a Contract too, like you.”

Like me?

Xueqiu couldn’t respond.

“Was it the ‘King’ you’re after?” she asked.

Xia Yin hesitated, sighing as if a belief had shattered.

“Not sure. I don’t think so.”

“Why?”

“Height. He was barely 1.8 meters. You saw how tall ‘King’ was at the Investigation Team, right?”

Xueqiu nodded.

“He stood up high to draw attention to his actions, not his height. But when he hit the ground and I finished him, I noticed—he’s student-sized.”

Student?

Xueqiu didn’t get why he used that odd comparison.

“Boss… there’s someone ahead,” Chang Mu whispered, crouching close.

“Shh.” Xia Yin stopped. Xueqiu and Chang Mu followed, the area falling silent except for a strange sound nearby.

From near the dorms came a squelching, like shoes stomping mud.

Xia Yin hid behind bushes, signaling Xueqiu and Chang Mu to follow, creeping toward the source.

“Could it be a Shadow Ghost, Boss? Maybe you ambush it, and I take Xueqiu to the dorms…” Chang Mu’s voice was barely audible.

Xia Yin ignored him.

He’d seen who it was.

A girl in a blue dress, dragging a pink suitcase, stood ten meters from the dorm gate, looking like a student returning to rest.

But this wasn’t a casual glance.

Anyone with eyes could see a black, mud-like mass at her feet.

And she…

Was stomping it with her white plastic sandals, as if ready to smash her suitcase on it too.

“Chisaki…” Chang Mu recognized her instantly, her cute orange twin-tails unmistakable in the sunlight—Chisaki.

She spotted them, stopped stomping, kicked the black mass aside, and waved cheerfully.

“Hey…! Senior! Little Rain, Little Snow! You’re finally here to save me!”

ps: I’ve got two final exams soon, so single updates for now…