Chapter 25: Father’s Office and Old Classmate

After leaving the Magic Committee Hall, Lu Xin didn’t rush to retrieve his car.
Finding parking in the capital was inconvenient, so he decided to leave it at the traffic enforcement brigade for now and pick it up later when he needed to leave.

It was already dark.
Rather than checking into a hotel, Lu Xin chose to crash in his father’s office for the night and see what goodies might be inside.

With that thought, Lu Xin quickened his pace, soon arriving at the base of the White Tower.
From afar, the White Tower had the look of a traditional mage tower.
But its security at the bottom was entirely modern facilities.
People passed through security in droves.

Lu Xin approached the checkpoint.
Under the watchful eyes of the security personnel, he placed one hand on the magic signature recognition panel and inputted a thread of magic in a specific pattern.

Ding~ Welcome, Mr. Lu Xin.

The screen beside the recognition panel displayed Lu Xin’s appearance, name, and other basic information.
Since he wasn’t affiliated with the White Tower, no position details appeared.

Lu Xin nodded to the security staff and proceeded into the White Tower.
The White Tower had a total of 634 floors.
Its ground level, like most buildings, served as a lobby.
But calling it a lobby was an understatement—its vast area was more akin to a ‘plain.’

For high-rises, commuting for personnel was usually a logistical challenge.
For the White Tower, however, standard elevators couldn’t handle the massive foot traffic.

Inside the White Tower, inter-floor travel relied on teleportation arrays.
That’s right—in the capital, where spatial barriers were the densest, only the White Tower could employ this form of spatial magic.
The interior of the White Tower was the capital’s sole exemption from spatial reinforcement.

Lu Xin casually stepped into one of the many disc-shaped platforms.
He silently recited the floor he wanted to go to in his mind.

Floor 333, Lu Xin thought.

The number 333 aligned with the theory of three-dimensional real space.
It was the primary working floor for the Spatial Research Institute managed by Lu An.

As motes of light enveloped his body, Lu Xin felt a sudden weightlessness, then his feet touched solid ground again.
The entire process took less than 0.5 seconds.

Lu Xin’s body materialized in the disc-shaped hall on the 333rd floor of the White Tower.
He navigated the floor with familiarity, greeting the occasional researcher he passed.
Finally, he arrived before a pair of wooden double doors.

Lu Xin grasped the handle of one door and pushed inward.
But the expected scenario didn’t unfold—he was blocked outside.

That’s not right.
Didn’t Father’s door always open with a casual push?

Unconvinced, Lu Xin pushed harder.
The door remained unmoving.
Was it locked?

Lu Xin glanced at the door’s glossy surface, catching his reflection: a face covered in stubble.
He seemed to understand, feeling a wave of speechlessness.
After looking around and seeing no one nearby—

Golden patterns crawled up his neck.
Alice Phil effortlessly pushed open the doors and entered the office.

The instant the doors closed, Miss Alice Phil vanished.
Lu Xin reappeared, straightening his collar and surveying the surroundings.
It was just as it had been last time.

The office area featured a marble floor.
A wooden desk sat in the center, toward the back.
Bookshelves filled with tomes on spatial magic research lined the left wall.
To the right of the desk, an alchemical puppet skeleton hung on a rack.
At the skeleton’s base sat several barrels of a liquid resembling mercury.

Lu Xin opened the portal on the right wall, entering the office’s living quarters.
It was less a living area and more an entire three-story duplex crammed inside, with spatial magic at work.
A massive floor-to-ceiling window, employing spatial magic, constantly projected images of the capital’s skies onto the glass.

Lu Xin climbed the stairs to the third floor and pushed open a door bearing Alice Phil’s nameplate.
What greeted him was a pink girl’s bedroom.
Lu Xin rubbed his forehead with a short sigh.
He now had a pretty good idea why his father’s office door wouldn’t budge—and why his own minimalist room here had turned into this.

He returned to the office area and sat in the chair.
From the drawer, he pulled out a sheet of white paper.
Then, from the pen holder, he drew a fountain pen.
On the paper, he wrote about his father’s whereabouts, his recent experiences, and matters concerning Xiao Yue and the rest.

After finishing, he fetched an envelope from the drawer.
He slipped the written paper inside, sealed it with tape from the pen holder, then stood and walked to the puppet skeleton.
He tucked the envelope into the skeleton’s interior.

Just as Lu Xin prepared to head to bed, a knock sounded at the office door.

Father’s gone now, and no one else should be looking for him.
Who could it be?
Lu Xin opened the door.

A middle-aged man in a lab-specific mage robe, appearing about the same age as Lu Xin’s current look, stood at the threshold with his hands clasped over his abdomen.
Seeing it was Lu Xin, the man smiled and stepped forward.

“Hello, Brother Lu.
It’s been a while.”
The man said.

“Who are you?”
Lu Xin was a bit puzzled, unsure if he recognized the man before him.

“Haha, looks like after twenty-odd years, you’ve almost forgotten me, Brother Lu.”
The man gave a self-deprecating chuckle, then continued:

“I’m Xiao Xuan from the medical academy—the one who slept under your bed.”

“You’re Xiao Xuanzi?”
Lu Xin’s eyes lit up as memories flooded back, confirming the man’s identity.

Lu Xin’s die-hard buddy from middle school.
They’d ended up at the same university, even sharing a dorm.
Fate was just that wondrous.

Though Xiao Xuan bore the Absolute Magic Physique—no trace of magic in his body, let alone the ability to use spells—this very man had clawed his way into the mages’ holy land, the White Tower, on intellect alone.

“How’d you get so old-looking?
I almost didn’t recognize you.”
Lu Xin said to Xiao Xuan.

Realizing his words might have stung, Lu Xin quickly apologized.

“Sorry, I almost forgot.”

“It’s fine.
I’ve let it go a long time ago.”
Xiao Xuan replied.

“Even if I can’t cultivate magic, I’m doing just fine now.”

“You know, landing a job at the White Tower is the dream of so many people.”

“These days, I’m pretty content.”
Xiao Xuan exhaled deeply, as if in reflection.

“I’ve got a wife, kids, a career—nothing’s missing.”

“Speaking of which, how come you’re looking so aged too?”
Xiao Xuan asked curiously.
Lu Xin was a genius in the magical path, basking in glory—why would he let himself keep a middle-aged appearance?

“Just think of it as me trying to establish some authority in front of the kids.”
Lu Xin said with a hearty laugh.

“Speaking of, how old’s your child?
Mine’s a daughter, sixteen this year, in her first year of high school.”
Xiao Xuan said.

“What a coincidence—mine’s a daughter too, sixteen, also a high school freshman.”

“They might even be classmates.”
Lu Xin remarked.

“By the way, how’d you know I was here?”
Lu Xin suddenly realized Xiao Xuan couldn’t possibly know he’d come to the White Tower today, let alone enter the director’s office at the Spatial Research Institute.

“Of course, my mentor told me.”
Xiao Xuan replied.

“That’s actually why I’m here.”
Xiao Xuan paused, then continued:

“The Dean invites you up to the top floor for a chat.”