"Although Twilight City seems calm and peaceful now, there are probably many undercurrents beneath the calm surface. How many conflicts of interest and power struggles are brewing?"
Qi Ji's thoughts gradually diverged in his associations. Suddenly, his expression froze for a moment, and then a smile with a bit of evil taste appeared on his face:
"Such a big thing has happened in such a short period of time. The situation in Twilight City has essentially been turned upside down. Faced with such a drastic change... how will the 'New World' sect, whose purpose is currently unknown... react?"
As soon as this thought popped up in her mind, she suddenly paused and turned her head to look somewhere as if she had noticed something.
A familiar figure flashed in the shadow of a building not far away, walked into the teaching building with a little nervousness, and disappeared.
"Tsk, it's true that if you mention the devil, he will appear. I was just worried that I would have nothing to do after looking at the sea for too long..."
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It’s the last day of the month, and also the last day of 2021. Please vote for the monthly tickets that are about to expire. I beg you!!!
And, Happy New Year to everyone!
Chapter 310 Professor Vincent
In the main teaching building of Nanyuan, a tall and thin figure was walking in the increasingly crowded corridor with books and folders tucked under his arms.
He was a middle-aged man in his early forties, with a thin build and formal and old-fashioned attire, a dull and stiff suit from head to toe. Only a brass-rimmed monocle pinned on his chest gave his dull outfit a bit of brightness.
Professor Vincent is the lecturer in charge of the lower-level physics courses at Nanyuan School of Philosophy and also Donna's teacher.
He walked stealthily, his steps inexplicably hurried. Although he was in a bright and spacious campus, surrounded by the laughter of young students and the warm golden morning light, his expression was obviously uneasy.
The hair, which was originally short, neat and clean, was now visibly messy; the ordinary but bookish face also looked a little haggard and tired, with shadows vaguely settling around the eye sockets.
It seemed that he had been in a state of high tension and inner anxiety for a long time these days, so much so that his body was somewhat worn down.
"...Hey, isn't this Brother Vincent? Why do you look so grim?"
A loud voice suddenly came from the front, and Vincent was like a sleepwalker who was awakened. His whole body trembled violently subconsciously, his eyes suddenly widened, and he briefly radiated a look of fear.
But this abnormality only lasted for less than a second. Soon, his reason allowed him to identify the owner of the shouting object, and a sense of familiarity that made him feel at ease came over him.
"It's you, Senior. Long time no see."
Vincent looked in the direction where the sound came from and saw an open door on the left side of the corridor.
An old man with a straight figure and vigorous spirit was leaning against the door frame, facing him, holding a small cup of golden, steaming Ristretto in his hand.
He was wearing a casual vest and a patterned shirt, a pair of jeans with obvious washed patterns, and a pair of pointed leather shoes that showed signs of aging but were still playful and bright.
From his attire to his mental state, he shows a liveliness that is not in line with his age. Rather than a man in his sixties, he looks more like a young person who pursues fashion and avant-garde.
This person is the boss of his immediate boss, but his presence is very low. Vincent can't even remember what specific position he holds for a moment, nor does he know his real name.
On weekdays, this old man rarely appears in front of teachers and students. He can only be seen or discovered occasionally in some irregular places.
Vincent and his colleagues sometimes complain about how such an old man, who was rarely seen working, got a high-ranking position in the school. They guessed that he was some leader or celebrity's family elder who used his connections to get this easy job.
However, given that this old man had a low presence, he had hardly ever arranged any business for us, let alone made things difficult for us. Apart from chatting with him from time to time, we didn't have much more interactions...
Therefore, Vincent and others did not have too many complaints about this boss who seemed to be traveling around.
Looking at the old man with a comfortable posture, Vincent tried to hide the strangeness on his face and forced a slightly stiff smile:
"I didn't sleep well last night, so I'm in a bad mental state."
"Oh, then you have to make up for it after class," the old man nodded as if he had suddenly realized something, and said in a soothing voice, "You are not young anymore, and your body cannot stand the hardship, so you have to be careful."
"Thank you for your concern, senior."
Vincent expressed his gratitude in a formal manner, without slowing down his pace, and walked straight past the door of the room where the old man was standing and headed towards his office.
After entering the office and walking to his cubicle, he was about to pull out a chair and sit down to start preparing for today's teaching, when he suddenly realized something and was slightly stunned:
"... later?"
He realized that the word the old man used just now was biased. Because he had almost all classes today, if he wanted to catch up on sleep, he would have to wait until at least after four in the afternoon. It was not even nine in the morning yet, so how could he talk about "later"?
"Forget it, why am I bothering about this..."
But he didn't think too much about it. He shook his head to throw these messy thoughts out of his mind, pulled out a chair and sat down, and took out the lesson plan he would use later from the drawer and under his armpit.
As an old man, it's normal for his brain to have a temporary short circuit. Besides, he probably doesn't even know his specific teaching arrangements...
After finishing his random thoughts, he began to concentrate on organizing and warming up the lesson plan in his hand.
Time passed by minute by minute amid the rustling sound of papers turning and pen tips rubbing against each other.
"Jingle Bell--"
Not long after, the preparatory bell rang suddenly, echoing in the spacious teaching building, and the noise made by the students suddenly quieted down.
Vincent stood up upon hearing the voice, picked up and packed up all the lesson plans, tucked them under his armpit, patted his clothes to smooth out the wrinkles, and then walked towards the designated classroom.
A few minutes later, he walked through the corridor, climbed the stairs, and arrived at the designated sunken classroom.
Before entering the door, he stopped and adjusted his expression and look a little to make him look less tired and haggard.
"Students, today we have a new lesson. Please turn to Chapter 8 of the textbook, Basic Concepts of Thermodynamics..."
Standing between the lowest podium and the composite blackboard in the classroom, facing the young and energetic faces sitting in front of him, Vincent felt that he was in a much better state.
It seemed as if the children's lazy, ignorant or curious expressions could soothe his soul and dispel his anxiety and fatigue.
"This is actually pretty good. A decent job, respectful boss, interesting colleagues, reasonable income and treatment, cute children... There's nothing I'm dissatisfied with.
"I shouldn't have agreed to that group of unknown origins. If I hadn't been possessed by evil spirits, the situation wouldn't have become so complicated now..."
During the routine teaching process, the old teacher suddenly sighed imperceptibly, and couldn't help feeling emotional and regretful.
With a sigh of emotion as if brought back to mind by the scene, Vincent finished the one and a half hour teaching as usual, walked out of the classroom with the lesson plan, and was about to go to the next classroom.
But before leaving the classroom, he couldn't help but pause slightly, turned his head slightly, and glanced at a certain seat on the tiered seats.
In the corner of my eye, a soft dark green flashed by.
"Fortunately...she's fine. It seems I was overthinking it."
After confirming Donna's safety, Vincent breathed a sigh of relief, put down the burden that had been accumulating in his heart for a long time, and a relieved smile appeared on his face.
Then he walked out of the classroom, and his steps seemed to have become easier.
"The next one seems to be C402... Hmm, let me check it out to confirm... Hmm?"
When he walked through the corridor and entered the stairwell where there were fewer people, he suddenly felt...
The light around seemed to dim suddenly.
This made the stairwell, which already had poor lighting, almost dark and difficult to see, and everything in sight was almost blurred in outline.
"The sun is covered by clouds?"
With such random thoughts flashing through his mind, he raised his head and looked out through the small, tall ventilation window in the stairwell:
"……Well?!"
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Happy New Year! New year, new life!
It’s number one, don’t feel bad for me, just use your steaming hot monthly tickets to crush me!!!
Chapter 311 Unavoidable
There is a narrow ventilation window on the wall of the stairwell two meters above the ground. With an average height, one can just see the sky through it.
It was now ten o'clock in the morning and the sky was clear. From Vincent's angle, he should have seen the clear blue sky or soft, fluffy clouds like cotton wool.
But the scene before him completely stunned him. His brain seemed to shut down for a short period of time and his thoughts froze.
"This this……"
He saw... a starry sky.
It was not the bright starry sky at night with obvious moonlight, but a bright but dim starry sky with no light except for a few stars.
The colorful stars are dotted in a disorderly manner on the velvety black sky, looking like a dream, as absurd and bizarre as a dream.
How is this going? !
Now Vincent had no intention of going to the official website to appreciate this magnificent and rare astronomical phenomenon. Surprise and panic immediately appeared on his face.
Why did the sky suddenly become like this? !
Could it be that the sun and the moon disappeared in an instant? !
No no no, this is too outrageous, it can't be true!
As his thoughts became a tangled thread, he involuntarily took a few steps back, subconsciously lowering his body slightly, and his hair stood up all over his body, and goose bumps appeared all over his body.
He held the document tucked under his arm in front of him as if he were facing a formidable enemy, and looked around the narrow stairwell in panic, but his sight only extended two or three meters before being swallowed up by the dim shadows.
It was as if in the darkness where it was difficult to see, there was some ferocious beast lurking with malicious intentions, staring at him with its huge, ferocious eyes, ready to pounce on his prey and tear it to pieces and eat it in the next second.
Such a strange experience made Vincent feel extremely terrified and panicked. For a moment, his teeth were chattering and he was unable to speak.
"Huh...huh..."
After suffering in fear for an unknown amount of time, he finally regained his sanity and forcibly suppressed the fear that was gushing out. He squeezed out a trembling voice from between his teeth:
"Excuse me, which Excellency is this?"
After a brief thought, Vincent realized that the starry sky outside the window might not be real.
After all, for celestial bodies like the sun and the two moons that belong to the "world" itself, it is almost impossible to make them disappear directly or to obscure them in some way.
Vincent was not a supernatural being, nor had he specialized in academic knowledge in the spiritual field, but he had taught for more than ten years at the Imperial National University, which was home to many talented people and a large collection of books, so he always had the opportunity to learn about relevant knowledge.
He knew that celestial bodies such as the sun, the two moons, and the stars, which were high up in the starry sky, were not only extremely large in size and of extraordinary mass, but also possessed mythological significance. Legend had it that many lofty and ethereal divine beings resided high up there.
Things like this that have mythological significance are definitely not something that can be interfered with by ordinary supernatural powers.
Not to mention erasing it, even covering up a large area for a short period of time is impossible!
Perhaps the gods who are in charge of everything can do it... but as a mere mortal, how can I have the qualifications to make such a great being take action personally?
In short, Vincent was certain that he must be in a state of hallucination, or that he had been inadvertently transferred to some strange space through special means.
And this kind of thing would definitely not happen out of thin air. There must be a supernatural being behind the scenes.
In other words... there was an extraordinary person who had set his eyes on me, and then took action when I was away from the crowd!
Thinking of this, he moved his Adam's apple, thought for a moment, and then added hesitantly:
"I don't know how I have offended you. Please don't rush to punish me. Let's discuss this carefully first. Perhaps there is some misunderstanding..."
"Okay, let's discuss it carefully."
Before he finished speaking, an extremely light and pleasant voice floated in from the darkness somewhere.
Vincent froze suddenly, his muscles tensed, and he looked towards that place hurriedly.
“Knock, knock, knock…”
Suddenly, there was a sound of light footsteps coming from the shadow, and a few seconds later, a slender and petite figure walked out from it.
"!"
The moment he saw the visitor's appearance clearly, Vincent's pupils suddenly shrank, the fear in his expression suddenly surged, and his heart seemed to be strangled with great force, and it "thumped" extremely heavily.
Long, smooth black hair, a flawless face, lively yet lazy brown eyes, and an odd yet harmonious outfit...
Vincent was not shocked by the man's exquisite appearance, but...
He had seen this impressive girl!
"You, you were the one that day..."
Vincent's face was pale, his lips trembled, and he murmured hesitantly.
A few days ago, when he took the "file" to the "Hibiscus Bar" where the informant had agreed to hand it over...suddenly a girl with long black hair rushed out from the corner and snatched the "file" from his arms at a speed that he could not react to at all.
Then, she easily knocked down and kidnapped the informant who was supposed to meet her for the handover, and disappeared from then on.
Vincent was deeply impressed by this incident and naturally would not forget the appearance of the black-haired girl who was the protagonist of the incident!
After that incident, Vincent left the Hibiscus Bar as if he was escaping, ran out of the downtown area at the fastest speed in his life, and took the dirty and crowded city subway back to the Imperial University.
In the days that followed, he was in a state of constant anxiety, spending every minute in anxiety and fear.
