“You broke our equipment.”
The Smurf’s voice was filled with anger, yet the corners of his mouth couldn’t help but turn upwards. “Now we can’t work all night. What do you say you’ll do to compensate?”
“How about I treat you guys to KFC?” Xing Chen patted the other’s shoulder. “Alright, your equipment isn’t broken. Our scanner is also acting up with this thing.”
“You mean, we’re holding all the substances the school’s current equipment can scan, at one hundred percent purity?”
“How would I know that?”
“Alright, stop arguing, have you guys heard…”
The three of them turned their heads simultaneously. Theresa, seeing them do this, also looked.
Is there something terrifying outside? Theresa was thinking this when suddenly, the three immediately sprang into action, stuffing her and the pile of trendy junk into a locker.
“What’s happening…?” “Shhh, don’t talk. The ‘X City slang’** is here.”
Theresa clutched her heel, which had hit the cabinet corner. Xing Chen slammed the locker door shut with a ‘bang’ and then locked it.
In the darkness, she saw through the illuminated door crack a man with a large, shiny bald spot on his head walk into the laboratory. Xing Chen and the other two were holding notebooks they’d found from who knows where, discussing some topic she couldn't understand at all, their faces flushed.
The bald man didn’t say anything. After standing in the laboratory for a while, he quietly left again.
After confirming that the supervising professor of the laboratory had left, Xing Chen let Theresa out.
“Who was that?” “Don’t mind him. He’s just ‘X City slang’.”
“Alright, so are we going home now?”
“Going home? What for?” The masked boy pulled out two boxes and said to Xing Chen and Theresa, “You came, and now you want to leave? Choose, poker or mahjong?”
...The next morning, Xing Chen, dragging a yawning Theresa, returned to the rental apartment.
“Xing Chen, is your daily entertainment always so… scheming?” Theresa vigorously rubbed her face, worried that the black paint hadn't washed off completely.
“It’s not bad,” Xing Chen scratched his face. Theresa wasn’t stupid; she just didn't like schemes, and his two friends were clearly trying to prank her. “One against three, and we still won. Their faces weren’t all scribbled on when we left. The ‘X City slang’ will be here to check the rooms soon.”
Back at the rental apartment, Xing Chen put Theresa on the bed. The Demon King quickly fell asleep, while he himself, perhaps due to his all-nighter habit, felt no drowsiness at all.
Xing Chen worked from morning until afternoon. In the evening, Theresa finally woke up. Xing Chen returned the remaining Originium crystal cluster to her; this thing was no longer useful to him.
Theresa took the black crystal, but her brows furrowed. Xing Chen noticed this slight abnormality and asked Theresa what was wrong.
“This Originium, its activity has completely disappeared.”
“Does that have any special significance?”
“Yes, it’s very significant,” Theresa paused intentionally, giving Xing Chen time to prepare himself. “The infection and onset of Oripathy are both inseparable from active Originium.”
“Originium activity varies. Originium formed by Catastrophes has the highest activity; even fully equipped in a Catastrophe, inhaling a tiny bit of dust has a high probability of infection. Originium absorbed by solidified Originium rocks and its civilian products have the lowest activity and can be used for industry and decoration. But even so, there have been Gaul nobles infected by being scratched by an Originium product on a ring.”
“And this Originium, I can’t feel a single bit of activity, which means it’s a completely harmless Originium.”
(This is the second half of today’s chapter)