Chapter 8: She’s Anxious; This Is the Price of Freedom
Xu Lie’s life had been very stable recently: eating, sleeping, studying Alchemy, and familiarizing himself with the nine great primordial substances.
At the end of each day, he would set aside some time, exhaust his spirituality, and perform the ritual for creating a clone.
His self-discipline and intense studying even bewildered the innkeeper; he didn’t know when this young man, who left every day, ever returned.
Xu Lie finished the last page of the book and then wrote some alchemical symbols in his nearby notebook.
As expected of the core technology of Dragon Lord civilization, this Alchemy was quite something; the more he studied, the more Xu Lie could feel its profound mysteries.
What was even more pleasant was that, with the in-depth deciphering of Alchemy, the Cryptologist potion’s digestion progress soared.
This feeling of receiving the most direct positive feedback every time he studied was the key to Xu Lie’s ability to maintain self-discipline.
After understanding the principles of these alchemical symbols and their application in permutations and combinations, Xu Lie entered Sefirah Castle with anticipation.
He couldn’t wait to learn new alchemical knowledge.
“Has the Preparatory Class clone sent over today’s Alchemy books yet?”
Bao Lie rubbed his eyes, still half-asleep, and glanced at the empty gray fog to his left: “Evidently, it hasn’t been shipped yet.”
“Did something happen?” Xu Lie guessed that there might have been an accident on the Preparatory Class side.
The reason he had been able to study diligently these past few days was entirely due to the Preparatory Class clone sacrificing books on time.
If the books hadn’t been sent by now, it could only mean something had gone wrong with the clone.
“Ha~” Bao Lie let out a big yawn and closed his eyes again: “Main body, why don’t you make a call and ask?”
“It’s better than asking me, a lazy clone in Sefirah Castle.”
Coming down from the gray fog, Xu Lie sent a text message to the Preparatory Class clone, but it was like a mud ox entering the sea, with no news.
Xu Lie didn't overthink it; there was a fundamental soul connection between the clone and his main body. While they usually couldn't communicate directly, Xu Lie could still sense whether the clone was dead or not.
It was just temporarily unable to communicate, not a big problem, as long as it wasn't dead.
The open-minded Xu Lie opened his notebook, reviewed the Alchemy knowledge from a few days ago, and waited patiently for about two hours before the Preparatory Class clone's call finally came through.
“There’s good news and bad news, Main body, which one do you want to hear first?”
Xu Lie put down the pen in his right hand, pinched the bridge of his nose to relieve mental fatigue, and mused, was his clone really this playful?
“I personally prefer to endure hardship first, then enjoy. When I eat bitter melon stir-fried with eggs, I always eat the bitter melon first, then the eggs. So, let’s hear the bad news first.”
The sound from the flip phone, still common in this era, was loud: “The entire College was on high alert earlier.”
“All the teachers and students were in a chaotic mess. The teachers were comforting and protecting the students, telling them to gather in the auditorium.”
“I was able to make this call because I snuck out. The bad news is that with things so chaotic, it might be impossible to borrow books today, or even tomorrow.”
“The Preparatory Class teachers and security guards will probably be escorting us students back and forth these two days, so there won’t be an opportunity for sacrifice.”
“As for the reason for the chaos, I just found out: it seems our Alchemy Teacher was attacked.”
“The entire teachers’ villa collapsed, severely damaged. The Alchemy Teacher was buried under the rubble, but was rescued in time and is not in any life-threatening danger.”
“?” Xu Lie had an impression of the Alchemy Teacher. She had introduced herself in class as a top student from the Alchemy and Chemistry major at Cassell Main Campus.
At that time, she seemed to have received an invitation from the Cassel Equipment Department, but because she was attached to her homeland, she refused the Equipment Department and returned to teach in the Preparatory Class.
Why was she suddenly attacked? Was there such a plot in the original novel?
Or was it a butterfly effect caused by him?
The clone understood the main body very well and immediately guessed his thoughts: “Yes, we caused it.”
“Most of the people in this Preparatory Class are students. Even if outsiders have a problem with Cassell, it’s unlikely they’d specifically target the Alchemy Teacher. The principal and director here in the Preparatory Class are all fine.”
“So I suspect that she’s anxious and continuing to probe, because I checked the class schedule, and there was no Alchemy class or history class that day.”
Xu Lie understood that the clone was referring to Xia Mi, and that “that day” referred to the visit to deceive Fenrir. He fully agreed with this deduction.
Besides Xia Mi, he couldn’t think of anyone else who would target the Alchemy Teacher.
The clone had mentioned before that Xia Mi had tried to probe the clone in the infirmary, but found nothing. Now she’s laid hands on the Alchemy Teacher?
It seems this Dragon King is truly a bit anxious.
She urgently wants to find out who the ‘Huang Tao’ of the Preparatory Class is.
Xu Lie could understand Xia Mi’s feelings. She had been hiding in human society for so many years, restless, and just as she was about to infiltrate Cassell, such an incident occurred. Anyone in her shoes would be anxious.
It was just a pity that in her first attempt to probe, Xia Mi had already missed the correct answer.
“What about the good news?”
“The teachers just announced in the auditorium that the Main Campus will send a special commissioner to investigate the matter.”
“Because the Preparatory Class teachers searched through all surveillance and scoured the campus, but found no clues or traces of external invasion. In desperation, they sought help from the Main Campus.”
This was indeed good news.
Xu Lie silently pondered how to gain benefits from this unexpected event. He had always wanted to infiltrate Cassell College.
As everyone knows, most of the talented individuals in the Dragon Lord world are concentrated in Cassell College.
And Xu Lie, on his side, needed to find people to become gods, to help mediate the conflict between the nine great primordial substances and the universe.
It was always easier to cultivate talented individuals with good aptitude and temperament than to cultivate ordinary people.
In short, Xu Lie coveted Cassell’s student body and wanted to poach their talent.
Suffering from a lack of connections and relevant intelligence, Xu Lie didn’t even know which way the Cassell Door opened.
The original novel only described Cassell as being located in the suburbs of Chicago. Chicago is so vast; if he were to cross the ocean and search slowly, when would he ever find it?
Not to mention, Cassell College also possessed the era-transcending artificial intelligence, Noma. If he lingered around the suburbs of Chicago for too long, he would definitely be noticed by Noma.
Xu Lie had originally thought that after Huang Tie Kou was promoted, he would perform a parasitic ritual and then try to use divination to find the exact address of Cassell College.
Now it seems that it wouldn’t be so troublesome; the Cassell commissioner was coming right to them.
“Very good.” Xu Lie also became energized: “You’ll have to work hard these next few days. Notify me as soon as the commissioner arrives.”
“Not hard, just a hard life.” A strong sense of resentment came through the phone’s receiver: “Clones have no human rights!”
“Looking at the way the Alchemy Teacher was attacked, I’m really afraid that one day, in the middle of the night, she’ll single-handedly blow my head off while I’m asleep.”
“She’s so anxious now, who knows what madness she’ll come up with next? If she can’t find Huang Tao through probing, she might come looking again.”
Xu Lie couldn’t help but laugh, remembering the lazy Bao Lie: “Why don’t you swap with the clones inside the Sefirah?”
“They’re quite envious of you acting outside, saying that staying in the Sefirah with nothing to do is making them so idle they’re almost losing control.”
“No, I’ll pass.” The Preparatory Class clone decisively refused. Entering the Sefirah was no different from being in prison. Taking some risks was fine.
It’s better than being in prison anyway. Perhaps this is the price of freedom.