Humming a tune and swinging his pipe, Lao Yao walked with a cheerful rhythm to a jujube-red wooden door.
Shen Tu and Yu Lei, who were sitting cross-legged on the door, lifted their eyelids, glanced at his shiny slicked-back hair, and then refocused their attention on the playing cards in their hands.
"Three Kings, you can't beat that!"
"Who says I can't? Three Aces!"
"Damn it, a pair of Jokers!" Shen Tu grumbled as he threw out a pair of Daxiongmao: "Try to beat that!"
Yu Lei, the Door God, whose hand was crushed, pulled at his black battle robe with a dark face, stood up, and shouted to Lao Yao, "Why are you all getting out of class so early today? Are you misleading your Disciples?"
The Golden-Eyed White Tiger at his feet heard the noise, lifted its head, lazily opened its mouth, yawned, and revealed two sharp fangs.
"First day of school, first class, just old sayings." Lao Yao took two deep drags from his pipe, exhaled a thick cloud of smoke, obscuring the White Tiger, and then asked, "Are they all out of class?"
Yu Lei used his foot to push aside the White Tiger slumped on the ground, squatted beside the door lock, and nodded, "They're all here."
The White Tiger grumbled twice in dissatisfaction, got up, shook its brilliant white fur, and walked out of the painting with unhurried steps.
Shen Tu, clutching his cards, shouted loudly from the right side, "Come on, come on, I've already played! A small Three!"
"Daxiongmao is gone, what are you still playing cards for!" Lao Yao narrowed his eyes, tapped the door knocker beast with his pipe, and chuckled, "You guys just need this Little Elves to guard the door on weekdays, no need to do everything yourselves!"
The door knocker beast rolled its bronze eyes, biting the peeling black door knocker with a creaking sound.
"This is the rule!" Yu Lei raised his head, unlocked the door, shrugged at Lao Yao, and snorted, "You old Wizards don't understand!"
The jujube-red wooden door creaked open a crack.
Lao Yao, biting his pipe, did not continue to bicker with the Door Gods, but pushed open the wooden door and walked straight in.
Behind the door was a spacious large room.
The interior decoration was unusually eerie.
The floor was covered with a black wool carpet, with no patterns, only large blocks of heavy color.
The four walls were hung with four large tapestries, with base colors of red, white, yellow, and blue; the tapestries were woven with intricate images and patterns that made one dizzy to look at.
Between the red and white tapestries was a huge floor-to-ceiling window.
Two silver-gray floor-length curtains were half-closed, blocking most of the bright sunlight outside the window.
This made the light in the room somewhat insufficient.
But the golden-red candelabra chandelier on the ceiling compensated for this shortcoming, providing many necessary colors to the room.
In the center of the room was a low, round table, surrounded by several sets of black leather low-back sofas.
The sofas sat silently on the black carpet, having a special invisible effect.
Several Professors in black robes were leaning back on the low-back sofas, holding steaming tea cups, whispering to each other, and conversing in low voices.
Little Elves moved quietly through the room, silently pouring tea and water for the Professors.
Hearing the door open, the black-robed figures all looked up.
Lao Yao stood at the doorway, handing his lecture notes to a Little Elves attending nearby.
"What's so happy about?" A thin, pale Professor looked at Lao Yao and asked softly, "I heard a few good prospects went into your class, how do you feel about them?"
"Unexpected!" Lao Yao exaggeratedly raised his eyebrows, taking the tea handed to him by a Little Elves.
"Unexpectedly good, or unexpectedly bad?" A tall, stout male teacher with flushed cheeks and a huge red nose laughed boisterously, "Or, unexpectedly troublesome?"
The Professors sitting around chuckled knowingly, and the dull, dim lounge was momentarily filled with cheerful air.
"Good news stays indoors, bad news travels a thousand miles." Lao Yao also laughed, placing his teacup on the low table, leaning against the black leather sofa, stretching comfortably, and sighing, shaking his head, "The world is degenerating, and people's hearts are no longer what they used to be!"
"It's already spread throughout the school. Several Nine Provinces College freshmen started trouble on Beta Town Pedestrian Street and beat up a group of Alpha seniors until they were bruised and battered." A short, stout female Professor with black curly hair rolled her eyes and snorted, "According to the rumors, it seems Nine Provinces College has completely overshadowed Alpha!"
"It's not that people's hearts are no longer what they used to be, it's that people's hearts are unpredictable." The thin Professor shook his head, changing the subject, "How are the two class monitors I recommended?"
"They are indeed good." Lao Yao gave a thumbs up and praised, "Professor An also mentioned that boy to me this morning; he performed well in First Square. He's a good prospect."
"Is it too radical for your College to put so many top students into one class this time?" The tall, stout male Professor with flushed cheeks took a sip of tea and looked up, asking, "If you do this, it will be difficult for the other classes to stand out."
"They are all from the same College, so it doesn't matter whether they stand out or not." Lao Yao smiled carelessly.
The black-haired female Professor snorted forcefully.
"Speaking of standing out, Trident Sword has been very active in this special plane accident." The male Professor with flushed cheeks held a huge wine glass, shaking his head thoughtfully, "This time, they forcefully inserted themselves into the investigation team."
"Who told that noodle from Trident Sword to have such good chopsticks to pick him up?" The black-haired female Professor scoffed, "Didn't you see how our great acting Principal Ms. Shi Hui agreed to Trident Sword's proposal in a blink of an eye?"
She bit the word 'acting' especially clearly, as if afraid others would overlook it.
But this remark seemed to embarrass the other Professors.
The lounge fell silent for a moment.
"Trident Sword's new boss is her Disciple, that's right. But you can't say she's selfish." Lao Yao smiled wryly, trying to ease the atmosphere, "Everyone knows her nature of hating evil like a sworn enemy. I think the key is that the airline company belongs to the Moonlight Council."
"Moreover, Robert is Trident Sword's new director after all, don't always call him 'noodle'. It doesn't look good for anyone."
The female Professor straightened her face, snorted, and said nothing.
"Principal Shi hasn't been in her office lately, has she gone to Black Prison?" The tall, red-nosed man looked at Lao Yao and asked loudly.
"Silence!" The other teachers quickly spoke up.
"Hahahaha!" The tall, red-nosed man laughed boisterously and said loudly, "Why be so nervous! It doesn't matter at all... Is someone eavesdropping on us?"
"Haha, it doesn't matter!" Lao Yao said with a chuckle, "Indeed, there's no need to be too nervous. It's just that I haven't seen her lately either. I'm not sure about the specific situation, but it's a troublesome matter after all!"
"She's deployed too many people recently." The thin Professor shook his head worriedly, "Just like on this special plane, if it weren't for those children fighting desperately, the consequences would have been unimaginable."
"It's already unimaginable." The short, stout female Professor pulled a long face, annoyed, "How could the guards make such a big mistake! They actually let a small fairy get into the cabin!"
"Perhaps it's related to the special plane?" Another Professor guessed, "When the Linked Cloud Boat was used back then, this kind of situation never occurred—the Magic Writing on the Linked Cloud Boat was carved for eighty-one layers!"
"The guard team was interfered with, which is why they were exploited." Lao Yao still had a smile on his face, but this smile seemed particularly cold.
...
Soon, Lao Yao, swinging the spell book in his hand, strode out of the lounge and disappeared into a round door in the wall.
Soon, the other Professors also left one after another.
The lounge returned to quiet.
After a long time.
In the corner behind the office door.
A black shadow emerged from the gap in the broom, turned into a black butterfly, and disappeared into the dark corridor.
On the small tea table.
A pile of ashes knocked off by the Professors rose without wind, swirled repeatedly in the dim lounge, and turned into a spark, suddenly vanishing.