Chapter 27 (Part 10)
Note: This chapter is supposed to contain three updates in one - parts 10, 11, and 12. But it's honestly too long for me translate in one go, so I'm splitting it into three.
Cheng Xuyuan brushed off Fu Yunci's hand, which had somehow wound up around his waist, trying to maintain his cool while getting up.
"Wow, your waist is incredibly strong, Maoqiu," Fu Yunci, who had just stood up from the ground, said with a shy smile.
Yin Qingcheng, whose face wasn't particularly fair, seemed even darker at this. Annoyed, he coldly called out to Maoqiu, "Get over here."
Cheng Xuyuan, not understanding how he angered the protagonist yet again, reluctantly walked over, giving Yin Qingcheng an innocent look.
Yin Qingcheng glared at the unrepentant boy, quickly grabbing his arm and pulling him to his side. He shot a possessive glance at Fu Yuncè.
"Are you afraid your pet is going to run off with someone else?" Fu Yunci mocked, his lips curling into a taunting smile. "Although, I can't blame you. Who could resist this handsome, charming, loyal, and wealthy young master?"
Yin Qingchang's eyes twitched a couple of times, but before he could retort, Yun Yi started to speak, "When are you going to fix this habit of yours of self-glorification?"
Fu Yunci and Yun Yi were once brothers. A few years ago, Yun Yi had ignored his family's objections and gone to Africa on a teaching volunteer program. Since then, they'd heard nothing from him. He only sent emails to greet his family during the New Year. This irritated Fu Yunci greatly.
"Big brother, didn't you go to South Africa for volunteering?" Fu Yuncè raised his eyebrows and asked, "When did Shen Wu Academy open a branch in South Africa?"
Yun Yi remained silent.
Yin Qingcheng's attention was also fully on Yun Yi. He asked, "Mr. Yun Yi... no, I should call you Mr. Fu Yun Yi. Can you tell me who exactly ordered the expulsion of the nine students, including me?"
Yun Yi looked up at Yin Qingcheng, his lips moved but no words came out.
After a moment, he leisurely walked past the three of them, and said indifferently, "It was the school's order, and it has nothing to do with me."
"Stop!" Yin Qingcheng shouted angrily, "The school claimed that the eight students had been missing for several days, and the expulsion was your own decision, wasn't it?!"
Cheng Xuyuan and Fu Yunci stared intently at Yun Yi.
Yun Yi turned his head, his cold face filled with disdain. A moment later, he said indifferently, "Expulsion is expulsion, and disappearance is disappearance. Expelling them was the school's order, while their disappearance was due to them leaving without a word. What's the problem?"
Yin Qingcheng's eyes flickered, and he asked hesitantly, "But Devin said that shortly after he was expelled, he immediately met someone from the Human World Tribunal who brought him there..."
"Then you should go to the tribunal." Yun Yi's cold gaze swept over Cheng Xuyuan, his voice without any emotions, "In other words, these people left without even packing up their dormitory. If that's not disappearing, what is it?"
"But why would you expel top students..."
"I've told you." Yun Yi frowned, his tone full of impatience, "It was the school's order."
With that, he walked away without looking back.
Cheng Xuyuan was left completely confused. Watching Yun Yi's retreating back, he turned to Fu Yunci and said, "Your brother is quite cool."
Fu Yunci frowned and said, "Am I not cool? Am I not handsome? Am I not..."
"Shut up." Yin Qingcheng really wanted to punch this guy in the face, "This matter is too strange, we need to leave here quickly."
After walking out of the warehouse, Yin Qingcheng, who was more familiar with the campus environment, led the two into the teaching area. The majestic buildings and beautiful scenery of Shen Wu Academy left Fu Yunci's mouth agape, exclaiming in awe all the way.
Cheng Xuyuan was perplexed and finally unable to bear it, he said, "We are here to investigate a case, not as a senior tourist group."
"Wow, that mouse is on fire!" Fu Yunci exaggeratedly pointed at a fire spirit mouse darting by, "Is it going to roast itself?"
Cheng Xuyuan: "…"
Yin Qingcheng looked around and, after pondering for a moment, said to the two, "It seems that we can't get anything from Yun Yi, and going straight to the principal's office might alert them as well."
Cheng Xuyuan asked, "So, what should we do now?"
"Do you remember what Devin said?" Yin Qingcheng walked and talked with the two, "He said that he was once invited to the temple as one of the top ten students for a visit. The top eight students from those ten are dead. The only thing we can do now is to find the ninth and tenth students."
Cheng Xuyuan felt that what he said made a lot of sense, so he followed him into a classroom.
This was a class Yin Qingcheng used to attend, now having a theoretical class in a lecture hall. The three of them reached the classroom door, just as the bell rang for the end of the class.
Watching the students file out of the classroom, Yin Qingcheng quickly stopped one of them and pulled her aside.
"Yin Qingcheng?" Hanazaki Saki was surprised to see him, "What are you doing here..." She looked at the two strangers beside him, feeling very puzzled.
"Time is of the essence, and we have something to ask you." Yin Qingcheng gestured for her to leave, "Let's find a place to talk."
Seeing the tense faces of the three, Hanazaki Saki hesitated for a moment and then nodded in agreement.
Under Yin Qingcheng's lead, everyone came to a coffee shop on campus. The coffee made by the magicians had a unique aroma that made Fu Yunci and Cheng Xuyuan's eyes sparkle.
Yin Qingcheng looked at the two people drinking the coffee excessively, reminding them kindly, "This is coffee, not milk tea."
The two ignored him, continuing to gulp down their drinks.
Hanazaki Saki tried hard to suppress a smile, and asked Yin Qingcheng seriously, "Classmate Yin Qingcheng, what matter brought you back from the human world?"
"I wanted to ask you about something related to Devin." Yin Qingcheng took a sip of his coffee, "Last term, the school invited the top ten students to visit the sacred temple, and you happened to be the tenth. Do you remember that?"
Hanazaki Saki nodded quickly, "I remember. I will never forget the aura of the Phantom God. However..."
"However what?" Yin Qingcheng asked.
"In reality, only the top eight got in direct contact with the Phantom God." Hua Saki tried hard to recall, "The ninth-ranked boy and I just had a brief look from outside the room where the phantom god was sleeping."
Cheng Xuyuan lifted his head from his coffee cup, asking puzzledly, "Why only the top eight?"
Hanazaki Saki shook her head, saying uncertainly, "I'm not sure about that, but I heard that's because the spot where the Phantom God is sleeping is special. He's sleeping in an octagonal formation, and there are only eight points around the formation..."
Yin Qingcheng fell into a deep thought, and after a while, asked again: "Who organized your visit?"
"It was the principal himself at first," Hanazaki Saki thought for a while and said, "but I don't know why, it turned into the Dean of the Fire Division, that is, Master Yun Yi, midway."
The three exchanged glances and came to a firm conclusion: There's definitely something off about Yun Yi.
________________________
After talking with Hanazaki Saki for a while, unable to extract more useful information, Yin Qingcheng finally let her leave.
At this point, it was already past noon. Yin Qingcheng, along with Maoqiu and Fu Yunci, went to a small restaurant outside the school for lunch. The fragrant aroma of the food drove the two greenhorns crazy again.
"This is too delicious..." Fu Yunci stuffed a big spoonful of fried rice into his mouth, "I feel like I've reached the peak of my life."
Cheng Xuyuan quickly scooped a big spoonful from his bowl and stuffed it into his own mouth.
Yin Qingcheng's previously good mood suddenly turned grim. He looked coldly at the boy's actions, itching to break his hand.
Cheng Xuyuan, oblivious to this, was about to reach into Yin Qingcheng's bowl.
Yin Qingcheng forcefully blocked his attempt with a chopstick. The blocked boy looked up at him with a wronged expression, failing to comprehend why he was being so cold-hearted.
"You eat from his bowl." Yin Qingcheng hooked the corner of his mouth into a smile, "His tastes better."
Cheng Xuyuan reluctantly took back his hand, unwillingly saying, "Fine, then I'll eat his..." As he spoke, he stretched out his spoon towards Fu Yunci's bowl.
Yin Qingcheng kept smiling, and the message in his eyes was: If you dare to eat it, you will die.
Cheng Xuyuan awkwardly put his spoon back, complaining to the system, "Why is this protagonist so tsundere and difficult? Even my cat isn't this high-maintenance…"
Rarely criticizing, the system replied, "At least Yin Qingcheng doesn't require you to clean up after him."
Cheng Xuyuan responded, "I'm trying to eat dinner here, you annoying system…"
Yin Qingcheng, the haughty cat lord, continued to watch Cheng Xuyuan with indifferent eyes. His expression softened a bit only after Cheng Xuyuan finished his bowl of rice, not leaving a single grain left. He then called the waiter to refill the bowl.
Fu Yunci yelled, "I want some too!"
"Eat as much as you want," Yin Qingcheng replied with a smile, "But I won't be paying for it."
Fu Yunci snorted disdainfully, about to retort about needing such measly money, when suddenly several tall, brawny men in black stormed through the restaurant entrance.
The men in black looked around for a moment at the doorway, then walked directly towards Yin Qingcheng's table and surrounded the group.
Cheng Xuyuan slowly set down his spoon and looked up at these people.
"What do you want?" Yin Qingcheng asked cautiously.
The person in black at the front pulled out a badge, presenting it to everyone, on which the words "Judgement Office," glowing in golden characters, were emblazoned, casting a cold light.
Curiously, Fu Yunci asked Cheng Xuyuan in a low voice, "What's the Judgement Office?"
Cheng Xuyuan softly replied, "It's like a police station in the human world."
Frowning, Yin Qingcheng said, "The Judgement Office... why have they come looking for us?"
"We've received new information," the lead individual in black announced, emanating a powerful aura, "All eight of the missing students from Shen Wu Academy have been murdered."
Cheng Xuyuan looked at him puzzled, "So? What does this have to do with us?"
"You are the suspects."
The icy tone of the person in black sent a chill down their spines, and his words took the three standing there by surprise.
Fu Yunci's eyes widened in disbelief, "Are you mistaken? I work for the Special Affairs Department. I've seen these two personally save Shanghai and Beijing!"
"The bodies underwent a second examination at the Judgment Office." The person in black appeared unfazed by the protest, "Each of the eight deceased had been contaminated with the aura of a vessel—"
As he spoke, the person in black stared directly at Yin Qingcheng, continuing, "You should know what I mean, right?"
Yin Qingcheng looked at him in disbelief, trying hard to calm himself before saying, "This is impossible; you must have made a mistake. Moreover, there's the Special Affairs Department to testify for me. I have been in the hotel arranged by the department the entire time during those days."
The lead person in black took out a mobile phone from his pocket and opened the screen to reveal a recording of the head of the Special Affairs Shanghai Branch. He pressed the play button, and the leader's voice came through.
"Yin Qingcheng..."
On the screen, the branch leader looked down at a document for a moment, then raised his head and said, "I apologize, but our Special Affairs Department hasn't met this person."
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