Work?
Though Aya Tone often claimed he loathed working, he knew that without it, there would be no money to be had.
As someone now within the system, drawing a state salary, he understood his duties were inescapable.
Unless, of course, something truly urgent arose.
Like, for instance, this very moment!
“Hello?”
As the call connected, Fire Finch’s voice, laced with palpable irritation, resounded from the other end.
“Where the hell are you?”
Leaning back in her executive chair, Fire Finch unleashed a torrent of words into her phone.
What in the world was Aya Tone doing?
Hadn’t she just reminded him a couple of days ago? Yet, here it was, early morning, and the academy’s reception staff had reported no sign of Aya Tone.
Surely he wasn’t still in bed, was he?
“Uh…”
Aya Tone fell silent for a moment, ultimately deciding it best to tell the truth.
“President, I might… well, I’ll be arriving a little late.”
Fire Finch sighed, confirming her suspicions entirely.
“Alright, out with it. What’s the reason this time?”
“Actually, it’s nothing major. I just forgot today was also Aya Jiu’s first day of school, and you know, she can’t have Big White drop her off on the first day…” Aya Tone confessed, a touch of embarrassment in his voice.
His mind had apparently gone completely blank during the holiday, as he only recalled this matter past midnight last night.
And then he just… well, never mind.
Fire Finch: “…”
Calm down, it’s fine!
Fine, my foot!
“The opening ceremony starts at ten, and it’s already past nine. What exactly do you plan to do?”
“I’m already at the high-speed rail station, almost there! Trust me!”
“…Do you even know the way, then?”
Fire Finch pressed a hand to her forehead, knowing the person she’d sent to meet Aya Tone had long since returned to the guild, having waited in vain.
If Aya Tone arrived at this hour, it was almost guaranteed that an accident would occur.
Hearing the sudden silence from the other end of the line, Fire Finch knew the answer.
With a sigh of resignation, she said, “Don’t wander off. I’ll send someone back for you.”
****
Having hung up his phone, Aya Tone stood at the high-speed rail station exit, backpack slung over his shoulders, looking utterly bewildered.
Fire Finch had been right; he truly had no idea where the academy was located.
As it was a newly established combat academy, it hadn’t yet been marked on maps, and even the city’s drivers were unlikely to know of its existence.
In this unfamiliar city before him, it seemed he genuinely knew no one.
He had originally planned to follow his usual routine from the imperial capital: find his guild, mooch off them, and… bah!
No, it was supposed to be: find his guild, inquire thoroughly, and then make further plans.
Since Fire Finch had promised to send someone to pick him up, he figured waiting patiently was the best course of action; it would save him a few dozen yuan in taxi fare.
Nice!
Just then, a tall staff member approached from a distance.
Leaning down, they spoke in a gentle voice, “Little one, are you here alone? Where are your parents?”
Though Aya Tone’s hat was quite obtrusive, obscuring his face entirely.
The staff member, however, instinctively judged based on Aya Tone’s height.
Elementary school students these days developed quite quickly, and with his backpack, Aya Tone looked like a child who had become separated from their parents.
Thus, from their perspective, this child was in need of assistance.
“Ah, well, I’m waiting for someone, and I’m actually an adult…” Aya Tone said, waving a hand dismissively.
“Oh! My apologies, truly.”
The staff member hadn’t expected to make such a blunder.
And what’s more…
This young lady’s voice was truly pleasant.
“Miss, perhaps we should move to the waiting area over there? Standing in the aisle like this, you’re quite likely to be bumped by the passing crowds.”
Hearing this, Aya Tone glanced left and right, realizing he truly was standing directly in the aisle.
Around him, a steady stream of people, dragging suitcases, flowed past, each person carefully navigating around him as they headed towards the main exit.
Standing there like that, he truly was quite in the way…
“So, I’ll head over there?”
****
Several kilometers from Nanan High-Speed Rail Station, at a traffic light, a man had just ended a call.
He then checked the time: 9:56 AM.
Next, his gaze flickered to the red light, which had already begun its countdown.
Hmm! That was a countdown to takeoff!
With a flick of his turn signal, he started in third gear, and the car instantly transformed into a streaking dragon, cutting across from the right straight lane all the way to the left turning lane.
Drifting through the turn.
His foot slammed the accelerator to the floor, as he sped frantically back in the direction he had come from.
Returning to the high-speed rail station, the man abandoned his car directly at the entrance, not even bothering to turn off the engine, and sprinted straight into the waiting hall.
“Senior, we need to go.”
“Huh?” Still clutching his phone, Aya Tone was suddenly seized by the collar and yanked straight off his chair.
Not far away, the staff member who had been discretely observing the situation, upon witnessing this, immediately assumed it was a criminal publicly abducting someone.
In an instant, alarms blared throughout the high-speed rail station.
“Xiao Ming, is that you?”
Aya Tone twisted his head, recognizing his captor as none other than Li Jia’s younger brother, Li Huaiming.
“No time to explain, we need to go now!”
Li Huaiming, still holding Aya Tone aloft, moved with incredible speed, traversing the long staircase in just two leaps, arriving directly at the ground-level parking area.
“Senior, in you go!”
Extraordinary times called for extraordinary measures.
After all, in Li Huaiming’s mind, Aya Tone no longer commanded the dignity befitting an S-rank powerhouse, so…
He flung open the rear car door, unceremoniously tossed the white-haired figure he was holding inside, slammed the door shut, and swiftly returned to the driver’s seat.
With a stomp on the accelerator, the car instantly transformed into a runaway wild horse, vanishing from the high-speed rail station’s entrance.
Leaving the belated security personnel in its wake.
“Call the police! Quickly, call the police!”
The staff member rushed out, breathless, only to see that the culprit’s car had already disappeared from sight.
The surrounding security personnel exchanged bewildered glances, then handed the staff member a card.
“Dragon Court Academy Assistant Instructor, Li Huaiming?” the staff member murmured under their breath.
Immediately, their expression hardened!
Even a public official couldn’t just abduct someone in broad daylight like that!
****
“Xiao Ming, aren’t you only a third-year student? How did you end up as an assistant instructor already?”
Aya Tone, settled in the back seat, let out a sigh of wonder. Was this truly the power of connections?
It truly was enviable.
Li Huaiming kept his eyes fixed on the road ahead, skillfully weaving the car through traffic as he spoke:
“Speaking of which, I owe it all to you, Senior. If you hadn’t helped me slay that Mountain Giant, I truly wouldn’t have this opportunity.”
As it turned out, after leaving Sparrow God Village that day,
Li Huaiming had, predictably, spent half a month recuperating in the hospital.
During that time, several investigators had arrived to probe the incident of the rampaging dungeon near Sparrow God Village.
It also served as an assessment of Li Huaiming’s abilities.
Undergoing therapeutic regulation at the hospital, his forcibly expanded meridians had stabilized, and the flow rate of energy within him had increased by severalfold.
Not only had his internal energy been enhanced, but his physical body had also broken through to B-rank.
If, upon their first meeting, Li Huaiming had merely been a quasi-B-rank, he was now a true B-rank powerhouse.
The kind who could rank among the younger generation of Z-country.
Aya Tone had truly misunderstood Li Huaiming on this point, for he had genuinely earned his assistant instructor position through sheer talent.
“Oh, right, then… could you possibly drive a little slower? I’m… ugh!”
Li Huaiming’s flamboyant driving continued to weave through traffic, and witnessing the speedometer hover well over a hundred, Aya Tone was already feeling utterly carsick.
“Don’t worry, Senior. This car belongs to my dad. If the police have any issues, they can just take it up with him.”
At the thought of so thoroughly implicating his father, a mischievous grin couldn’t help but spread across Li Huaiming’s lips.
To be able to perform such acts of filial piety, sanctioned by fate itself, he truly!
He was absolutely ecstatic!!!
Aya Tone: Σ_(꒪ཀ꒪」∠) Ugh!
Help! Save me!
I want to get out!