NOVEL NEXT
Chapter 168: New Students’ Martial Tournament
The gears of fate eclipsed everyone, with no one capable of escaping from their grasp.
Every move and action, every thought and desire, they were all preordained by fate.
…………
‘There’s not a single good vampire in this world.’
“If that short white-haired loli were to be dissected one day, they’d find her insides all rotten! Mhm…”
“Mr. Ji Bai…”
*Daze…*
“Mr. Ji Bai?”
*Daydreaming…*
“Mr, Ji Bai~?”
An unique aromatic smell assailing his senses roused Ji Bai from his frozen solid state. After he came back to his senses, a pair of soft, white dumpling objects entered his sight.
“…Hmm?” Ji Bai tilted his head. With the use of his half-awake brain, he began to analyze the situation in front of him and plan his next steps.
While intelligent creatures restrained their instincts through the use of logic, there were sudden situations where the former triumphed over the latter. A good example would be the predicament that the stupefied Ji Bai was in at present, who was afflicted with a double debuff from ‘Intelligence reduction strike’1 and ‘Monkey Clan: Intellect Deduction Method’2.
Perhaps it was the instinct of a male creature or the desire towards a maternal embrace; Something had compelled Ji Bai to obey his first desire and drove him towards those objects.
And thus, this was the origin of the two cat claw marks on his face.
“Brother Ji Bai, you seem to be a bit listless today.”
“Do I…?” Ji Bai let out a yawn.
“The dark circles around your eyes, as well as those cat claw marks, where did they…
“An accident.”
“Oh… By the way, when you were absent from class last afternoon, Teacher Lin Tuo was informed that you’ve caught some indescribable disease and would need to rest for a couple of days…”
“Hehe.” The expressionless Ji Bai gave a rare smile while wearing his dead-fish eyes. However, that was even more unsightly than crying.
…………
“Oh dear~ Whether it is keeping a secret or anything else, I definitely wouldn’t refuse a request coming from my adorable and innocent little niece. However…” The little white-haired devilspawn moved within earshot of the destitute and pitiful girl curled up under the blankets and changed subjects.
“In the future, come to Aunt Anna’s place for a sleepover once a week. Ehe~ I’m sure you can do that, right? …If I don’t see you, I’ll have to rely on some other measures.” A smile covered the little devil’s face as she lightly poked at the bright neck of the young girl with a beautiful finger.
…………
“…Can we not talk about this matter?” Ji Bai supported his head with his hand, as a trace of weariness revealed itself on his expressionless face.
“Oh, alright.” Huo Lei noticed Ji Bai’s expression which suggested that it was a long story and consciously withheld his curiosity, no longer inquiring further.
“Everyone, get back to your seats. Class is about to begin.” The first thing Lin Tuo did upon entering the classroom was to shoot a glance at the completely worn-out Ji Bai, before averting his particularly meaningful gaze elsewhere.
Just yesterday afternoon, he had gotten a call from someone he had never spoken to on the phone before — The acting Chivalric Head of the Moon Knights.
“Hello~? Am I speaking to Sire Lin Tuo?”
“Sorry to trouble you, but a student from your class, Ji Bai, is suddenly experiencing a sinking pain in the lower abdomen, together with symptoms such as fatigue, nausea, vomiting and a desire for sour food… Anyway, to sum it up, he3 has fallen ill. I’m going to help him apply for a leave of absence this afternoon.”
‘Doesn’t this feel somewhat similar to an imperial decree?’
“Oh? His current whereabouts? Well, in my bed, of course~ Ehehe~ Anyway, I’ll leave this matter to you~ Beep, beep, beep… (*Hangs up*)”
Even when five minutes had passed since the conversation ended, Lin Tuo continued to remain still. The only exception to this was the hand holding the phone, which slightly trembled.
If he hadn’t heard it loud and clear, he would have suspected that he was still half-asleep or that there were some issues with his ears.
‘I’d be damned! As suspected, this chap is someone with a background indeed! No wonder why the lad could talk and laugh wittily on the executioner’s chair time after time again, even when his troublesome nature had continuously made a tomfoolery out of the entire order! So he’s actually an extremely ruthless person! Despite entering the order less than a month ago, he was able to get on someone’s coattail and conquer that married loli of a Chivalry Head! My god, such skill and poise… It’s simply unfathomable! He’s someone I can’t afford to offend, not now and not in the future.’
Having reached such a conclusion, Lin Tuo used a wet cloth to wipe his dust-covered black rimmed glasses on the table before placing them on his nose.
…………
After the class had ended.
“Cough, cough…” Lin Tuo walked next to Ji Bai and gave a series of mock coughs.
“…” However, it was to no avail, as Ji Bai continued to wear his dead-fish eyes and looked out towards the window.
“Cough, cough, cough…” Lin Tuo strengthened his tone.
“…” Even still, he failed to elicit a response from Ji Bai.
“Cough, cough… Uhm, Ji Bai?”
“…Just get straight to the point.” Having long since noticed these ‘subtle’ actions of Lin Tuo, Ji Bai turned his head around, his dark-circled dead-fish eyes making him seem incomparably comical.
“Sigh…” Upon witnessing Ji Bai’s appearance, Lin Tuo heaved a sigh of lament and patted his shoulder.
“Although you youngsters have an abundant vitality that allows you to burn the midnight oil and battle fiercely without a care in the world… You still have to take care of your body.”
“Cut the crap and get to the point.” Said Ji Bai in displeasure as he stared at him with his dead-fish eyes.
Like plasticine being manipulated at will, he had been tormented and played with by Anna countless times in so many different ways. It would be weird if his mood were alright, especially when he was exposed to all sorts of new positions in the span of one night and had only been allowed to leave this morning.
‘That cursed vampire… If it weren’t for the fact that I can’t be sure to succeed, I’d definitely wipe this vexing little devil out.’
Now, this black history of his had been revealed for others to ridicule as well. Ji Bai knew that if this was to continue on, he would probably not be able to suppress the ‘little Universe4’ in his heart and jump up to spill his fury all over Lin Tuo’s head.
“Ohhh… Alright, alright.” For whatever reason, Lin Tuo felt like Ji Bai was having a period when he saw the dirty and impatience look on his face.
‘Why do I have such a feeling? This chap is clearly a guy, isn’t he??’
Sitting opposite of Ji Bai, Lin lightly placed down her book and shot a glance at the situation unfolding between them.
“Well, in that case, I’ll get straight to the point: Tomorrow is going to be the New Student’s Martial Tournament. As time is tight and class has already ended, you should quickly head there and register yourself at the Tournament counter. Tomorrow, they’ll directly arrange…”
“Can’t I abstain?” Ji Bai listlessly stared through his dark circles.
“…Don’t tell me you are already thinking of doing that??”
“Not only do I have them, I am about to put them into action.” Saying which, Ji Bai laid his head onto his desk.
“Sigh, you rascal, can’t you listen until I am done? This martial tournament is actually linked to your rank…”
“ZZZ..”
“Forget it. A dead pig is not afraid of boiling water… In that case, you definitely won’t care about the ranks and the associated benefits you can receive…” Lin Tuo frowned and prepared to leave.
“Thud!” Ji Bai instantly sat up, and stared at Lin Tuo with his eyes wide open.
“Where do I sign up? Don’t make me wait any longer.”
“You brat… Why do you always have such a big reaction when it comes to money?” The edge of Lin Tuo’s mouth twitched a little.
“Speak, how much money.”
“Huh? You’re really going to take part because of money? …Well, this martial competition isn’t directly connected to money.”
Ji Bai didn’t bother to respond as he laid his head down once more.
“However, if you manage to win a place, we might be able to organize a new student’s adventure to what seems to be newly discovered ruins. It will be the same as a stroll and you will be able to get a rich reward afterwards. How about it, are you interested?”
“In that case, have all of them registered as well?” Ji Bai got himself up as if he was performing a sit-up and let his gaze sweep over his fellow students.
“What are you saying? Are you unaware that you’re the only new student in the entire tomato class??”
Intelligence reduction strike is something derived from dimension reduction strike, an attack used by an advanced civilization in Liu Cixin’s famous sci-fi book, ‘The Three Body Problem’. It is used as a retort against confusing actions and words to express that their intelligence has been humiliated, or, in this scenario, is used to describe actions that lower one’s intelligence as a whole. Monkey Clan: Intellect Deduction Method originated from the show Aho Girl and refers to the girl lead, Yoshiko and her questionable antics. She is likened to a monkey due to her fondness for bananas and how she jumps around like one. Its use is mostly the same as that of the first TL note.Anna uses the female pronoun in this case, but Lin Tuo can’t notice that because the pronunciation for male and female pronouns is the same in Chinese. Due to the fact that Lin Tuo hadn’t caught up to Ji Bai’s ‘real’ gender yet, I’ve decided to change it to male for the time being. This is a play on Saint Seiya, where the main characters will ignite their universes to gain a boost in strength.