Chapter 167 – Unsettling Matters

Demon Hunter Academy, cafeteria.

This usually bustling place had recently become somewhat sparse in terms of foot traffic.

Many students seemed to have left the Academy and were no longer on campus, causing the cafeteria to become rather quiet.

Many tables were empty.

Many seats were vacant.

Many students were hurriedly eating, as if they had urgent matters to attend to later.

There were also many students chatting animatedly while eating, seemingly discussing some hot topic.

Amid this scene, the appearance of three young girls instantly enlivened the somewhat quiet cafeteria.

“Junior An! Over here!”

“Come! Let this senior give you a hug!”

“Haven’t seen you for a while, you’ve become even cuter!”

“My goddess junior, I want to have your babies!”

Many senior female students enthusiastically greeted one of the girls who had entered the cafeteria.

Mixed in seemed to be some male student’s evil-minded shout, though the voice’s owner disappeared less than two seconds after the shout appeared, presumably taken away for humane disposal somewhere.

“Ahaha…”

An Zijin gave an awkward laugh, apparently still unable to get used to the seniors’ usual enthusiasm.

In contrast, Jiang Wanyu and Yao Beibei beside her looked completely unfazed, showing no resentment at being overshadowed, and even seemed proud, raising their heads high with smug expressions.

The three responded to the seniors’ greetings while basking in the admiring gazes of male students, first getting their food, then finding a corner to sit down.

“It feels so quiet here,” Jiang Wanyu remarked as she easily found a seat and put down her tray.

“Yeah,” Yao Beibei nodded in agreement. “There seem to be far fewer people.”

“Can’t be helped,” Jiang Wanyu said, picking up her fork gracefully. “The Academy higher-ups have been assigning many missions recently. Everyone’s probably out doing missions.”

“Really?” Yao Beibei looked puzzled. “But why does it feel like we haven’t been assigned many missions?”

Indeed, although there were many senior students in the cafeteria, closer observation revealed that lower-year students made up the majority, while higher-year students were much fewer.

Particularly third and fourth-year students – their numbers were very low, with first and second-years being the most numerous.

Those students who still had the leisure to chat and discuss were mostly lower-year students.

This included An Zijin, Jiang Wanyu, and Yao Beibei themselves.

An Zijin had some information about this.

“I heard from a senior that the Academy assigns missions based on year level,” An Zijin explained. “Senior students get relatively more missions assigned, while we lower-years get fewer, especially us first-years.”

Jiang Wanyu and Yao Beibei immediately understood.

“No wonder,” Yao Beibei murmured softly.

“Well, that’s understandable,” Jiang Wanyu said indifferently. “We first-years just started not long ago? We barely trained before going to the battlefield once. If they still sent us on numerous missions, that would just be setting us up for failure.”

The Academy definitely didn’t want first-year freshmen to perish before they could grow.

Previously, it was unavoidable due to the war, but now that it’s just mission assignments, of course they’d have the more experienced and better-trained senior students shoulder the heavier responsibilities, while reducing the pressure and risks for lower-year students to give them time to develop.

With this consideration, even during this special period, lower-year students’ mission loads weren’t heavy at all – relatively speaking, they were quite leisurely compared to senior students.

Especially this year’s first-year freshmen could be considered quite relaxed.

That’s why An Zijin and her friends could leisurely come to the cafeteria to eat like this.

And when the three gathered, they naturally couldn’t avoid discussing their former teammates.

“I wonder how the seniors are doing now,” Jiang Wanyu brought up first. “Are they out doing missions too?”

“We haven’t seen the seniors for quite a while,” Yao Beibei couldn’t help adding.

After mentioning this, both turned to look at An Zijin.

“???”

An Zijin had just picked up her spoon, about to drink some soup, when she was suddenly stared at by Jiang Wanyu and Yao Beibei, making her freeze momentarily.

“What’s wrong?” An Zijin asked curiously. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

Jiang Wanyu and Yao Beibei exchanged glances.

“It’s just…” Jiang Wanyu said tactfully, “Since we’re talking about the seniors’ whereabouts, Zijin, you should be the one who knows best among us, right?”

Yao Beibei nodded repeatedly in agreement.

“Why would I be the one who knows best?”

An Zijin was astonished.

But Jiang Wanyu and Yao Beibei were even more astonished than her.

“You don’t know?” Jiang Wanyu said bluntly. “That doesn’t make sense.”

“Mhmm,” Yao Beibei added. “Little Zijin couldn’t possibly not know Senior Su Ming’s whereabouts.Such words made An Zijin feel unconvinced.

“What do you mean by that?” An Zijin said indignantly, puffing her cheeks. “Do I really have to know Su Ming’s whereabouts every single moment?””In response to An Zijin’s questioning, Jiang Wanyu and Yao Beibei only replied with: “Isn’t that how it is?”””

They spoke in unison.

“Of course it is!” An Zijin’s expression changed, blooming into a happy smile. “After all, he’s my brother Su Ming, of course I have to keep track of his movements at all times.” Otherwise, how could I be considered a qualified fiancée?”

No no no, he never said you were his fiancée, right?

Even if you were fiancées, you wouldn’t go that far.

Jiang Wanyu and Yao Beibei really wanted to complain like this but didn’t dare say it out loud, could only look at An Zijin with strange expressions while feeling sympathy for Su Ming.

Before, they had somewhat envied and been jealous of Su Ming for receiving An Zijin’s favor and being so valued by her.

Now, both were starting to wonder whether being targeted by such a Zijin (little Zijin) was fortunate or unfortunate.

Of course, this couldn’t be said out loud either.

“So what are the seniors doing now?”

“Why haven’t we seen them recently?”

Jiang Wanyu and Yao Beibei could only return to the main topic.

Both are very clear that since An Zijin had Su Ming’s whereabouts firmly grasped, then as Su Ming’s roommates, she should also know something about Lei Hao and Ye Bai’s situations.

Sure enough…

“Senior Lei Hao has been training himself recently. Besides missions, he’s been using the contribution points earned during the Huaming Campaign to improve his strength. We haven’t seen him because he goes to the suburbs to train when he can’t get a training room.”

“Senior Ye Bai has also been diligently studying Offensive Spirit Arts. I heard he’s been so absorbed he forgets to eat and sleep, often going to consult senior students in the Sorcerer Department, and even joining senior students on missions for observation and practical experience.”As for Brother Su Ming…”

When it came to Su Ming, An Zijin looked somewhat worried.

“What’s wrong?”

Seeing this, Jiang Wanyu and Yao Beibei quickly asked.

“Nothing,” An Zijin said, puffing her cheeks. “It’s just that Brother Su Ming has also been completely absorbed in researching something recently, either locking himself in the training room or his dormitory.” I haven’t seen him for quite a long time.”

“Really?” Jiang Wanyu tilted her head, puzzled. “But don’t you often go to Senior Su Ming’s dorm?”

And you still can’t see him?

“Sometimes I can’t see him!”” An Zijin immediately said righteously. “Like this time, it’s been four whole hours since I last saw Brother Su Ming – that’s so long!”Jiang Wanyu: “￣へ￣”

Yao Beibei: “⊙(?”◇?)?Neither wanted to speak anymore, nor did they want to complain.

Thus, this topic was dropped.

“So Senior Su Ming has also been working hard to improve himself recently.”

Jiang Wanyu looked thoughtful.

“It feels like since the war happened, everyone has become more hardworking than before.Yao Beibei whispered.

The occurrence of the Huaming Campaign indeed made many people realize their inadequate strength.

Were An Zijin, Jiang Wanyu, and Yao Beibei any different?

They too had been working hard to improve themselves recently.

However, they had thought they were working quite hard, only to realize now that compared to Su Ming’s trio, their efforts didn’t amount to much.

“By the way.”

At this point, Jiang Wanyu seemed to remember something and looked at An Zijin and Yao Beibei.

“Haven’t you noticed that Longyao City has been particularly unsettled recently?”

Jiang Wanyu’s sudden words made both An Zijin and Yao Beibei freeze momentarily.

“Particularly unsettled?”

An Zijin didn’t quite understand what Jiang Wanyu meant.

“Hasn’t it been quite unsettled all along recently?Yao Beibei weakly expressed.

Longyao City being unsettled wasn’t exactly big news, was it?

With so many escaped remnants from the Huaming Campaign, everyone was organizing hunts, even Academy students had become so busy – naturally such a Longyao City would be unsettled.

However, Jiang Wanyu wasn’t referring to this.

“That’s not what I mean,” Jiang Wanyu shook her head. “Haven’t you noticed that reports about strange incidents have increased recently?”

The strange incidents Jiang Wanyu referred to were some unconfirmed bizarre occurrences.

For example, some reports claimed that residents of certain areas suddenly disappeared without a trace.

For example, some originally well-reported, vivid stories suddenly had no follow-up.

Or for example, some people mentioned in interviews that they had seen suspicious individuals moving about.

Such ambiguous or half-hearted things were what Jiang Wanyu meant by strange incidents.

An Zijin and Yao Beibei didn’t find anything particularly strange about this.

“In current Longyao City, Phantom Demons could appear anywhere, so isn’t it normal for some strange incidents to occur?”

That’s what An Zijin thought.

Like residents suddenly disappearing without trace – that could be because they were captured by Phantom Demons, becoming their blood sustenance.

Like reports with no follow-up – very likely they involved some classified information and ultimately weren’t permitted to continue tracking.

Or like people seeing suspicious individuals – perhaps those were Professional teams secretly investigating Phantom Demon movements?

There was nothing particularly strange about this at all.

“Is that really the case?Jiang Wanyy, however, appeared to be unable to let go.

“What exactly is wrong?” An Zijin blinked. “Did you discover something?”

“Not really,” Jiang Wanyu said, crossing her arms hesitantly. “It’s just that I keep seeing this kind of strange incident on my phone recently, giving me a feeling like a storm is brewing.”

The one who agreed with Jiang Wanyu’s thoughts wasn’t An Zijin, but Yao Beibei.

“Now that you mention it, it does feel somewhat unsettled.””

Yao Beibei murmured.

“You think so too, right?”

Jiang Wanyu perked up.

If An Zijin didn’t understand, how could Jiang Wanyu not?

With Yao Beibei’s exceptionally outstanding sixth sense, if even she felt something was off, then it was probably truly off.

In terms of intuition in this area, Yao Beibei had always been very accurate.

Whereas An Zijin couldn’t quite understand.

“If we’re talking about unsettled, isn’t it more like your surroundings are unsettled?” An Zijin said to Jiang Wanyu. “Haven’t many Seniors from the professional circle been contacting you, trying to purchase alchemical weapons from you?”

“This…” Jiang Wanyu was speechless.

Recently, there had indeed been many things happening around Jiang Wanyu.

Because Jiang Wanyu had used alchemical weapons, the fact that a first-year freshman student actually possessed precious alchemical weapons had now spread like wildfire.

Thanks to this, many senior students and even Professionals from the professional circle had contacted Jiang Wanyu through various means, asking her to transfer the alchemical weapons to them.

Among them were even some Upper-Rank Professionals who promised Jiang Wanyu many benefits.

Besides this, some threatened, some tempted, some outright threatened her face to face and criticized her, claiming that a freshman like Jiang Wanyu using alchemical weapons was purely wasteful, and that she should instead transfer them to those who could make greater contributions, thus supposedly doing more for humanity – using so-called national righteousness to morally kidnap Jiang Wanyu.

Jiang Wanyu was extremely annoyed about this.

If she hadn’t been staying within the Academy recently, protected by the Academy, perhaps some unscrupulous individuals might have already targeted her and made moves – that was also possible.

This was the truly unsettling matter.

“You should think carefully about how to resolve this, Wanyu,” An Zijin said with concern. “I’m worried someone might use underhanded methods against you.”

Hearing An Zijin say this, even Yao Beibei became worried.

“Why don’t you send the alchemical weapons back home, Wanyu.Yao Beibei thoughtfully gave suggestions.

“Ah, no need,” Jiang Wanyu waved her hand. “I’ll be careful, but sending the alchemical weapons back isn’t necessary.”

Having realized her inadequate strength, how could Jiang Wanyu possibly send away powerful alchemical weapons?

She still needed the alchemical weapons to protect An Zijin.

Seeing that An Zijin and Yao Beibei still wanted to say something, Jiang Wanyu quickly changed the subject.

“How about we go check on Senior Su Ming?”

With this one sentence, she successfully diverted both An Zijin and Yao Beibei’s attention.

(End of Chapter)