Chapter 9: The Perfect Collection

Chapter 9

Mu Hang sat in the back of the car with his legs folded and his eyes downcast.

An invitation to the Ableist Academy is something many people dream of, but here at Mu Hang it's the opposite.

After five consecutive years of refusal, he agreed to the invitation for the first time.

The school authorities took this very seriously, and were extremely generous in granting various privileges, even agreeing that he could miss the first two rounds of the entrance test, and merely attend the third demonic real battle.

And this time, Mu Hang came here this time only for a confidential mission for another demonic creature, Administration.

The vehicle moves slowly forward, the highly enclosed windows shutting out all sounds from the outside world.

Suddenly, Mu Hang seemed to sense something.

He raised his eyes toward the car window.

Only to see that not far away, several tall students blocked a teenager in the corner, the atmosphere full of the smell of smoke was about to explode.

The teenager cornered with his head bowed, shoulders thin, chin pale and pointed, looked to have an air of fragility and vulnerability, and looked especially vulnerable and pathetic surrounded by a group of people, the top of his shaggy hair looking especially familiar.

Mu Hang suddenly said, "Stop."

The driver was stunned, as if he didn't expect the other party to give such an order, but still obediently slowed down.

Mu Hang: "Drive through."

The driver didn't dare to ask more questions and turned the car around and drove forward.

The window slowly fell, revealing the face of the person who had landed in the back row.

A deep brow with razor-sharp aggression, signature silver hair tied back behind his head, and a pair of emotionless azure eyes narrowed slightly, "Is something wrong?"

The men blocking Shi An turned their heads aggressively, ready to tell the visitors to mind their own business.

But the moment they saw each other, their hearts almost stopped.

A couple of the men grimaced, beads of sweat seeping from their foreheads, and stammered, "No, no, sir."

Mu Hang silently watched the backs of the men as they fell away, then twisted his head, his eyes falling on the teenager who froze not far away, "Get in the car."

The magic bug hidden in Shi An's sleeve likewise nearly stopped his heart.

As a demonic creature, of course it knew Mu Hang's fierce reputation, and had heard of the extraordinary intuition of the most powerful person, it dared not send any message to Shi An, but only prayed silently in its heart-

Don't go! Don't go!

Find an excuse to leave ah ah ah ah ah ah!

"Uh-oh."

Shi An looked to the bright flash moving in front of him and subconsciously balked.

Magic Worm: "......"

I fucking--

It rolled its eyes in exasperation, desperate to shake Shi An's shoulders hard enough to see if it could hear the sea.

Just thinking about it, of course.

Dare is not dare.

Shi An walked to the other side, pulled open the door of the back seat directly, and sat in next to Mu Hang.

Driver in the front seat: "......"

He had never seen anyone so ...... self conscious.

The vehicle started slowly.

Mu Hang: "Address."

The sunlight from the car window fell on his silver hair, which flowed like molten silver, appearing to shine brighter and brighter in the limited space of the car, shaking Shi An into a bit of a trance, "Hmm?"

"The address of the dormitory." Mu Hang repeated patiently.

Shi An : "I'm not going back to the dormitory."

He thought for a moment and continued, "By the way, can you put me back where I got in the car just now?"

After all, the seam should be right around there.

Driver: "......"

So what were you doing in the car?

Mu Hang didn't seem to expect this answer from the other side either.

With a start, he turned his head sideways and lowered his eyes to the teenager sitting beside him.

Late that night, Mu Hang had hardly noticed Shi An's appearance, and this was the first time he had ever taken a close look at him.

The young man was very thin, but the lines of his features were soft and round and blunt, and his eyes were very dark, as clear and bright as if they had been dipped in mercury, and he looked lovely and well-behaved, an extremely harmless look.

Mu Hang's brow was deeply etched.

Although the results of the test equipment and very obvious, Shi An's biography is not too suspicious, but he always feel that something is not quite right - as if under the calm surface of the still water, there is a dark and deep vortex swirling noiselessly.

And under the extremely focused gaze of those eyes, a vague sense of restlessness flooded Mu Hang's heart.

"Did you think about my last offer?"

Mu Hang : "...... What?"

Shi An said, extremely naturally, "Of course it's that thing where I buy you."

The driver in front of him couldn't control a shiver in his hand and almost didn't drive onto the lawn, it was hard to control his shocked emotions - this was his first time serving this legendary officer, who would have thought that he would encounter such a powerful thing on his first time?

Mu Hang's face was the same as before, he rubbed his fingertips a little, and lowered his cold eyes, the bottom color of which was dark blue, as if a storm was brewing in the distant sky.

His voice carried with it a kind of impassive composure:

"Tell me why?"

"Of course you look good." Shi An replied without hesitation.

Especially the hair and eyes.

Dragons are very vain and beauty-loving creatures, and they never skimp on their love of beauty.

--though the way they show their favoritism is often by looting and pillaging.

"Squeal!" The ear-splitting sound of tires rubbing over the ground rang out, and even if this car was more advanced, the body couldn't help but shake violently.

Shi An didn't have time to finish the rest of her sentence, and she herself fell forward, unsteady in her seat.

A hand with a pitch-black tactical glove held him up.

The fingers were long and smooth, as if they contained a force that could not be underestimated, and firmly controlled the teenager's thin shoulders.

He was so strong that even through the thin clothing, the rough texture of the leather still branded the other man's skin deeply and deeply, mixing with the friction sensation of the clothing to bring about a fiery pain.

Shi An can't stand being pinched.

He was super afraid of pain, so he instinctively struggled, protesting extremely bluntly, "It hurts, let go."

Driver: "......"

He looked desperate.

Hearing so many things, one is going to be silenced, right?

Mu Hang lifted his eyes, a pair of silver-blue eyes sweeping faintly in the driver's direction.

The driver shivered and immediately withdrew his sight, his eyes staring dead ahead at the road in front of him, afraid of attracting the slightest bit of attention from the other party again.

Mu Hang let go of his hand.

He said, "Go around back."

Soon, the vehicle made a big circle and retraced its steps back to the place where Shi An had gotten into his car.

Shi An pulls the door open and cheerfully gets out of the car, waving behind her:

"Bye, remember to think about it!"

The man in the car didn't answer, and the window that cut off the outside world from his gaze slid upward, obscuring the side of the man's sharply defined face.

The vehicle started and continued in the direction it had been traveling.

Inside the car.

Mu Hang lowered his eyes, his eyes falling to his hands.

He doesn't like to touch anyone directly.

It is for this reason that he prefers to wear gloves when out and about to avoid any physical contact.

--This is generally sufficient.

But strangely, this time, despite the gloves, he could still feel the touch of the teenager's shoulders clearly and distinctly, thin-boned and bird-like in their delicacy and lightness, as if they could be broken with a single fold.

It annoyed him .......

Mu Hang's fingers closed and turned over on his knees, his eyes as deep as a frozen lake shrouded in shadow.

Trouble.

*

Shi An stands and looks around the spot.

The few humans who had bothered him earlier were nowhere to be seen, and this wasn't supposed to be much of a busy place, with only three or two students walking in the distance.

At that moment, he felt his cuffs move.

Only the magic worm crawled out of Shi An's sleeve with great difficulty.

Shi An : "You haven't moved for a long time eh."

The Demon Worm weakly moved its legs, "...... That's for sure!"

It was said that Mu Hang had a very strong sense of demons, and now, not to mention itself, even Shi An was obviously not back to his full strength, so it was simply suicidal to face Mu Hang at this time, so the Demon Worm had just forced itself to enter a state of pseudo-death - it was not able to do this before, until that day when Shi An controlled the increase and decrease of demonic power in its body. It was only when Shi An controlled the increase or decrease of magic power in its body that it vaguely got the hang of it.

The Demon Worm gasped for breath, before finally getting some energy, "Do you know who that human was just now!"

Shi An thought hard and guessed, "...... shiny?"

"......" Demon Bug was able to resist the urge to roll his eyes, but couldn't help the increase in volume, "That's the strongest power user in the entire human race!"

Shi An was startled.

After a long period of contemplation, he asked with some frustration, "So he shouldn't be short of money?"

It doesn't seem very likely that you can buy it with money.

Magic Worm: "............"

The heart is so fucking tired.

It scrutinized Shi An and asked in a puzzled manner, "Lord Demon Dragon, during the period of your life, there should have been quite a number of races with different-colored hair eyes, right?"

Shi An nodded, "Yeah!"

He counted on his fingers, "Elves have the best hair, silver and blonde, and mermaids have light blue hair that shines like a sapphire ......"

The Demon Worm was shocked, "So, you snatched it all back?"

Shi An shook her head, "Of course not."

He said rightfully, "Because there's no need, none of them deserve to be in my collection."

To a dragon, treasure is certainly not the same as a stash.

Treasure should be plentiful, of course, but only the most beautiful and precious treasures are worthy of a dragon's collection.

The Demon Worm froze.

It suddenly remembered that that Mu Hang's family seemed to be very old as well, and his ancestors seemed to be a dragon slayer clan.

For no reason at all, the Demon Worm thought of a related rumor.

It is said that there is a vague perception ...... or even, one might say, attraction between fantasy species and their arch enemies.

But Demon Worm never took these rumors seriously.

After all, the Fantasy Species had disappeared from the continent for more than ten thousand years, and the rumors about the Fantasy Species that had been circulated up to the present were basically speculations of later generations.

Take the Abyssal Dragon for example.

After spending so much time together, although still very much in fear of Shi An, the Demon Worm had also slightly figured out the temperament of this legendary Ancient Fantasy Species.

Of course, strong is really strong.

Lovely to sleep, love beauty, love to eat, love to be pampered but one and all.

Devil Worm thought hard about it.

--Wait, or is it just this one?

It peeked over at Shi An and began to rack its brain for wording, hoping to say something that would dissuade the other from the dangerous idea of trying to get to Mu Hang.

Shi An ponders for a few seconds and says, "Since that human doesn't lack money, the previous approach won't work ......"

But before the Demon Worm could breathe a sigh of relief, the other party frowned bitterly and continued, "--Gouging out the eyes and peeling off the scalp is a method that I've certainly thought of, but it would require too much finesse, and my claws are too big, so I definitely can't do it, and on top of that, that would reduce the luster and is going to get ugly."

Magic Worm: "????"

Wait a minute?

Suddenly, Shi An's eyes lit up and she clenched her fist and struck her palm:

"Right! I know a magical creature that can secrete resin, just turn him into a giant piece of amber so I can preserve his hair and eyes in their most beautiful state, and I'll have the perfect collection!"

Magic Worm Lost for Words: "......"

Please don't say something so mean with such an innocent expression, thank you.

Caring for the mental health of magical creatures is everyone's responsibility.

Shi An seemed to have sensed the Demon Worm's disorientation, and lowered her head to say thoughtfully, "Don't worry, I won't do anything until I regain my strength."

Devil Worm said woodenly, "...... Okay, okay."

That one, at least one's purpose in the beginning was achieved.

--Advise Shi An to stay away from Mu Hang.

Shi An : "Okay, you said you felt the location of the abyssal rift earlier, in which direction?"

"Oh yeah oh!"

The Demon Worm also finally remembered the purpose of their outing.

It tilted its upper body up and sniffed the air before pointing in one of the directions in affirmation:

"There!"

So Shi An followed the guidance of the demonic insect and made her way around the campus, surrounded by fewer and fewer people and passing by more and more secluded places.

The grass went from sparse to lush, almost blocking out the sky, with only some distant sunlight falling overhead.

The road came to an end.

It was a wall, constructed of some unknown iron-gray metal, both so high and so far away that the edges could barely be seen.

The Demon Worm continued to sniff and said with certainty, "That's right! It's inside this wall!"

Shi An walks forward around the base of the wall.

After another ten minutes or so, he finally caught a glimpse of the gate from afar, but was stopped before Shi An could step forward.

It was an automatic barrier of magic that covered the air like a film.

A guard on the sidelines caught sight of him with his eyes, "Hey! Student? Don't go in the front!"

Shi An stops pacing obediently with an "oh".

He pointed to the tall gray and green walls in front of him and asked, "What's in there?"

After seeing the fair and clean face of the teenager in front of him, the guard's voice subconsciously softened as he replied, "This is the venue for the third round of the freshmen's practical test, and it's not open until the exam."

Shi An was startled and craned his head toward the wall.

Abyssal Rift ......

In the field for the third test?

*

On the day the results of the written examination came out, Shi Rui, although he looked unconcerned on his face, was still feeling very nervous in his heart.

He could be sure he wouldn't do too badly, but what he couldn't be sure of was Shi An's performance.

Shi An hadn't succeeded in passing the academy's introductory test for three consecutive years, if he was smart enough, he should have known to utilize this period of time to learn theoretical knowledge, if he scored the first place in the written test, he would have a certain advantage in the next most important third round, that is, in the actual battle of the magical creatures.

After Shi Rui figured that out, he immediately understood why Shi An had spent three hours on the written test that day.

Of course it was to capitalize on that and subtly circumvent his lack of magic in the third round.

What's worse ...... is that he might even actually place not bad.

And his advantage in this competition will be lost.

After all, ...... himself is the bastard.

Although Shi Rui had already understood who he was, the moment he realized it, his heart still burned with shame as if he had been stabbed with a needle, but he could not do anything about it now, and even the person he had secretly instigated to bring Shi An Tinggui to the island had returned without any success, and was reluctant to tell what had happened.

Although Shi Rui was anxious, on the surface he maintained the illusion of not knowing anything about it and did not pursue the matter.

The day of the hanging of the list is fast approaching.

Shi Rui was outwardly calm, but his eyes anxiously swept from top to bottom, searching for Shi An's name.

-- before finding it, he saw his name.

Twenty-fifth place.

It's a very good bit now.

And most importantly, Shi Rui could be sure that Shi An was not one of the twenty-four people in front of him.

He felt a boulder slowly fall from his heart and could barely restrain the urge to raise the corners of his mouth.

But at that moment, Shi Rui heard one of her friends say in amazement, "Eh, Xiao Rui, your loser brother's name isn't on this list, is it?"

Shi Rui was stunned, "What?"

He asked, "Did you miss it?"

"Absolutely not, I've counted them twice."

Shi Rui stepped forward quickly, carefully, scanning the names on the list without missing a beat.

Yes, no Shi An.

"It's not like they cheated and got their grades canceled, is it?" His friend said, full of concern.

Shi Rui forced a smile, looking a little disoriented.

As much as he wanted to believe the answer, ......

Something seemed to have gotten out of control when he hadn't noticed it himself, and it made Shi Rui feel very uneasy.

At that moment, a commotion came from the front of the crowd.

Shi Rui was pulled out of his own thoughts and subconsciously looked in the direction the voice came from.

Not far away, a man in a black overcoat and long silver hair walked nonchalantly up to the examiner's desk-

Took a seat in the only vacant spot.

Almost all of the students subconsciously let out an incredulous gasp.

How could they not expect that the only examiner that didn't come was actually this one from the legend? The academy was actually able to actually invite him? Everyone was both excited and panicked, after all, it was the first time they were able to see the legendary figures around them so closely.

Mu Hang sits at the top and raises his eyes to the trembling freshmen in the distance.

He slowly swept around and did not find the silhouette in his memory, the depressed color deep in his pair of cold eyes deepened, and that invisible killing aura was vaguely released.

The other examiners couldn't help but get nervous.

They communicated with each other with their eyes:

--Wasn't it said that this Furious God only came in the third round? Why is it showing up now?

--I don't know!

Shi Rui had not yet recovered from his shock, only to see that the few people who had been talking and laughing beside him just a moment ago suddenly took a violent step backward, almost hiding backward in panic, their faces as pale as earth, with cold sweat seeping out of their foreheads, and their pupils clenched in a look of horror to the extreme.

Shi Rui: "What's wrong?"

The leader of the group was a boy named Duan Hua, to whom Shi Rui had revealed Shi An's whereabouts that day, seemingly unintentionally.

Duan Hua was almost colorless, his lips shivered, his eyes dodged, and he finally whispered the truth: "That day ...... we didn't tell you, in fact, we went to block that waste brother of yours, he relied on cheating to enter the academy, and didn't deserve to go to school here at all, but we were unsuccessful ......"

Shi Rui eagerly pursued, "What happened then? Tell me what happened?"

Duan Hua shuddered and said with difficulty, "Then ...... was seen by Officer Mu."

Shi Rui's nails pinched hard into his palms, but his face still habitually wore a look of worry against his will, "I've told you all not to go looking for trouble with him."

"Later, I heard that it seems like someone saw Shi An get out of Officer Mu's car eh." Another person interjected.

Shi Rui felt the smile on his face cracking, his nails sinking deep into his palms, sending a hot stinging pain through them.

--Luck.

Not only do you have a privileged family, a good birth, and excellent looks, but you always manage to avoid the coming crisis without any danger every time.

This was the case during the simulation test, and now it's the case again.

Shi Rui's eyes clouded over as he slowly clenched his teeth.

I'd like to see when your luck runs out.

Examiner's table.

Mu Hang withdrew his gaze and lowered his eyes indifferently.

The tester he had snatched from Zhuo Fu was weighing heavily in his coat pocket, and had lost its meaning before he could pull it out.

His brow furrowed slightly as he tapped his gloved fingertips against the desktop with an even, dull duh.

--Pushing off the follow-up to that secret mission to come here specifically to come for a second round of interviews was a complete and utter mistake.

*

Meanwhile, inside a student dormitory.

Shi An ran happily back to her room with a big bag full of snacks in her arms.

A notice sheet was thrown casually on the table.

--After a long and difficult deliberation, the examiners finally came to a decision: to exempt Shi An from the interview and let him pass the second round and enter the third round of the actual battle.

Satisfied, he threw himself onto the bed and turned on the game console he'd borrowed from his new roommate.

Mario's cheerful sound effect plays and a plumber with a red beanie appears on the screen.

-Games, simply the greatest invention of the human world besides snacks!