“You said that Lu Jing asked you for my home address?” The young man raised his head. He spoke very slowly, his voice gentle. Under the white lights, his blue eyes looked like a pool of moving seawater, dimming and brightening.
Most of the students in the classroom had already left, but a boy was still standing in front of the podium.
“Yes.” The boy was the class monitor of Class Three. Unsure of what Lu Jing actually wanted to do, he had wrestled with it all day before finally telling the person involved that Lu Jing had asked for the address.
The fact that Lin Xiansheng lived in the Garbage District was not a secret in Class Three. Because of his health, Lin Xiansheng often took leave for a period of time, but the paper copies of some assignment materials had to be handed directly to him. To avoid any delays, Lin Xiansheng had given them his home address.
The whole class had been shocked back then. That was the Capital’s most notorious Garbage District; they never dared to believe Lin Xiansheng would live there.
Some students in the class had repeatedly tried to persuade Lin Xiansheng to move to the Capital, but the young man turned them all down, even adding a famous quote: “… Actually, I think the local customs there are quite honest and simple, and it is very peaceful.”
The Garbage District, honest and simple?
How could those two things possibly go together?
However, as a long time passed and they never saw Lin Xiansheng run into any trouble, the hype gradually died down.
Aside from Lu Jing, the rest of the class liked Lin Xiansheng very much. Today, for some unknown reason, Lu Jing suddenly asked for Lin Xiansheng’s address, and they felt like some conspiracy was afoot.
Having happily reported back, the little class monitor slipped away.
The classroom was finally empty, leaving only the silver-haired young man.
With no one else around, the gentle look on the young man’s face suddenly changed into a strange one. He slightly raised the arch of his eyebrow, and thinking of Lu Jing’s odd behavior today, he had a bad feeling.
Meanwhile, a pair of father and son stood outside a shabby, low house in a dark alley of the garbage dump.
The father glared fiercely at his ten-year-old child and scolded, “Was it you, you little brat, who snitched to your mother?”
The boy said innocently, “So what if it was?”
“Talking to your old man like that? I think you have a death wish!” With that, the man pulled out an axe and swung it down toward the boy’s head. The boy sneered, reached behind his back, pulled out a laser gun on the rebound, and pointed it at the man.
The man’s mouth twitched, and the axe froze mid-air. “You do not play by the rules!”
“Why should I play by the rules with you?”
Before his voice even faded, the two of them started fighting right away. Sparks flew across the alley, making loud noises.
Truly a display of “filial piety.”
The fiercely fighting father and son did not notice a faint sound coming from the deep end of the alley. Two dark shadows quietly slipped away under the cover of night.
On the narrow road, arguing over whether they should drink or not, two friends who had just had their arms slung around each other instantly turned on each other and started a physical brawl.
“I have hated the sight of you for a while now, I have to kill you today!”
“Look who is talking, bring it on!!”
The fight quickly drew many passersby. The onlookers watched and cheered while eating snacks, and some even got itchy hands and wanted to start a fight with someone themselves. Then, while watching the show, someone realized their wallet was gone.
Lu Jing & Zhang Zhou, who had just come out of the dark alley.
Looking at those people’s huge builds, muscle-bound arms, and the fierce look in their eyes as if they wanted to kill each other on the spot—Lu Jing’s face turned green, and Zhang Zhou’s mouth twitched.
Especially Zhang Zhou; not only did his mouth twitch, but his whole body went stiff.
Given his mental power, he felt extreme danger right now, and his internal alarms were going off. Needless to say, not a single person here was easy to mess with, and among the passing pedestrians, he even recognized a few notorious, cold-blooded interstellar fugitives!
“We should leave, it is too dangerous here.” Zhang Zhou glanced around with a bitter face and kept trying to persuade him. This place did not look like somewhere students could come, aah!!
Yet Lu Jing’s eyes flashed, and he stubbornly said, “No, I am going to find Lin Xiansheng’s house today!”
Zhang Zhou followed this little ancestor with a headache as the two prepared to look elsewhere. Suddenly, a dark shadow pressed down and enveloped them, and a man’s voice suddenly rang out from above: “Who are you looking for?”
The man was handsome, with peach-blossom eyes and a formal suit. He looked very calm, easily winning other people’s good impressions.
However, because of his hobbies, Zhang Zhou was very familiar with the information of interstellar fugitives and recognized at a glance who this person was.
Wu Yuan, a former interstellar S-rank fugitive criminal, who had disappeared without a trace eleven years ago. Three years later, his belongings were found in an exploded house on a planet, and his wanted status was only canceled a year ago when he was officially presumed dead.
Although he did not know what crime Wu Yuan had committed to become a wanted man, which S-rank criminal wasn’t vicious and evil? Yet not only was he not dead, but he was hiding in the Capital??
Just what kind of place had he ended up in!
Lu Jing did not know Wu Yuan and raised his eyebrows impatiently at the question.
Zhang Zhou’s eyelids twitched, and he had a bad feeling. He desperately tugged at Lu Jing’s clothes to signal him, but the next moment Lu Jing said it anyway: “Who I am looking for, what business is it of yours?”
He almost forgot to breathe.
The man narrowed his eyes, a hint of danger flashing in the depths of them. “I do not seem to have seen you two around the garbage dump. Are you here to look for trouble with Lin?”
From these words, Zhang Zhou sensed something was wrong. It seemed that Lin Xiansheng, whom he had always looked down upon, held an unusual position in the heart of this major criminal.
Terrified that Lu Jing would keep causing trouble, Zhang Zhou hurriedly said, “Of course not! We are both Teacher Lin’s students, and we just wanted to come over and see our teacher today.”
Wu Yuan gave Zhang Zhou a deep look. “Since you are his students, why not look for him at the school instead of coming all the way here?”
“This…” Zhang Zhou was at a loss for words and racked his brains before finding an excuse: “Actually, we wanted to give the teacher a surprise.”
“Why talk so much nonsense with him?” Lu Jing interrupted Zhang Zhou impatiently, then looked back at Wu Yuan: “Do you know Lin Xiansheng? Good, then hurry up and tell me where he lives.”
Wu Yuan did not completely believe Zhang Zhou’s words, but these two looked like wet-behind-the-ears kids, and the clothes they wore were indeed the school uniforms of the academy where Lin Xiansheng worked.
If they really were Lin Xiansheng’s students, it wouldn’t be easy to explain if something happened to them here.
With him watching them, there was no need to worry about the two pulling any tricks. Once Lin Xiansheng came back, he would know whether they were lying or not.
His thoughts spinning fast, Wu Yuan smiled. “Alright, I can take you to Lin’s home, but remember not to cause any trouble.”
“Of course we won’t. Then let’s go,” Lu Jing said, his eyes lighting up as he urged him on.
Zhang Zhou also let out a sigh of relief. If Wu Yuan had wanted to do something to them based on his identity, he would have done it already; agreeing to take them to Lin’s house proved instead that nothing bad would happen for the time being.
Anyway, dragging it out for a moment was better than nothing.
Lin Xiansheng’s house was on the edge of the garbage dump—a two-story detached house covered in dense creeping vines. A plot of land was fenced off outside the main front door, growing various weird-looking plants.
Before they even got close, the fresh scent of plants washed over them, mixed with the faint bitter smell of medicinal herbs. In the middle of the plants stood a boy wearing a grey long-shirt and holding a watering can. The boy looked under twenty, with a clean face, and round glasses covered most of it.
“And these two are?” The clean-looking boy put down the watering can, looked at Wu Yuan, and asked mildly.
“They say they are Lin’s students,” Wu Yuan said, then turned back to tell Zhang Zhou and Lu Jing, “This is Lin’s home, and that is Lin’s attending doctor. You can call him Dr. Bai.”
Lu Jing looked up, down, left, and right at the house, becoming more and more dissatisfied the more he looked. He simply could not figure out why someone would rather live here than stay in the Capital.
And this doctor—he looked so young, could he really cure illnesses?
“Lin should be back in a while, you can go inside and sit down.” Dr. Bai did not mind Lu Jing’s skeptical look, opened the front door, and invited the two inside.
Though full of doubts, constrained by Wu Yuan watching them, the two had no choice but to go in first. Right at that moment, someone in the garbage dump shouted, “Teacher Lin is coming back! Hurry, hurry, get ready!”
Suddenly, the whole city fell silent, and then a massive commotion broke out. After a flurry of activity, every household in the nighttime city began sending out the sounds of eating, and occasionally the aroma of food drifted on the wind.
On the road, a ten-year-old boy holding his father’s leg affectionately pointed at the fruit at a fruit stand: “Dear dad, I want this.”
“Alright, old dad will buy it for you right now!”
At a night food stall, a pair of friends popped open beer bottles, suddenly burst out laughing over something, clinked their glasses together, and drank heartily, feeling refreshed and carefree.
And so, when Lin Xiansheng came back, this was the exact scene he saw, with people on the road greeting him warmly every now and then.
Today in the garbage dump was another peaceful day.
Before even stepping into the house after arriving home, Lin Xiansheng already saw the two boys sitting properly inside.
One of them looked a bit familiar, and the other was undoubtedly Lu Jing, who had asked the class monitor about his address earlier today.
Inside the house, Zhang Zhou had still not fully recovered from his shock. Although this place was located on the edge of the garbage dump, the two of them had indeed heard that shout earlier, after which the tense, battle-ready atmosphere hanging in the air vanished in an instant, replaced by a genuine sense of peace and safety.
Was this still the terrifying garbage dump he thought it was???
Movement sounded at the door, and Zhang Zhou, his mouth slightly open in a daze, looked up just in time to see the silver-haired young man walking in from outside.
An even more shocking thing happened then. Wu Yuan, the S-rank wanted criminal who had always been leaning against the wall with his eyes closed, opened his eyes. When facing the slender young man, this fugitive’s attitude was extremely friendly; he greeted him gently and casually asked, “Are these two your students?”
After getting an affirmative reply, the man slightly nodded, confirmed that nothing unexpected would happen, and then walked out, disappearing into the night.
Zhang Zhou felt a bit dazed. At that moment, the young man’s gentle voice drifted down from above.
“Is there something you need here?”
Right then, in Zhang Zhou’s eyes, Lin Xiansheng’s stunning face seemed to be covered with a layer of mystery, making it impossible to read clearly.
Whether it was the terrifying mental power he suddenly felt during the open lecture class, or the almost eerie attitude the people in the garbage dump had toward the young man, everything highlighted the young man’s mysterious nature.
If Zhang Zhou had still harbored doubts before, he was now almost certain that the young man was not as useless as he had thought.
Perhaps Lin Xiansheng really was some peerless expert who had to hide his identity for certain reasons.
He hated useless losers, but now it seemed the truth was quite different.
He was such an idiot for constantly trash-talking Lin Xiansheng online every day!
Zhang Zhou pressed his lips together, suddenly got up, walked right in front of the young man, and bowed ninety degrees—not because of any bet, but out of a genuine apology: “Teacher, I was wrong!”
So this was Zhang Zhou’s purpose in coming here?
Lin Xiansheng’s only impression of Zhang Zhou was that he had somehow found out someone else’s movements ahead of time during that day’s open lecture class.
Lin Xiansheng suddenly asked, “Are you very interested in General Lu?”
At the mention of Lu Xincheng, Zhang Zhou’s eyes lit up, completely forgetting his original purpose for the day.
“Of course! The General is our Empire’s only legend! He is our Empire’s undefeated God of War! No one doesn’t pay attention to him, no one!”
Only after saying it did he realize he was being too excited. Zhang Zhou scratched the back of his head with a red face, “Sorry, got a bit carried away.”
Lin Xiansheng didn’t mind much; instead, he smiled slightly and said, “Good taste.”
Huh? Zhang Zhou froze.
After a long pause, he asked, “Teacher, do you like the General too?”
Thinking of something, the young man’s eyes lit up, and the corners of his mouth curved upward. “Of course I like him.”
Goodness, Lin Xiansheng was actually a fan of their General too?!!
Zhang Zhou widened his eyes in shock. As long as they both liked the General, they were family!
What on earth had he been doing all this time?!
They were both people who liked the General; how could he have spent so long trash-talking Lin Xiansheng on the campus forum every single day?
Zhang Zhou started to deeply regret his mistakes. If not for the tiny bit of reason he had left, he would have wanted to cry, hug Lin Xiansheng, and call him family right then and there.
“I have a favor to ask of you.” Just then, Lin Xiansheng suddenly spoke.
Zhang Zhou nodded excitedly: “What is it? As long as I can do it, I will definitely not refuse!”
Lin Xiansheng curved his eyes and said softly, “In the future, if you get news about General Lu ahead of time, could you send me a copy?”
Zhang Zhou clenched his fists, his eyes shining, and answered firmly without even thinking: “Okay!”
Having gotten the answer he wanted, Lin Xiansheng was very satisfied. However, thinking that there was still a major piece of trouble right here, he instantly felt a massive headache coming on.
He turned around. The boy sitting on the other side of the sofa was wearing a cold expression.
Feeling the gaze, Lu Jing, who had stayed silent ever since entering, finally raised his head, his pretty eyes staring intently at Lin Xiansheng.
“You really would rather live in a place like this than go to the Capital?”
“This place is pretty good.” Regarding this major trouble, Lin Xiansheng still found it rather tricky. Lu Jing was the Empire’s youngest prince and also the most favored one; he really didn’t know how to handle him properly. If something went wrong even slightly, it would spell trouble.
“Pretty good.” The black-haired, green-eyed boy suddenly nodded and stated flatly.
Lin Xiansheng paused without saying anything. Based on his understanding of Lu Jing, this reply was definitely not a good sign.
Sure enough, the next moment Lu Jing crossed his legs, treating the place entirely as his own home.
“There are rooms upstairs, right? Starting today, I am going to live here too!”