Chapter 95

As the saying goes, even the fairest magistrate struggles to settle family affairs.

If family disputes were truly that easy to resolve, that saying would not still be in use today.

When Ji Qing came downstairs carrying two bags of trash after cleaning his dormitory, he happened to run straight into Gu Lingxue, whose face was dark with anger. She was clearly furious this time. She did not even notice Ji Qing standing nearby as she stormed toward her single dorm room.

SLAM—

A loud crash of a door closing rang out, followed by several dull thuds of objects hitting the floor.

It seemed the matter still had not been resolved. Ji Qing understood at once.

So he could not help turning his gaze back toward Xie Chang’an, who was standing there blankly in the corridor, and said with a teasing smile, “What a coincidence. But judging from your face, did things somehow get even worse?”

Xie Chang’an’s expression turned dazed.

At his current state, he looked one second away from dying on the spot.

He staggered forward a few steps, then collapsed with a thud at Ji Qing’s feet. Struggling, he stretched out a hand and tugged at Ji Qing’s trouser leg as he pleaded for help, “Save me, save me, QAQ...”

Ji Qing was shocked. Ji Qing fell silent. Ji Qing politely took a few steps back.

Even so, he could not help crouching down and giving Xie Chang’an, who looked as though he had already wilted into a dried flower, a thorough once-over. Ji Qing asked hesitantly, “Why do you look like you’re about to become a Resentful Spirit?”

Xie Chang’an replied as though his soul were already leaving his body, “...I already am.”

Ji Qing could not help laughing.

At that moment, he finally found again the old joy of talking to Xie Chang’an. Xie Chang’an really was too entertaining. Before, it had simply been because the pressure had never landed on Xie Chang’an’s head. Though, if anything, that only further confirmed how correct Ji Qing had been not to get involved in a family dispute.

“So what happened?”

Ji Qing lifted one finger and jabbed Xie Chang’an’s foolish head hard.

If a fourth Class S student happened to walk by right then, they might have witnessed a thoroughly bizarre scene: Xie Chang’an collapsed on the floor, Ji Qing crouching there and poking his face, and Ji Qing still holding the two bags of trash he had not thrown away yet...

“I tried to talk things through, but they wouldn’t listen to a word I said,” Xie Chang’an said weakly, his cheek still pressed against the concrete floor.

“Isn’t that only normal?”

Ji Qing was not surprised in the least. Back in the teachers’ office, he had already heard the contempt in Gu Lingxue’s parents’ tone toward Xie Chang’an. Only a fool like Xie Chang’an would think they could be reasoned with. If they were going to listen to anyone at all, it could only be Gu Lingxue herself.

Though Ji Qing felt even that would be difficult.

“Don’t think school is everything. The classmates here are far easier to get along with than adults outside,” Ji Qing said, patting Xie Chang’an’s head with sympathy. “And most importantly, the rules the rest of us follow at school are the rules of the Ability world. The two adults of the Gu family are following an entirely different set of rules.”

Ji Qing shook his head with a smile. “They are not going to listen to you just because you are in Class S, or because you are strong.”

To be honest, Ji Qing thought that was the hardest part.

The experience they had accumulated in the past simply did not apply to family disputes, and as children, they were born into a natural disadvantage inside the family structure. Ji Qing suddenly found himself a little curious how that old thief of an author planned to bring this matter to a smooth conclusion. After all, Gu Lingxue was the female lead of the manga.

There was no way the manga’s female lead could drop out.

“...Sigh...”

After hearing all that, Xie Chang’an let out a long, heavy sigh.

If he had still thought he could help before, then by now he had more or less given up on that hope entirely. Xie Chang’an had never been good with words to begin with. Asking him to mediate between two sides in conflict was even more impossible.

“Are all parents like this?” Xie Chang’an murmured, looking completely lost.

As an orphan, he truly could not understand the Gu parents’ overbearing attitude. Rather than treating Gu Lingxue as their daughter, they seemed more like they were treating her as their personal property, to the point that they completely disregarded her own wishes.

That was what made it impossible for Xie Chang’an, who had once longed for the appearance of his biological parents, to understand.

Ji Qing did not comment either way.

He could understand Xie Chang’an’s confusion, and he also understood Gu Lingxue’s current predicament. At the end of the day, that was because he had grown up in a modern world where information technology was highly developed. From middle school to high school, and even university, Ji Qing had been constantly bombarded with news from the internet, and quite a lot of it involved absurd and outrageous family disputes.

But Xie Chang’an was different. The information Xie Chang’an had access to was very limited.

Ji Qing reminded him gently, “Rather than thinking about all that, you should get up first.”

Then, as though the thought had just occurred to him, Ji Qing added with a smile, “The floor is pretty cold. Don’t catch a chill.”

“All right.”

Xie Chang’an nodded obediently.

After standing up, he brushed off the legs of his trousers, but before long he could not help looking at Ji Qing with the pleading eyes of a puppy and asking, “Valedictorian, do you have any good ideas?”

Ji Qing immediately raised a hand in refusal. “No.”

If he had, he would not have run away halfway through in the first place. Facing Xie Chang’an’s damp, pleading gaze, Ji Qing helplessly pointed out, “I’m an orphan just like you. What kind of idea do you think I’d have?”

The line Ji Qing had once used to brush off Jiang Cuo was now being used to brush off Xie Chang’an as well.

Xie Chang’an smiled bitterly after hearing that. It seemed neither of them could help now.

Ji Qing, meanwhile, simply shrugged in resignation.

That was normal enough, and in any case, it was time for him to go throw out the trash. Ji Qing lifted the two bags again and headed toward the stairs. But just as he passed Xie Chang’an, Xie Chang’an suddenly called out, “Right, Valedictorian, can I ask you something?”

“Hm?” Ji Qing turned back in surprise.

The last time Xie Chang’an had stopped him like this had been when he suspected Ji Qing was Li Yuan. So what was it this time?

Xie Chang’an asked, “When are you planning to leave school?”

“Probably in a day or two,” Ji Qing answered with a smile. “I’d still like to see the other classmates, and my winter break was too exhausting. I’m planning to rest first.”

Come to think of it, the whole thing was a little absurd if one thought about it carefully. Back when the chapter with the cult emblem had come out, some of the manga’s readers had commented, “Now I understand why the manga is called Ability Hunter Academy. Because school is Chang’an’s last home.”

But the Orphanage was a good place, and Xie Chang’an had not lost his home.

That, at least, was worth celebrating. Yet the moment Ji Qing compared it to himself, he felt an inexplicable ache in his heart. Because at some level, the school was almost becoming his own last home.

He had lost his home earlier than Xie Chang’an had.

The more Ji Qing thought about it, the more sorry he felt for himself. But compared to pitying himself, he would much rather the Manga Forum pity him instead and then shower him with a great deal of Popularity Value. If that happened, Ji Qing felt he would feel much, much better.

Though his thoughts were flying everywhere, Ji Qing still waved at Xie Chang’an with a friendly expression.

Xie Chang’an waved back at Ji Qing’s retreating figure.

After talking with the Valedictorian, Xie Chang’an felt his mood improve tremendously. Even though he had run into an extraordinarily difficult problem in person today, he had also encountered two wonderful things. First, his relationship with the Valedictorian had not worsened. Second, the Valedictorian was willing to pay attention to him.

Advancing to a higher class really was an excellent thing!

Humming cheerfully to himself, Xie Chang’an walked lightly back toward his dorm. Full of expectation, he thought: maybe he could use this chance to grow closer to the Valedictorian. Then they might take commissions together later, and in the future they would have more things to talk about...

Xie Chang’an swore that next time, he would absolutely perform well.

And yet the turning point came astonishingly quickly—

By dusk, Ji Qing had finished tidying his dorm and was just about to go read through the Dawn Society’s internal archives when he heard a rapid series of knocks at the door.

Who could be looking for him now?

A trace of confusion flashed across Ji Qing’s face, but he still quickly got up and pulled the door open.

Standing outside was Xie Chang’an.

The moment Xie Chang’an saw Ji Qing answer the door, his tightly furrowed brows suddenly loosened. But almost immediately, they knotted up again. He spoke quickly, “Ji Qing, Teacher asked me to ask whether you want to come too?”

“Hm?” Ji Qing tilted his head in confusion.

His short white hair fell softly to his shoulders, and his green eyes calmly reflected Xie Chang’an’s figure. Ji Qing was patiently waiting for Xie Chang’an’s next sentence. A single short line was not enough for him to understand the full picture.

For some reason, Xie Chang’an suddenly felt somewhat constrained.

He could tell from Ji Qing’s pajamas that Ji Qing was no longer planning to go out today. And yet he was disturbing Ji Qing’s rest anyway. This time, the last time, and the time before that...

The more Xie Chang’an thought about it, the redder his face became.

But for the sake of the crisis at hand, Xie Chang’an still suppressed the guilt in his heart and hurriedly explained, “The train Gu Lingxue’s parents took back derailed. According to the information relayed by the Yancheng Railway Bureau, it likely ran into a southward-migrating Mutated Bird Tide.”

“It’s already very close to nightfall now. The nearest rescue team can’t reach the accident site before dark.”

“If the survivors are left outside the city, none of them will survive,” Xie Chang’an said anxiously. “Lingxue and I are preparing to leave immediately, but Teacher asked me to ask whether you want to come too. Valedictorian, what do you think?”

“I’m going.”

Ji Qing answered cleanly, without the slightest hesitation.

The restless unease in Xie Chang’an’s heart finally settled down completely.

When he had first learned about the incident, his reaction had been far more panicked than Ji Qing’s.

He had just witnessed Gu Lingxue and her parents arguing to the point of mutual destruction, practically on the verge of cutting ties on the spot, and in the very next moment, he heard the news that her parents’ train had derailed. Xie Chang’an had panicked terribly back then. If Gu Lingxue’s parents really died just like that...

He could not even imagine how Gu Lingxue would react afterward.

Gu Lingxue loved her parents, and her parents loved Gu Lingxue too. Even if the two sides had almost come to physical blows over this, the thought that the whole matter might end in one side’s death still struck Xie Chang’an as unbearably absurd.

When Lingxue remembered this in the future, how heartbroken would she be...

Ji Qing asked calmly, “Did the Railway Bureau release any other information to us?”

“Yes.” Xie Chang’an explained seriously, “It looks like someone was infected. Then the Infected destroyed the train’s onboard surveillance. The Railway Bureau suspects the Aberrants may have manipulated the Infected into finding and damaging the train’s defensive systems, so the bird tide could get inside.”

After hearing that, Ji Qing could not help giving Xie Chang’an a few extra looks, but Xie Chang’an’s expression remained grave.

He had clearly learned his lesson from the last incident.

Not every Infected could be saved, and not every Infected could survive to the end. For those who had already reached the end of the road and were being forced to assist the Aberrants, death was sometimes a form of release.

For some reason, Ji Qing suddenly found himself rather looking forward to the day his identity as an Aberrant was exposed.

Even though he was still trying to avoid that very outcome for now.

Ji Qing asked again, “How are you planning to get there?”

Xie Chang’an replied, “Teacher contacted the Yancheng Railway Bureau. They said they can provide us with a trial train that’s nearly ready for scrapping, so we can get to the scene as quickly as possible.”

Ji Qing praised the decision. “Not bad.”

By this point, Ji Qing had more or less sorted out the whole situation. They were probably about to head back to the station. So Ji Qing smiled decisively and said, “All right. Then please go on ahead first. I’ll catch up very soon.”