There was no morning training today, so time wasn't so tight. Lin Qiye leisurely soaked in the medicinal bath for a while before changing his clothes and heading to the cafeteria.
Cao Yuan was right. Today, the cafeteria was finally serving up fragrant Chinese breakfast instead of nauseating white steamed buns and raw meat: soy milk, fried dough sticks, steamed buns, flatbread, and congee...
The mess hall was packed with new recruits. After that nightmarish extreme training, they were starving, stuffing food into their mouths like starving ghosts.
Lin Qiye looked at Baili Pangpang, who had already finished two baskets of steamed buns, and his lips twitched slightly.
"Qiye, these buns smell really good. I wonder if that old man Sun has had a change of heart... Want one?" Baili Pangpang, with his mouth full of food, handed the bun in his hand to Lin Qiye.
Lin Qiye didn't refuse. He grabbed the steamed bun in his hand and slowly drink his soy milk.
"By the way, Qiye, how did you get out of the mountain last night? Did you faint or get shot?" Baili Pangpang seemed to have thought of something and asked.
Because Lin Qiye took too long last night, the other recruits had already been sent back to the training camp, so naturally no one knew that Lin Qiye had crossed Jinan Mountain alone.
"I came out of it." Lin Qiye replied calmly.
Baili Pangpang was stunned, not immediately understanding Lin Qiye's meaning, then exclaimed in shock:
"You mean... you really traversed the entire Jinan Mountain?"
"Mm."
"...What kind of pervert are you?"
"..."
"You actually did it." Cao Yuan silently moved closer from the next table and placed the large meat bun in Lin Qiye's bowl. "Thank goodness, you didn't embarrass us heretics."
Baili Pangpang scratched his head in confusion, "Wait, you said there are 'a few' heretics, besides the two of you, who else is there?"
Lin Qiye and Cao Yuan both stared at Baili Pangpang.
Baili Pangpang:...
"I'm just an ordinary person..."
"Shut up."
"Oh."
After Lin Qiye finished eating and drinking, he put down his bowl and glanced at the clock on the wall.
"You guys eat, I have something to do. Come on Xiao Chen."
After saying that, he dragged Lin Xi Chen out of the cafeteria, who looked bewildered and was stuffing her mouth with steamed buns and fried dough sticks, and walked out.
Baili Pangpang raised an eyebrow, nudged Cao Yuan, and asked, "What do you think he's doing all this time, acting so mysteriously?"
"Who knows," Cao Yuan said expressionlessly, "at least he's not off to have a secret meeting with a lover."
"Why?"
"Given his personality, do you really think that's possible? And Lin Xi Chen is with him too"
"...True."
...
After leaving the cafeteria, Lin Qiye went straight to the instructor's office.
"Report!"
"Enter."
Lin Qiye and Lin Xi Chen walked into the office, and Instructor Hong glanced at them, immediately feeling a headache coming on.
"Hey kids, you're way too eager! I told you to come today, and you actually showed up first thing this morning?"
"I just happened to have some free time." Lin Qiye shrugged.
"Please sit down."
Instructor Hong stood up, took out an envelope and a small black box from the cabinet behind him, and handed them to Lin Qiye. As for Lin Xi Chen, she was given something wrapped in black satin that made her eyes light up; she was incredibly excited about it.
"Yesterday, Wang Mian already told us that although there were a lot of conditions, we could accept them."
"The envelope on the left contains a bank card with 1,500,000 yuan in it. The PIN is written inside, and you guys can withdraw the money from any bank."
"In the box on the right is the forbidden item we've given you as a reward. And the stuffs wrap in the cloth... Oh I forgot this...."
Instructor Hong took a black box from beneath the desk and placed it on the table in front of Lin Xi Chen, then sat back down in his chair and sighed.
"You guys are really something, kids. Not many people can squeeze money out of Chief Yuan."
Lin Qiye was taken aback. "Did Instructor Yuan provide all of these himself?"
"Yes." Instructor Hong leaned back in his chair and spoke slowly, "It was the commander's idea to send the Masked Squad to fight you, but we didn't expect them to lose like this... The commander took responsibility himself and put together these conditions for you. We wanted to help him out, but he refused."
Lin Qiye looked down at the envelope and box in front of him, remained silent for a moment, and then pushed the envelope back.
"Stinky Brother! Y-Y...! (@#&)@#" Just as Lin Xi Chen gasped in shock—looking like a startled cat—and was about to lash out at him, he subdued her and covered her mouth.
"Never mind that."
Instructor Hong was taken aback. "This was something you agreed upon before, and now you don't want it anymore?"
"No, I don't want it."
"Actually, you don't need to do this. That's our leader, and also the deputy captain of the Night Watch squad stationed in Shangjing City. He holds a position in the Night Watch's upper echelons. Do you think he would be short of 1,500,000?"
"It's not a matter of whether we need it or not," Lin Qiye said calmly. "I don't accept money from soldiers."
Instructor Hong looked at Lin Qiye in surprise, and after a long while, he finally spoke: "Have you thought this through? If you don't want it this time, you won't get it for free next time you want it."
"I don't want it."
"Good, you've got guts." Instructor Hong nodded and took the envelope back. Then, he reached out to take the box on the table again...
Slap!
Lin Qiye reached out and pressed down on the box and Lin Xi Chen clung stubbornly to that object wrapped in black cloth. "I want this!"
"This is mine." Lin Qiye looked into Instructor Hong's eyes and spoke solemnly.
"...I thought you didn't want it..." Instructor Hong grinned.
"I don't want the money, but this thing is very useful to me."
"Hehe, just kidding." Instructor Hong released his grip and chuckled. "You have no idea how distressed the commander looked when he took this thing out."
"What's inside?"
"Just open it and you'll see."
Lin Qiye opened the box in his hand, inside was a blue rhombus-shaped crystal, no bigger than a fingernail, but its surface emitted a faint spiritual aura, and it was clear at a glance that it was no ordinary item.
"This is..."
"[Azure Heart] is a forbidden artifact salvaged from the East China Sea more than 20 years ago. Within a one-meter radius around it, the [Azure Guardian] of the Forbidden Ruins Sequence 278 is always open, which can withstand most mental attacks."
"Of course, there's a limit to how much mental attack it can withstand. If the attacker's mental strength is higher than yours, it can only weaken the attack at most."
Lin Qiye's eyes lit up.
Although he now possesses two divine ruins, neither of them are mental abilities. He can fight openly and honestly, but if someone uses a mental attack on him, he will be helpless unless he directly uses the power of the Seraphim to resist.
Seraphim's divine power consumes a lot of mental energy and is more offensive than defensive; [Azure Heart] directly makes up for this weakness.
"Good stuff." Lin Qiye nodded. As for Lin Xi Chen, she unwrapped the cloth and saw something that caused her to immediately cover it back up and keep it out of Lin Qiye's sight. He had no idea what it was—or rather, he couldn't identify it even when utilizing his Seraphim power. It appeared to be some unknown, high-level Forbidden Item.
"What the commander takes out, it can't be anything but good," Instructor Hong laughed. "Go back and find a rope to string it together and wear it. We won't talk about anything too far away, but at least below the 'Sichuan' borders, it's more than enough."
Lin Qiye solemnly put away the [Azure Heart], saying, "Please thank Instructor Yuan for me."
Instructor Hong waved his hand, "Enough with the formalities, hurry back, training is about to begin."
Lin Qiye bid a brief farewell to Instructor Hong and then hurriedly left the office.
After he left, Yuan Gang's figure appeared in the office like a ghost, looking at the envelope on the table with a slight upturn of his lips.
"Commander, what do you think of him?" Instructor Hong was not surprised at all by Yuan Gang's appearance.
"Very good. Originally, even if Wang Mian hadn't reached an agreement with him, I would have found a way to give him the [Azure Heart]. After all, they are the Seraph's agent and Lucifer's agent, and they can't be allowed to perish too soon."
"But you sure about the items you give Lin Xi Chen...? Isn't it a bit too rare?"
".... It's fine.... In any case, I have to give it a lot of thought, since she's just so 'perfect' in every way."
"She even managed to intercept Wang Mian and prevent him from unleashing Yi Yuan, holding him off while also helping the others; consequently, her contribution was immense....."
Yuan Gang paused a bit and looked up in the direction the twin had left.
"And now?"
"Now, I feel they truly deserves the generous gifts I gave them."