390: Chapter 378 (Anti-theft Chapter) (Main text will be updated in a few hours)

Upon learning that Tevan was nearly two hundred years old, Farid and the Young Woman were shocked beyond words, purely because they were completely unprepared mentally.

Immortal Xu and Dumbledore were thousands or even over ten thousand years old; although the two had been momentarily dazed when they first learned this, they quickly came to their senses and reluctantly accepted the facts before them.

After all, these two transcendents either had silver hair with youthful faces or white hair and beards looking like they were in their twilight years, yet their physical conditions were more robust than young people's. Their physical appearances matched the figures who lived for many years in the myths of various countries.

To say they were of great age was unbelievable, but it ultimately fit the perceptions of transcendent 'common sense'.

"So, Senior Tevan, how old are you this year?" Farid and the Young Woman were staring blankly to the side, while a Young Woman who felt Tevan was not difficult to get along with plucked up the courage to ask tentatively.

"How old?" Tevan showed a look of hesitation.

"If it's inconvenient to disclose, just act as if I didn't ask." The Young Woman thought age was an important privacy for transcendents and that she had caused trouble for Tevan, so she quickly added.

"It's not that it's inconvenient, it's just..." Tevan lowered his head as if thinking about something, then murmured after a few seconds, "I've forgotten."

"Huh?" The five of them were collectively dumbfounded.

Tevan smiled: "When I first started remembering things, I did keep track of my age, but as time went on, I stopped caring about it.

Well, plus my teacher told me that for us, age is meaningless, so later I simply forgot about it entirely."

His tone was very relaxed, as if he were chatting about the dishes for tonight's dinner. However, hearing this, the five people could not calm their hearts no matter what.

"Immortality" has always been the ultimate dream of the human species since the dawn of intelligence.

Not to mention ordinary people who live a mundane life craving it immensely, even many ancient emperors could not escape the convention. In their final years, shrouded in the fear of death, they did all sorts of ridiculous things like 'refining elixirs'.

Even vast empires were reduced to ashes because of it.

But the obsession that has entangled humanity for thousands of years is just the most ordinary ability in the transcendent world, possessed naturally like breathing.

What he could not obtain was something others were born with; Farid could not let it go for a long time.

Fortunately, he would also become one of them.

His eyes regained their former luster: "Senior Tevan, why do transcendents have such long lifespans?

Is it because of special energy?"

As is well known on Blue Star now, the energy required for transcendent cultivation does not exist on Blue Star. He guessed that this was probably the reason why human lifespans were always limited to around a hundred years.

"This... you will find out in the future." Tevan ended the topic about age and spoke of his purpose for this trip, "I came to see you today, firstly to check on your learning progress.

Secondly, I heard that the new students at Hogwarts and the Mountain Gate had a holiday shortly after school started, so I suggested to the Director that we should follow suit."

"Meaning, we have a holiday?"

"Yes.

However, considering the learning enthusiasm of the new students, the Director allows you to freely choose where to spend your holiday. You can go home, or you can stay at Seventeen to study."

The group hesitated for a moment.

In the future, they would inevitably have to stay at Seventeen for a long time, and opportunities to go home would be few. If they didn't go back this time, the next time might be many years later.

Thinking deeper, after returning home after a long interval, perhaps their parents would have already become withered bones.

But if they really decided to go back, they were worried it would leave a negative impression on Seventeen. Additionally, they were indeed very eager to advance their cultivation further and were unwilling to waste a single second.

Tevan noticed their difficulty and explained: "It's normal to go home for the holidays; many of your seniors choose to go home.

Also, if you wish to stay at Seventeen for self-study but miss your family, you can go to the Academic Affairs Office to apply to have your parents come over to stay for a few days."

The five immediately looked up, and the Young Woman said excitedly: "Really?"

If that were true, it would indeed resolve their internal conflict.

"Of course." Tevan nodded affirmatively.

"I want to apply!" The Young Woman was the first to raise her hand.

"No rush, and I don't have the authority to approve it anyway." Tevan waved his hand and continued, "The holiday dates will be announced to you a week in advance. You can just go to the Academic Affairs Office to apply then."

"Where is the Academic Affairs Office?"

"Ask the Dorm Manager." After saying that, Tevan turned and pushed the door open to leave.

Relieved of their dilemma, the five people's moods brightened, and even the stack of catalogs on the trailer didn't seem so terrifying anymore.

They happily went to the library to collect the textbook texts, then returned to the dormitory, left behind bold words about "studying hard," and began browsing in the study room at the end of the second-floor corridor.

Time passed quietly, and in a flash, it was dinner time.

After reading books all afternoon, the confidence of the five was completely shattered. Dizzy and light-headed, they stood up and walked toward the first-floor dining hall.

"I feel..." The Young Woman stumbled and nearly fell, instinctively grabbing Farid's shoulder to steady herself, "My eyes are full of those strange characters now."

Initially, they thought that no matter how many books there were, they could always finish them with hard work, but they didn't expect that they wouldn't even recognize the characters in the books.

To read the textbooks through, they first had to learn this script.

As for the learning difficulty...

This script did not originate from Blue Star but was brought by Zhang Mu from Saul Continent. And even on Saul Continent, it was not an easy-to-learn common language; it was an extremely obscure minority language used only by a few small kingdoms located in the corners of the continent.

The five of them ran to the library to pick up "First Grade Language Books" and studied diligently on their own, but as a result, they couldn't even fully master the most basic "phonetic alphabet."

"Farid." The Young Woman shook her groggy head.

"Hmm?"

"I think... it's not realistic to finish the textbooks within three days. What should we do for the next potion class?"

The other three obviously had the same concerns. They all stopped and looked at Farid with furrowed brows.

Farid was a bit bewildered. Why are you so sure I have a way?

However, looking at the expectant eyes of the four, the words were on the tip of his tongue but ultimately did not come out.

He fell silent for a moment and said: "Our situation is quite special. Unlike other seniors who have been in contact with transcendent knowledge since childhood, we should just tell the truth during class. I believe the teacher can understand."

It was a solution that wasn't really a solution, but it was the only option for now.

Well, cheating was an idea, but they weren't sure they could hide it from the teacher's eyes.

Most importantly, even if they turned all the content of the textbooks into cheat sheets, they wouldn't understand the script.

Farid actually wasn't too worried about this.

He had asked the Dorm Manager; Seventeen had no regulation that one would be expelled for poor grades. If he took it slow, he would eventually be able to keep up with the class progress.

The only thing he found tricky was how to explain things to the President the next time they met.

I've studied at Seventeen for half a year and learned some obscure characters?

That's a bit hard to say out loud.

"Just do our best." Farid muttered a sentence and waved for the four not to stand there foolishly, telling them to hurry up and eat dinner, then come back to study.

...

China, NH Coast.

The Director, who had gone to the Mountain Gate to meet Immortal Xu, walked from the distance on the beach with his arms crossed.

Yue Ruo and Lin Miao, who were lying on sun loungers, sat up: "Director, did you find out?"

The Director woke from his contemplation and looked at the two comfortable people with irritation: "I told you to go and soothe the psychological issues of the God-Blessed, and you came here to sunbathe?"

"There are no psychological issues.

Every one of them thinks they are transcendent, waiting in their tents for the Mountain Gate to pick them up. They're in a great mood."

The two had known each other for many years, and Yue Ruo didn't care at all about the Director's 'superior' authority, lying back down comfortably.

In the end, it was Lin Miao who saw the Director's face was too dark, stood up to give up the lounger, and moved another one over for herself.

So the three lay in a row, with the Director in the middle, and Yue Ruo and Lin Miao on the left and right.

"What did Immortal Xu say exactly?

Why is our population ratio so much lower?"

"Immortal Xu didn't say."

"Didn't say?"

"Yeah." The Director took off his jacket and covered his face to block the piercing sunlight, his mouth moving, "He just told me it's not a bad thing."

"What's our next move then?"

"Continue to worship the statue of god. If a God-Blessed appears, protect them."

"Just protect?"

"We have to screen them; we can't just absorb anyone into the team."

"Agreed."

The warm winter sun made them sleepy, and the sound of their casual chat gradually weakened until it disappeared completely.

The Director began to dream, dreaming that he had returned to when he was young. He was agile and high-spirited, killing enemies on the battlefield and repeatedly performing extraordinary feats, eventually rising to the position of Director of the Special Investigation Bureau.

On the day he took office, his old comrades and subordinates lined up to welcome him, not at all stingy with their applause, shouting "Director" in unison.

In his sleep, the Director unconsciously curled his lips into a smile.

"Director."

The voice was not in the dream; it seemed to come from his ear.

Is someone looking for me?

The Director opened his eyes groggily; it was pitch black in front of him.

What's going on?

Oh, I was covering myself with my jacket.

He raised his hand to remove the jacket and squinted to adapt to the suddenly bright light for a good while before he could clearly see the subordinate standing beside him holding a document.

"What is it?"

"A call from Kyoto."

The Director's sleepiness vanished instantly, and he sat up abruptly: "What did they say?"

"Despite our full preparations, there are still criminals using the name of the statue of god to swindle people.

Because the Special Investigation Bureau promoted the statue of god, there are many victims, and the impact is very negative. Kyoto has telegraphed us to resolve it immediately."

"Understood."

The subordinate nodded and left.

The Director stood up and put on his jacket: "Stop sleeping, get up and work."

"Hmm?" The two rubbed their eyes and got up.

"Damn it, there really are people who aren't afraid of death." The Director looked fierce and ordered the two, "Activate the emergency contingency plan, contact Zhao Qi's side, put everything else aside, and hunt down all those bold criminals first."

"Yes!"

The Director was in front, with the two a step behind on either side, as they hurried to the base.

...

Sū City Base.

In the office, Zhao Qi put down the phone, pushed off the floor with his feet to spin his chair, and said to Ye Ming, who was busy at the computer: "Did you hear?"

"Yeah."

"Then let's set aside what we have on hand for now."

Ye Ming turned to instruct the assistant: "Go and bring all the case files that have occurred."

"Yes!"

The assistant walked out of the room, and he turned to come to Zhao Qi's side: "I'm quite puzzled."

"How so?"

"Aren't they afraid of the Mountain Gate taking action?

Before, when they were doing scams in MD, China couldn't directly send people to arrest them due to sovereignty issues, but the Mountain Gate doesn't care about those things.

Even if their methods reach the heavens and they can secretly take the xuan niao ship to smuggle themselves to the moon, Immortal Xu could follow them and cut them down with a single sword strike."

Zhao Qi picked up a porcelain cup and said with a smile: "The Special Investigation Bureau represents the official side. With the official side promoting the statue of god, plus the national situation in China, how many people would be fooled?

Wealth is sought in danger, after all."

"And lost in danger too."

"Fair point."

While talking, the assistant returned carrying a stack of files that obscured his head.

"Just put them here." Zhao Qi cleared the clutter off the desk.

The assistant placed the files on the desk: "Group Leader Ye, Zhao Qi, it's lunchtime. Shall I go and get food for you?"

"Don't worry about us, you go ahead and get busy."

"Okay."

After the assistant left the room and closed the door, the two immediately each picked up a file to check.

While reading, Zhao Qi asked strangely: "We have the authority to directly access electronic data, why did you insist on paper files?"

"I like the feeling of words on paper."

Zhao Qi couldn't understand: "Strange hobby."

The case was urgent, so the two stopped being distracted by chatter and focused on flipping through the files.

After a long time, Ye Ming, who was holding a file, suddenly let out a "Huh?"

"What's up?"

"This person looks a bit familiar."

"An acquaintance of yours?"

"No." Ye Ming remembered who the person in the photo was and showed a mysterious smile, "It's an acquaintance of yours."

Zhao Qi was startled. Oh no, could one of my relatives have committed a crime?

On second thought, that's not right. Ye Ming doesn't even know my relatives.

Full of confusion, he took the file from Ye Ming's hand and quickly browsed through it.

And then...

"Hahaha—" Zhao Qi pointed at the color portrait at the top of the file, laughing so hard he couldn't catch his breath, "This bald donkey finally has his day!"

He indeed knew this person; it was exactly the monk who had swindled him into buying a whole set of 'Dharma tools' for a high price.

Ye Ming also couldn't quite hold it in, restraining the urge to curl his lips: "Don't talk nonsense, he's an injured party now."

"Right, right, right, a victim." Zhao Qi stopped laughing and coughed twice to clear his throat, "Then let's start with him.

Oh, by the way, should we notify Immortal Xu about this?

After all, the criminals are using the name of the Mountain Gate."

"Let's notify him."

The two made a decision and picked up the phone to contact the Director.

The Director originally didn't intend to inform Immortal Xu, feeling that it was somewhat inappropriate to trouble Immortal Xu with such a small matter.

But after receiving the call and thinking for a moment, he thought what the two said also made sense, so he set off for the Mountain Gate.

After meeting Immortal Xu and recounting the matter once, the Director returned to the base.

Standing atop the peak of Yuzhang Mountain, Zhang Mu looked down at the sea of clouds and muttered, "How do they dare?"

He asked himself, the existence and prestige of the transcendent had already been deeply etched into the hearts of the people of Blue Star.

What is transcendent?

Able to do anything in the heavens and the seas, with a transcendent status, standing above all countries on Blue Star.

Such an organization, and they actually dared to provoke it?

Birds die for food, and the ancients did not deceive me.

If you say Zhang Mu was angry, he wasn't that angry; he just found it a bit funny.

Of course, letting them off was naturally absolutely impossible.

Zhang Mu thought for a moment and contacted Luo Xiling through the moon bright sword, telling her that the Mountain Gate would send someone to assist in resolving the case.

Then he activated the Shadow Technique to transform into Senior Brother Zhou's appearance and headed straight for the Sū City Base.