Volume One, Chapter One Hundred and Forty: Sudden and Unexpected

The leisurely chime signaling the end of the library's study hours echoed through the halls, finally pulling Mo De from the vast ocean of knowledge. Raising his head to look out through the glass windows, he saw that the star-and-moon-draped night sky had completely enshrouded the entire landscape.

Stretching his back luxuriously, Mo De felt an immense sense of fulfillment within his mental realm. Perhaps thanks to Instructor Huo's specially crafted coffee, Mo De did not feel the slightest trace of fatigue at the moment.

Picking up the copy of the "Dummy's Guide," Mo De walked back down the stairs to the first-floor lobby. Heading in the direction Huo Yufei had mentioned earlier, he indeed found rows of book lockers neatly arranged in a corner of the lobby.

After selecting an empty locker, Mo De flashed his wristband to unlock the compartment and placed the "Beginner's Guide for Metal-Attribute Metahumans" inside. As he turned to walk away from the cluster of lockers, he happened to run into Yu Jiuchuan, who was also storing the books she hadn't finished reading.

"Good evening, Senior Jiuchuan!" Mo De greeted her while glancing at the stack of books she was placing into her locker.

Every single one of those books was just as thick as his own dummy's guide.

Once Yu Jiuchuan finished storing her books, the two of them walked out of the library together, heading toward the guest apartments in the South Campus.

Yu Jiuchuan was somewhat curious that Junior Mo De had actually managed to stay immersed in the library until closing time. It seemed this junior might have finally discovered the joy of learning.

Returning to the guest apartment, Mo De opened his door feeling refreshed, only to find Mu Qing nowhere in sight. The quilt had already been neatly folded and placed at the head of the bed, while that large bear body pillow rested quietly beside it.

It seemed this fellow must still be wandering around the campus.

Stepping out of his room, Mo De looked left and right. Confirming that the hallway was empty, he darted to the door of the adjacent room in a flash, swiped his card to unlock it, slipped inside, and silently closed the door behind him. The entire process happened in the blink of an eye, drawing no one's attention at all.

Sneaking into Mu Qing's room and turning on the lights, Mo De couldn't help but twitch his brow at the sight of the chaotic room.

No wonder this fellow had insisted on squeezing into his room for a midday nap.

Frowning, Mo De first opened the windows for ventilation, then began to sort and fold the clothes strewn everywhere, tossing any suspected dirty laundry directly into the laundry basket.

After throwing the pending laundry into the washing machine, Mo De set about cleaning up the snack wrappers scattered all over the floor, wondering to himself just how much this guy could possibly eat.

Once the sweeping and mopping were done, his eyes fell upon an unopened small cake sitting on top of a suitcase. Rubbing his stomach, Mo De stepped forward and grabbed two packets.

Having gone through an intense battle in the library, his dinner had been completely digested, and Mo De was feeling rather hungry by this point.

He would just use this fellow's stash to tide himself over for a bit, and replace them by buying some more for her tomorrow.

Suddenly, his cell phone buzzed. Pulling it out, Mo De saw that it was a call from that fellow Mu Qing.

"Hello, what's up?" Mo De asked after answering the call.

"Where are you? You're not in my room, are you?" Mu Qing's voice on the other end was lowered to a whisper, which instantly gave Mo De an ominous premonition.

"I'm cleaning up your place for you, what's wrong?" Mo De lowered his voice as well and hurriedly asked.

"Quick, find somewhere to hide!" Mu Qing said rapidly, and then another greeting came through from the other end of the line.

"Qing, what's wrong? Come open the door."

"Ah, oh, coming, coming, just took a phone call..."

As the call disconnected, Mo De turned his head toward the door as several sets of footsteps approached this room.

Mu Qing stood at the doorway, putting on an act of searching through her pockets for the room card for quite a while before finally pulling it out. As she swiped the card to unlock the door, she muttered inwardly, "I really did my best to buy you some time..."

"So this is Qing's room. Isn't it kept quite clean?" A voice came from the entryway. "I thought you were someone who hated tidying up as much as I am, but it turns out you were just playing humble!"

Judging by the voice, this person should be Chu Jiaojiao from the instructor team. After all, Mo De had previously been cornered and lectured by this teacher for quite a while, so her voice naturally left a deep impression on him.

"Keep it down, Jiaojiao." Chen Yue entered the room next, changed into slippers in the entryway, and walked further inside.

"Just tidied up a bit..." Mu Qing closed the door behind her, bringing the female trio of the instructor team—excluding Chu Fengyi—fully together in this space.

"It's rare for Ms. Chu to cancel a routine meeting, so we can finally get some proper rest." Chu Jiaojiao didn't stand on ceremony at all; after pouring herself a glass of water, she began wandering around the room.

It seemed this Teacher Chu was not only talkative, but also someone who couldn't keep her hands and feet still.

Watching Chu Jiaojiao wander about, Mu Qing felt her heart leap into her throat, terrified that the woman might casually unearth Mo De from wherever he was hiding.

"Beep, beep, beep..." A sudden sound came from the direction of the bathroom, causing Mu Qing's heart to skip a beat. Just as she was about to rush over, she saw Chu Jiaojiao beat her to it and run toward the bathroom.

"Qing, your laundry's done." Chu Jiaojiao's voice drifted out from the bathroom. Feeling as though she had received a royal pardon, Mu Qing darted over in a flash and said, "I'll handle it, Jiaojiao, why don't you go rest on the sofa for a bit? There are some snacks under the coffee table over there."

"I'll give you a hand so we can finish faster," Chu Jiaojiao said warmly, helping Mu Qing retrieve the tumble-dried laundry and carrying it out to the living room to fold neatly.

"Wow, Qing, why is the size of your underwear so exaggerated..." Chu Jiaojiao exclaimed while sorting the clothes, holding one up against her chest to compare. The difference was indeed quite substantial.

"Stop messing around, help out properly if you're going to help," Chen Yue rebuked Chu Jiaojiao from the sofa.

Mu Qing's old face flushed red as she sped up her clothes-folding.

It wasn't because of Chu Jiaojiao's exclamation, but rather because there was still a man hiding right inside her room.

After sorting and stacking the clothes into two piles, Mu Qing fished a few cans of beer out of the refrigerator to place on the coffee table, along with a few bags of snacks. "You guys go ahead and drink, I'll go put these clothes away first."

"Woohoo, iced beer, awesome!" Chu Jiaojiao eagerly popped open a can, gulped it down in one breath, and let out a resounding burp. "After working hard all day, only this kind of stuff really refreshes the mind!"

"Can't you maintain a bit of an image?" Chen Yue also opened a can of beer and began to drink.

"There's nobody else in this room, we're all our own girls, what's there to mind?" With a can of beer down her hatch, Chu Jiaojiao instantly became even more talkative. "Take you for instance, Yueyue, you always keep yourself so tightly wound in front of the students and Ms. Chu, you're the one who should take this chance to properly relax!"