Volume One, Chapter One Hundred Forty-Two: The Everyday

The carton of milk Mo De held had been dug out of Mu Qing’s refrigerator, though, unfortunately, there was no strawberry flavor to be found in her stash.

"Is anyone walking around outside? If not, I'm heading back." Seeing that Mu Qing looked somewhat drowsy, Mo De stood up and walked toward the door.

"Bring the bear back with me, won't you?" Mu Qing lay lazily flat on the bed, turning her head toward Mo De as she spoke.

"You're so lazy you'd probably wither away if you had the chance." Mo De quietly opened the door, first peering out through the crack to ensure the corridor was clear of other people, before stealthily slipping back into his own room.

Tucking the large bear pillow back into the sheath of his boundary-space blade, Mo De sneaked back into Mu Qing's room like a petty thief once more.

The sound of splashing water came from the direction of the bathroom; the woman had already gone to take a shower.

Mo De retrieved the large bear and placed it on the bed. Glancing back at the coffee table surrounded by a small forest of empty beer cans, he hesitated for a long while before finally deciding to help Mu Qing clean up. After all, this kind of chore would likely fall onto his shoulders sooner or later anyway.

After pouring out the remaining liquor from each beer can, he crushed them flat and bagged them up, gathering the snack wrappers of various colors as well. As he tidied up, Mo De couldn't help muttering inwardly that these three young women certainly hadn't held back on the drinking last night.

Once the cleanup was finished, Mo De opened the window to let in fresh air and drive away the lingering smell of alcohol hanging heavily in the room.

"I opened the window to air the place out. Remember to close it before you go to sleep," Mo De said loudly toward the bathroom before leaving, and Mu Qing acknowledged him with a hum from inside.

A short while later, Mu Qing finished her shower and emerged from the bathroom, enveloped in wisps of rising steam.

Turning off the room lights, even in total darkness, Mu Qing could easily see her surroundings thanks to the crystal-clear vision provided by her sunglasses.

Swiftly and deftly, she wrapped her damp, long hair in a towel, poured herself a glass of ice water, and strolled over to the window.

The night breeze was slightly chilly, yet it failed to dispel the lingering heat within her body. A faint scent of alcohol mixed with the fresh fragrance of shower gel drifted and swirled around her.

"How wonderful it is to be single. You can go wherever you want to play, and every now and then, you can even tease that guy to pass the time."

Perhaps the alcohol was catching up to her, as a rosy flush bloomed across the beautiful face bathed in the starlight and moonlight. Mumbling a few words to herself, she closed the window and returned to the bed to fall fast asleep.

...

Early the next morning, when everyone gathered once again at the Hall of Anomalies, Mo De glanced a few times at Chen Yue and Chu Jiaojiao—the two who had been thoroughly worn out by Mu Qing the previous night—and found that they had already returned to normal, showing no symptoms of a hangover whatsoever. As for Mu Qing, she was still her usual self, yawning as she sauntered at the very tail end of the instructor team.

After Chu Fengyi delivered a few symbolic remarks, the group dispersed, continuing to follow the exact same routine and trajectory as the day before.

Mo De was no exception. Avoiding the practice room chosen by Ning Muyu, he quietly visited every single metal-attribute training chamber. This time, however, he didn't dawdle; instead, he devoured the anomalous essence clouds with maximum efficiency to squeeze out enough time to bypass Chu Jiaojiao's patrol route.

When slipping out of the Hall of Anomalies this time, Mo De quietly changed his outfit, brushing past Teacher Luo Xinyang—who happened to be patrolling the area—without arousing the slightest suspicion.

Halfway through, he changed back into his original clothes, knowing that he might run into Senior Sister Jiuchuan and Teacher Huo Yufei at the library anyway.

He spent the entire morning immersed in the library, heading to the cafeteria at noon to dine with Yu Jiuchuan and Huo Yufei. In the afternoon, he continued hiding in a corner to attend lectures, and after dinner, Mo De returned to the hall to study the volume titled *Fool's Introductory Guide to Metal-Type Anomalists*.

Back in his dorm at night, Mu Qing unexpectedly refrained from bothering him, leaving Mo De to enjoy a rare moment of peace. After washing up, he turned in early...

Day after day of methodical routine did not bore Mo De in the slightest. On the contrary, while continuously absorbing anomalous essence and solidifying his foundation, he also absorbed all kinds of knowledge related to his metal-based supernatural ability. Mo De felt that such days were exceptionally fulfilling.

Because of their differing schedules, over the past few days, Mo De’s only encounters with Su Ziwen and Ivanoti were limited to the mandatory morning gatherings. The class monitor seemed accustomed to heading to the cafeteria only after the lunch rush had cleared, causing the two of them to constantly miss each other.

In the blink of an eye, Friday arrived. The San'yi University seemed to still be investigating the suspicious figure Mo De had spotted on Monday. However, while helping Mu Qing tidy up her room the previous night, Mo De heard her mention that the school administration appeared to have failed to turn up any useful leads.

The intruder's reaction had been exceptionally swift, evacuating the original stronghold while destroying all traces of their presence, and the digital trails had also been cut off abruptly, failing to unearth the true identities of those individuals.

Nevertheless, perhaps due to the thunderous measures taken by San'yi University, the opposing party had kept a low profile over the past few days with no subsequent actions.

"After all, nobody knows what their ultimate target is. I heard that President Jiang hasn't been able to sleep properly for the past few days; after all, you don't worry about a thief breaking in once, you worry about a thief constantly plotting against you," Mu Qing said, summoning the "iron figurines" she had previously crafted from Mo De and lining them up in a row on her bed.

"What if that person, or that group of fellows, has already left?" Mo De asked Mu Qing while mopping the floor.

"Their methods are quite sophisticated, especially their cyber-attack capabilities. To be able to catch people off guard and hack into the network of a university for supernatural beings—that level of skill can already be considered top-tier." Mu Qing modified the fine details of the figurines, transforming these already abstract metal sculptures into objects of even greater post-modern artistic beauty.

"Coupled with the fellow you discovered—if you weren't such a freak with an extreme sensitivity to killing intent, there's no telling when the patrol guards would have noticed their tracks. Those people went to such great lengths and put in so much effort; naturally, they have a goal they want to achieve. How could they simply pack up and leave just like that?"

"Then are we just supposed to wait for the other side to make the first move? The school administration should understand the principle that prolonged defense inevitably leads to failure," Mo De said, returning the cleaning tools to the bathroom and walking back into the living room while rolling his shoulders.

"How could they possibly just sit back and wait for death? This is a university of the supernatural, after all," Mu Qing said with a smile. "Yueyue and the others heard from Ms. Chu that two heavyweight giants have already returned to San'yi University. With them holding down the fort, the safety coefficient of the entire campus is going to rise by a few more notches."

"Giants? Just how giant are they?" Mo De asked curiously.

"The kind of giant that someone like me currently couldn't beat," Mu Qing replied, pushing up her glasses with a tone full of eager anticipation.

"Even you can't beat them?" Mo De asked, somewhat astonished.

One had to know that although this woman Mu Qing often seemed thoroughly unreliable, her combat prowess was ridiculously formidable.

After all, by resorting to a mutual-destruction fighting style, this person had even managed to drag down a Calamity Apostle whose realm had dropped to the late stage of the Wish-Fulfilling Realm.

Granted, her opponent had not yet fully healed from old injuries at the time, but that still failed to overshadow the undeniable reality of Mu Qing's own immense power.