Chapter 65

Chapter 65

Lin Fu's return to the Artemis Military Academy today was a spur-of-the-moment decision.

Nonetheless, he didn't particularly avoid anyone at the school.

The voice was very familiar; he turned around.

There was no doubt that the one calling out to him loudly was Bazel.

The students first followed the voice to Bazel's face, then, following his gaze, they saw Lin Fu at the back of the crowd, dressed in formal attire, looking utterly dumbfounded.

The sudden appearance of a person spoken of in whispers gave a surreal sense that they were still dreaming.

It wasn't until their teacher strode forward and pounded a fist against Lin Fu's chest, then, making a quick pivot, softened the blow into a slap on his shoulder.

The seemingly pale youth revealed a warm and radiant smile, greeting him like any normal young person would: "Teacher."

It really was Senior Lin Fu.

Three years can change a lot, like Lin Fu's status, Lin Fu's abilities.

And yet, it can't change anything at all, such as Bazel, who seemed no different from three years ago.

He hadn't seen this student in a long time, and now, upon this sudden encounter, he felt slightly flustered.

In his teaching career, Lin Fu wasn't the student he had instructed for the longest time, nor was he the most obedient, but he was the one he worried about the most.

Lin Fu's smile became even more docile, his mouth curling up: "Teacher, I'm doing well, how about you?"

Any distance that had built up over time dissolved, and Bazel's awkwardness vanished: "Of course I'm doing well. What else could there be apart from teaching these little rascals every day?"

As he spoke, he laughed, turning his head and casting a mischievous glance at the students around: "Speaking of which, these are your juniors, just two years behind you, second years too..."

The students whom his gaze swept over tightened their scalps, sensing something ominous.

As expected, the next moment they heard him say: "As a senior returning, guide these little rascals a bit, let them learn a thing or two about the pecking order."

Lin Fu scanned the circle of youthful faces, his eyebrows slightly drooping, his face revealing a hint of interest. He raised his hand and began unbuttoning his coat: "I could give it a try, it's been a long time since I've sparred with anyone."

Pedder Latt took his superior's coat, thinking to himself, hasn't it been a while since he's sparred with anyone?

Lin Fu, clad in the white shirt that was part of the military uniform, without the coat that lent an air of stern austerity, had the slim contours of his shoulders and waist outlined by the shirt in the breeze, creating an involuntary illusion of fragility.

He approached the training platform step by step, the students' eyes fixed on him, a stir beginning to rise.

"Who will go?"

"The senior looks quite thin... Just returned from the battlefield and hasn't fully recovered? If we go up now and win by chance, it wouldn't be a fair victory, and the senior might lose face, right?"

"Yeah, that wouldn't be good..."

Bazel casually slapped the back of a student's head, the smack resonating clearly: "Quit fussing over nonsense. Even if your senior gave you one hand and two legs today, you still wouldn't beat him. Dreaming before even stepping up, are you still asleep?"

The one who was slapped held the back of his head, pouting and filled with disbelief.

They weren't just idling around.

Words were useless; Bazel directly called out a few names: "You four, go up."

The noise intensified.

"Teacher! Four against one isn't fair!"

"Exactly!"

Bazel's eyebrows shot up: "Enough with the nonsense. Get up there!"

Lin Fu was already standing on the platform.

He unbuttoned his cuffs, folded them a few times, and pulled them up to his elbows, patiently waiting for the four students Bazel had named to come up.

The four made their way up.

Three male sentinels and one female sentinel.

The four looked at Lin Fu, their eyes filled with irrepressible excitement and admiration.

Lin Fu reassured them: "Don't worry, go ahead and strike boldly; if I really can't handle it, I'll run away."

His tone was light, slightly easing the tension of the four, and his words even coaxed a smile out of them.

Bazel urged from below: "What are you laughing at? What, do you need a friendly hug before starting the fight?"

The female sentry blushed slightly, "It's not that... I don't mind, as long as the senior is willing."

Bazell: "..."

Why just blindly admire? Why can't they learn from Lin Fu's cunning when he took a group of classmates and made a move on him back then?

Friendly exchange concluded.

Surprisingly, it was the somewhat bashful female sentry who made the first move.

The instant she moved, her gaze sharpened, hinting at the nascent vigor of battle, as she rapidly confronted Lin Fu head-on.

The other three reacted promptly. Being classmates, they were familiar with each other's attacking styles and quickly coordinated their actions, cornering Lin Fu from four directions.

The attack that came head-on was fiercely robust, the sentry's formidable physique exploited to its utmost, her fists faintly stirring a whistling sound in the air.

Lin Fu tilted his head, dodging the punch by a hair's breadth, with the attacks of the other three closely following.

He grabbed the girl's arm, stepped forward, pressing down on her shoulder to switch their positions, startling the other three, who hurriedly attempted to withdraw their attacks.

Yet the girl clenched her teeth, not only not dodging but also grabbing Lin Fu and taking a half-step forward with him towards the center of the ring, positioning him perfectly for someone to strike his lower body.

Her face was flushed red, her heart filled with disbelief.

It was hard to imagine that the strength that easily carried her along came from a guide who seemed so frail, but the iron-clad grip on her arm told her it was no deception.

Especially since Lin Fu's expression was calm, showing no surprise, effortlessly in control, even leisurely to some extent.

Holding the girl's arm with one hand, he guided her past the two attackers, pivoted half a circle on his foot, and kicked precisely and fiercely at the most painful part of one's ankle, causing him to wince in pain and slow down his movements.

Lin Fu didn't have the habit of holding back in a fight; a light kick easily sent the already unsteady person flying.

The person rolled, clutching his leg, tumbling to the edge of the platform, barely stopping from falling off.

The other two didn't fare much better.

None of their attacks could touch Lin Fu; instead, they were kicked away with the same technique.

Their movements were incredibly fast, an unyielding struggle between them, but in reality, it was just over a minute.

In such a short span of time, the only ones left standing on the platform besides Lin Fu were the female sentry.

Lin Fu had her arm in a vice-like grip, twisted in such a contorted posture that any attempt to struggle would likely result in a dislocated wrist or shoulder, serving no practical purpose.

With a flushed face and beads of perspiration forming, she watched helplessly as her classmates were kicked off one by one, leaving her alone on the platform.

Dejected, she had no choice but to declare, "I concede!"

There was simply no contest! It was a complete overpowering!

Lin Fu couldn't help but laugh at the girl's dispirited expression, "You're quite formidable."

The girl scratched her neck, her ears reddening down to her collarbone: "Senior, you don't need to comfort me. You're only two years older than me... and besides, you're a guide."

Lin Fu's expression sobered slightly as something occurred to him. His mood quickly reined in, he corrected her, "There's no difference between a guide and a sentinel, and there's no shame in a sentinel not being as strong as a guide."

He rolled up his sleeve, "Do you know about the representative of the Huishi Academy's graduating class from the past two sessions? She's also a female guide, a very formidable senior. Your style is somewhat similar to hers. When you have time, you should watch her combat videos to observe and correct your own shortcomings."

The girl's eyes sparkled, "Thank you, senior!"

Lin Fu stepped off the platform, approaching Bazell, "Teacher, is the principal in?"

Bazell couldn't stop smiling, "Of course. I'll take you to him. After today's episode, these little rascals will behave much better."

They were all profoundly shaken by Lin Fu.

A thousand words couldn't compare to witnessing it once with their own eyes.

Lin Fu's escort team was also taken aback.

Being a second-year student and yet managing to last three moves under Colonel Lin's hand, was this the prowess of the First Military Academy?

They were incredibly envious, their hearts aching, deeply feeling the loss caused by the previous military's policy of secrecy to protect its core secrets.

So many promising youths, and not one had been assigned to the Fourth Legion; they all went to the Ninth and Sixth Legions, and even waste units like the First and Second Legions had quite a few promising individuals.

Fortunately, this year, the Legion didn't have to maintain its past demeanor.

With Colonel Lin as their living banner, these promising youths were finally within their Legion's reach.

Even with such self-consolation, they still felt an immense sense of loss.

It wasn't just a year or two; the Fourth Legion's chronic issue with fresh recruits had been compounding year over year.

Perhaps, had Lin Fu not emerged to change the situation, this state of affairs would have persisted. Even if they had withstood the council's dissolution orders, the end result wouldn't have been much different from disbandment.

……

Principal Karl received Bazell's message midway.

He reversed his steps out of the school and headed back to his office.

The secretary trailing behind was completely befuddled.

After pondering for a moment, Karl instructed, "Call Gong Yuan over as well."

The secretary, puzzled, asked, "Now?"

Karl's face, crisscrossed with scars, contorted with impatience, "Suddenly can't understand what I'm saying?"

The secretary bowed his head, "Yes, I'll notify him immediately."

Karl added, "That's all, you don't need to follow."

The secretary stood rooted to the spot, watching Karl's retreating figure hasten away.

He watched for a while, then lowered his head to send a message to Gong Yuan via his light-brain.

There was no reply, which he found unsurprising.

Gong Yuan was known not to respond to his messages.

In fact, Gong Yuan's interactions were limited with everyone except Karl, particularly disliking contact with Karl's secretary.

When Karl reached his office, several soldiers stood in the corridor outside, dressed in the Fourth Legion's uniforms.

Karl glanced at them, a faint mix of surprise and delight flickering in his eyes.

The soldiers saluted him militarily; Karl returned the salute and pushed the door open to enter.

A figure sat on a chair.

The young man's shoulders were slender, leaning back into the chair with a relaxed, casual posture as if the office were his own. His head was turned slightly outward, his profile angled towards the door, adopting a posture of anticipation.

...it overlapped with the silhouette from several years ago, that of the young guide who had hammered at the gates of his school with strange tools and then waited for him in the office.

His fierce and twisted face gradually softened, as if an eraser had smudged away his ferocity, blurring the sharpness and turning it gentle.

Upon seeing the principal, Bazell's smile grew wider. Without a word, he stepped out and closed the door behind him, leaving the space to the elder and the youth.

Karl settled into the principal's seat, arm draped over the desk, "I thought you'd be at the front for a few more years at least."

Lin Fu stood up and saluted, his voice warm, "Haven't you waited long enough?"

Karl gripped his cup, his knuckles curling, turning faintly pale.

Lin Fu spoke, "I had planned to wait a bit longer before seeing you upon my return. But since the timing has advanced, I'll give you this first. However, after you see it, you must act as if you haven't, at least until a definite result is obtained. You'll have to pretend to be ignorant."

He activated his light-brain, initiating a face-to-face transfer of encrypted files.

Karl had an inkling of what Lin Fu was giving him. His grip on the cup tightened, and as soon as the transfer was complete, he hurriedly opened the file to review its contents.

As he perused, the mildness on his face was overtaken by raging fury, a suppressed anger simmering like magma about to erupt from the earth's crust, noisily churning with heatwaves.

Lin Fu's cool voice pulled his reason back, "Three years ago, our group of recruits en route to the Fourth Army's station encountered an unmarked warship. The commander aboard that ship bore the surname Casophiel."

Karl abruptly looked up, staring intently at Lin Fu, "Casophiel!?"

Lin Fu didn't answer him directly but continued, "We captured him, brought him back to our station for interrogation, and obtained part of the information you just saw in the file, along with some other messages. Based on this information, we compiled the complete content you've just reviewed."

"However, it's quite evident that this is only part of it. The root lies with the Lin family, or to be precise, Lin Sicheng. If we want more accurate information, we can't bypass the key figure of Lin Sicheng."

Karl let go of his cup in dejection, "Lin Sicheng is already dead."

Lin Fu looked at him quietly, "Theoretically, yes."

Karl's gaze, which had dropped, suddenly lifted, locking eyes with Lin Fu, staring into the deep black of his pupils.