Chapter 12

1

Basement storage room, The Chishin Academy snack shop.

“Ha~~ I’m so sleepy.”

A girl was sprawled across a shelf, yawning nonstop.

“Pinno, Pia, Pichu, you three siblings really can’t find something to do? At least help me count stock.”

Tony held a clipboard and pen, moving down the rows, checking goods one by one.

“Hey, Tony, why do you love being this snack shop owner so much?”

Pia leaned on the shelf, smiling at him with a flirtatious tilt to her lips.

“More than ten years ago I came here for ice cream. Thought this place was perfect for hiding.”

“Hiding is fine, but you don’t have to be this professional. Busy all day every day, isn’t it boring?”

Pia grabbed a bag of spicy strips and casually tore it open.

“One coin a bag.”

Pia bit into a strip and gave him a downright contemptuous look.

“Cheapskate.”

Big brother Pinno had been sitting with eyes closed, conserving his energy. Suddenly, he opened them.

“How’s it going with the Third Princess?”

Second brother Pichu opened a bag of spicy strips at the same time and stared straight ahead.

“The Forst Lord and the Fist King are guarding the Third Princess’s room like personal bodyguards. Not a drop is getting through.”

“Ahhh~~ I really wanna rush in like that day again. The way we scared her stupid, that look on her face was hilarious.”

“Sis, that’s not efficient. In the end, we’re not in full human form. Once the Forst Lord uses the Dragon Summons, and you add Qin Yang and the Fist King, we won’t get the effect we want.”

“Master’s so picky about his ‘results’. Such a pain.”

“……” Pinno opened a bag of spicy strips for himself.

“That’s three coins total.”

Tony drew half a tally mark on his notebook. The page was already packed with rows of tally lines.

“Bald bastard! No wonder your hair doesn’t grow back.”

Pia ripped open another bag.

“Four coins.”

Pia’s eyes were even more scornful now, her whole face saying, “I’m not paying you, what can you do about it?”

Ever since he’d shed a layer of skin, Tony hadn’t grown hair again. He was already used to it. The smooth bald head actually saved him a lot of trouble.

“So, are we changing targets?”

“Qin Yang’s got so many girls. Just pick any.”

“No. We want the most effective one.”

“There you go with ‘effect’ again. We split up and each grab one. I don’t believe he can save them all.”

“He has to save them. That’s the point. But we need him saving them in rage and helplessness. That’s when it works.”

“Ughhh~~ Big bro, stop saying ‘effect’. My head’s about to explode.”

Pia clamped her hands over her ears. These days Pinno couldn’t get through three sentences without saying “effect” at least twice. Her ears were about to grow calluses.

Pinno went right back to closing his eyes, unmoving, calm as a mountain.

“Big bro’s been reading those weirdo ‘cultivation and Zen from hundreds of thousands of years ago’ books again, hasn’t he?”

Pia tossed a bag of spicy strips at Pichu’s face.

“Come on, let him. Worst case, he just meditates. It’s not like he talks much. If he really started preaching Zen to you, that’d be even worse.”

Pichu didn’t even blink at the flying snack, his eyes still fixed on the front.

“Pichu, you don’t need to keep watching anymore.”

The iron door leading up to the ground‑floor shop opened.

Another female voice drifted in, a pair of silver‑white heels stepping inside with a lazy catwalk sway.

Our intern teacher—people said her surname was Han.

“Ah Han, got intel?” Tony glanced at her from the corner of his eye and kept counting.

“A new target for the Room Snake.”

Han put down a slip of paper, and a three‑dimensional projection of a figure rose from it.

“This is the new target?”

Pia hopped down from the shelf and slowly walked up to the hologram.

“Yeah.”

“She doesn’t seem to have much to do with Qin Yang, does she?”

“The Room Snake’s file is accurate. Picking her is currently the most effective option.”

Han swiped a finger across the paper. Lines of personal data floated into view.

After Pia finished reading everything, she went quiet for a long time, then asked, “Who exactly is this Room Snake?”

“No idea. Didn’t your master tell you before you came to The Human Realm? The one with top command authority over you here is the Room Snake.”

“Ugh, why pick someone we don’t even know.”

“I haven’t seen him in ages myself.”

Tony finally finished his inventory and walked over to them, looking like he was remembering something.

“You’ve met him?”

“Back more than ten years ago too.”

“Why is everything with you ‘more than ten years ago’?”

Pia jabbed a finger at his nose, even more disdainful.

“Hey, hey, Pia, you talk too much. Nagging all day.”

Han stepped between them, pointing at Pia with even more contempt.

There were sparks in both women’s eyes.

The man she liked being insulted? No way Han was letting that slide.

“Tch, he doesn’t even pay attention to you. You stick to him every day, who knows what you’re trying to do.”

“Not your business, you nasty woman!”

“I’m nasty? I shower every day.”

Han rolled her eyes at Pia, then grabbed Tony and pulled him out of the warehouse.

“I hate that woman!”

After that eye‑roll, Pia was so mad poisonous dragon breath leaked off her in waves.

“Hey! You’re contaminating all the spicy strips, you know that?”

Pichu looked very displeased. Snacks tainted with poisonous dragon breath tasted weird.

2

Tony and the others walked into the shop front.

It was the weekend, so not many students had stayed on campus. Even fewer were coming by the snack shop.

Han changed into a pair of flat shoes, picked up a small bag, and walked up to Tony.

“I’m teaching the kids how to swim today. You’re coming too.”

Tony frowned, obviously unwilling.

“I’m not you. Soaking in water all the time makes your skin wrinkle.”

“When you were sealed in the ocean, I swam beside you every day, and I never heard you complain.”

“……” Tony kept silent.

Seeing he wasn’t talking, Han ignored his attitude and grabbed his hand, dragging him toward the door.

“Come on, you don’t even have customers.”

3

From the new student union activity building, a small, slim figure slipped out quietly.

Her makeup and outfit were carefully done. Even with that short, boyish haircut, she still carried the clear vibe of a teenage girl.

Boys out doing morning exercise took a few extra looks at her without knowing why.

Some even stared so hard they looked bewitched.

No one actually walked into a lamppost or fell into a lake, though—mostly because there weren’t any lampposts or lakes nearby.

“Stupid Yang. Making me get up early and then acting like he doesn’t want anyone to see us. What is this, an affair? And he dares call it ‘girlfriend’!”

Qiong muttered under her breath as she walked.

Xiao Qiong came out from the academy’s side gate and waited by the road for a long time without seeing anyone.

Just as her temper flared and she turned around, a black motorcycle rolled up, the most distinctive thing about it that retro engine sound.

“It’s clearly magic‑crystal powered. How does it sound like an internal combustion engine?”

“New model from the Qin family’s auto line. Retro engine sound. It’s a bit smaller than what we use in the inter‑school competition. Not a weapon, after all.”

“Big Young Master’s really spending money today, huh.”

“Not good? You’re the first one to ride it.”

I patted the back seat, signaling her to get on.

“Where we going?”

Qiong swung onto the back seat without a shred of politeness.

“Today’s park theme—Horror Season.”

I held up the tickets and handed one to her.

“What flavor are you going for?”

“Keep pretending. Think I forgot how many horror movies we watched as kids?”

The retro engine roared down the street, and the bike shot off into the distance.