Chapter 29: That Night

After surviving that inexplicable assassination attempt, the remainder of Zhang Wen’s journey with Carlet finally passed without incident. As their psychokinetic vehicle rolled through the gates of Almace Academy, both Carlet and Zhang Wen exhaled in relief. At least on the road back to Almace Academy, no assassins had managed to keep up with them.

Yet, seeing the silent, sleeping Almace Academy, Zhang Wen still couldn’t shake his unease. If those who wanted to kill them had been capable of precisely tracking their departure from the Governor’s mansion back to Almace Academy, then sneaking into the academy to stage another assassination probably wouldn’t be difficult for them either.

“Come on, Carlet. Let’s go to the detention room.” After a moment’s thought, Zhang Wen finally lifted his head, making a resigned gesture toward Carlet with a smile.

“Eh? What? Tonight, you’re going to stay in the detention room with me too?” Carlet exclaimed in surprise.

“There’s nothing strange about it. After what just happened, I think we’ll be safer if we stay in the same place. Besides, right now, there probably isn’t a safer place for us than the detention room in Almace Academy.” With a nonchalant shrug, Zhang Wen smiled and began walking toward the detention room.

Following the quiet campus path, the two quickly passed several student dormitories and arrived beside the largest teaching building on Almace Academy’s grounds. The entrance to the detention room was inside an unassuming little wooden house next to the main building.

The detention room at Almace Academy had originally been an abandoned small warehouse, much like Zhang Wen’s bachelor’s quarters. However, unlike Zhang Wen’s quarters, this warehouse wasn’t built on the surface but was an underground storage facility. After it was abandoned, due to its dark and terrifying environment, the warehouse had never been repurposed. It wasn’t until the current head of the Disciplinary Committee, Director Ord, took charge and transformed it into a detention room that it became the place that many students at Almace Academy now feared.

“Hehe!” As they walked together down the dim corridor leading to the detention room, Carlet suddenly couldn’t help but giggle.

“What are you laughing for? Don’t you know that scaring people can kill them?” Zhang Wen joked casually with Carlet.

“Ah! Sorry, sorry. It’s just… Teacher Zhang, I really think this is quite funny. We, one a student council president and the other a former disciplinary officer, are people who often punish others by sending them to detention. Who would have thought we’d end up locking ourselves in detention. Don’t you think this is called getting what you deserve?”

“Perhaps that’s exactly what it is.” Zhang Wen laughed heartily, opened the door to the detention room, and gestured for Carlet to enter. “So, Your Excellency, the student council president, please go ahead!”

“I’ll be waiting inside for you then, former disciplinary officer, sir.” Hearing Zhang Wen’s good-natured sarcasm, Carlet playfully saluted and responded with a smile.

Click! As Zhang Wen walked into the detention room with a smile and set the door to close after a certain time, the heavy iron door slammed shut behind them. The detention room, without any lighting equipment installed, immediately plunged into pitch darkness.

“Zhang… Teacher Zhang. This… this place doesn’t… doesn’t have any lights, does it?” Before Zhang Wen could even adjust to the darkness around him after closing the door, he heard Carlet’s suddenly trembling voice.

“This is the detention room, of course there are no lights.” Zhang Wen replied, puzzled, and couldn’t resist adding a teasing question at the end, “Carlet, you’re the student council president! Don’t tell me you didn’t even know that the detention room doesn’t have lights?”

“This… How could I possibly know? I’ve never been in detention before!” Carlet exclaimed, clearly frightened and upset.

“Haha, you’re such a big girl, you’re not afraid of the dark, are you?” Zhang Wen teased, deliberately asking.

“W… What? I… I definitely am not afraid… afraid of the dark!” Carlet stubbornly insisted, though she didn’t realize that she was so scared that she could barely speak coherently.

“Really? Then let me tell you a story.” Hearing Carlet’s obviously trembling voice, still desperately trying to save face, Zhang Wen’s mischievous spirit was instantly ignited. With a wicked smile, he curled his lips and began telling her a ghost story in the lowest, creepiest voice he could muster.

“Waa…” By the time Zhang Wen had only gotten a third of the way through his ghost story, Carlet had already let out a sound like a little kitten being bullied. And when Zhang Wen reached two-thirds of the way through the story, Carlet finally jumped up.

“No, no! I don’t want to hear it! I don’t want to hear it!” Carlet shouted desperately, as if trying to expel the ghost story Zhang Wen had poured into her mind. Unfortunately, ghost stories often have the same effect: the more you think about them, the harder they are to forget, and the scarier they become.

After Carlet’s outburst, Zhang Wen, in a particularly devilish move, fell completely silent. As a result, once Carlet had calmed down again, she found the already terrifying darkness suddenly even more horrifying.

“Teacher Zhang, Teacher Zhang?” When Carlet called out to Zhang Wen again, her voice was already tinged with tears.

“Alright, alright. I’m here.” Hearing that Carlet was already on the verge of being scared out of her wits, Zhang Wen finally ended his prank, suppressing a laugh as he answered her call.

However, to Zhang Wen’s great surprise, when he didn’t answer her, she managed to hold back her tears. But the moment he responded, Carlet, finding an outlet for her emotions, let all her fear pour out at once.

“Waa…” Having been tormented by her own fears for over an hour, Carlet could no longer maintain her composure. She threw herself into Zhang Wen’s arms, wrapping her arms tightly around him and letting the tears flow freely.

“Eh? You’re really crying? I’m sorry, I’m sorry. It’s my fault.” Feeling the front of his jacket soaked through by Carlet’s tears within seconds, Zhang Wen realized his prank might have been a bit too effective. He quickly comforted her with a mix of laughter and regret, finally managing to stop her tears.

“Teacher Zhang, you… you deliberately scared me! You’re so mean!” As soon as her tears stopped, Carlet started shouting. Zhang Wen could easily imagine her adorable, indignant expression.

“Okay, okay. It was my mistake. How about I tell you another story to make it up to you?” Zhang Wen coaxed her with a grin. Honestly, aside from feeling guilty about Carlet, he couldn’t help but feel a bit of mischievous satisfaction at how well his prank had worked on her.

“Are you going to tell another ghost story?” At the mention of Zhang Wen telling a story, Carlet felt her hair stand on end.

“No, this time I’ll tell you a nice story.” Zhang Wen smiled slyly, choosing a beautiful, perfectly concluded fairy tale from his memory and narrating it in a gentle rhythm.

Zhang Wen hadn’t had many opportunities to hear stories on Earth, but those he could remember and retell fluently were naturally timeless masterpieces passed down through the ages. Soon, Carlet was immersed in the wonderful world depicted by the story. Before Zhang Wen had even finished, he noticed the girl in his arms had already fallen asleep.

“Sigh, she really has no defenses against people. Should I call it innocence or naivety?” Zhang Wen shook his head with a wry smile, gently laying Carlet down beside him, taking off his jacket to cover her, and leaning against the wall of the detention room to begin practicing the Spring Water Technique.

Meanwhile, as Zhang Wen and Carlet enjoyed their “private world” in the detention room, Governor Kallan and the delegation from Themis Academy were walking back to their hotel, their faces filled with anger.

If someone had observed them closely at that moment, they would have noticed that almost everyone in the group, including Governor Kallan and his several guards, bore various wounds. Especially the ace competitor from Themis Academy’s psychokinetic department, Sailing, who had several more wounds than the others.

“Your Excellency Governor, Miss Lusty… what happened to you all?” As soon as Governor Kallan’s group returned to their residence, Douglas and others who had come to greet them at the door were shocked by their appearance.

“Damn it, damn it!” Governor Kallan, with a small cut on his face, roared in anger. “It must be that scheming bastard, Temiso! He saw that Almace Academy’s psychokinetic department was going to lose the competition this year, so he used this despicable assassination method, trying to eliminate all of us and the Themis Academy people! Temiso, you bastard, I won’t let this go!”

“Your Excellency, Your Excellency, whether this was done by Governor Temiso or not, we still can’t confirm. This is Governor Temiso’s territory; please be careful with your words.” A wise-looking old man, who seemed to be Governor Kallan’s advisor, hurriedly grabbed the enraged governor, forcibly pulling him and the Themis Academy delegation into the hotel room.

“Damn it! Angelo, why wouldn’t you let me speak? Who else but that bastard Temiso would have a reason to assassinate the Themis Academy people?” As soon as the door was shut behind them, the governor, who had been holding back his anger all the way, roared again at a higher pitch.

“No. Your Excellency, you should think carefully. What benefit would Temiso gain from assassinating us at this time? First, this is his territory, Kallan’s planet. If we were killed on his land, he would be the first to be suspected. If he really did this, I can guarantee he won’t escape. Governor Temiso must know this well. Second, if it was really Temiso who wanted to assassinate us, how could he only send those useless assassins? Governor Temiso knows our strength quite well. But those assassins earlier, even if you didn’t bring your guards, the teachers from Themis Academy could have easily dealt with them. If Temiso really sent such useless people to assassinate us, wouldn’t he just be handing us a handle to bring him down?” The old man named Angelo sat in front of Governor Kallan and calmly analyzed each point.

“So you’re saying it wasn’t that bastard Temiso who did this?” Angelo’s analysis quickly cooled the volcanic eruption of Governor Kallan’s anger. He furrowed his brow and asked the old man again.

“Precisely, this incident is almost certainly unrelated to Governor Temiso. I think, if you want to vent your anger, calling Governor Temiso right now would be a good idea. After all, you and the Themis delegation were attacked on his planet. Calling him would allow you to openly berate him on the phone. I guarantee he won’t dare to talk back.”

“Good! Excellent! I like this idea!” As soon as Governor Kallan heard that he could vent his anger by berating Temiso, his spirits lifted again. He smacked his lips in satisfaction, snapped his fingers at the servant behind him, and took a delicate psychokinetic communicator from his hand. Soon, from the presidential suite where Governor Kallan was staying, the loud, exaggerated curses of this military-trained governor began to ring out.

It must be admitted that the hotel where Governor Kallan was staying on the planet Kallan had an excellent soundproofing effect. Just as Governor Kallan was shouting and cursing at Temiso at the top of his lungs, in another suite only a wall away, the students and teachers from Themis Academy were completely unaware of the governor’s thunderous outbursts. At that moment, they had already gathered with Mr. Angelo, the advisor to Governor Kallan, to discuss the attack they had previously encountered.

“This incident should have nothing to do with Temiso or Almace Academy.” Although the female teacher Lusty usually held hostility toward Almace Academy, she could still maintain a professional attitude when handling official matters.

“Yes, if it were Temiso or Almace Academy who acted, they definitely wouldn’t have let you all return with only such minor injuries.” Douglas, who still had several bandages wrapped around his head, also nodded.

After the inexplicable assassination attempt, Zhang Wen and Carlet’s journey finally proceeded without further incident. When the telekinetic car carrying the two entered the gates of Almicus Academy, both Carlet and Zhang Wen breathed a sigh of relief. At least on the way back to Almicus Academy, no assassins had managed to catch up with them.

However, looking at the equally silent and sleeping Almicus Academy, Zhang Wen couldn’t shake his unease. If those who wanted to assassinate them were powerful enough to precisely track their departure from the Governor’s mansion and their return to Almicus Academy, then infiltrating the academy for another attempt wouldn’t be too difficult for them.

“Let’s go, Carlet. We’ll head to the detention room,” Zhang Wen said after a moment of consideration, raising his head and giving Carlet a helpless smile. “Also, I’ll probably have to stay in the detention room with you tonight.”

“What?” Carlet exclaimed in surprise.

“Nothing strange about it. After what just happened, I think it’s safer for us to stay in the same place. Besides, for us, there’s probably no safer place than the detention room at Almicus Academy,” Zhang Wen shrugged nonchalantly, leading the way with a smile.

Following the quiet campus path, the two quickly passed several student dormitories and arrived next to the largest main teaching building of Almicus Academy. The entrance to the detention room was in an inconspicuous small wooden hut beside the main building.

The detention room at Almicus Academy was originally a small abandoned warehouse, much like Zhang Wen’s single dormitory. However, unlike his dormitory, this warehouse wasn’t built above ground but was an underground storage facility. After being abandoned, due to its dark and terrifying environment, the small warehouse had never been repurposed. It wasn’t until the current disciplinary committee head, Ode, took office and converted it into a detention room that it became the place that many students at Almicus Academy feared.

“Heh!” Walking with Zhang Wen through the dim corridor leading to the detention room, Carlet suddenly couldn’t help but chuckle.

“What? Why are you laughing all of a sudden? Don’t you know that startling people can be deadly?” Zhang Wen joked casually.

“Ah! Sorry, sorry. It’s just… Teacher Zhang, I find this situation quite amusing. The two of us, one a student council president and the other a former disciplinary committee teacher, are often the ones sending others to the detention room. Who would have thought we’d end up locking ourselves in here? Isn’t this what they call ‘what goes around comes around’?”

“Probably, indeed,” Zhang Wen laughed heartily, opening the door to the detention room and gesturing for Carlet to enter. “Well, President, after you!”

“Then I’ll wait for you inside, former disciplinary committee teacher,” Carlet retorted with a smile, not to be outdone by Zhang Wen’s friendly sarcasm.

Click. As Zhang Wen stepped into the detention room with a smile and set the door to close, the heavy iron door slammed shut behind them. The detention room, devoid of any lighting, was immediately plunged into complete darkness.

“Te… Teacher Zhang. Is… is there no light here?” Before Zhang Wen could even adjust to the darkness, he heard Carlet’s slightly trembling voice.

“This is the detention room, of course there’s no light,” Zhang Wen replied, puzzled, and couldn’t resist adding, “Carlet, you’re the student council president! Don’t tell me you didn’t know there’s no light in the detention room?”

“How… how would I know? I’ve never been in detention before!” Carlet cried out, clearly both scared and flustered.

“Haha, you’re not afraid of the dark, are you?” Zhang Wen teased.

“Wh… what? Me? Afraid of the dark? No way!” Carlet insisted stubbornly, though she didn’t realize her voice was trembling with fear.

“Is that so? Then let me tell you a story,” Zhang Wen said, his mischievous side awakened by Carlet’s trembling yet defiant voice. With a sly smile, he began to tell her a ghost story in the deepest, most ominous tone he could muster.

“Wah…” Before Zhang Wen had even finished a third of the story, Carlet was already whimpering like a frightened kitten. By the time he reached two-thirds, she finally jumped up.

“No, no! I don’t want to hear it! Stop!” Carlet shouted desperately, as if trying to expel the ghost story from her mind. Unfortunately, ghost stories often have the same effect: the more you try to forget them, the more their details stick in your mind, making them even more terrifying.

After Carlet’s outburst, Zhang Wen remained silent, adding to the tension. When Carlet finally quieted down, the already terrifying darkness seemed to grow even more oppressive.

“Teacher Zhang? Teacher Zhang?” Carlet called out, her voice now tinged with tears.

“Alright, alright. I’m here,” Zhang Wen finally responded, sensing that Carlet was at her limit. He ended his prank, suppressing a laugh as he answered her call.

But to Zhang Wen’s surprise, while Carlet had managed to hold back her tears when he didn’t respond, his acknowledgment unleashed a flood of fear.

“Wah…” After being tormented by her own fear for over an hour, Carlet threw all restraint to the wind and threw herself into Zhang Wen’s arms, clutching him tightly as tears streamed down her face.

“Ah? You’re really crying? I’m sorry, I’m sorry. It’s my fault,” Zhang Wen said, feeling his shirt dampen with Carlet’s tears within seconds. He realized his prank might have gone too far and quickly tried to comfort her, eventually managing to stop her tears.

“Teacher Zhang, you… you scared me on purpose! That was so mean!” Carlet cried out as soon as she stopped crying. Zhang Wen could easily imagine her adorable, pouting face.

“Alright, alright. My bad. How about I tell you another story as an apology?” Zhang Wen said with a grin. Truth be told, besides feeling a bit guilty, he couldn’t help but feel a little proud of how effective his prank had been.

“You’re going to tell another ghost story?” Carlet’s hair stood on end at the thought.

“No, this time it’s a good story,” Zhang Wen said with a mischievous smile, pulling a beautifully crafted, happy-ending fairy tale from his memory and narrating it in a soothing rhythm.

Back on Earth, Zhang Wen hadn’t had many opportunities to engage with stories. The ones he remembered and could retell fluently were naturally the timeless masterpieces that had been passed down for centuries. Soon, Carlet was immersed in the enchanting world of the story. Before Zhang Wen could finish, he noticed the girl in his arms had fallen asleep.

“Sigh, she really has no guard up around people. Is this innocence or just naivety?” Zhang Wen shook his head with a wry smile, gently laying Carlet down and covering her with his jacket. He then leaned against the wall of the detention room and began his Spring Water Technique meditation.

While Zhang Wen and Carlet were enjoying their “private time” in the detention room, Governor Karayan and the delegation from Themis Academy were walking back to their hotel, their faces filled with anger.

If anyone had observed them closely, they would have noticed that almost everyone in the group, including Governor Karayan and his guards, bore some injuries. Themis Academy’s star telekinesis competitor, Serin, had even more wounds than the others.

“Governor, Teacher Lasti… what happened to you?” As soon as Governor Karayan and his group returned to their lodgings, Douglas, who was waiting at the door, was shocked to see their condition.

“Bastards, bastards!” Governor Karayan, with a small cut on his face, roared in anger. “This must be that treacherous bastard Temiso! He saw that Almicus Academy’s telekinesis team was going to lose this year, so he resorted to this underhanded assassination attempt to take out both me and the Themis Academy delegation! Temiso, you bastard, I won’t let this go!”

“Governor, Governor, we can’t be sure yet if this was Governor Temiso’s doing. This is his territory, so please be cautious with your words,” an advisor-like elder beside Governor Karayan quickly intervened, pulling the enraged governor and the Themis Academy delegation back into their hotel rooms.

“Bastard! Angelo, why are you stopping me? Who else would have a reason to assassinate the Themis Academy delegation besides that bastard Temiso?” As soon as the elder closed the door, Governor Karayan, who had been holding back his anger, raised his voice even louder.

“No, Governor, you should think carefully. What would Governor Temiso gain from assassinating us now? First, Cassares is his territory. If we were killed here, he’d be the prime suspect. If he were behind this, I guarantee he wouldn’t get away with it. Governor Temiso surely knows this too. Second, if Governor Temiso really wanted to assassinate us, why would he send such incompetent assassins? He knows our strength well. But the assassins we encountered earlier could have been handled by the Themis Academy teachers alone, even without your guards. If Governor Temiso sent such amateurs, he’d be handing us a perfect opportunity to bring him down,” the elder named Angelo calmly analyzed.

“So you’re saying this wasn’t Temiso’s doing?” Angelo’s analysis quickly cooled Governor Karayan’s rage. He frowned and asked again.

“Exactly, this incident is almost certainly unrelated to Governor Temiso. If you want to vent, calling Governor Temiso now would be a good idea. After all, you and the Themis delegation were attacked on his planet. You can rightfully give him an earful over the phone. I guarantee he won’t dare talk back.”

“Good! Very good! I like this idea!” Governor Karayan’s spirits lifted at the thought of venting his anger on Temiso. He pursed his lips and snapped his fingers at a guard, who handed him a delicate telekinetic communicator. Soon, the presidential suite where Governor Karayan was staying echoed with the governor’s exaggerated curses.

It must be said that the hotel Governor Karayan was staying at on Cassares had excellent soundproofing. Even as the governor shouted and cursed at Temiso, the Themis Academy teachers and students in the adjacent suite heard nothing. They, too, had gathered with Angelo to discuss the earlier attack.

“This incident likely has nothing to do with Temiso or Almicus Academy,” said Teacher Lasti, who, despite her usual hostility toward Almicus Academy, remained professional in handling official matters.

“Indeed, if Temiso or Almicus Academy were behind this, they wouldn’t have let you off with just these injuries,” Douglas, who still had bandages on his head, nodded in agreement.

“But if it’s not Almicus or Temiso, then who else could it be?” Enclair, who had been humiliated at the banquet, retorted. “If it were just Governor Karayan, that would be one thing. But those attackers clearly weren’t just after him. On Cassares, who else would target us besides Temiso and Almicus Academy?”

“Hmm.” Zhang Wen nodded slightly, smiling as he glanced at the light coming in from outside. “I think it’s getting late. You should return to the Governor’s Mansion as soon as possible. You were nowhere to be seen all night yesterday, and with the bodies of those assassins on the road from the Governor’s Mansion to the academy, even if Governor Temisuo hasn’t started a citywide search yet, he’s probably about to.”

“Ahh!” Carlet immediately froze, letting out a cry of surprise moments later. From last night until now, her little head hadn’t even considered how Temisuo Governor might react to her disappearance the entire night.