Apocalypse Forecast

Chapter 613: Chapter 511 War and Peace (Thanks to Feimute1983 for the alliance leader)_1

”Teacher?”

Huai Shi was completely numb. He struggled to raise his head from the sofa and looked at the old ghost in front of him. ”When did you become my teacher?”

”College is a place to seek knowledge, Huai Shi. Time is short! Do you want to waste four years?” The principal grinned, examining the young man on the sofa. ”Moreover, as the former alternate candidate for the Book of Fate, a world-famous educator, is there anyone more suitable for this role than me?” As he said this, his eyebrows slightly raised. ”I have a feeling that we are going to have a wonderful four years together!”

Wonderful my ass! Huai Shi was furious. ”Did you fail your language classes?”

”Heh, I am a substitute professor of advanced mathematics and the history of philosophy, as well as an archaeologist. Do you want to see my Dongxia language degree certificate? It must be more impressive than a high school student’s.”

Huai Shi couldn’t help but sneer. ”What a coincidence. Do you want to see my fifty diplomas from world-renowned universities?!”

”But none of them include linguistics,” Luo Su reminded.

”...” Huai Shi was stumped. Although he wanted to retort with, ’You’re talking nonsense,’ when he thought about it carefully... it seemed... indeed he didn’t have any?

”Don’t bother thinking about it; you really don’t have one.” Luo Su whistled. ”I sent them to you. I know it too well.”

”So what exactly are you trying to do here?” Huai Shi was so angry he could die. ”Why so much nonsense? If you want to kill me or flay me, can’t you just be straightforward?”

”It’s not that exaggerated.” Luo Su waved his hand and after some thought, said seriously, ”I just feel that I should take responsibility for you.”

”No way! We have no grudges from the past or recent days, and this is even our first meeting. Don’t you start taking responsibility out of the blue!”

In his paralyzed state, Huai Shi’s head shook like a rattle drum. He was scared. If this Old Turtle took responsibility for anyone, that person would truly be cursed for eight lifetimes!

”It’s okay if you don’t want to.” Embracing the cat, Luo Su generously waved his hand. ”The Ivory Tower is also my personal autocracy. If a young person has different opinions, they could bring it up, right? Do you think I will hold a grudge against you just because you challenged my authority?” As he spoke, he looked down at Huai Shi, quite eagerly waiting for the response.

”—Don’t you want to?”

Huai Shi rolled his eyes and completely ignored him.

”Well, since nobody has any objections, let’s settle it like this.”

So, after a fair and democratic decision-making process, Luo Su simply and efficiently clapped his hands, finalizing the resolution. Then, he retracted the six machine guns that were almost poking into Huai Shi’s forehead. After picking up the cat in his arms, he threw it onto Huai Shi.

THUMP.

Huai Shi couldn’t move yet and only felt a heavy punch in his stomach. His face instantly turned green. This cat... why is it so heavy? Old Turtle is trying to kill me!

”This, take it as a welcoming gift from your teacher,” Luo Su said with a smile.

”Welcoming gift?” Huai Shi struggled a bit to prop himself up from the sofa, glancing at the fat cat in his embrace and frowned. ”You’re gifting just a cat? That’s too stingy!”

”You should speak to it with more respect.” Luo Su shook his head in warning. ”It’s quite aloof. If you anger it, it might give you some color...”

Before he could finish his sentence, he saw that the cat had already snuggled affectionately into Huai Shi’s embrace, being carelessly stroked by him, and even rubbing against his hand with its small head. After licking his face a couple of times, the cat happily began to tread on Huai Shi’s stomach, purring joyfully.

”Isn’t this a cute and good-natured little darling?” Huai Shi lifted the orange cat in his hands and looked down. ”Aww, it’s a sweet girl... Where’s the aloofness? By the way, what were you saying just now?”

Luo Su’s expression suddenly became complicated. Recalling the tragic past when his face was scratched several times, he had a mouthful of curses he couldn’t utter.

As Huai Shi petted the cat, his mood finally lifted a bit. ”What’s its name?”

””War and Peace”.”

”What?”

”That’s right, ”War and Peace”.”

Luo Su sighed. ”Back when Utopia Kingdom hadn’t split, many restless members of the Heavenly Kingdom Genealogy were chosen by the Registrar to form contracts, becoming partners and companions. Just like ”Lord of the Flies” and Auden, or ”Gone with the Wind” with Ms. Cheshel—”

As Luo Su spoke, the orange cat in Huai Shi’s hand transformed into a tattered book. The cover was incomplete, and the contents were all blurry.

”Only half?” Huai Shi frowned.

”Yes, among the relics salvaged from the Heavenly Kingdom, it was the most pitiable one—less than even a third of what it once was, barely alive. After so many years, it still hasn’t recovered,” Luo Su lamented. ”But at least now it is out of critical danger. Hopefully, in your hands, it can return to its former glory.”

The damaged book reverted to the form of a fat cat, which clawed at Huai Shi’s body, seemingly afraid that Huai Shi would leave it behind. This made Huai Shi feel somewhat helpless. All right, keeping a cat is no big deal. After all, there’s already such a large horse at home. Is a little cat food really an issue?

”I hope you don’t eat much.” Huai Shi rubbed its head and didn’t protest any further. ”Is there anything I need to be aware of?”

”Since it’s only half a book, its nature is very hard to stabilize; you have to remember this: it will often be in a state of transformation. Usually, its color doesn’t matter, but when it turns into a Black Cat, that’s the war state; when it turns into a white cat, that’s the peace state—but actually, there’s a pattern to this,” Luo Su cautioned. ”Usually on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, it’s the ’Codex of War’, with an area-wide ’Offensive’ buff. On Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, it’s the ’Peace Treaty’, capable of applying a healing halo to the group.”

”What about Sundays?” asked Huai Shi.

”Sundays it rests.” Luo Su shrugged. ”You can’t expect a cat to work every day, right?”

Having Sunday off is quite something, Huai Shi thought, scrutinizing the fat cat before him. Could this creature have a bit of French lineage?

”Enough, stop staring.” Luo Su waved his hand. ”If you want to look, take it home and look to your heart’s content.”

”...” Huai Shi was stunned for quite a while, scratching his head, a bit incredulous. ”Is that really it?”

”What else? Kill you?” Luo Su seemed amused and glanced over. ”That would indeed be the simplest method, and... there was a time when I really did want to kill you, Huai Shi.”

That calm look in his eyes made Huai Shi’s scalp tingle. He couldn’t help but move back a little.

But Luo Su paused, then shook his head with self-mockery. ”But even if I killed you, what use would it be, right?

”Back when Utopia still existed, I had been striving to become its Registrar since I was fourteen, dreaming of the day it would come.

”Even after the fall of the Heavenly Kingdom, I never gave up searching. But until now, it never chose me.

”I have lost,” he said.

”Since those glorious days are gone, why should I cling to that bit of joy from the past and desperately hold on to it?

”If it were forty years earlier, I might still consider how to rebuild Utopia, clean up the aftermath, and restore the old views.

”But now I no longer have the energy for it. Even if I were to have free time, my mind would be preoccupied with how to build the largest swimwear Paradise in the Ivory Tower, where, 24/7, hot girls in bikinis would be running and laughing under the sun.

”When I die in my beach chair, there will be many buxom female students wiping tears for the passing of their idol... How wonderful. Why waste the last of my life on something meaningless after having wasted an entire lifetime?”

The elderly man turned around, gazing at Huai Shi, calmly telling him, ”That’s something you’ll have to face, isn’t it?”

Huai Shi remained silent, unable to respond.

To be fair, Huai Shi himself knew how much of a mockery his existence was to Luo Su and how much effort Luo Su had painfully invested in this. But Utopia had ultimately shattered. Just maintaining the continued existence of the Ivory Tower was already close to depleting his lifelong time and effort. Even Huai Shi himself felt that even with his lifetime, he probably couldn’t clean up the aftermath and issues represented by the Book of Fate, let alone rebuild the glorious Utopia Kingdom. He could empathize with Luo Su’s confusion.

In the beginning, Huai Shi was afraid of and wary of the existence of the Book of Fate, anxious to rid himself of this mission that was too dangerous and burdensome. But as his experiences continued, his thoughts gradually began to change. Even after countless cycles and trials in the All Spectrum Heaven Sphere, even though he had no detailed memories left, Huai Shi gradually began to embrace the significance of what the Book represented.

Right after Luo Su had revealed Huai Shi’s greatest secret, when facing the master of the Ivory Tower, this truly old-school The Crowned One, he thought not of handing over the Book of Fate, but of a fight to the death. It was only at that moment that he realized, in an epiphany, that the Book of Fate had become an indispensable part of his life and was no longer easily separable.

”It looks like you’ve realized something,” Luo Su spoke with a soft laugh. ”Having some insight is always a good thing. I hope you continue to maintain such determination in the future.”

With his words, the elevator behind Huai Shi opened once more. But Huai Shi didn’t move.

After hesitating, he suddenly asked, ”Don’t you want to take a look at it?”

For a moment, Luo Su’s shoulders trembled slightly. But the elderly man, with his back to Huai Shi, ultimately didn’t turn around.

”No,” he said, ”no need...”

With that, Luo Su looked up, gazing at the illusory projection above the Sky Dome. ”I can see it here every day, nothing special. Did you see it today, Huai Shi?”

”Yes,” Huai Shi nodded.

”Good, you should go now, Huai Shi,” he waved his hand. ”A new teacher has no right to linger here too long. I’d like to watch it a while longer, so I won’t see you out.”

Before leaving, Huai Shi took one last look at the lonely figure beneath the intricate matrix and said no more.

The elevator doors closed.