Al frowned, he didn't like to be disturbed by others when he was alone, especially when he wasn't in a good mood.

But Al still looked up and saw the man coming against the light.

It was a somewhat thin girl, and unlike most of the freshmen, she did not wear a glorious long gauze skirt or evening dress to modify her delicate figure, but wore an ordinary lilac long dress, with long dark gray hair tied in a bun casually tied behind her head, no precious jewelry, just a black headband, lazy and casual.

The most striking thing is that her face is wearing a mask that does not match her good face, it is a half white cat face mask, which fits the soft contours of her face, covering her nose and mouth, revealing only a pair of cold eyes.

"Sit casually, I'm alone here anyway. After pretending not to care, Al withdrew his gaze, feeling his heartbeat a little inexplicably disturbed.

The girl didn't respond immediately, she just placed the goblet between her fingers on the glass table, and sat down gracefully across from Al, the white lace of her skirt almost hanging to the ground.

Through the pristine glass tabletop, Al inadvertently caught a glimpse of the girl's flawless white calf peeking out from under the hem of her skirt, creamy heels wrapped around her ankles. For a moment, Al turned his head to the side in a slightly embarrassed way, feeling a little restless, a feeling he had never felt before, a throbbing that was exclusive to puberty.

The music in the hall was melodious, but the girl seemed unmoved, a little unearthly like Al, her eyes stared coldly at the people shuttling back and forth, and a few strands of long hair fluttering on her temples, blocking her long eyelashes.

"Don't you drink?" After a brief silence, the girl's clear voice ended the dull atmosphere between the two, but she didn't look at Al.

"Ahh ”

"It is said that people who can't drink alcohol don't grow up," said the girl, who sat up straight with a goblet in her hand, so she looked pleasing to the eye. "Why don't you give it a try?"

"Paul... Oh, no," Al quickly changed his words, "the family refuses to let them, saying that alcohol will paralyze people's nerves and make people depraved." Al repeated what Uncle Paul had said.

A faint smile appeared at the corner of the girl's mouth under the mask, and no one else noticed it except her.

"My name is Eve, a freshman in the theory department. The girl said after a while, "Make a friend." ”

"Well... Okay. Al was a little shy, and at the same time a little surprised, "You're Eve?, the number one freshman on the list of A-department freshmen?"

"Looks like so, I didn't look closely. Eve said lightly, as if she was recounting something that had nothing to do with her.

Eve tucked her sideburns behind her ears, and the faint fragrance was all around her, and Al looked at the girl in the purple dress who was slightly shorter than her height. He couldn't describe the feeling, it was like a wild wild horse meeting a skilled horse trainer, and from then on the wild horse gave up his freedom and willingly guarded his master's side until he grew old.

"You're Al, aren't you? one of the two freshmen in the Ability Department. Eve raised her glass.

"How do you know my name?" replied Al subconsciously as he rearranged his chaotic thoughts.

"What? Do you think there are a lot of people making trouble in the Imperial Arena?" Eve looked away from the center of the crowd and landed on Al on the other side, her aqua blue pupils like a frozen lake, "I've only heard of you so far. ”

Al lowered his head and smiled helplessly, he didn't expect that he was so "famous" in Xinlan City now.

Recalling the experience of the first few days after arriving in the imperial capital, it was almost like a dream. The boy who only wanted to spend his life in the boundless Green Valley Forest would have thought that one day he would be ruthlessly driven by fate to a dangerous path full of unknowns.

There is always a process of turning from a boy to a man, some of them are painful, some are lonely, and unfortunately both of these things befall this sixteen-year-old child at the same time, and from the moment he is born he is destined to suffer for the rest of his life.

Gentlemen and ladies in the Diamond Auditorium swapped glasses and exchanged glasses, and the music in the hall switched from a soothing piano symphony to a rousing violin concerto.

Al came back to his senses from his embarrassment, Eve who was sitting across from him just now was long gone, and Al looked around, but still didn't find Eve's departing back, as if she had never been there.

Al couldn't help but lose his mind, everything that happened just now was like an adolescent boy's occasional simple and beautiful fantasy, a handsome prince meets a beautiful princess, a romantic story.

"Strange, where have you been?" Eve's red wine glass was still in place, proving that she had been here, but there seemed to be something pressed under the glass.

"What is this?" Al muttered to himself, picking up the thin card at the bottom of the cup, the cold touch of metal coming from between his fingers.

With a lifelike golden lion carved on the front and a circular badge engraved on the back, Al was a little familiar, feeling as if he had seen it there, but he couldn't remember it. Obviously, it was left by Eve before she left, but why did she leave herself with a strange metal card and then leave silently?

The girl came quietly like a flawless cloud in the sky, and then left softly.

Al could feel his cheeks still hot, and he didn't know if it was because of the temperature control in the hall or something else. In short, since the first sight of Eve, that indescribable but inexplicable feeling of joy has been deeply imprinted in Al's heart.

"A freshman, Eve. Elmo clutched the card in his hand, staring blankly at the red wine in his goblet, the ice in his glass slowly melting.

"Al, what are you thinking?" Al shook his head, trying to shake off some strange thoughts that popped up out of nowhere.

His mouth was a little dry, and the drink made him thirstier and thirstier, and Al noticed the waiters in the crowd with trays of waiters, who were in charge of serving guests who needed wine or drinks at any time.

Al stood up to ask for a glass of water, and he straightened his dress to make it look better.

At this moment, Al noticed a dark figure sitting there under the pillar street lamp not far from the hall door, the figure was not anything special, but the black knife looming in the dark night next to him attracted El's attention.

"It's him!" Al frowned, he remembered the strangely dressed Oriental boy in the Imperial Arena, and of course, the tragic death of the Minotaur.

Li Shiyi was sitting on the stone steps outside the diamond hall at this time, the black knife that was inseparable from him was lying on his left hand, the scabbard of unknown material was shining round in the street lamp, and his right hand side was a cup of steaming green tea, it was hard to imagine that this person who hated tea the most on weekdays actually took the initiative to ask the waiter for a cup of hot water, and then used the tea leaves he brought to make a cup of strong tea.

Tonight's starry sky is exceptionally quiet, the moon shadow sinks in the west, and the birds are not surprised. It may be because the heart of the person looking at it is turbulent, so all the sounds around it are subconsciously filtered out.

Although Li Shiyi was also on the invitation list for this freshman party, he didn't seem to have much interest in it. He was still wearing the somewhat loose black robe, and on his back was the mighty five-clawed golden dragon. The face of the East and the clothes of the East made Li Shiyi seem out of place in the Western world, and he looked up at the stars in the night sky, as if he was thinking about something. The "God of Killing" in his mouth is gentle at the moment.

Al shifted his position to a place close to the entrance of the hall, holding the glass of water he had just asked for from the waiter, and facing the direction of Li Shiyi to prevent him from noticing, but the corner of his eye remained on the young man sitting alone under the street lamp.

The mild-mannered Minotaur and the sparsely populated elves were taken hostage from the distant Green Valley Forest to the imperial capital Xinlan, the origin of this matter, Li Shiyi must know something, but he doesn't seem to be the kind of person who is extremely vicious, what secrets are hidden in his body, and how much does it have to do with this matter?

Just when Al was suspicious, Li Shiyi, who was sitting on the steps, slowly stood up, and then walked into the central avenue, facing the direction of the D-department teaching area and left. Li Shiyi left only the unfinished cup of green tea on the steps where he had just stayed, and the curling steam dissipated in the wind.

Al immediately put down his cup and quietly followed, without the slightest hesitation.

There were too many questions in Al's mind to get to the bottom of it, not only because he was determined to investigate the tragic death of the Minotaur, but also because he clearly remembered that in the final stage of his battle with Enzo, it was the black knife in Li Shiyi's hand that suppressed the monster in his arm. It's like a seal that isolates the raging bloodlust and makes him return to his normal appearance.

Tonight, the Imperial Military Academy was eerily quiet, with no bell-ringers, bugs in the grass singing quietly, no students walking around, and an endless breeze rushing left and right on the empty streets, and everything on the campus was eerily quiet.

The street lamps on both sides of the central avenue are lit up like nameless wise men guiding pedestrians in the dark.

Since today is the freshman party of the college, the senior students have been canceled by the Academic Affairs Office for self-study time in the evening, except for the school library and the cultivation dojo, there are still sporadic figures, and most of the teaching buildings are gray.

Li Shiyi walked along the central avenue to the end, gradually approaching the ancient castle in the teaching area of the D department, his deep back was stretched by the street lamp, and he didn't seem to notice that a sneaky shadow was quietly following not far behind him.

Al used the thick trunk of the tree next to the street lamp as a cover, and kept a relatively safe distance from Li Shiyi, but he was careful not to stain Professor Russell's custom-made dress, which was the most expensive garment he had worn so far, and he was especially cautious.

Li Shiyi's faint footsteps faded away, and after passing by the familiar restaurant, he turned left in the direction of the extinct volcano Arthur's Seat, where he could already faintly hear the sound of waves crashing on the beach in the shallow sea behind the academy.

"Strange, what is he doing at Arthur's Seat?" Al muttered to himself, his heart beating faster from overexertion.

There was no time to think about it, Al waited until Li Shiyi walked onto the familiar hillside path, and he settled down. After the black shadow was swallowed up by the dense forest, Al touched it silently.