Chapter 22: Time Zero

"Snap!"

Guderian pulled out a handkerchief to wipe the sweat from his face. "Mingfei, please, you must stop. This is simply not right..."

Lu Mingfei shook his swollen hand, let out a slow breath, and pulled his lips into a smile. "Professor Toyama, you just had a lapse during the treatment and tripped by accident, right?"

Toyama Masashi, his cheeks puffed out with heavy swelling, bowed to Lu Mingfei at a perfect ninety-degree angle. "Hai! This has nothing to do with Lu-kun; I tripped and injured myself!"

Lu Mingfei had seemingly triggered the deep-seated instincts of the Japanese regarding school bullying—the harder one hits, the more submissive they become. Initially, this middle-aged Japanese man had tried to use his authority as a teacher to intimidate Lu Mingfei, but after being slapped soundly by the terracotta soldiers Lu summoned, he was reduced to nothing but "Hai."

Mostly, Toyama was feeling guilty. He didn't know what had come over him—he had lost his head and decided that slapping was a form of psychological therapy. If word of this got out, it would be a disaster for his career.

Lu Mingfei licked his gums, a metallic taste of blood filling his mouth. That Japanese jerk's slap earlier had been no joke; he felt as though his teeth had been loosened. He wondered if the man was taking revenge for the handshake he’d refused earlier. If that slap hadn't coincidentally snapped him out of his self-destructive emotional spiral, Lu Mingfei would have surely pulled the man's teeth out one by one.

"Tch, Professor, let's go. We need to find the school infirmary."

Toyama Masashi quickly declined. "Student Lu Mingfei, my injuries are not severe—wait, I mean, I’m not hurt badly, so there's no need."

Who asked you? The little guy was quite concerned about saving face; now that his face was swollen, he didn't want to be seen.

Guderian sighed and explained, "Mingfei, today happens to be 'Freedom Day' at the school. We can't get past them to reach the infirmary right now."

"Freedom Day? What is that?" Lu Mingfei had never heard the term. "Sounds incredibly stupid."

Toyama Masashi provided a precise explanation: "The Principal and the students have an agreement that on this day, they may act freely, and no actions will be subject to school disciplinary rules."

Lu Mingfei's eyes brightened. "Oh! Then I suppose I could hold a few evil—oh, wait, I mean, I could hold a few sacrificial rituals, right?"

Guderian, for some reason, felt that there was something inherently wicked in this student he had recruited from China. He looked suspicious. "You aren't thinking of doing anything illegal, are you? Illegal things are strictly forbidden."

"Ah? Let's talk about that later. Come on, Professor, let's go find the infirmary." Lu Mingfei grabbed Guderian’s arm and headed downstairs.

Professor Guderian was reluctant, half-resisting. "Hey, hey! They’ll be taking Frigg bullets out of the 'Ice Cellar' for live-action CS today. I don't want to end up sleeping on campus!"

"Frigg bullets? What are those?" Lu Mingfei felt he had come to the right place; Cassel College always had new things to discover.

"They are a type of small alchemical equipment that they use as toys," Guderian explained. "Frigg is the wife of Odin, the All-Father in Norse mythology. To protect her son, the god of light Baldur, she made all things in the world swear not to harm him. Everything swore the oath, so even if a spear were thrown at the god of light, it would deflect on its own. When these alchemical warheads hit a target, they shatter and vaporize instantly. They don't hurt people, they just leave a blood-like stain. They are laced with a trace amount of anesthetic, which causes immediate unconsciousness."

Good stuff. If Lu Mingfei had these in his previous life, capturing sacrifices would have been much easier.

"It doesn't matter. I'll handle it. Just follow me, Professor," Lu Mingfei urged.

Guderian was about to agree when a burst of intense gunfire erupted outside, causing the balcony windows to rattle violently. The old professor immediately changed his mind. "Forget it, Mingfei, you go by yourself. After you go downstairs, follow the cobblestone path to the end and turn left..."

"And that's the infirmary?"

"No, there are many students there. You can go and ask around. Don't forget to come back and fill out your course registration form later."

"..."

The old man still had a sense of humor.

Just as Lu Mingfei was about to say something else, the study door was kicked open. A group of people wearing black tactical gear and carrying M4s burst in.

"Get down! Get down!"

"My study door is solid wood! You jerks!"

Toyama Masashi dragged Professor Guderian behind the desk with surprising agility. Lu Mingfei lightly tapped the terracotta pot hanging at his waist.

In a realm invisible to ordinary eyes, simple, fluid lines "flowed" out of the pot and assembled into the shape of a decadent, middle-aged man beside Lu Mingfei.

He was the first terracotta soldier Lu Mingfei had captured in the secret realm of the rainy night. Though he lacked the diverse spells of the powerful spirits in the Dreamlands, he possessed a far more formidable innate ability: Time Acceleration.

After casting this spell, the user’s perceived flow of time is vastly accelerated, making the entire world appear to move in slow motion from their perspective. The imposter Odin in the rainy night realm had used this spell to become an assassin hidden in the shadows of time. If Lu Mingfei hadn't made a deal with an entity suspected to be Nyarlathotep, he and Chen Motong would never have escaped that secret realm alive.

However, if given another chance, he would rather have died at Odin's hands or been devoured by those twisted monstrosities than agree to such a cryptic, murky deal.

Thinking of these painful memories, Lu Mingfei sighed again.

*In youth, I lamented the shallowness of destiny; now, I fear its depth.*
*When destiny is shallow, virtue may suffice; when it is deep, who can control the path ahead?*

The soldier chanted obscure incantations that echoed in Lu Mingfei's ears.

Then, the world slowed down.

Outside the window, white pigeons taking flight and leaves blown from the trees by the breeze hung suspended in mid-air. Even the distant sounds of gunfire and explosions became sluggish.

In the elegant, antique study, the armed men in black tactical gear were caught in the act: their chests rising and falling, their muzzles lifting, their pupils shifting, and fingers pulling triggers—every single movement was rendered in exquisite detail before Lu Mingfei’s eyes.

He strolled leisurely toward them, casually snatched a pistol from the waist of the man at the front, disengaged the safety, and leveled the hollow black barrel at the man’s head.

"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Time resumed its normal flow.

Four flowers, as red as the autumn maples, bloomed almost simultaneously on the chests of the four intruders. Struck by the immense impact, they were sent flying out of the study at an even greater speed.

Lu Mingfei coolly blew away the non-existent smoke from the barrel.

Professor Guderian’s eyes widened, his mustache twitching with excitement. "'Time Zero'! It's 'Time Zero'!"