234 The Ashes and the Youth (2/2)

Burning Abstinence. This was the Interference level skill of the School of Abstinence, but Egor had never seen a similar one from Abraham.

Abraham stood beside Ye Qingxuan, gazing silently at the ruins of charred.

”Everything’s gone.” Charles came out and threw the ashes in his hand to the ground dejectedly. He said to himself, ”Everything’s gone.”

”Where’s Old Phil?” Bai Xi ran in the ruins, looking around with panic, but was held back by Ye Qingxuan. She stared blankly at Ye Qingxuan’s face. ”Cousin, Old Phil...it ...”

”Old Phil is fine.” Ye Qingxuan touched her head. ”Old Phil doesn’t stay at home these two days. Even if it was in the house when it burned, it must’ve been able to run away.”

”But ...” Bai Xi tried to calm down as she sobbed, but heard some familiar barks from the distant field.

The golden dog ran out, looking in all directions. Seeing Bai Xi, it barked louder to comfort her. Knowing that it was fine, Bai Xi rubbed her red nose. She hugged Old Phil but did not know what to say.

Ye Qingxuan wandered silently in the ruins, flipping through the things for anything that could be used. At last, he found that only the things in the basement had escaped from the fire. There was nothing flammable there. His own set of equipment had been put into the iron box by himself and hidden under the floor. But other than that, everything else was gone.

Their rooms and beds, Abraham's study and all the books...Within a few hours, the traces of life that everyone had accumulated had disappeared.

Ye Qingxuan stood in the ruins and felt himself standing in a strange place. The flames had swallowed everything, leaving only the ashes and cinder.

”It was a very big fire. The whole house was engulfed within a minute. It’s most likely the recent dry weather that caused the objects to combust spontaneously.” After the examination, Egor did not find anything strange. But thinking of recent events, he sighed involuntarily. ”Fortunately, there are no casualties.”

”I know, thanks for the school’s help.” Abraham was not angry and just said, ”Let us clean up then.”

With a complicated look, Egor nodded. ”If you do not have place to live, you can come to Modifications, I will let the students clean up a few rooms.”

With that, he left. There was only silence in the ashes and ruins. No one spoke. They just quietly cleaned up things that could be recycled.

After a while, footsteps sounded in the distance. ”What a tragedy that the house suddenly burned. We never know what will happen next. Please accept my sympathy.” Bart stood outside the ruins with a sympathetic face. ”My teacher told me to send his condolences. After all, the music history department was once an important branch of Revelations. If necessary, you are welcome to...”

”How dare you show up again!” Charles interrupted him angrily, tugging at his collar and glaring at him. ”Guess if I...”

Bart sneered. ”Next, are you going to say that we did this? Don’t slander others without evidence. In my opinion, maybe you set the fire yourselves to get sympathy from others. If not, why else are you guys not even hurt at all?”

Hearing this, Charles was suddenly not angry anymore. He just clenched his fists so tightly that the sounds of joints cracking could be heard. They were like grating iron with a kind of crazy power.

He had no desire to speak anymore. It was replaced by an unprecedented feeling; it was icy and gloomy, like a snake coiled on a clammy rock. The rubbing scales made a creepy sound. Maybe this was murderous intent.

One hand grasped his wrist—it was Ye Qingxuan. Ye Qingxuan stood before him, looked into his eyes, and shook head slightly.

”Yezi...”

”Senior, listen to what he wants to say.”

Ye Qingxuan loosened his hand, looked back at the frozen Bart, and said quietly, ”Bart, you can continue now. But you'd better know what you're saying...”

The coldness in the youth’s eyes made Bart step back involuntarily. Soon, he processed everything and collected himself. He scoffed as if he was the one who was so 'generous' that he did not haggle over Charles’ actions.

”That's right, calm down. It’s good for everyone.” He grunted and looked up. ”My teacher said that he is willing to admit his commonalities on academics; after all, there is always only one truth. But that doesn't mean that he will admit your charge. It’s just...”

”Just what?” Ye Qingxuan cocked his head at Bart. His expression was not as curious as Bart had expected, but just cold. ”Bart, finish your words. Your teacher did not let you come to tease our appetite. Since you want to be a dog, you have to have the sense of a dog. You don't want to cause some mistakes that your teacher doesn't want to see, do you?”

Bart's face twitched and became wry, but still, he chose to finish his words. ”It’s just, if you’re willing to withdraw those false accusations, he can add Mr. Abraham's name to the manuscript, and submit it to share this achievement and glory with him.”

In the silence, he sneered. ”How is that? A 'second author' for compensation is already a great thing for a poor place like the music history department. This is the last chance. I hope you don’t miss it because my teacher won’t take another step back.”

This was the final choice Ingmar had made. No matter how crazy he was, he could not let this event continue to ferment. Moreover, after this warning, the music history department must have learned to be a bit smarter and stop this entanglement. This compromise was good for everyone.

But to his surprise, no one made a sound after he spoke. They all had a strange look as they gazed at him.

Only the white-haired youth nodded slowly. ”Is that so? I understand,” he said. ”You can go now.”

Bart was stunned and was unable to react. ”What do you mean?”

”I mean, you can go now, Bart,” Ye Qingxuan repeated. His expression was careful and serious, but his eyes were cold, like the wind in the long winter night—cold enough to chill one’s blood. ”Don’t make me repeat myself. I hope you can see that I’m in a bad mood.”

”You, you...Are you crazy?!” Bart looked at him in astonishment.

He did not know what to say, but he did not dare to remain there so he just left with a red face. He walked speedily as if he was chased by some kind of invisible ghost.

Not until he had gone far did he dare to look back and spit on the ground. ”A group of guys who don’t know what’s good for themselves.”

-

Ye Qingxuan stood in the remains of his home. He watched Bart leave silently and saw the ‘secret’ actions in the woods. After a long time, he took back his sight and gazed down at the ruins underfoot, looking at the burned ashes.

Beside him, Charles looked at him anxiously, sighing softly. ”Yezi...”

”I know. No need to persuade me.” Ye Qingxuan looked up at him. ”Things have become like this. Our building has been burned, and the data is all gone. Sadness can’t solve the problem. We don’t even have cards to play at the school board anymore. After all, we don’t even have the original manuscript, do we?” He looked at the silent Charles and, after a long time, lowered his eyes. His eyes were like ashes which hid his unseen fury. He said, ”Senior, I’m angry now.”