Outside the door, Feili’s footsteps gradually faded away.
Duoluolisi slid down from the door panel and crouched on the floor.
That really scared her to death!
So close!
She had almost walked right into Feili the moment she stepped out!
Good thing she reacted quickly and shut the door in time.
If Feili had seen her walk out of her own room looking like this, her life would be over.
Duoluolisi patted her chest twice and let out a relieved breath.
After a few seconds, she stood up again, turned the handle once more, pressed her eye to the gap in the door, and glanced left and right.
No one here this time, right?
She waited a little longer, confirmed that Feili hadn’t circled back, then slowly pulled the door open and nervously poked her head out to look around.
As she turned, one of her braids accidentally bumped against the doorframe.
“Ouch!”
Duoluolisi quickly covered her mouth.
After making sure no other sounds came from the hallway, she reached up and tightened her slightly crooked hairband.
Alright, time to go.
Duoluolisi slipped out of the room sideways, gently closed the door behind her, and swept her gaze across the corridor.
The hallway was empty.
It seemed safe enough.
She started walking toward the stairwell, but her limbs grew stiff with every step.
Each time she passed a door, she glanced back over her shoulder, feeling like someone might pop out from anywhere.
Hmm… why do I feel like a thief?
Duoluolisi silently teased herself and forced her back straight.
Calm down.
Nothing’s going to happen.
She was just an ordinary Elite Class student now.
Walking down the hallway was perfectly normal.
No need to hide!
Duoluolisi spent a good while mentally psyching herself up, but her footsteps didn’t quicken in the slightest.
After a while, she finally reached the stairwell, only to hear footsteps descending from upstairs.
Like a conditioned reflex, Duoluolisi ducked back around the corner of the hallway, pressing her back flat against the wall.
The footsteps grew closer.
A male student came down from upstairs, yawned, rubbed his eyes, and turned to head down the stairs without even glancing her way.
What exactly is she hiding from?
He didn’t even notice her, yet she’d already scared herself half to death.
No good, Duoluolisi.
If you’re like this inside the dormitory, what happens when you go outside?
There’ll only be more people.
Duoluolisi mustered her courage and stepped into the stairwell.
Some more time passed.
Finally, after waging a mental battle against the air in the dormitory building, Duoluolisi made it out the front door without incident.
The moment the morning sunlight touched her, she felt alive again.
Why is leaving a room so hard?
At least she’d successfully made it out of the dormitory.
Now all she had to do was keep up her aloof image, cross the plaza, and head into the Battle Arena.
Inside the VIP Observation Room of the Training Ground, Di Lun stood by the window, looking down at the sparse scatter of students in the arena below.
A male student quietly opened the door and came in, walking up behind Di Lun to bow.
“Master Di Lun, what business do you have calling me here so early?”
The male student straightened up and asked.
“Here, take this.”
Di Lun pulled a crystal bottle from his coat, pinched it by the mouth, reached his right hand over his left shoulder, and handed it to the male student.
The male student looked puzzled but reached out and accepted the crystal bottle.
He stared at the bottle in his hand.
The liquid inside was transparent and colorless, just like water.
“Master Di Lun, this is…?”
“In a bit, you’ll go to that adopted daughter’s battle arena. When the match is almost over, pour this into her cup.”
Di Lun didn’t turn around, continuing:
“Remember, don’t add it too early, and don’t let that adopted daughter catch you.”
“Why can’t it be too early…”
The male student blurted out the question, but one glare from Di Lun shut him up, and he hurriedly lowered his head.
“You’re asking me?”
“This is what the pharmacist instructed. Understood or not?”
In truth, Di Lun had no idea why it couldn’t be too early either, but since the pharmacist said so, he had to follow it.
“Understood, understood!”
The male student quickly replied, but he still had some doubts and couldn’t help asking another question:
“Master Di Lun, I have one more question.”
“Speak.”
“Aren’t the cups used in the academy’s battles able to detect poison? If I add this, won’t it…”
The male student was quite worried.
The cups in the battle arena had poison-detection runes carved into them.
If anyone tried to slip poison into a rival’s drink, the cup would immediately detect it and emit a blinding golden light.
Forget making the cup’s owner drink the poison—the moment the culprit dropped it in, they’d be caught red-handed under the golden glow.
“Heh, of course not.”
Di Lun looked rather pleased with himself, raising a hand in a mastermind pose.
“This is a special medicine I had the pharmacist design just for this. It can bypass the cup’s detection completely. No one will ever find out.”
Di Lun recalled how he’d demanded the pharmacist create this poison with no “toxicity,” and felt like he was just too clever.
Of course, that was only in his own mind.
In reality, it had gone like this:
“Hey! Pharmacist! Make me a poison that isn’t poisonous, right now!”
Di Lun kicked the door open and shouted inside.
The pharmacist had been grinding herbs at the time.
At the sound, his hand twitched, nearly smashing the mortar.
“Ma-Master Di Lun, but I have a lot of orders on my plate lately…”
Di Lun cut him off without a trace of courtesy.
“Huh? Do you know who I am? I’m the Marquis’s son! Do those crap orders matter more than my demands? Stop wasting my time. I said make it, so make it!”
Hearing such an unreasonable demand, the pharmacist nearly threw the bottle right at his face.
“Fine… but what you’re asking for, young master, is probably a bit difficult. As you should know, poisons all have toxic properties…”
“Can you do it or not? Want me to tear your shop apart?!”
The moment Di Lun sensed the pharmacist’s reluctance, he flew into a rage.
The pharmacist gritted his teeth and forced a smile.
“Please calm down, young master. I can do it, I can…”
Di Lun was, after all, the young master of the Marquis’s household.
The pharmacist couldn’t afford to offend him, so he reluctantly took the job.
In the end, it took the pharmacist three full days and nights to brew that single bottle of medicine.
And when he delivered it, Di Lun complained he was too slow and even picked a fight, asking why the medicine was colorless and whether he was trying to pass off water.
The pharmacist could only force a smile and desperately explain.
Staring at Di Lun’s obnoxious face, his lips trembled uncontrollably.
But in the end, all he did was curse silently in his heart:
What a freaking idiot.
How did the Marquis’s family raise such a piece of garbage.
Back to the present.
“Master Di Lun is truly brilliant! Who else could think of a poison that isn’t poisonous!”
The male student quickly piled on the flattery and carefully tucked the crystal bottle into his pocket.
“Heh heh, of course. Do you even know who I am?”
Di Lun said smugly again.
“So when should I go?”
“Now.”
Di Lun turned back around and looked out the window.
“Go. Don’t let anyone notice.”
“Yes!”
The male student bowed, turned, and left.