If I don't have money to go to college, I can only go to slay the dragon.

The vermilion door of Longfeng Garden was closed with a rumble behind it. Among the three people who walked down the steps, Lin Nian stood still and then turned his head. From the gold-plated door nails of Hengjiu Road and Shujiu Road, he could see that the courtyard The figures sitting around the stone table in the depths gradually narrowed as the gap narrowed, and the sights following him also narrowed. It was not until there was a rumble that the tightly fitting vermilion door opened the mass inside. The autumn fire that burns all the time is completely isolated.

With the sound of the door closing, Sima Xuxu, who had been following them with his head lowered to Lin Nian's right, collapsed without warning, as if his bones had been removed, leaving only rotten flesh in his body that could not be sustained. upright.

Logically speaking, Lin Nian and Li Hueyue, who were on his left and right, had enough time to react to stabilize him, but neither of them took action, allowing Sima Xuxu to sit on the ground and move backwards. When he fell, they inadvertently put a leg in front of his back to support him.

"Thank you." Sima Xuxu breathed frequently, thanked the two people around him in a low voice, and then became quiet. During this period, a large amount of sweat suddenly appeared on his body, accompanied by rising sweat. The heat visible to the naked eye soaked his entire body, and the heavy cotton white T-shirt on his body was also dyed dark, and the sweat wrapped in brown-red blood flowed along the stone steps along the limbs.

Being able to speak clearly proves that the problem is not big, Lin Nian thought silently.

Sima Xuxu, who was sitting on the ground, had a strange posture. He leaned on the two legs behind him, and his hands hung by his side as if he had lost all strength. This was because Li Hueyue almost used those two when he attacked him before. The arm was broken. The smallest fracture was an incomplete fracture. The continuity of the bones in both arms was partially interrupted, but the bones should not have been completely damaged.

It was precisely because both Lin Nian and Li Hueyue, who had done it personally, were well aware of the condition of his arm, so they did not help him when he fell. A little more strength might have made his injury worse. The most correct way is to let him sit down naturally on the ground without falling on the back of his head. (Of course, this may also aggravate the arm injury due to the inertia when sitting on the ground. Considering Sima Xuxu's own bloodline, the two People don’t worry about this).

"Don't talk nonsense next time." It was rare that Li Hueyue took the initiative to talk to Sima Xuxu. She looked at the boy who was sullen on the ground and said, "You can't use your hands for a week. Go to the hospital to get a plaster cast." Fix it and take some anti-inflammatory medicine to avoid inflammation. If you can, go to Xiaosheng and ask her to prepare some intermittent ointment for you."

"Black Jade Intermittent Cream? Is there really an orthodox formula for this kind of thing?" Lin Nian suddenly looked at Li Huoyue and asked.

"Ah, it's just the intermittent ointment. I heard it was made from cicada sloughs and mixed with mint juice. It feels cool when applied. When I was a kid, I often fell and fractured my bones. Xiaosheng always stole the intermittent ointment from home and applied it to me." Sima As soon as Xuxu sat down and her enthusiasm subsided, she was grinned by the swelling and pain in her arms and the burning sensation on the bridge of her nose.

"Xiao Sheng was often punished for stealing ointment. You must remember her kindness." Li Hueyue said.

"Of course I remember her! I gave her a 'Flying Sword' for her last birthday!"

"I know about the experimental product you stole from Tianji Pavilion. Afterwards, the experimental product that had not been debugged was recovered, and it caused a lot of trouble."

"Ah? Those guys want the things back?" Sima Xuxu looked up in confusion. He looked funny with his face covered in blood.

"It's just that Xiaosheng didn't mention this to you, and even helped you cover it up." Li Huoyue frowned slightly, "Think twice before doing anything in the future."

Sima Xuxu felt the coldness in the girl's tone behind him, and did not dare to refute or criticize her. He could only hum softly twice to show that he understood.

Lin Nian squatted down and slightly touched Sima Xuxu's arm to check whether there were any signs of dislocation or bone deformation. He also took a look at the thick blood stains on the boy's originally handsome face. It seemed that the boy had a bruise on his nose after a while. A piece of white cotton has been hung up, but it will not completely ruin the appearance. The resilience of the 'dry' hybrid is still trustworthy.

"Is it necessary to be so harsh?" He looked up at Li Huoyue and asked.

"It's already considered light." Li Huoyue said.

Sima Xuxu didn't say a word, probably because he thought that he had asked for this appearance. The moment Li Huoyue attacked him was indeed a bit beyond his expectation, but he thought that if Li Huoyue didn't do anything, he would suffer in the future. The pain may be several times worse than the current physical pain.

"Rules are rules." Li Huoyue raised her head and looked indifferently at the rows of golden and red leaves outside Longfeng Garden, "Can you walk by yourself?"

"Yes, my hands are a bit strenuous, but my legs are fine. I just feel a little dizzy due to excessive bleeding. Just sit down and relax for a while." Sima Xuxu nodded and said there was no big problem.

"I'll call and ask Xiaosheng to pick you up outside the compound."

"Don't, don't, don't, don't call Xiaosheng." Sima Xuxu quickly turned around, but found that Li Hueyue had already dialed the phone and put it to her ear. She didn't even leave the corner of her eyes for him on the ground. It was obvious that this sentence The words are just to inform and not to ask.

Immediately, the boy had a kitten face. It was obvious that this person was embarrassed today. He could already think of the complicated expression on Xiao Sheng's face when he saw her, plus the gentle question to take care of his self-esteem. Then, "What's wrong with you? Are you okay? If you don't want to talk, then I won't ask."

That feeling was a hundred times more uncomfortable than mocking him in person. Only Xiaosheng's considerate and careful care, her meticulous care for him, could make Xuxu, a always shameless guy, feel stupid every time he made mistakes in front of the other party. They will all involuntarily feel ashamed and humiliated.

By the way, the top three things that Sima Xuxu was most afraid of in his life up to this point were "the disapproving gaze of his ancestors", "Li Hueyue's cold gaze" and "Zhao Xiaosheng's silent gaze".

"Xiao Sheng? I am Li Huoyue. Xuxu is waiting for you in front of Longfeng Garden. You drove here and took him to the hospital. He was a little injured. If there are no big questions, don't ask questions that shouldn't be asked." Li Huoyue said with He finished the notice in a very businesslike tone, and when he hung up the phone, Xiaosheng on the other end must have arrived in a hurry.

Sima Xuxu sat on the ground and was depressed for a while. He wanted to scratch his head but couldn't lift his hands. He could only shake his head and almost threw the nosebleed on the face of Lin Nian who was squatting aside. "Sister Huoyue, the ancestor inside just said thing."

"Don't ask too much, I don't want to talk about this." Li Huanyue put down her phone and rejected the topic that Sima Xuxu was cautiously trying to start.

Lin Nian took half a step back and stood up, wiping the non-existent blood on his face without interrupting.

"How could I not ask?" Sima Xuxu lowered his head and said in a very complicated tone, "If it is a 'big matter' that the old people talk about that usually has nothing to do with me, it is certainly none of my business, but this time How can I stay out of it? Don't treat me like a child all the time, okay? You and I both know what the 'moon' ritual is all about, and our ancestors are serious about it this time!"

Speaking of the last few words, Sima Xuxu seemed to have used all his strength, and the breath in his words was full of helplessness and confusion, like the confusion of a child who recognizes the contradictions and rules of the world but is unable to make changes.

"I will handle this matter well. Just like what I said before in the hospital, as long as we find another Dragon King's heart, the matter will be solved." Li Hueyue looked dejected, her shoulders as heavy as if they were being weighed down by a mountain. The wolf-tailed boy said calmly, "You don't need to pay too much attention to this matter, I will take care of it."

Sima Xuxu didn't answer or move, he just sat there dullly.

Li Huoyue looked at the hanging hair on the back of his head and asked, "Do you believe me?"

"Believe it, of course I believe it." Sima Xuxu replied with his head lowered.

"Then follow Xiaosheng to take care of your injury, and temporarily turn your attention to other places. This matter has now been settled. You have also seen with your own eyes what the secret party and the clan leader of the Sima family have decided. You should be clear about the contract. In Orthodoxy, the form of the contract trumps everything else, and there will be no other surprises in this matter before changes occur." Li Huanyue said.

Sima Xuxu glanced at Lin Nian and agreed with Li Hueyue's statement. In Longfeng Garden, he had indeed witnessed the contract between Lin Nian and the Sima clan leader. Using historians and documents as evidence, Orthodoxy provided all assistance to help Lin Nian enter. The Nibelungs hidden in the Bei'an subway transportation system kill the awakened Dragon King, and Lin Nian will transplant the new Dragon King's heart into his 'Moon' system after everything is settled. , helping him become a new generation of 'moon'.

"But if what our ancestors said is true, we have really discovered a Nibelung root, and the one inside is the Dragon King." Sima Xuxu's tone was low and complicated, "You know the last time."

"We will solve it." Lin Nian spoke. He and Sima Xuxu looked at each other and nodded, "It is indeed a very dangerous thing, but it is not invincible. The two monarchs of the Bronze and Fire Kings are both We have already lost to the hybrids, and the King of Earth and Mountain will be no exception this time.”

"When are you going to challenge Him?" Sima Xuxu looked into Lin Nian's eyes.

"We'll leave when we're ready."

"When will you be ready?" he asked.

Lin Nian paused for a moment and did not answer, because any further words would be just perfunctory nonsense. He knew what the boy wanted to ask, and he also knew that he could not give him an accurate answer.

"Leave this matter to us." Li Huoyue helped Lin Nian. She said, "I don't know when we will be ready, but what I am sure of is that you are not ready yet. Now you are leaving. It will be some time before we embark on this kind of battlefield.”

"I"

"Don't refute." Li Huanyue said slowly, "You know the gap between you and me, or him (Lin Nian). Only after you truly succeed me as 'Yue' will you step on the stage. .”

"But I never thought about becoming the 'Yue'." Sima Xuxu said softly in an inaudible voice.

As soon as his back relaxed, Li Huoyue retracted her legs and left. She walked to the front and motioned for Lin Nian to follow.

After the two of them walked down the stairs, they stood on the road covered with maple leaves. Li Huanyue looked back at Sima Xuxu for the last time, then turned and left. Lin Nian also stopped where he was for a few seconds, looking towards the embarrassed man on the stairs. The boy nodded slightly and followed Li Hueyue in front.

After walking far away and the wolf-tailed boy on the stone steps behind him had disappeared from sight, Lin Nian looked at Li Huanyue who was walking in the narrow and messy alleyway in front of him and asked, "Why is it him?"

"His bloodline is the best, and the 'Moon' system is also the top 'masterpiece' in the latest batch. Compared to me, he is the best 'Yue' bearer in the past fifty years, and the most important thing is that he The spirit of words is also a once-in-a-lifetime 'jade leak'." Li Huanyue didn't look back and answered Lin Nian's question.

"You mean 'time zero'?" Lin Nian would not admit his mistake about the realm of speech and spirit he sensed from Sima Xuxu in front of Longfeng Garden.

"You can blame the source of the matter on Hilbert Jean Angers, and the youngest and most energetic member of the secret party, the 'Destined Dragon Slayer' who is also famous in the news in the mixed race world. Those two My personal use of 'Time Zero' and 'Instant' has led many people to believe that this type of spirit is the real nemesis of dragons and the most effective deterrent weapon for maintaining 'hegemony'." Li Huanyue said lightly, " Now the Orthodox have found their 'Destined Dragon Slayer'. Even if he is young and surly, as long as he is polished carefully, there will always be a day when his sharpness will shine through."

"Actually, 'Sword Control' is more versatile than 'Time Zero' or 'Instant'." Lin Nian said, "It's a pity that you met the wrong opponent."

Li Huanyue, who was walking in front, suddenly stopped, and Lin Nian also stopped for it, looking at the person in front of him looking back at him, with gold faintly flowing in his eyes, "Are you comforting me? "

"."

"."

"Yes, I'm just trying to comfort you." Lin Nian looked at Li Huanyue's eyes with a light golden glow and said calmly, "After all, in my opinion, my status has been questioned by senior officials due to problems with her words and performance. This kind of thing itself is very insulting, but you can't find any reason to refute or protest. As long as you are alone, you will be angry and aggrieved, so I chose to comfort. If you think I said something wrong, I will not apologize. , because I don’t like the look in your eyes now.”

"."

Li Huoyue and Lin Nian stood in the dark narrow courtyard of the courtyard and stared at each other for almost half a minute before the former slowly lowered his eyes, turned around and continued walking forward, "I don't need your comfort. "

"Yeah." Lin Nian stepped forward and followed her.

—

They walked a long way. Li Huanyue deliberately bypassed the exit they came from, left from the side of the courtyard, went directly to the opposite side of the street and found the parked Aston Martin. The two of them were in silence. After getting in the car and closing the door, Li Huanyue did not fasten her seat belt or turn the key to start the car. Instead, she waited for Lin Nian in the passenger seat to speak first.

Lin Nian glanced out the car window. People were coming and going on the street, and there was constant traffic. After making sure there were no suspicious people nearby, he asked, "Are you sure your car is clean?"

"You can speak normally." Li Hueyue said.

"Are you too hasty?" Lin Nian then asked a question he had never raised before, "Your entry into the game before may have exposed the things between us, or in the worst case scenario, it has already happened. Exposed."

"Today's results are within my expectations, so the situation is still under control." Li Huanyue said, "You will be at a disadvantage in this negotiation from the moment you sit down. If you don't force the palace, the result will only be that you will be defeated by those The old man leads the way, and after you muddle-headedly sign a contract that seems to have no problems, if you sense something is wrong and try to negotiate, you will have no chance."

"So what traps did Zhengtong prepare for me in the negotiation just now?" Lin Nian looked at Li Hueyue and asked with a frown, "You can forcefully take back the right to speak even if you expose some of our previous situations."

"Orthodox indeed holds the method to open the Nibelungen entrance, and has already preliminary surveyed the situation inside." Li Hueyue said slowly, "But this matter is top secret, and only a few people in power Only then can you personally participate in the plan to test the Nibelungs. Any 'soldiers' who have entered the Nibelungs have never shown up again. Even I don't know the details of this matter. But I have reason to believe that even if you In the contract signed with the clan leader of the Sima family, he promised to take you into the Nibelungs, but the time it takes to fulfill this is a trap that you can't afford to wait for."

"The Dragon King has awakened, and they still dare to drag this disaster down from the sky?" Lin Nian's brows twisted into a rope, a little unbelievable.

"I don't know much about the Dragon King's awakening and the inside story of the Nibelungs. I was excluded from this matter very early..." Li Hueyue said, "But I think the senior management must have grasped the Nibelungs now. Based on some of the intelligence in Genzhong, and based on the inference, I am sure that this dragon nest will not pose much of a threat to human society on the ground in the short term, so I dare to do this."

"Procrastination must be for a purpose." Lin Nian said.

"Sima Xuxu's 'Yue' system inheritance ceremony is scheduled for the end of the year, which means that the hidden dangers underground will most likely not break out before November. If there are no accidents, you agreed to the contract with the Sima clan leader before I entered the game. Then they will definitely drag you until that time. According to the contract, you must complete the 'Moon' plan for Sima Xuxu. When the time limit reaches the critical point, be fully prepared and the new 'Shuang Yue' will embark on the journey for orthodoxy. The battlefield has already been arranged in the Nibelung." Li Huanyue said, "They want the King of Earth and Mountain to die in the hands of Sima Xuxu. Although I don't know why they have this confidence, but according to the existing If we use intelligence to force inferences, we can only get an answer to a big question in the Nibelungs."

"It seems that Zhengtong actually doesn't want to make this deal properly in the end." Lin Nian slowly loosened his brows, his face watery.

Li Huanyue looked at the fallen leaves on the windshield outside the car window and said lightly, "You are not in the orthodox system and you don't know the orthodox atmosphere in recent years. Now the people above are in urgent need of a victory and a boost." The people's hearts are enough to regain the right to speak and influence to the normal victory. The awakening of the king of the earth and the mountain, the development of the Nibelungs, and the ritual inheritance of Sima Xuxu are all in this long after the end of the 'Bronze Project' They can sacrifice a lot of things for the sake of the overall situation, or they can make a gamble that looks like crazy to others. The courage and ambition of the elders in the clan are much greater than you think. Don't Underestimating the absurdity and horror of what they were deliberately doing.”

"Don't make calculations with the elders in the clan. Neither you nor I can count against them." Li Huanyue turned her head and looked at Lin Nian. "Today's negotiation is as good for you as it is for me before I get involved. Big disadvantage, because your own conditions are unacceptable to Orthodoxy - you want to enter the Nibelungs, and you want to enter in a short period of time, and Orthodoxy's need for you is the technology at your hand, so they simply It is impossible to let you into the Dragon King's lair, which is the Dragon King's Nibelung roots. If you die inside, it means that Orthodoxy will lose the 'technology' in your hands forever."

"Even if the King of Bronze and Fire died in my hands, do they still not believe that I have the ability to kill another person on the throne?" Lin Nian looked at Li Huoyue, but suddenly found that Li Huoyue started Take off your clothes.

"This has nothing to do with your record, this is just pure risk aversion." Li Huanyue took off her ladylike white windbreaker to reveal the white one-shoulder smock underneath. Her brows were slightly furrowed. She was used to wearing convenient T-shirts. , It seems that I am really not used to this kind of restrictive clothing.

She turned around and hung her windbreaker on the seat, "As for why you asked Sima Xuxu before, it doesn't matter. Without Sima Xuxu, it would be someone else. The result is the same. They need a brand new 'Yue' System, a 'month' system that has not changed beyond recognition, so my elimination is destined and cannot be changed."

"You did upgrade my 'Yue' system, but it was all done without orthodox supervision. They don't know if there are any hidden dangers in me. The technology you left behind cannot be parsed by orthodox. The unknown represents danger, and the top management hates it. This feeling of being out of control. In addition, maybe my preparations are not as secretive as I thought, and they have already noticed my problem." Li Huoyue, who was wearing a white shirt with off-shoulder clothes, had a look of indifference in his eyes, "Conditions of the transaction It is to replace the 'holy will' that Sima Xuxu has kept for me. This may not be the idea of ​​driving away wolves and devouring tigers, but this is also a test they put on me."

"According to you, after the contract is completed, orthodoxy will definitely use the time of entering the Nibelung to choke my neck. If I insist on entering the Nibelung in a short period of time, the operation schedule will be advanced. .Your death will also be brought forward." Lin Nian slowly looked at Li Huanyue and his eyes dimmed, "According to my understanding of you now, when things develop to that scene, you will escape. You don't want to just do that. If I die on the operating table, I will be forced to become a hunter and clear up a trouble for Orthodoxy."

"I said, if Orthodoxy is ready to talk to you, then you'd better refuse, because for them they will only be willing to sit at the negotiating table when the result is a small win or a big win, and there is no third possibility. Go ahead." Li Huanyue said, "There is only one way to break the situation."

"A mole." Lin Nian looked at Li Hueyue, "Just like you."

Li Huanyue looked into Lin Nian's eyes and nodded slowly, which also meant that the two young men had quietly and imperceptibly stood on the same front with no way out.

"As a condition for cooperating with you, I have seen it today." Lin Nian tilted his head and looked at the cornices of the old houses that were vaguely visible in the courtyard across the street, and said softly, "I have to say that it is a big trouble. "

"But no matter what, this condition is the top priority." Li Huoyue stared at his cheek, "This is my only condition, and it is also the bottom line from which I cannot retreat."

"I understand." Lin Nian nodded.

He turned back and looked at Li Chengyue, "But I still want to know how a mother can calmly listen to the discussion about her daughter's death date. Not only did she not scream in panic, but she still quietly... Are you proud of it?”

Li Huoyue avoided Lin Nian's eyes, and for the first time, Lin Nian saw some emotions he had never seen before on her cheeks, which were always as cold as thin ice.

Tired, evasive.