Chapter 61: He Told You Not to Touch Him, Didn't You Hear?

Zoran needed to act as the catalyst for the unfolding narrative, so he naturally accepted the task from Angers' hands. Replacing the principal, he stood here.

Xia Mi suddenly looked up at the roller coaster streaking overhead, her face full of excitement.

"Let's go on that one!" she cheered, pointing toward the receding tail of the coaster.

"No way, junior..." Lu Mingfei's mouth hung wide open.

Zoran looked up at the coaster flying by. Midgard Snake, that was its name. Standing fifty stories high with a top speed of 250 kilometers per hour, it was arguably the most thrilling roller coaster in the world.

"Professor Tso Lan, maybe you could talk her out of it?" Mingfei pleaded with a miserable face; his legs felt like jelly just looking at it.

"I've only just joined. I'm not a professor yet," Zoran replied.

"Senior, you aren't thinking of deserting, are you?" Xia Mi narrowed her eyes, a cute but mischievous glint in them as she grabbed Mingfei by the shoulder.

"Of course not!" Mingfei quickly looked toward Chu Zihang.

He suddenly realized that even an elite hybrid as cool-headed as Chu Zihang appeared hesitant.

"Hey, Senior, don't tell me you're scared too?" Mingfei whispered.

Chu Zihang's poker face twitched slightly. "I just... get motion sickness."

Mingfei felt a sudden surge of joy. A powerhouse like Chu Zihang, who could swing a blade without blinking, was actually afraid of a roller coaster.

"Come on, Seniors!" Xia Mi was already jogging ahead. "Oh, and the new teacher, you too!"

Xia Mi had no intention of letting them off the hook. She was already waving from the end of the long queue.

Taking their seats on the coaster, Zoran mirrored Mingfei, placing the safety bar over his waist with unhurried composure. Xia Mi dragged Chu Zihang to the front row. The older student's face was pale. Mingfei couldn't help but lament that whether he was on a mission or just having fun, he always ended up seated next to charismatic men.

First Angers, now Zoran. He began to wonder if his own "charisma points" had been invested in the wrong direction.

He stole a glance at Zoran. The man's expression was as calm as still water, possessing the unwavering steadiness of someone who had seen it all. A reliable adult male, Mingfei thought.

With the rhythmic clack-clack of the coaster starting, Midgard Snake accelerated instantly, like a supercar, plunging into the flashing red warning lights lining the tracks. The massive G-force pinned every passenger against their backrest.

As they cleared the acceleration tunnel, the speed ramped up violently. Zoran heard Mingfei and Chu Zihang screaming, interspersed with Xia Mi's joyous laughter. Yet, he remained serene, his expression unchanged.

This speed was nothing to him. The wind howled past. He was here with a specific intent. Midgard Snake was destined to encounter a structural failure mid-track; it was a perfect opportunity. He would reveal a glimpse of himself to Xia Mi, providing the young Dragon King with a necessary sense of urgency.

And, of course, there was the other matter he intended to handle.

The fully loaded coaster reached its peak velocity. Mingfei roared with abandon, feeling a sense of weightless euphoria. At a height of fifty stories, clouds and birds flashed past them; everything felt surreal.

Then, he seemed to hear someone sighing softly in his ear.

"Brother, you have nine seconds left. After nine seconds, no one will be able to save you."

Mingfei froze. He looked around. Time had stagnated. The amusement park had turned a dull grayscale. Midgard Snake hung suspended, frozen on the sky-high tracks.

The "Little Devil" who claimed to be his brother, Lu Mingze, was sitting on the tracks eating ice cream, gazing at him with melancholy eyes.

"What kind of nonsense are you talking about now?" Mingfei retorted out of habit. He was becoming accustomed to Mingze's habit of pausing time to make a dramatic appearance.

This self-proclaimed brother possessed unimaginably powerful abilities, but he seemed to exist only within Mingfei's personal world. From Mingze, Mingfei had previously traded a quarter of his life for the power to slay the King of Bronze and Fire.

"A quarter of your life in exchange for me saving everyone's life," Mingze said without wasting words, pointing a finger.

Following the direction of his finger, Mingfei saw clear cracks spreading across the tracks of Midgard Snake. The rail was about to shatter. From a height of 150 meters, there was only one outcome.

"Help..." Mingfei trembled with terror.

He looked at the front row. Chu Zihang was gripping the bar tightly; Xia Mi had her hands in the air. Aside from Mingze and himself, no one realized this train was heading for hell.

"Well? A quarter of your life, and consider it done," Mingze tempted. His gaze suddenly shifted to Zoran, sitting beside Mingfei.

His pupils constricted slightly, a look of confusion surfacing in his eyes. He reached out a hand toward Zoran's face.

"Hey, what are you doing? He's a teacher from the College," Mingfei shouted, noticing Mingze's movement.

In this world frozen by Mingze, the boy could do virtually anything he pleased. But this man was a teacher Mingfei had just met.

Mingze ignored him, reaching for Zoran.

In the next second, Mingze's fingers froze in mid-air.

In a world as static as a photograph, he suddenly saw this man, the man he could not see through, move.

Zoran blinked and said calmly, "He told you not to touch me. Didn't you hear?"

Silence.

Mingze's pupils dilated. Mingfei, meanwhile, was paralyzed with sheer horror.

This was a private space between him and the Little Devil, a domain no one should be able to enter. Even against someone as strong as the Principal, or even in front of a Dragon King, Mingze could pause everything at will to bicker with him. It was like an unhackable cheat code.

But Zoran had broken the rule.

He had moved within Mingze's world. The level of terror was no less than a man discovering a mummy was still alive while excavating a pharaoh's tomb.

"Who... are you?"

Mingze's voice turned dangerously low. Mingfei had never seen him so serious; the boy's small face was taut, as if he had encountered a monster.

Zoran stood up from his seat, standing balanced on the sky-high rail. Only then did Mingfei realize that Zoran had never buckled his safety bar to begin with.

How had he maintained his balance on a coaster going 250 kilometers per hour without being flung off?

Zoran did not answer the question of who he was. He looked around and reached into the air, as if grasping something.

"Excellent nourishment. It seems quite suitable for cultivating what I need."

He looked at Mingze, smiled, and clapped his hands once. "Alright. It's over."

Mingfei saw the palms of his hands meet, and the grayscale of the world vanished in the wake of Zoran's applause.

The world snapped back to normal.

Midgard Snake roared toward the fracture in the tracks.

Mingfei turned his head mechanically, his mind blank.

Tso Lan.

He had just... kicked Mingze out of his own world?