Taking Bey's body along with the artifact sword frozen in an ice block and stashing them in my spatial pocket, I dashed toward my girls, first sending Pikachu ahead as the fastest of us, so he could help if anything happened. But on arrival, I found a somewhat different scene than expected.
All three blue deacons lay on the ground half-dead, while Tutu, Jiao Jiao, and the students proudly stood over them. The soldiers and Lu Nian were off to the side, apparently not planning to gloat over the defeated foe. Guess some army discipline remained in them.
The students were loudly discussing the fight and bragging about their feats. No trace of former university divisions. A week of hellish trials under me and the battle with the blue deacons had bonded them enough to ignore such petty differences.
Look, even Mo Fan had his arm around Lu Zheng Ge's shoulder, whose wolf had shielded him from a stray spell. Only Mu Ning Xue still wore her usual cold mask, but even so, she stood not apart as usual, but with the group, occasionally joining the talk. Huge progress in her socialization.
In short, no expected dire straits for my allies, leaving me stumped for a second. At that moment, my girls finally spotted me. And with joyful squeals, they threw themselves into my arms, unaccustomedly knocking me to the ground. I wasn't used to their bodies being boosted to Commander-in-Chief level yet.
"Mu Bai, you're back! No need to rush; you could've rested after the tough fight. We handled it way faster than you." Pressing my face into her ample chest, Tutu bragged outright, and I just smiled.
Sometimes I forget I'm not in some cheap Chinese cultivator story where only the MC solves everything, and his allies just stall the enemy before he saves them, taking some losses to temper his character or motivate him.
No, everyone around me is living people with their own goals and dreams. And the girls worked hard to stand beside me on the battlefield, not be damsels in distress. I'd seen their efforts before, but now, rushing to help and finding they'd handled it themselves, I felt huge relief, a warm smile spreading across my face. Like a weight off my soul. In this world where every day could be your last, it's nice knowing I have people to rely on who can support me. I love them.
"We also caught all these sickos alive so you can interrogate them or hand them to your Tang Yue. I think she won't pass up three blue deacons, one with a Sphere. Definitely not simple cannon fodder; he must know something." Also hugging my body, Jiao Jiao decided to cheer me up.
"Hm, about Tang Yue - spot on. Once we sort things, I'll fly quick to the city and call her so she can come get these carcasses. Not dragging them through the rest of practice, right?" Not planning to escape these cozy embraces, I continued the chat.
"We're continuing practice? I thought after this, their older relatives would pick up all our charges." Tutu gave me a doubtful look.
"Heh-heh. They would... if they knew. But this isn't simple practice; it's combined with a secret mission from the Magic Court, plus an army researcher roped in - even forced into real desertion for plausibility! With such top secrecy, we can hush some incidents. Just for three-four days. In that time, the kids get proper wild survival experience. Not like your systematic hunter training, but at least now they won't panic at sudden monsters. And by practice end, maybe pick up something useful besides. Real combat experience and strong bonds at minimum." I grinned at my girls' stunned faces.
"You sly intriguer. But that's how we love you. We'll handle everything here; go fly and call Tang Yue." The girls kissed my cheeks and practically kicked me out to show how independent they really were and could take my tasks. And I'm not against; less work means more rest. Who'd refuse?
Just don't forget to talk to Lu Nian on return. Who knows what that psycho might cook up without tight control. He's already shown even spirit magic readings from him can't be trusted; he doesn't understand himself. How to work with that? Fine, I have poisons for such cases. If needed, consult Gu Daiyu extra. She'll devise some devious control method.
Spreading my artifact wings, I sped full throttle to Beijing. Once settled, sort all artifacts from Bey's corpse and send damaged ones for repair. He had a full High-level peak gear set.
After repair and appraisal, I'll swap my outdated kit. Not cool when a soul-charged attack only pokes a tiny hole in enemy armor without maiming him. As the famous "sweet boy," it's outright embarrassing to wear such relics. And find suitable stuff for the girls too.
Once in cell coverage, I pulled out my phone and called my "sugar mommy." She picked up almost instantly.
"What happened now? Warlord marching on Beijing? All students on practice with you dead? Or you miraculously revived Jinlin and I need to send envoys to rejoin it to China?" Tang Yue asked tiredly. She's always tired when I call. Wonder who's overloading her with work? Find out, strangle the bastard.
"The last is too unrealistic, but the rest are plausible. Sadly, all misses." I decided to tease her a bit instead of jumping to business. Let her shake off the fatigue.
"What do you mean "unfortunately"?! Mu Bai, you damn chaos adept, why are you even calling me?! Things were so peaceful without you!"
Whoa, she's getting bored awfully fast; I haven't even properly warmed her up yet. Fine, I'll start with something simpler.
"Listen, do you happen to know an artifactor who could identify and repair a full set of High-tier peak artifacts in the shortest possible time?" I asked her the most harmless of my questions.
"… You want to dump their purchase on me again? Sure, I won't go back on my word, but how many times?! The tax office has already worn out my family's patience and dug into our brains! Now they're chipping away at it with a teaspoon!"
Why is she getting so worked up? Big deal, I just attributed a few... dozen billion yuan in expenses to her; it happens. I'm looking out for her, by the way, and now I'm going to justify my enhanced stars with a new talent, not her money. Ungrateful! But whatever, I won't burden her with these thoughts right now. Let her figure out in the future just how generous I really am.
"No, what are you talking about? I'm telling you, the artifacts are damaged; they need repairs. Would I buy something like that? I honestly took them off my opponent's corpse!" I protested at her slander.
"What opponent? You went with the students to that godforsaken chunk of concrete no one needs! Even the Commander-in-Chief would be too squeamish to shit there, let alone a person in that kind of gear!"
Am I imagining it, or do I hear hair being pulled out in the background? Nah, must be my imagination.
"Hey, don't badmouth Jinlin like that! A fine city, by the way... it was. And the Commander-in-Chief was there! True, judging by a few offhand remarks from TuTu, he flew off on vacation to his family, so you're almost right. But at least his droppings must have stayed on the city streets!" I was frankly enjoying dodging the topic she was steering our conversation toward.
"… Mu Bai, who did you take these artifacts from?" This time, she asked with arctic calm. Wellll, that's no fun at all.
"From a rising star of the Assassin Temple. He'd already killed several High-tier mages in his early twenties; can you imagine? No wonder he scraped together such gear. Maybe he even took some artifacts off those very mages." I answered her truthfully.
"… Did you manage to find out from him before he died who ordered you? Though, what am I saying? Professionals of that level don't blab their asses…" Tang Yue started prying for info but caught herself. I had to interrupt her.
"What was there to find out? Those imbeciles came to me themselves, along with him! Who does that? And they're Deacons in Blue, no less! Supposedly respectable people!" Finally, I fed her the piece of info I'd called for.
"Mu Bai, you hellspawn! I'm flying over right now, and I want a hundred-page report on this incident ready, or I'll lock you up as a danger to society! Why do you always get into some shit that I have to clean up?! Do you even know how…" Tang Yue finally snapped.
"Fly straight to Jinlin. By the time you arrive, the students and I should have cleared enough space to greet you properly. And for now, I'm hanging up; phone credit's running out. Bye-bye." I hung up and turned off the phone.
Well then, now all that's left is waiting. And she gave me a great idea with the report! Instead of making up a story on the fly, I can write it out in detail beforehand! Eh, I think Tang Yue will be thrilled with my report.