"So… what happened that you went back with all those bruises?"

Right in front of me is the infamous Prince Walter Wiedenfeld, of the Stizriven kingdom, who has bruises from head to toe.

After the tiring day I immediately went back to my room and slept,  I thought that he would behave after that tiring confrontation but it seems he didn't have enough trouble.

"Ahaha, I tripped"

He told me as he scratched the back of his head.

Tripped? With those bruises? Who the hell does he think he is fooling. Okay, time to punish the naughty kid. I looked over his bruised body and found a spot where it would mildly hurt him, and with my index and my thumb, I flicked it lightly.

"Ouch! Why would you do that?!"

"So… what on earth happened that you got roughed up like that?"

While I crossed my arms and looked at him with a scornful stare, the maids panicked and immediately helped him to the living room and then brought medicines and bandages. They brought some ointments and bandages.

"Excuse me, Prince Walter, I'm applying it now"

The pretty maid told him as she applied the ointment to the wound on the arm.

"Ouch!"

"Ah sorry, Prince Walter!"

"Ah! Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!"

"S-S-Sorry Prince Walter!"

This Walter, is he doing this on purpose? The pretty maids are having a hard time applying medication. I held the maid on the shoulder and shook my head and whispered, while Walter was blowing his wound.

"Switch with me"

"But Lady T-T-Tiffania"

"It's fine, go back to cooking dinner with the others and please close the door, as I think Prince Walter will be screaming a lot"

"Huh? Y-Y-Yes Lady Tiffania"

The maid immediately left us and closed the door. I looked at Walter who stared blankly at the maid that disappeared towards the kitchen.

"Hey Tiffania, they were supposed to do it right? What did you tell them?"

"Ah, I will be applying it myself, since they can't do it with your terrible screaming"

"H-H-H-Huh???? No d-don't! I know how you-... Ouch!"

Walters' scream echoed in the room as I tended to his wounds without restraint. He tried to fight me off but when I pressed the painful areas, he didn't provide any resistance. 

"So… what the hell happened?"

"I went to Zack"

Zack? What the hell is he saying, I put some ointment somewhere it would hurt.

"Ouch! Why are you applying it there!"

"Tell me everything, without missing any detail"

"Alright, alright so stop applying the medicine harshly!"

He told me about how he casually went to see his brother who was plotting to kill him, how he told him his intentions and their intense and passionate argument.

"Then, how did you even escape?"

"I took Zack, hostage, surprisingly he doesn't have that much physical power, but he resisted a bit, leading to these bruises and wounds"

"Whooah, I'm so ashamed of you, as someone who came from the same world as you"

"It's the best solution at the time, I can't tolerate him for using innocent people for his ideals"

"Well, I'm a bit angry that you did this without consulting me, even how dangerous it was, what you did was right, if I were reincarnated as PRINCE Walter I would have done the same"

"You really say some interesting things, if you reincarnate as a male, how would we be able to continue our romance"

This guy really says everything on his mind.

"Well, it's no use crying over spilled milk, so what do you plan to do from here PRINCE Walter? Are you gonna fight? Ally with Heinrich?"

"I'm still deciding, to be honest, I'm no fan of the monarchy, so a people's government might work better for me, but Zack being a supreme ruler on iron fists reminds me of someone in our old world with a strange mustache that caused lots of bloodsheds.

If he goes with his ambitions, I'm sure much blood will be shed, and human lives would be continually exhausted to fuel the war, based on how confident he is, I'm sure he already laid the groundwork, and have acquired some allies here and there, realistically it would be hard to deal with that kind of opponent.

If I ally with Heinrich, the crown prince, Zack will surely make an all-out assault to my domain, which has a small population, and since we are engaged, your family would have no choice but to either fight with me or cut our engagement short. If I were the duke, I would choose the former-"

As he was thinking deeply I slapped him lightly at his cheeks with two hands, enough to get him out of the zone, I have been with this guy for many years, and I know this tendency of his. When he deals with a problem he would try to solve it, and think of it so deeply that he loses sight of everything around him, which eventually would cause him to break down in the long term especially if he can't solve the problem. 

Seeing him like this makes me feel rest assured, I guess he is really the Kazu I know. But I know I have to stop him here for a bit, just so he could take a breather, and be able to think properly.

"W-What Tiffania? I was in the middle of explaining"

He told me with his cheeks squeezed by each of my hands. I formed his face into different forms found it cute, his plain and dark look may be better in the old world but his looks at this world are on par! Blue eyes, blonde hair, it makes me feel a bit jealous.

I now have the hair and eye color he had in the past life, should I dye it with what I had in my old world?

"That's not how we build solutions right? If you think like that it would weigh down your mind right? Are you really the son of that person in the past life?"

"I'm not sure what you mean"

"First you have to freshen up yourself after I tend to your wounds, and come to my room after"

"Could it be that you… don't tell me!"

Those eyes and excited tone,  I recognize those... what the hell is this man thinking?! All I wanted was to draft up ideas so we can have proper ideation of the things that are going around us!

"It won't happen you pervert!" 

I pinched his cheeks with both my hands.

"Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! I have been punched there!"

…

After taking a bath, I prepared myself to go to Tiffania's room, she indeed has a point, after taking a bath I realized that I was acting hastily, from the confrontation of the knights to my Zack confrontation that led to a hostage-taking. 

I knocked on the door where Tiffania was staying, if I remember she had the room remodeled a bit, as she complained about many things in it. That minimalistic freak can't sleep if the room is not up to her taste.

"Pizza Delivery"

I shouted at the door and heard her footsteps towards the door as she opened it.

"As if pizza exists in this world... come inside"

As I expected the room was tidied up and cleaned, the monstrous designs and furniture were nowhere to be found, all that remained are the elegant looking ones. The shelves, some chairs, and a table. 

She wore a plain white dress which was her sleeping clothes, while I only wore a comfortable white shirt. If not for her beautiful face she would have looked like the ghost that comes out of a well and of the TV,

"So what did you want to show me, white lady?"

She lifted one of the curtains near the shelf and dragged it to the right, there it showed a piece of a black board framed by white colored wood. 

"This is?"

"Exactly what it is!"

She cheerfully exclaimed.

"Really… I don't know what it is, tell me!"

"Ahggk, really??? Open your hand"

With her thin hands, she opened my palm and placed a  cylindrical white stick. Could this be? Chalk?! And that board in front of me is a chalkboard! According to Walter's memories as he was wimpy and lazy he wasn't interested in things like this, so I thought that it didn't exist yet, but to think that Tiffania has one!

"Tiffania, how did you find it in this world?"

"Well, I asked my doting dad for it, these boards are only being used by scholars and some schools, so it's a bit expensive, that he cut my allowance but well, I think it would be useful, especially for you"

"This is… for me? Why?"

"Because you are the son of an innovator right? Remember when you introduced me to your dad? At his office I saw a large whiteboard, when you were talking with my parents he told me funny stories about you in his office, when you were little, that you would always use the whiteboard every time you think, so yeah… use this, and let's think about things properly.

What we want to achieve, what we want to do, the roadmap… let's make it a design thinking process, and to make a solution for this country"

I was stunned for a while, as I was lost for words. I remember the memories of my father and me writing things on the board, as we jotted ideas together, it was fun, it was mentally draining but it isn't as bad, contrary to what I've experienced in this world. 

It's something that I've missed so much.

"This is a big project Mr. Walter, oh sorry, Prince Walter, now tell me, what do you want to achieve?"

She made a big smile as she prepared to write at the chalkboard, the smile was so enchanting, that it calmed me at the depths of my soul. 

It really feels good when someone cares for you dearly, each day is full of surprises, and no matter how insignificant a thing may be, it carries a big sentimental value if the person gave it to you because she was thinking of you, and for me on the receiving end, it becomes a treasure.


Kazu and Yuri the most popular and sweetest couple of their school separated ways when they graduated from high school, when they went into the college they both lived their own lives with their new GF and BF, but a sudden twist of fate happened when Kazu tried to save Yuri from a truck that was about to hit her, Kazu died from being hit by the truck while Yuri died from being hit by the car that followed it.


As if fate was playing with them, Kazu reincarnated in a magical world with 17'th century technology as a prince of a kingdom while Yuri reincarnated as the prince's fiance.


Will they recognize each other after reincarnating with different faces and names? Will they realize the feelings they still have for each other? What are the dangers they will encounter in another world with a huge responsibility in their hands?

The flight attendant asks the little girl, "sweety, where are your parents? Do you remember where you came from?"

But the little girl shakes her head. The flight attendant takes this as a sign that the child is lost. Just as she was about to announce it on a speaker to the passengers, the little girl shakes her head, pulling on the flight attendant's skirt.  

She looks down to see the little girl scribble something on the white dry erase board, reading, "My mommy is in coach."

The flight attendant nods, "oh! I see, come here," she holds the little girl's hand as they walk into the economy section. Just as she was about to announce aloud a woman in her 30's long black hair, wearing casual clothes rushes to hug the little girl frightenedly gasping, "Emma! Where were you?"

The flight attendant asked, "Excuse me, ma'am, is she your daughter?" 

The woman calms down, "yes! I don't know where she went when I woke up! I'm sorry!"

But the flight attendant asks the little girl, "is she your mommy?"

The little girl nods, scribbling in her whiteboard, "She is my mom, Mabel Sparza." 

The flight attendant asks, "may I see an ID ma'am?"

"Yes!" she hurriedly takes out her ID and reads her name aloud, "Mabel Sparza! Ma'am, please look after your daughter, she wandered into the first-class bathrooms." 

"I'm so sorry!" the woman claims. 

Finally, Emma walks back to her seat with her mother, Mabel, hand in hand. As their seated, Emma curiously asks, scribbling on her whiteboard, "Mommy, where are we going?" 

Mabel smiles with regret in her tongue, "we're going to see your Abuela, aunts, and …hopefully your Abuelo."

Emma scribbles again on her whiteboard, "they are at home." 

Mabel shakes her head, "not your dad's parents; we're going to see my parents and sisters." 

Emma writes, "what are my aunt's names?" 

Mabel contemplates, "your first aunt is called Iris," she scribbles on Emma's whiteboard, spelling out "I-R-I-S." 

Emma nods, writing, "and my other aunt?"

Mabel sighs with a warm smile, caressing Emma's baby cheeks, "your second aunt's name is Belen." 

Emma scribbles, "B-E-N-E-N?"

Mabel giggles patting Emma's head, "no honey, its" she takes the whiteboard to write and pronounce, "like this, B-E-L-E-N."

Emma grabs the whiteboard staring into the name, nodding, moving her lips silently as if trying to pronounce it to herself. Seeing this, Mabel can't help but warmly smile at Emma's effort to sound out the name. But all the while, she looks outside the plane window thinking, "I'm finally home…" she says with such a soft worried expression. 



***



At that moment, Belen's fallen asleep and starts dreaming a memory when she was in elementary school. 

Belen's in first grade waiting outside in a quad for her older sister Iris to come out of class. Since they live only a block away from school, Belen was too young to walk home alone and therefore had to wait for Iris to walk back together.  

Iris was in fifth grade, so her classes finished thirty minutes after the first graders, but as Belen was waiting, she was always surrounded by friends. She'd wear her uniform ideally and her different hairstyles that her mom would spend minutes in the morning to style.  

Iris, on the other hand, never worse her school uniform but always covered it with a black sweater, wearing the same hairstyle, a low ponytail, and hang around one friend. One day while Belen was waiting for Iris, she saw her come out walking along with her friend. Suddenly Belen shouts, waving, "Iris!" 

Iris looks to her direction when her friend comments, "is that your little sister? She's so cute!!"

But as Belen heard this, she stares at Iris's disturbed expression looking at her with hate, "no, she's not!" she walked away, ignoring her like an insect. 

Nonetheless, Belen walks behind her as they passed the gates, Iris says her goodbyes to her friend and walks along silently with Belen.  

Another dream which Belen is in fourth grade, "look, mom! Look, Dad! I got an A-plus on my summary!" 

But Edilberto simply glances at it while opening Mabel's report card, "Mabel!! You got honor roll?!" he shouts happily, ignoring Belen. 

"What happened, dad?" Mabel asks nonchalantly. 

He hugs her, "I can't believe you got honor roll again! Woah! Good job! I'm so proud of you! When will they give you that certificate?"

"Dad! I'm tired of attending these assemblies. I'm just going to receive it in the office." 

"NO! we're going again this year! You're the only one who gets honor roll in the family! Your sister Iris is barely passing with C's and D's. You have to keep going and do your best! So that you can help run A Star Is!"

"Yeah yeah, dad, can you leave my room now?" 

Edilberto runs to Iris and Ernestina to tell them of the great news when Belen asks, "Dad, what is honor roll?" 

He explains, "it means you get good grades!"

"But I got a good grade! Does that mean I also get honor roll?" 

"Sorry, Belen, but honor roll is only important in middle and high school. Getting honor roll in elementary isn't important. When you enter middle and high school like your sisters, make sure to get honor roll just like Mabel!" 

He glances at the time, "ah! I need to leave for a meeting. Perfect timing, I can show off Mabel's honor roll!" he laughs boastful. 

As he left, Belen stays staring at her A-plus feeling its effect ware off into a dull accomplishment. Realizing that an A-plus means nothing unless she's in middle school or high school.  

At that moment, Belen looks for someone to show off her dull grade when she knocks on Mabel's door. She shouts, "who is it?!" getting up to open the door and see Belen holding a paper, "do you need help with your homework?"

She shakes her head, "no, I want to show you." 

Mabel cuts her off, "Belen, I'm busy right now, go bother Iris or mom okay!" she shuts her door, making Belen look down to notice her A-plus seem so small. 

When she whispers under her breath, "but Iris does not like me…" she gives up, walking away into her room. 

Since that day, Belen began to do awful in school, from placing first place to falling in the last place and barely being able to graduate. That is until Belen entered middle school when her grades began to rise, placing her in honor roll from then on until she graduated in University. 

Another memory flashed in her head, "Dad, why can't I just eat what I want! Why do I have to go on a diet?!"

"Belen! Don't act like a child! You're in middle school! You have to be fit to play the alto saxophone! And! You have to look your best!" 

"But I'm hungry!! I've been drinking nothing but spinach soap! Drinking six pills a day! And dancing as exercise! I don't want to continue!" 

"you have to learn to be healthy! You can't be fat like you were in elementary school! Do you want to get diabetes?"

"What? How would I get that?"

"My younger sister has diabetes, and it runs in the family! That's why you have to control your sugar intake!" 

"fine! Fuck!"

"What did you say? Did you just say a bad word?"

She shutters nervously, "N-No…"

"Mas te vale! You know curse words don't make a woman sound educated!"

"here!" he places a tea bag in warm water, "you're going to have to learn to drink tea daily if you want to be healthy and lose weight." 

She makes a disgusted expression, "but I don't like tea…"

"that's why you're going to have to get used to drinking it from now on. Soon enough, you'll grow to like it!" 

"Okay," she gives up going against him and instead submits to his every order.  

At that moment, Noah wakes her up, "Belen, Belen…Belen wake up," his sweet, warm voice awaken her, "mmm?" 

She yawns, glancing around, "are we home?" 

"Yes, we have to get off now." 

"Yeah, just give me a minute," she rubs her eyes, trying to wake her mind from the dreams, thinking, "it'd been a long time I've dreamt of them." 

As they got off the plane, Mabel and Emma are looking for their luggage while Belen and Noah walk past them, exiting the airport when a driver arrives, putting away their bags in the trunk. 

They both get in when Noah asks, "Madam President, where to?" 

But an announcement is made within the airport, "Mabel Sparza! Mabel Sparza! Please retrieve your luggage! Mabel Sparza, please come retrieve your luggage!" 

Unfortunately, Belen did not get the chance to hear it as they left the airport when she says, "to my house first, then we'll go to A Star, I need to change." 

"Yes, Madam!"



***



Edilberto walks into a sizeable colossal mall escorted to the CEO's office when a secretary accompanies him inside an office.  

"Please wait here, Mr. Astares, our President, will be with you in a moment." 

"Don't worry, I'm completely fine waiting," he smiles. 

"Would you like anything to drink, sir? Water, coffee, tea." 

"ah! Tea, please." 

"Yes, sir! I'll be back with your tea." 

Just as he left a tall slim woman around the same age as Belen with long blonde hair, bangs, and blue eyes enters the office wearing formal clothes. 

Her eyes widen at the sight of Edilberto when she says, "Edy? Edy Astares?"

Edilberto twitches at her voice when he gets up to see, "Look how you've grown! AnnaVelle!"

She hugs him missing him dearly, "what are you doing here? My dad is not here right now. Should I call him?"

"No! It's fine. I came here to see you." 

"oh! Really?! What an honor!"

Knock Knock! Her secretary enters, "please excuse my intrusion, Miss Winston. I brought Mr. Astares's tea and your coffee." 

The secretary leaves them alone when AnnaVelle enthusiastically asks, "so why are you here?" 

"It's been so long since I've last seen you, Annie!" 

"I apologize for not being able to make it to your wedding! It was the same day I was appointed as President of Winston Mall. Since my father stepped down."

"no, I understand, my daughter was busy once she became the President of A Star Is, I mean A Star Mall" he laughs, trying to hide his discomfort. 

"So tell me! Why did you wish to see me?"

"Well," he nervously clears his throat, putting his cup of tea on the table, "I need your help, with a new business I'm planning on starting." 

Her expression widens surprised at hearing Edilberto's particular need for help and plans when she asks, "but wouldn't you be going against your daughter?" 

"what do you mean?"

"You do know A Star Mall and Winston Mall are rivals."

"Oh! I didn't know since you two became President practically around the same time." 

"a month… I became President a month later than Belen."

"I see, well, I was wondering if you can help me just with starting this idea of mines." 

"hmm…it is tempting. I remember father always praising your ideas, is it alright if I think about and then get back to you?" 

"Yes! You can take your time," he looks dejected.

AnnaVelle tries to explain, "please understand Edy, I'm the President now, I'm not allowed to take risks. If you'd like I can give you more time to develop your plan further and present it to my board of directors in next months meeting, is that enough time?" 

"that's perfect! Thank you!"

She nods happily, "anything for you, Edy! After all, you are like a second father to me." 

He excuses himself leaving her office, but as he did, her warm, happy façade melts away as her eyes sharpen with malice as her secretary enters, "Gary!" she shouts irritated. 

He enters, "Yes, Miss Winston!" 

"did you overhear everything?"

"If you're referring to the conversation between Mr. Astares and you, then yes." 

"What do you think?...about his idea?"

"Logically or hypothetically?"

"Please don't do this to me, Gary, I'm tired." 

"In my opinion Miss Winston I think it's worth the risk."

"you think so too, huh." 

He curiously asks, "if you thought, so why didn't you agree then?" 

She irritatedly sighs "because I feel skeptical." 

"about?"

"look at it this way, why would he come to me for help? Why couldn't he go to his daughter, Belen, the little Miss billionaire!!" 

They both stay silent in deep thought when she shakes her head, "argh! I can't! this could be some kind of trick!" 

He advises, "do you wish for me to look into it?"

She lights up, "Yes! Perfect Gary! Send some watchmen to see if Belen and Edy are in talks because if they are, then this could be some sort of plan to ruin Winston. 

"Yes, Miss Winston." 

As he left, AnnaVelle Winston maliciously smirks, with darkness in her eyes, "and if it's not, then I'll be able to defeat this bitch! If I hire her father, then maybe he can spill the beans about A Star's success. He's the key. I'm sure of it," she laughs, thinking about A Star Mall and Belen's downfall. 



***



Belen enters her large private estate where their home is located, but after passing the gates to come, there is another gate to enter her home individually.  

Though from afar, she notices someone waiting at her gates, she asks, "Noah, am I seeing things, or is someone outside my gates?" 

"Maybe security?"

But as the car got closer, they both recognize the figure, "Everest Fox?" Noah whispers as Belen stops the car shocking Noah, but as Belen got off the vehicle, he shouts, "Belen, please get back in! I'll have security remove him!" 

She firmly declines, "I need to talk to him; you go on ahead for now." 

He worriedly says, "but Belen! what if he tries to do something to you again!"

"Don't worry. This is my home! There are cameras everywhere. Just let him try, and I can put him in prison!" she says loud enough for Everest to hear. 

Noah nods, "alright!" annoyed at her decision when the driver enters the gate of her house with him. 

Belen marches confidently to Everest Fox, with a cold attitude, "why are you here?"

Everest humbles himself when he asks, "you're not at all curious how I got in here?"

"I'm not stupid. I bet you confused security into thinking that as my fiancé, you have a right to enter my house." 

"hmph pretty clever, now I see why you're feared."

"Get on with your point before I have security escort you out immediately. I can tell you didn't come here to give me simple compliments." 

He laughs, "right, well I came here to" he surprised Belen by going on his knees humbling himself, "I, Everest Fox wish to be hired by you, Madam President of A Star Mall, Belen Astares" he looks up at her with desperation as if she is his last hope.

But his expression impresses Belen making her think with her arms crossed like a Queen, "this is different from then. The look in his eyes reminds me of my past self. What happened? Why does he suddenly want to work for me? Should I trust him? But…his eyes, I can't look away." 

She firmly asks, "what position do you want to work?"

He replies, hesitant, "as your assistant secretary." 

She laughs, "asking for too much already, aren't you? What makes you think you have the correct credentials to work for me? As an assistant secretary at that?" 

As much as Belen's sharp cold words intimidate Everest, he stays firmly on his knees silently. She sighs, "what's your reason?" 

He looks up, confused, "huh?" 

She shouts, "I said, what is your reason? Purpose? What do you wish to accomplish working for me?" 

"I-I…"

"Speak up! I'm not going to hire someone who can't speak up!" she taps her foot, losing her patience. 

"I want to prove my father wrong!" a shinning glint in his eyes manifests his determination making Belen step back, gasping, seeing an illusion of herself in him.  

He stands up, confidently, "I don't want to be a tool for my dad. I want to work for myself. Please! I bet you, give me a chance, just one chance, please!" 

"Why come to me? What do you think you'll gain working for me? Or is this a plan to make the public think of us as a couple?"

He firmly denies, "NO! If you help me…I'll be able to escape my dad's grasp. And that means we won't have to get married. I also don't want to get married; my dream of marriage is dead. I know that by working for you, I'll learn through experience compared to my days working at my father's company. I…want to be able to stand on my own without his help." 

Noah comes out hurrying to the front of the gates where Belen and Everest are when he overhears them.

Belen pauses to think, when she nods, "alright!"

Everest's posture relaxes as his blank expression asks, "what?"

She nods coldly, "I'll hire you as my assistant secretary!" 

Everest's eyes shine like the stars unable to contain his happiness, on the contrary to Noah who overheard their conversation staring at Belen from afar confused.



Volume 2 will update January 2020

The Astares Family first began with Edilberto Astares and Ernestina Perez when they both married and immigrated to the United States to find a forever home. But like all families, they arrived clueless with almost no direction. Edilberto was able to open a shopping mall company. Soon after the company grew exponentially and became one of the country's most incoming shopping malls. Throughout the years Edilberto and Ernestina made a loving family image to the public, but little do they know the corrupt, broken, betrayal this family contains.
Ernestina Perez had a secret affair and divorced Edilberto. Mabel, the eldest daughter eloped with her high school sweetheart. Iris, the second daughter got pregnant at the age of fifteen. 
Emiliano the youngest son died in a tragic incident. The only stable child to become the heir of the company was left to his third young daughter, Belen Astares. He saw hope, potential, and life in her, "Belen you will make bread for your family! For us!!" 
But when Belen realizes that she was nothing but a doll, an item her father saw worth investing her reality shatters. 
After confronting her father’s betrayal, she made the decision to abandon her family. 
 Belen’s heart is filled with rage, and hatred, vowing to get revenge. With Belen having all rights, shares, and authority to the company nothing of her father is remembered. And so with unlimited wealth, luxury, and success. Belen Astares lives a comfortable life on the outside. Though on the inside, she suffers day and night unable to let go of the pain she suffered. While immensely missing the one and only person she wishes to be by her side.

The MRS conference was one of the regular academic activities of the American Society for Materials Research and was the most influential conference in the field of materials science. 
It covered almost all research directions in the field of materials science, and its status was probably equivalent to the "International Conference of Mathematicians", but in the field of materials science. Almost all of the material science scholars would attend the conference.
However, unlike the "International Conference of Mathematicians" which was held once every four years, the MRS conference was held twice a year, once in spring and once in autumn. Spring one was generally in Phoenix, Arizona, while the autumn one was usually in Boston, Massachusetts.
The main purpose of the conference was to show off the technology to the industry. Laboratories could connect with rich companies for funding. It also gave a chance for people to catfight with their peers.
Yes, catfight.
It would be strange for someone to throw a show on stage. If the conference was quiet, and everyone calmly exchanged ideas, praised each other's technology… Then the industry people would have doubts.
The nuttier people were, the more they would try to catfight others.
This type of situation would not be seen at mathematics conferences.
In some sense, the style of mathematics was different than other disciplines.
As a mathematics professor, Lu Zhou was not interested in catfighting. 
However, this conference was still an opportunity for him.
Also, since MRS sent him an invitation, there must have been a lot of people interested in his research.
Of course, Lu Zhou did not forget who he was.
He was a mathematics professor.
No matter what, he was still a mathematician. He could not let his mathematics level fall behind because that level determined the upper limit level of his other subjects.
On the last day of August, Lu Zhou sat in his office at the Institute of Advanced Studies. He was testing his two other students.
10 questions, two-hour limit.
After handing them the test, Lu Zhou sat in his chair and picked up a book.
Time slowly passed by…
When Lu Zhou's phone rang, he closed the book and looked at the two people who were struggling with the test.
"Time's up, let me see the results of your studies for the past six weeks."
Hardy put down his pen reluctantly. Qin Yue did the same. They were both nervous.
"Professor, the time frame you gave was way too short," said Hardy. He got up and handed Lu Zhou the paper as he said, "I can definitely solve another question in 10 minutes."
"The time frame isn't important. I'm not asking you guys to solve every question. I want to test what you know."
Lu Zhou took the two test papers and looked at the questions.
For him, these were all very simple questions. He could ballpark the answer in his head.
Qin Yue was up to question six, and he was halfway through question seven. His thought process was correct.
In general, not bad. This was what Lu Zhou expected.
Hardy did five. He had barely completed the requirement. This was somewhat unexpected.
Lu Zhou thought that there would at least be one person failing the test and it would most likely be Hardy because he was the most impetuous student out of the three.
However, it seemed that all three of them were qualified to participate in his research project.
Lu Zhou placed the test papers aside. He then cleared his throat and said, "First of all, congratulations on joining my research project."
When Hardy heard this, his eyes widened in surprise. Qin Yue also had a strange expression.
Lu Zhou said in a relaxed tone, "My passing requirement is five questions. If you could complete five questions, that means you followed my task and didn't waste the past month and a half… "
"… As for the details of our research project, I'll explain it shortly."
Lu Zhou took a sip of his coffee before he stood up. He then walked over to his whiteboard and picked up a marker.
Vera was sitting in the corner of the office, quietly reading documents. She stopped and as the other students, she looked at the whiteboard.
"Six weeks ago, I told you guys that the research project is related to hail."
"If you know your additive number theory, then you guys have probably already guessed what the research project is."
Qin Yue and Hardy nodded.
As per what Lu Zhou said, they already guessed what the research project was.
As for Vera, she obviously knew about it since she joined the research project two weeks ago.
Lu Zhou paused for a second before he continued, "The so-called Hail conjecture, also known as the Collatz conjecture, or 3n+1 problem, describes that for any positive integer N, after continuous iteration of fokn(n) = 1, it would fall into the trap of {4,2,1}…"
"… Simply speaking, start with any positive integer n. Then each term is obtained from the previous term as follows: If the previous term is even, the next term is one half the previous term. If the previous term is odd, the next term is 3 times the previous term plus 1. The conjecture is that no matter what value of n, the sequence will always reach 1."
Lu Zhou paused for a second. He then smiled and added, "It's like a black hole."
Hail's conjecture was no doubt more popular than Goldbach's conjecture.
In the 1970s, almost all of the America Universities were delving into this magical "number game". This phenomenon was even reported in the "Washington Post".
Of course, for most people, this was just a game of numbers, but for mathematicians, this was something deeper. 
"This is a number theory problem, and one of the classics in additive number theory. But, the essence is actually a complex analysis problem!"
"… The Collatz conjecture will be your mission for the next three years. I'm not asking you guys to fully prove this conjecture, but you should all at least complete one thesis worthy of publication…"
Lu Zhou picked up the pen and wrote down an equation on the whiteboard.
[h(z^3)=h(z^6)+{h(z^2)+λh(λz^2)+λ^2h(λ^2z^2)}/3z] (where λ=e^ {2πi/3}]
When Qin Yue saw this line of equations, he took out his notebook. Even Hardy also started to pay attention.
As for Vera, she was as focused as ever.
"The community is pessimistic about this problem. In fact, the number theory community has made no progress on this problem." 
"In 1994, Professor L. Berg and G. Meindardus proved that the conjecture is equivalent to the function h(z^3), which is what I wrote on the whiteboard… "
"… This equation placed down the first brick to solving this problem…" 
Some things could not be described in words.
Lu Zhou turned around and continued to write on the whiteboard.
[g(z)=z/2+(1−cosπz)(z+1/2)/2+1/π(1/2−cosπz)sinπz+h(z)sin2πz satisfies: N⊂Φ(g)]
 […]
Vera looked at the lines of equations and her eyes lit up.
Hardy and Qin Yue also have a thoughtful expression.
Lu Zhou finally stopped writing and placed the marker on the table. He smiled at his three students.
"This step is crucial… "
"… If you can prove that there is an integer function h(z), for each g(z) above, each branch of Φ(g) containing a positive integer has z0∈D, so that [gok(z0)] converges. To 1…"
Lu Zhou paused for a second and looked at the three faces of anticipation. He then smiled and said in a positive tone, "Therefore, we can prove that…"
"3n+1 is true!"


After suffering from a heat stroke while working under the scorching heat of summer, Lu Zhou, a hardworking but poor university student, somehow becomes the owner of an advanced technological system. With the cheat given by the system, his university life changes overnight. 
  
A Master's degree? Easy. 
  
PhD? Not a problem.   
  
From a nobody, he quickly becomes a huge celebrity in the world of science. With the missions given by the system, he is on his way to winning a Nobel Prize.   

"System, can points be exchanged for money?"
  
"No."
  
"F**k, what use are you then!?"
  
"This system will make you the ultimate scholar, the kind that lords over all of humanity. What use will money be to you?"

After their lectures, Fern and Emily walk through the huge library and sit in their favourite study room. 

Sitting down at the big table in the middle, Fern asks, "You actually remembered to reserve the room, right?" 

Grimacing, Emily says, "Of course I did. I will forever have the embarrassment of being kicked out etched in my memory. How was I supposed to know that we had to make a reservation?"

Fern chuckles and says, "Honestly, I have no idea. At least we know now." 

Once the two are settled in, they immediately dive into their work. 

Fern has her papers, highlighters, and laptop spread across half of the table. On the giant whiteboard wall, Fern has scribbled out an outline for her proposal. Switching between writing on the wall and typing on her laptop, Fern is in a world of her own.

In comparison, Emily is sitting on the other side of the table with only her laptop. As she searches for papers on her topic, she regularly gets distracted by random thoughts that pop up in her head. Soon, Emily is spending more time looking at cute pictures of animals than getting any actual work done. 

Looking down at her word count and realizing that she hasn't written anything in 30 minutes, Emily huffs and gets up. 

Confused, Fern looks up and says, "What's up?" 

"I just can't focus." Starting to walk towards the door, Emily says, "I think I'm going to go find a snack." 

"Wait." Indicating towards Emily's laptop, Fern says, "Show me your paper. Explain it to me." 

After mentally debating whether or not she wants to have this conversation, Emily says okay and sits next to Fern. She pulls up her paper and starts telling Fern about the topic. 

"I'm writing about squirrels and their role in the ecosystem. They're pretty important for the dispersion of tree seeds." 

"I've never thought about squirrels as important for the spread of trees, but I guess that makes sense. Do you have an outline that I can read?" 

"No, I don't like outlines." 

Fern narrows her eyes and says, "That's like saying you're going to go on a road trip, but you don't have any driving instructions." 

"Well, I did drive to Toronto without instructions last summer." 

"Yea and you kept having to stop and ask people for directions. Just because you don't like it, doesn't mean that you can skip it. " 

Realizing that Fern isn't going to let this go, Emily starts to avoid eye contact and slowly reach towards the doorknob. Once she's close enough, she points to the whiteboard and yells, "What's that- a typo?" Not taking the time to see if Fern falls for her excellent distraction, Emily rips the door open and- 

She gets hit in the back by the cap of a whiteboard marker. 

Crap. 

Turning around and looking at Fern sheepishly, Emily says, "Does this mean that you aren't going to let me leave until I finish an outline?" 

Unamused, Fern crosses her arms and says, "Yes! Now get to work." 

Reluctantly returning to her work, Emily says, "yes, ma'am."

.... 

At one o'clock in the afternoon, Emily has finished her outline, and Fern is just wrapping up her proposal. 

Fern is channeling her inner famous actress and is dramatically reading out her research proposal. She only drops her drama character when she stops to correct errors in the document. 

Ignoring the tedious nature of a research proposal, Emily selectively pays attention to the cool science. Whenever all of the aspects of Fern's logical argument come together for a fascinating conclusion, or Fern looks particularly proud, Emily lets out a cheer of applause. 

After Fern has finished performing, she sees in her periphery a group of disgruntled students staring at her and Emily. 

Lowering her voice, Fern sits in her chair and says, "There are a bunch of grumpy people looking at us. Maybe I got a little too excited." 

Rolling her eyes, Emily says, "Eh, who cares. We'll never see those people again." 

Unsure, Fern says, "Okay." Focusing on her laptop, Fern opens up the submission folder of the project proposal and turns in her assignment. 

"Finished! Let's get out of here." 

Packing up her stuff, Emily says, "Wanna go celebrate?" 

"Yes! Let's go to the local gardening store. I want to get some seeds." 

"Seeds?" 

"Going on an adventure to look at gardening supplies sounds like a great time." 

Giving Fern a dubious look, Emily shrugs and says, "I'll come along."

A young university student, Fern, is a mess. She has yet to find something that makes her feel passionately excited. 

When Fern receives a bad mark on a research project proposal, she is forced to seek help from a professor and discovers the magic of biology. 

As Fern pursues her fascination with the field, she and her friends will inadvertently revolutionize the world's understanding of the planet and its inhabitants.

Zhao Yu had decided that he would fight Qu Ping and Team B to the death. He always sat attentively at his office desk, carefully eavesdropping on Team B’s every action, even forgetting to use the bathroom.
As he expected, Qu Ping and Team B focused mainly on Zhang Jingfeng and Liang Huan’s newest evidence, and immediately focused on figuring out the source of the one-sided film.
The type of one-sided film was rarely imported. Within a few hours they had already found all of the people who had recently bought the product. Immediately afterwards, they quickly started investigating the buyers. Team Leader Qu Ping almost mobilized the entire team for this.
But when the results from the investigation came back, bad results came one after another. As it turned out, the one-sided film had been purchased by performance groups, some used it for magic, and some for setting up the stage.
Even though not many performance groups purchased it, every group that did purchased a huge amount. According to the distributor, the one-sided films were not cheap, but most people had no use for it. Within the groups they were not guarded by any specific personnel, and were usually thrown in the storage room. Regardless of who they were, workers, other performers, or even audience members, anyone could take some and leave.
Because of the chaotic situation, if they really wanted to continue down this road, the workload was going to be difficult. From the looks of it, this evidence was pointless, and they were back to square one.
Hearing this, not only Qu Ping and her team members, but even the eavesdropping Zhao Yu felt despair.
It seemed like they were still underestimating the culprit’s abilities. This person’s execution and planning were flawless, with no openings at all, he was a genius of crime!
Even though following the trail of the one-sided film was almost useless, Qu Ping did not give up completely. She still left two investigators on the scene to continue the investigation, but everyone else was transferred back to the office.
This time, Qu Ping undoubtedly felt great pressure. If she failed to solve the Lost Hand Case, it was very possible that she would follow in the previous team leader’s footsteps and be forced to resign.
But Qu Ping had already exhausted all of her strength, having already pulled out all of the evidence and thoroughly examining them. But by this point, besides not even having caught the culprit, she could not even give a decent description of them yet. Compared with her spotless record, this was unprecedented.
Soon, it was almost dawn, and despite the team continuing their tireless analysis, the talking slowly died down.
Zhao Yu was the only person in the Team A section of the office. He laid down on the desk for a long time, but heard nothing from the eavesdropper. It seemed that Qu Ping’s crew were at their limit.
"Holy Sh*t" Zhao Yu turned around and carefully stared at his own whiteboard.
On the center of the whiteboard was the number "4.26." This number represented April 26th. Last year, the first case happened on April 22nd. The second case occurred four days later on April 26th.
Coincidently, this year’s incident had also happened on April 22nd. Thus, the investigators were all worried that this year would repeat the last, and that there would be a fourth incident on the 26th. If a fourth incident occurred, then the consequences would be heavy. The media would surely stir a huge commotion, and the police officers involved would be heavily criticized. Right now, the entire office was covered with a thick gloom.
It was already past dawn on April 25th. If the culprit really was readying for another attack then there really was not that much time left for the police.
"But the culprit…who is it?" Zhao Yu scratched his head and continued to ponder the case without stop.
Regarding this case, besides following Qu Ping’s ideas, Zhao Yu also had his own ideas.
He held onto an incomplete idea, feeling that the reason why this case was taking to long to solve may not have been because the culprit was sneaky, but because of Qu Ping’s idea being wrong from the start.
Such as the fact that although Qu Ping and her team had never said it aloud, the team had already come to the conclusion that the culprit was a male! This was because during the first case, the culprit was out in a crowded area but managed to pull the victim into a small electric-supply room in the underground tunnel. Not to mention, chopping off a person’s hand with one stroke took a lot of strength. If the victim was female, then those two things would have been very difficult to accomplish.
But…what if they were wrong? What if the culprit wasn’t a male? What would happen?
Using the BMW one-sided film as an example, the culprit had taken such advanced measures as not to reveal anything, even their own silhouette.
But why would the culprit be so careful so as to not even reveal their own silhouette?
Could it be…that the silhouette would expose something?
Like…exposing the fact that she was…a woman?!
Other than that, Zhao Yu also felt that Qu Ping often had the wrong idea, including the culprit’s motive.
By this point, the culprit had already cut off the hands of three females. But why did he cut their hands off in the first place?
Qu Ping and the team had always thought that the Lost Hand Case’s victims were randomly chosen. They were sure that there were no connection between the culprit and the victim! Their reasoning was sound as the three victims had never met each other. They were not classmates, and never even went to the same school.
Worrying about whether she was wrong or not, Qu Ping had carefully researched if the three victims had any mutual acquaintances. From her research, even though there were one or two mutual acquaintances, they obscure relationships with little investigational value.
Since there were not any relationships between the culprits and the victim, Qu Ping obviously thought that the Lost Hand Case had been done by a mentally ill person. She figured that the culprit had endured some sort of mental trauma, like housewives spending too much money, and got his revenge with this crime.
But Zhao Yu did not think that was the case.
Even though he had not been a police officer before, his ability to judge certain problems was not weaker than any detective in the unit.
The three victims not knowing each other. Their body shape, appearance, height, clothes, hair length, and even job were all completely different. The only similarity among the three was their gender, age, and family’s financial situation.
Zhao Yu felt that if the culprit really had some sort of perverted tendency, then they would at least pick victims who looked similar. If they were cutting people’s hands off because their housewife was a large spender, then they would at least pick victims who looked like their wife.
Not to mention, the information already showed that despite the victims being from wealthier households, they did not really have spending issues.
Thus, Zhao Yu had doubts regarding Qu Ping and her team’s judgement.
"What if the culprit didn’t have any mental issues?" he thought.
Due to Zhao Yu’s old, rather special job situation, he had seen many cases out of grudge or revenge.
For some reason, he felt that the Lost Hand Case in front of him felt very similar to case where the motive had been a grudge. The culprit who had chopped off those womens’ hands was not just doing it because of their own interests or issues, but because they were actually out for revenge!
And the reason why Zhao Yu thought that was not just a guess, but because of a very specific reason!


A little ruffian who fought recklessly without any morals and bottomline accidentally time-traveled to parallel space and became a Key Case Investigation Team agent. The huge change in identity had him creating chaos in the police station. However, a strange miracle system helped him repeatedly solve mysterious cases, turning him into an impudent ruffian detective!

Ling Ran first drew the anatomical structures of Chen Xiaowang's abdominal cavity on a piece of paper based on the information he had obtained from the Virtual Human along with the examination results.
For surgeons, cholecystectomy was mainly difficult due to the variations in the structures of patients' cystic artery and bile ducts. The variation was so great that if a person were to categorize humans based on the differences in the structures of their gallbladder arteries and bile ducts, the list might be so long that it could not even fit into a book.
Naturally, Chen Xiaowang's cystic artery and bile duct varied from those of other humans too.
There was a very obvious abnormality to his cystic artery, as it branched out very early into two arteries. This condition was known as a double cystic artery.
This was considered a very normal abnormality, and tens of thousands of people might exhibit the same abnormality. If the person did not receive surgery related to the gallbladder or bile duct, this abnormality would not be obvious at all. It neither caused any discomfort nor affected a person's health. It would not even affect the organs around it to a significant extent. It could be said to be even more insignificant than neighborhood committees outside Beijing. 
However, if doctors failed to pay attention to this abnormality during cholecystectomy, it could easily lead to problems.
To prevent bleeding, during cholecystectomy, doctors had to first interrupt the blood flow of the cystic artery. As ordinary people only had one cystic artery, doctors just need to clamp their cystic arteries with a hemostatic forceps. However, in cases of patients with double cystic arteries, doctors may make a mistake and only interrupt the blood flow of the first cystic artery. And when this happened, the second cystic artery was almost guaranteed to be accidentally damaged during the process of the surgery. Major hemorrhage was almost a certainty, and a good prognosis would become impossible.
"Double cystic artery!" Ling Ran rose and wrote this down on the whiteboard in his office.
Not only did this serve as a reminder for himself, but also for other doctors to take note of.
Accidental damage sometimes happened because the chief surgeon made a mistake, but there were times when it happened because the chief surgeon did not manage his subordinates well by forgetting to give them a reminder.
"Edema in the gallbladder, and there's inflammation."
"The bile duct enters the hepatic duct after running parallel to the hepatic duct for a distance."
As Ling Ran wrote on the whiteboard, he drew simple diagrams every now and then.
The ability to draw anatomical diagrams were essential to doctors, so it was only natural that other doctors were able to understand what Ling Ran was trying to convey.
Not only did the doctors in the Ling Treatment Group understand it, but doctors from other treatment groups were also sizing up the whiteboard in curiosity.
"Chronic cholecystitis, and the gallbladder has shrunk a little. These aren't really a problem. The most difficult part is that the patient can only afford a recovery time of two and a half days."
"I really don't believe that companies nowadays overwork people to this extent."
"Employers of companies have to make a living, right? As doctors, even though we are super tired after working day and night, we still carry out freelance surgery during the weekends. Why are we doing all these?"
"Some people chase after money, and some chase after their dreams. Some chase both at the same time. Truth be told, this has nothing to do with us. From what I know, whenever Huawei executes a project, they aim to be two years ahead of their peers. If their employers were to take short breaks, those breaks would accumulate over the course of time into a long period of time. Then, wouldn't their predecessor's hard work to race against time become a waste?"
"But they should still have their basic rest time, shouldn't they?"
"Basic rest time? I don't know how you were like as a student, but from I know, all the students who abide by the basic rest time either have no problem scoring 985 marks in their college entrance examination at all or can't even pass after their second try. Which type are you?"
Right after someone talked about school, the doctors' office in the Emergency Medical Center immediately became a lot livelier.
Huo Congjun slowly walked over to Ling Ran and asked, "Have you made your decision?"
"Yes," Ling Ran said.
As Huo Congjun looked at the diagrams that Ling Ran drew on the whiteboard, he shook his head and said, "Why would you trouble yourself over this? There are so many patients waiting for you to operate on them. Why don't you just pass this case over to an ordinary doctor? Moreover, truth be told, isn't the patient's request to recover in a span of two and a half days a little too much?"
Ling Ran said, "It's also an opportunity for self-improvement."
Huo Congjun asked in surprise, "What do you mean?"
"Improving patients' prognoses and shortening the recovery time can be seen as an area of improvement when it comes to cholecystectomy." Ling Ran was actually speculating that this was the way to elevate his cholecystectomy skills from Specialist Level to Master Level.
Unlike the other skills he possessed, Ling Ran learned cholecystectomy from scratch.
Now that he had gone from Novice Level to Specialist Level, Ling Ran did not actually have many ideas as to how to go forward.
Cholecystectomy in itself was a relatively simple surgery, especially when it was done using a laparoscope, and most doctors could complete it without any issue. Even though doctors always strived to reduce damage and improve accuracy, all of this often felt a little vague, and it was not a true indicator of improvements in skills.
Without a doctor who was better at cholecystectomy to guide him, Ling Ran did not know how to improve further.
Without realizing it, Chen Xiaowang had raised a problem for Ling Ran to solve. He could even be said to have pointed Ling Ran in the right direction.
*Ding*
This was when the system's notification appeared.
[Mission: The Way Forward]
[Mission Details: Complete 50 abdominal surgeries where the patients' recovery time is less than 60 hours]
[Mission Reward: Intermediate Treasure Chest]
Ling Ran's eyebrows scrunched up.
Since the mission was only limited to abdominal surgeries, the only abdominal surgeries he knew how to perform were hepatectomy, cholecystectomy, splenectomy, and appendectomy. Moreover, orchiectomy was probably not included.
Out of these abdominal surgeries, it would be impossible for a patient who underwent hepatectomy to recover within 60 hours. A hepatectomy would be considered successful if the patient did not die within three days of the surgery, and it was perfectly normal for a patient to only be transferred out of the ICU three days after hepatectomy.
However, there was a slim chance that this would be possible with emergency splenectomy. This was especially true when the patient was relatively young, as they often recovered well from emergency surgeries. However, it would be a little bit of a fairytale for a patient to be able to recover in sixty hours after undergoing a splenectomy.
Hence, the only surgical methods that were suitable for Ling Ran when it came to completing this mission was cholecystectomy and appendectomy.
"We have to pay attention to his postsurgical care too," Zuo Cidian said, "Good postsurgical care is important for a fast recovery."
"We'll have to tell the anesthetist to put in extra effort too." Lu Wenbin offered his suggestion too.
"Should we also aim to use the best surgical instruments and medical consumables?" Ma Yanlin licked his pale lips with his pale tongue and suggested feebly.
Ling Ran nodded and said to Zuo Cidian, "Note all this down, and we'll figure out a way to go about it."
Huo Congjun became interested in the matter too when he heard this. "If you guys are really doing this, you can advertise yourself using the promise of fast recovery time. Hmm... since the patient is an employee in an internet company, he should be pretty rich, shouldn't he?"
Zuo Cidian understood what Huo Congjun was implying, and he immediately said, "He's definitely richer than us. Their insurance coverage is excellent too. Moreover, since they're so busy racing against time, they probably receive excellent financial compensation."
Huo Congjun nodded in agreement. "If the patient were an idiot who has no time and no money, there would be no need for him to strive for fast recovery time, right? Since he's making this request because of the situation in his company, there should be many similar cases among his colleagues, shouldn't it?"
"From what I heard from the patient, he has many colleagues with similar problems. There should be a lot of patients who are receiving conservative treatment for appendicitis, colitis, and cholecystitis…" Zuo Cidian combed his hair with his finger as he supported Huo Congjun's statement.
As expected, Huo Congjun nodded and said, "Then, let's start a project team and go about it as though it's a research project. Doctor Zuo, go ahead and do the paperwork. I'll allocate some funds for you guys."
All of the doctors in the Ling Treatment Group nodded. The expressions of the other doctors in the office did not change, as though they did not hear anything.


Ling Ran, a med school senior, begins to see the world like a game UI. He uses it to pave his way towards graduation, a residency, becoming the greatest doctor in the world... And finally getting a Transformer from his newbie packs? Maybe. We don't know yet.

Setting up the Thief

Soon, everyone came back. Red then announced to them that the thief might be in another class so they needed to check the CCTV footage to confirm their suspicions so, Red and his squad left the place. 

 "What do you mean that the thief is in another classroom?" Leo asked, curious. 

 "Yeah, if it's true, which classroom?" James asked. 

Dream Academy is a 10 storey building. Just the floor they are at, which is 7th floor has already 11 rooms on it. So it's really a question for James on which room they need to search or are they going to search all the rooms? If that was the case, they better stop this case as soon as possible, because it's impossible to solve it with just their manpower alone. 

 "I already checked the CCTV footage. Aside from everyone inside that classroom, there was no other people who got inside or left that classroom." Vanessa said.

Vanessa had only done it to help Red a little bit. She knows that she might not be good at investigating without using any technology, but she'll still try to help something she's good at since she's also a part of the detective squad. 

"That was just an excuse. We know that the thief is inside that classroom. "Red said before he looked at Marvin. 

 "Huh? We don't get anything what you guys just said?" Vladimir asked with a confuse look. 

Leo, James and Vanessa nodded as a reply. They also don't understand what this two meant, and they were curious about it. Curiosity is a really hard thing. Once you're curious, it will be hard to make yourself not curious anymore. Just like the saying, Curiosity kills the cat! 

 "Marvin will go back in that room before dismissal. Vanessa, have you hacked every CCTV camera of Dream Academy?" Red asked. 

 "I only hacked 60% of it, why?" Vanessa replied, she's curious again. Why is he acting so mysterious? Is he up to something? Maybe something perverted, does he want to watch the girls comfort room? Ohh, there are no CCTV there, maybe he wants to--. Vanessa's thoughts run wild again. 

"Then you better make it 100%. Because this is what we're going to do--" Red signaled everyone to come closer. 

.....

Last class of the day arrived. On the side of the Dream Academy building, Marvin was looking up while preparing his tools for climbing. 

Marvin was going to climb the building to reach the 7th floor. He was planning to sneak inside. What Red meant of him going back was not in simple way, but through sneaking. 

*Whoosh! 

Marvin throws his grappling hook to the 7th floor. This time, it was not the mini grappling hook, but the big grappling hook. Since he was climbing straight to the 7th floor, so using the big one is more convenient than the small one. 

Although it's the big one, Marvin still needs to be aware whether it's safe or not. So, after throwing the grappling hook, he pulls it to check whether it's safe or not. Afterwards, he slowly climb up. 

Soon, he reached a pillar just near the window of Miya and Adrian's classroom. 

"This is really troublesome, but it's exciting!" Marvin said before he slowly removed one glass on the window. Now, he can observe what's happening inside the classroom without anyone noticing. After that, Marvin installed a wireless CCTV camera on the window to record everything inside the classroom. 

In case the thief has a partner, they can use the video recorded in the wireless CCTV camera to prove that that person is the thief. 

"Testing, testing, one, two, three." Marvin said, trying to test the communicators in his ears. The communicators are connected to Red which is inside there club room with Vanessa. 

Red and Vanessa are responsible to check the CCTV cameras, which was already under their full control. Also, they were responsible for guiding and informing James, Leo and Vladimir about the thief.

"The Mini-cute Vanessa love Red 01 is installed!" Marvin said through the communicator. 

"What's with that name?" Red asked through the communicator. Who the he'll will make a codename that way? 

"It's what written in here." Marvin helplessly said, he was looking helplessly at the capital and bold letter 'Mini-cute Vanessa love Red 01' on the wireless CCTV camera. 

Girls, creatures that are really hard to understand. 

Red on the other side looked at Vanessa who's acting cute in front of him at this moment. This girl--.

Meanwhile, Leo was stationed at the right exit, and James was stationed at the left exit of the 7th floor. They were to guard it in case the thief tries to slip away, and they're also responsible for taking the thief away, and bringing it to there HQ, the clubroom. 

 "I hope this will succeed. " Leo said through the communicator. 

 "Don't worry, it will!" Red said through the communicator confidently. His plan was 100% full proof. Only if there's a problem within his team will his plan not become a 100% full proof. 

Soon, the bell rang, which marked every class dismissal. Marvin watching the happenings inside the classroom was fully focus on the back of the whiteboard. Come out come out little thief, Marvin thought. 

Marvin suddenly noticed a girl wearing eye glasses. The girl was slowly approaching the back of the whiteboard. Next, she slip her hands behind the white board, and grabbed the 1000$ bill. Afterwards, she sneakily put the 1000$ in her pocket. She then slowly walked outside the room. 

"The thief is a girl. She's wearing a black framed eyeglass with one pony tail. "Marvin said through the communicator with a smile. 

 "Which side of her hair has the pony tail?" James asked through the communicator. 

 "The left." Marvin immediately replied.

 "How cute, maybe I can play with her a little, if she comes to my direction." James said through the communicator. James was actually not joking, he was really going to play with that girl if she chooses his direction. 

 "Fucking playboy!" Leo cursed through the communicator. 

 "You're just jealous that you don't have any girlfriend yet!" James replied. Heading that, Leo was provoked. 

 "You also don't have any!" Leo

 "At least I experienced having one." James

 "I also experienced having one!" Leo

 "Who are you joking with, you're even having a hard time talking to girls!" James

"No I'm not!" Leo

 "Yes you are!" James

 "Stop arguing! I already found her!" Red said through the communicator. Red and Vanessa has immediately looked for that girl once they received Marvin's description. 

 "How about this, if the girl choose your direction. Prove it that it's not hard for you to talk to girls!" James provoked. 

 "Deal! But if I really achieve it, I want you to do something for me!" Leo proposes. 

"Deal!" James proudly accepted the deal. He was sure that Leo will lose on this deal. 

"Red, which direction did she choose?" Leo excitingly said. 

 "To your direction!" Red said, he can't help but to shake his head. Now, Red isn't sure anymore whether his plan is 100% full proof. 

Just like what Red said before, his plan will only decrease its success rate if one of his squad is the problem. And this is the problem there experiencing right now!

"Watch me!" Leo said through the communicator. Red only shook his head in helplessness. 

-Right 7th floor exit- 

Leo was looking around for the girl in black framed eye glasses with a pony tail on the left side of her hair in his side. 

 "Where is she?" Leo said through the communicator. 

 "She's in front of you." Red said through the communicator. 

Hearing that, Leo smiled. Just you wait, you playboy. Do you think I don't know how to communicate with girls?!!

Red is the top 1 graduate of MS Academy for Detectives. In his first mission to look for members in his Detective Squad. He was unexpectedly caught on a game of life and death called the Chess Of Mystery. 

Will Red survive and solve the game? 

Or will he find himself already part of the game from the very start of it? 

--------------------------------------------------
Release Rate: 2 chapters a day, 6:00am and 6:00pm (GMT+08:00) 

Top 50 - 1 more chapter
Top 25 - 2 more chapter
Top 10 - 3 more chapter
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Top 1- 7 more chapter

----Clark's POV----
As we're having a meeting The atmosphere in the meeting room was so tense. I was just there sitting on the side of the long table facing the big projector whiteboard. I put his arm on my chair arm as my face slightly leaning on my fist while his legs crossed. My cold eyes could definitely pierce them if they look back. All of the marketing department members gathered in the meeting room. All of them were shivering while looking down, doesn't want to look back. All of them got scared of my presence. At least they know something bad going to happen...
"Hey..." I say coldly. All of them jump out of scare thinking if they're going to be scolded by me. As I stand up all of them got nervous about what's gonna happen next.
"All of the members of the Marketing Department..." All of them hearts start to pound crazy, some were breathing heavily can't take anymore the suspense.
"Are fired!" I say as he bams his hands on the table. Most of them stand due to shock.
"Mr. Clark, You can't do that...."
"Mr. Clark what about..."
"Sir, How?"
"What's happening?"
So noisy... All of them started to protest against me, Shouting every sentenced came out in their mouth. And I don't like it....! They even dare to shout at my face... I scoff... They really have nerves huh? I raise my head to them as I glare intense to them. All of them keep quiet right away, become speechless. All the loud noises coming in their mouth made me a little bit annoyed. Good, they know how to shut up. I thought I need to cut off their tongues before they become quiet
"You know why?" I stand up straight and raise his left eyebrow to them. Still, shocked and speechless.
"You guys aren't improving, what if the sales of the company are about to decrease and none of you ever tried to make a solution for it." Cs company has been the biggest and outstanding in the world. Just what the hell happened now? This bunch of fools is messing the company's rank. Looks like I've been soft to them. The only reason I'm quite soft because Stephanie told me to because it may cause a huge problem if I do that. Well, unfortunately, it turns out the opposite. This time I'm not going to let them off to their mistakes again!
"What? Waiting for my help? What are you, a damsel in distress? You guys don't even have the will to make a solution for it. I've been observing you guys from the beginning." I say with a smirk while cross-arm. After what I said, Secretary Lee who is beside me flashes something on the projector. They all look at the projector and got eyes to widen. All of the members in the marketing department have a certain picture each one of them flashes at the board.
"Ordering around people who have a lower position, drinking coffee all the time, always on the phone, sleeping in the desk, and lastly passing others work." Secretary Lee says while pushing his glasses up as he explains everything. From the start I know we shouldn't take things easy so I watch every move they make not only in the Marketing Department but all employees of the Cs company.
"My company doesn't want to have an indolent people like you. Now get out of my company or else you want to end up on the other world." I say coldly. All of them hesitated to leave, shivering on losing their jobs but all went to leave at once. Even if you beg I won't change my words.
When all of them left, I turn around to Secretary Lee. Who was standing straight and no reaction the entire time, keeping his professionalism?
"And you," I say coldly to him as my face turns to him.
"Find people who could replace the members of the Cs company, I don't care where just people who know how to do their job well. If not, you're the one going to pay for it." I say as I pick up my coat in one hand on my shoulder then leaves. Leaving him behind.
"Yes, Mr. Clark."

----That Night----
"What? You fired all the members of the Marketing Department?" Stephanie shouted at me when I told her what happens. Ughh... So noisy... I roll over my eyes away from her.
We were at my study, we just arrived earlier and it's so late because we have been busy around. And there was my sister shouted at me while I was still doing my work. I always stayed up all night finishing the other documents needed.
"Well, I don't blame you... It's a good choice though... But how are you going to replace them?" Stephanie sighs then ask confusedly. I paused on what I was doing and looks at her.
"Okay... I don't like that look." She back away a bit.
"Well, if you hadn't asked me not to be soft which I don't do. This kind of thing wouldn't happen."
I made a faked smile to her as I crush the crumpled paper on my hands. Stephanie made an awkward laugh.
"Bur rest assured I'll be able to handle it. The Cs Company will be back again on its feet." I say coldly to her but proudly as I toss the paper, not looking at the bin.
"Wow... back to being cold," Stephanie says as she stares the paper going on the bin.
"What? You got something to say?" I coldly look at her.
"Tsk..." Stephanie scoffs at me.
"I'll just remind you, I'm leaving tomorrow morning..." Stephanie says.
"Yeah..." I say indifferently not looking at her. I'm still busy looking at my papers. Well, tomorrow going to be interesting... She then sighs... Well, you could go back now...
"Nevermind, I'll leave you alone. I'm also busy like you, you know." Stephanie wave as she was walking toward the door. Are you really busy? Alas... I can now focus...
"Night."
"Night..."
We say to each other as the door closes.

----Stephanie's POV----
I was at my room sitting on my desk where a dual monitor was there where I used when making some sketches for work. The other one is for drawing and the other one is for gathering information. As I was there putting all my ideas on my sketch. I remember I was going to have a business trip tomorrow. I sigh, It's going to be a long day tomorrow I swear... I haven't packed my clothes so I guess I'll just do it tomorrow morning. As I stretch my arm yawning. I wonder if William's ready for tomorrow. Wait! I stand up from my seat right away. Oh, I forgot him to tell him about this! I got my phone and started dialing his number. As I seat down waiting on his answer.
"Hey, I'm busy, call me later," William says annoyingly to the other side of the phone. His background music was full of men grunting. Looks like they're still in training... William's in charge of our men training, he is quite difficult to follow as their superior. One mistake and you're going to do it all again but this time it'll be harder.
"Oh, is that so? Okay bye..." I say playfully as I was about to end the call to tease him. You really have gots huh, even though you don't know who you're talking to. I wonder what will be his reaction when Clark was the one who called him. He'll be a corpse tomorrow that's for sure...
"Stephanie!? Hey, wait!"  I quickly move my phone away from my ear protecting my ear from damaging William's loud voice as he was trying to stop me. Haha, I knew it... I chuckle as I heard his reaction. This guy doesn't even check who called him...
"Oh, I thought you were busy?" I playfully ask as I put the phone on my hear again,
"Sorry, I thought you were someone else..." He silently says... Haha, his too cute. Wait... what? No, focus okay?
"Anyway, I'm going on a business trip tomorrow so might as well come with me?" I ask innocently.
"M-me?" He stutters a bit. What's wrong with him? 
"What, you don't want to?" I ask confusingly. It's fine if he don't want to but I'll have difficulty finding other.
"No! I would like to come! I'll be there tomorrow morning." He says excitedly. Geez... Just a trip... Why so excited about. I chuckle a bit.
"Well then bye..." I say quietly.
As I hang up the one I once again stretches both of my arms as my back lay down a bit. I stare of my glass wall looking at bright stars in the sky.
Tomorrow's gonna be a long day...

Society has different types of levels, First Class family, second and third. Each one of them possesses an incredible power they hold. 

Clark Vascana who owns the "CS group Company" was a World Class Rich man also known as "Cold Blooded King" which refers to his ruthless behavior towards people who dares to offend him. Born with a 1st Class Family, Vascana which has the most powerful wealth in their country, not even the country's presidents have the nerve to disobey him. Clark was always being rumored to be a lover to the World Famous International Designer Stephanie V. Her background information was full of secrets along with her full name. People who seek to find out her true identity never had a good ending.

What really os their relationship?
What is really Stephanie V's identity? 
What will happen if the world knows that their siblings in blood? How did the rumored start?

PS: this is a male and female lead.

Catarina shared our translations of the two tablets, and the old pair left. That left the twins and me by ourselves. 

"So, about what we discussed," Pratt began to say, but didn't finish. 

"Yes," I replied immediately. "You'll teach me pictorial." 

"And you'll teach us Vikari," Dia said. 

"Shall we begin?" 

The twins went first. And they made a great pair, as expected. Pratt was the voice, Dia was the hand. 

"Consider elementals. The basic characters represent ideas. In somewhat the same way, pictorial characters too are representation of ideas. The difference being that the ideas are perceived as linguistic constructs in elementals, whereas in pictorial they are visual constructs. And that creates room for expressionism. Let's say, we're describing dawn. In elementals, the characters for the sun, light, weather and other heavenly objects, come together to form a rune which describes dawn. Because the entire rune is of a linguistic construct, the understanding is highly dependent on personal interpretation. In pictorial, the construct of the rune is what is seen visually. So, every dawn is unique. And understanding is limited only by the extent of imagination. So, every pictorial rune must be read as if looking at a distinct painting." 

As Pratt paused, Dia took over. She drew two dawns side by side on a whiteboard, and then translated them in Nashi. 

Looking at my face filled with concentration, Pratt spoke slowly. 

"Pictorial would be the natural bane for you, since they are the complete opposite of descriptives. But when you do get the hang of it, you'll see that that's not actually true. Other than the fact that pictorial have no linguistic characters, and descriptives have no non-linguistic characters, the two give the same importance to detail." 

"I get it," I said. "But I need more practice." 

"And that's what I'm here for," Dia said, taking over the voice too. 

"The general idea is the same in all pictorial. It's like art. All art from a particular period, have an underlying feature. And that feature is what separates the different periods and styles of art. The implementation of colour. The brush strokes. The sharpness or bluntness. The point of view of the artist. In the same way, different pictorial runes vary from each other. Nashi and Vyaraishi differ in the perspective. Vyaraishi was a civilisation of the central flatlands, while Nashi was higher up on the mountains with a view of the sea down below. The geographical differences are evident in their perception of the world, and it shows in the runes. Nashi have a more dreamlike quality. Vyaraishi are more grounded, more practical, you can say. I'll send across a few simple runes of each. You'll get the hang of it easily enough." 

Pictorial runes were very interesting because they posed a critical question to my theory. What importance would the environment have to pictorial runes? 

It was a question for later. Right now, it was my turn to teach. And the twins were beaming with excitement and expectation. 

I cleared my throat and began. 

Almost an hour later, Jerry cut the call. We all needed our sleep, he said, happily ignoring the glares. The tabletop had turned back into a plain block of wood. The cottage had descended into complete silence. Nisha's door was closed. Locked too, I was sure. Catarina's door was open. I could see her asleep on one half of the bed. I wasn't feeling sleepy though. 

"Maybe tomorrow," I said to no one, and turned away. 

I pulled another tablet on the table, and read it to the end. I wasn't writing into my notebook, however. I just didn't feel like it. What I did feel like was to head out to the lakeside. And I did just that. 

With everyone gone, it was just me and the runes. I liked it better that way. Simple. Quiet. Endearing. 

I hadn't translated, but the story on the tablet was in my head. 

The war had ended. Not in victory and defeat, however. The end brought no peace. Only an endless nothingness. The prophecy had come true, and it left no one happy. The sun dawned on a new, dark day. Appeared as a dazzling man in the dark court. Knelt by the dark woman and embraced her in silence. No words needed to be said between the couple. They were married thousands of years, and they understood each other perfectly.  

The era of the heavens had ended and a new day dawned. 

I sat by the lake and saw the words on the tablet turn into a pictorial rune on the dark surface of the lake. It felt very much like the library back home, where most of my years were spent. I felt like I was home. 

"The era ended," I said softly to the quiet night. "A new day dawned. It was a temple for the sun and the cosmic darkness. It was a temple for the divine couple." 

I knew I was right. But I didn't know what that represented. I didn't even have the whole story of the temple. I was speculating from the ending that I knew. I shouldn't, but I couldn't stop myself. 

In that moment, I realised why I couldn't sleep. I allowed myself some more time enjoying the night. A little effort and I could probably see the cosmic darkness. But I was too lazy. Rushing back in, I reached for my notebook. And translated the three tablets into Nashi.

Gawkers Academy was supposed to be a small academy. 

Runic Archaeology was supposed to be an insignificant course. 

My life was going to be ordinary. 

I was so very wrong!

Why is everyone so interested in me? I just want to be average.

****

Dean was mostly wrong. He was smarter than he thought he was. More careless than he would admit. 

But what he lacked, he made up for with clueless charm. 

His parents were amused - he wanted to be average but got admission to the most challenging class with the toughest requirements. How could he be so smart and so clueless at the same time? 

His professors were stunned - he was a savant. His ideas ingenious. But why did his expectations for himself have to be so far off? 

And his friends. They were almost as off balance. 

****

Vikari. Nashi. Faery. 

So many runes. 

One big adventure.

****

{{ Temporarily paused. }}

cute whiteboard ideas

Whiteboard

Reincarnated To Another World with My Ex

Bread For My Family

Scholar's Advanced Technological System

Queen of Science

Crazy Detective

Great Doctor Ling Ran

Chess Of Mystery

Ruthless Brother and Fearless Sister

I just want to be average

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