Chapter 46 Welcome to Starry University
“Guess?”
Mr. Silver coiled his tail around the glass cup and sipped through a straw, revealing a rather content expression.
At this moment, the Silver Gear had already left the stronghold, traveling through a sparsely populated dense forest.
The lush, towering canopy completely obscured the sky, and the entire train was shrouded in dim shadows, with sunlight filtering through the leaves, leaving only mottled spots of light, as if countless tiny stars were scattered on the ground.
“Well.” Rast nodded: “Or rather, it’s quite simple reasoning.”
“From what I know about Starry University, your school leaves no room for any factors that may endanger the stability of this world, such as the remnants of the Night World and the Dusk Disasters.”
“And the little tricks I used in psychological measurements could handle Isda, but they surely can’t fool everyone.”
“Even though Hiltina has a certain degree of influence at Starry University, she is still just a student…”
“I am very aware of my unknowns and risks. To be frank, I have already mentally prepared myself to be immediately armed and escorted to a prison surrounded by an electric fence, confined right away after the Night World incident.”
Rast paused slightly in his speech: “But in the end, I was only asked a few non-painful and non-itchy questions before regaining my freedom, which must have been helped by others in the higher-ups of the colleges.”
“And everything that happened among the historical echoes of Deep Blue Harbor, even Isda knows nothing about… indicates that this information is highly classified, and Hiltina should choose to disclose it only to those she trusts the most.”
“Now you, Mr. Silver, have appeared here, and as soon as you did, you mentioned my experience of cycling two to three hundred years in Deep Blue Harbor, which surely cannot be just a coincidence.”
Rast glanced at the unidentified creature claiming to be a snowfield marten in front of him and smiled.
“I have never met you before, Mr. Silver.”
“The reason you’re willing to help me should also be because of Hiltina.”
He gazed into the crimson liquid in the glass: “I didn’t expect that the earlier sixteen hundred golden cores had not yet been repaid, and I’ve now incurred a new favor from her.”
Mr. Silver squinted and looked at Rast for a long time.
“I understand now why that little girl Isda was made to dance around you.”
He resumed his original lazy posture, his fluffy white tail swaying slightly.
On Rast’s desk, a black-and-white contract document silently appeared.
“Your admission notice, sign here.”
Rast took the document and began browsing through it.
The content of the document was generally no different from an offer from a university abroad in Rast’s previous life.
The only difference was the addition of half a page concerning a confidentiality agreement regarding the Night World, prohibiting any information about the Night World, Night Travelers, and Dusk Disasters from being disclosed to ordinary people and the uninformed.
Of course, given that the truth of the Dusk Disasters, once revealed, could trigger a series of social turmoil, the intent behind this confidentiality agreement is understandable.
As Rast signed the contract, Mr. Silver was also observing the boy in front of him quietly.
As a magical creature, his advancement could not follow the same step-by-step approach as that of human extraordinary beings, but had to take a different path.
Over a long period, Mr. Silver found that interacting with humans and sensing the genuine emotions within them seemed to promote and stimulate his own growth.
The more sincere and pure the emotions encountered, the more obvious the enhancement gained.
This was also the reason why Mr. Silver chose to accept the invitation to join Starry University as the director of the Magical Creatures Research Institute.
Therefore, possessing the ability of “The Moon of True Words,” which can easily discern lies, Mr. Silver most despised those smooth-tongued students with impure intentions.
Their emotional impurities offered him no help, and could even have an adverse effect.
The uncommon friendship between Mr. Silver and Hiltina stemmed from this… Compared to other students in Starry University, Hiltina’s pure beliefs shone brightly like the full moon in the night sky.
Originally, based on Mr. Silver’s initial judgment of Rast, he had thought that the other party was also one of those complicated-minded types… After all, the personas he wore were far too many, practically indistinguishable from a person with dissociative identity disorder; such emotions were as useless to Mr. Silver as a stinking gutter.
Mr. Silver had only agreed to take care of Rast out of consideration for Hiltina, initially planning to secretly allocate a sliver of his mental energy to keep an eye on him, without even preparing to show his face.
However—
At the end of the psychological inquiry, Mr. Silver inadvertently glimpsed a small fraction of the iceberg of Rast’s inner self.
“A partner of justice?”
Mr. Silver looked at the boy who was checking the contract in front of him, recalling what Hiltina had told him about Rast’s actions in Deep Blue Harbor, and couldn’t help but murmur softly, “Doesn’t seem like it.”
Ordinary people wear masks to conceal their ugly and dark flaws, packaging themselves as perfectly as possible.
But Rast was disguising himself with layer upon layer of personas, portraying himself as someone a little greedy, a little lecherous, a little egotistical, filled with feelings of love and desire, many flaws… an ordinary person, unremarkable and inconspicuous.
Yet, in that fleeting glimpse, the emotions Mr. Silver saw were even more monotonous, more pure than Hiltina’s, pure to the point of being somewhat absurd.
It was as if he was not a flesh-and-bl**d human at all.
But merely draped in the skin of humanity, disguised as a human, while his core was simply acting towards a predetermined goal…
A machine.
“By the way, what will happen if I don’t sign this?” Rast suddenly raised the contract in his hand.
“Do you know how much effort I put into helping you with the admission review!” Mr. Silver immediately exploded.
A dangerous glint flashed in his eyes: “By the way, Isda was penalized 20 points for maliciously slandering the director of the Magical Creatures Research Institute, and she must be exiled to an alternative space for two hours; she has one hour and thirteen minutes left now.”
Perhaps frightened by Mr. Silver’s threat of “exile to an alternative space,” Rast’s fingers trembled slightly, and the pen slipped from his grasp to the ground.
He bent down to pick up the pen and quickly signed his name on the contract.
Mr. Silver observed everything unfolding before him.
An illusion…?
Although “The Moon of True Words” never errs in identifying authenticity, the concepts of truth and lies can sometimes be quite vague.
Like the saying, “My heart and actions are as clear as a bright mirror, and everything I do is for justice,” even if spoken by a thoroughly wicked criminal, if he believes it sincerely, it will still be deemed a true word.
Perhaps that’s why my judgment of Rast has become confused.
As such thoughts arose in Mr. Silver’s mind, the train suddenly let out a loud whistle.
Seconds later, as the train moved forward, the dimness of the forest gradually faded away.
Blinding gold light streamed in through the gaps in the front forest, piercing through the dark curtain.
Trees suddenly disappeared on both sides, replaced by an expansive, boundless plain.
It truly was a golden field, with winds rushing in from the ends of the earth, causing the grassland to ripple like waves; the sunlight poured over the entire ground, dyeing even the distant mountains in splendid gold.
The winding railway tracks passed through this golden sea like silver threads, and at the end of the silver line—
Green lawns, red cobblestone paths, tower-like buildings resembling castles, doves flitting up and down from the church spires…
Within the golden radiance, the magnificent architectural complex was already in sight.
“Welcome to—”
“Starry University.”
As Mr. Silver’s words fell, all that remained was the roar of the high-speed train echoing across the wilderness.
(End of Chapter)
