Dragon Clan: I'm too lazy to talk to you, you're not worthy to listen!

Kassel Academy, Rector's Office.

Angers stared silently at the folding knife in his hand, recalling the things he had personally experienced over the years.

And those relatives and friends who keep leaving you.

The blade of the folding knife is inlaid with a red Philosopher's Stone, which is actually just a nice-sounding name.

The so-called Philosopher's Stone is a fragment that was knocked off the Dragon Bone Cross.

Angers pressed the folding knife back into its sheath with his thumb and sighed softly, "Old friends are passing away one after another, like leaves falling in the wind."

"Respected Principal Angers! Do you wish to remove S-level executor Ye Jingchen from the Kuimen Project mission list?" Norma, the academy's secretary AI, asked the old man with long white hair.

Angers tilted his head back, resting it against the chair back, and gently put the folding knife back into the inside pocket of his suit. "Never mind, I'll just put his name in there."

“Okay, but just a heads-up, this is the third time you’ve tried to remove his name.” Norma’s holographic projection showed a slightly smiling, rather sentimental face.

Angers had wanted to remove the name "Ye Jingchen" several times, but he had managed to persuade himself to do so each time.

He wasn't usually this indecisive.

"Norma, I understand. No need to remind him anymore. Just keep his name in the Kuimen Project."

After Angers finished speaking, he disappeared from the back of the chair.

The principal's office was empty once again...

In the living room of Beiping (Beijing).

"Ding-dong chicken! Ding-dong chicken!"

Ye Jingchen was meditating cross-legged, cultivating his alchemical powers, when his cell phone suddenly rang.

He took out his phone, looked at the unfamiliar caller ID on the screen, paused for a moment, and muttered to himself, "Why are these all unfamiliar calls these past few days?"

Ye Jingchen: "Hello?"

Norma: "Hello, esteemed S-class executor Ye Jingchen, I am the AI ​​secretary of Kassel College, my name is Norma."

Ye Jingchen: "Hmm, what is it?"

Norma: "The Kuimen Project will begin the day after tomorrow. Please be prepared and keep communication channels open."

Ye Jingchen: "Okay, I understand. Is there anything else?"

Norma: "That's all for now..."

Before Norma could finish speaking, Ye Jingchen hung up the phone, put it back in his pocket, closed his eyes, sat cross-legged, and silently chanted:

"They didn't send me the list of mission members, they just told me to go. It seems like they're excluding me a bit. In that case, I'll just focus on the Seven Deadly Sins."

"Boss, the noodles are here!" Xia Mi walked out of the kitchen carrying a large bowl of noodles.

The ceramic bowl was piping hot. After placing the bowl of noodles in front of Ye Jingchen, she repeatedly raised her red-hot fingers to pinch her earlobe, looked at Ye Jingchen with a smile, and said, "Boss, eat quickly and see if it suits your taste."

Ye Jingchen opened his eyes, looked at the steaming noodles in front of him, reached out and touched the ceramic bowl to feel the temperature, then looked up at Xia Mi, "If you feel it's too hot, find something to put under your bra. Don't be silly."

"Boss, I'm fine," Xia Mi said with a sweet smile, without arguing with Ye Jingchen. She turned and skipped towards the bathroom to get a mop. "Boss, I'm going to mop the floor."

Seeing Xia Mi so cheerful, Ye Jingchen was puzzled for a moment. He reached out and picked up his chopsticks, took a bite of a fried egg, and then looked at Xia Mi's figure, wondering, "What's wrong with this brat today? Why is she so happy?"

Ye Jingchen couldn't understand why Xia Mi's cooking suited his taste so well. He finished his noodles in no time and put the empty ceramic bowl on the table.

He stood up from the sofa, reached for his black suit jacket on the coat rack, and looked at the swirling snow outside the window. "I don't feel cold, but being too different from others isn't appropriate."

Ye Jingchen walked back to his bedroom, opened the suitcase that Erii had prepared for him when he came from Japan, and took out the brown wool coat.

After adjusting it and moving around in it, I found it fit quite well. It didn't feel like something I bought to make do with; it felt more like it was tailor-made.

Ye Jingchen walked out of the bedroom.

Xia Mi glanced at Ye Jingchen and, noticing that he had changed his clothes, asked curiously, "Boss, are you going out?"

"Yeah, I'm going out to take care of some things," Ye Jingchen nodded, looking at Xia Mi who was holding a mop. "You don't need to come with me this time, it's a bit inconvenient. Take a rest when you're done."

Xia Mi pouted a little disappointedly after hearing this, "Okay, boss."

She wondered to herself, "Is the boss going to find a new woman again? Or is he going to secretly go out and spend lavishly behind my back? Or is he going to do something shady?"

Bang!

Ye Jingchen walked out and closed the living room door.

Xia Mi mopped the floor dry, washed the ceramic bowl Ye Jingchen had used to eat noodles, and glanced at the clock. "It's only 6:30 in the morning. It seems like it's been quite a while since I visited my brother..."

Xia Mi returned to her room, took off her white-lined black-checkered apron, and changed out of her black and white maid outfit.

She changed back into the thin clothes she had been wearing before, pulling up the hoodie to cover her head.

I found another mask and put it on.

She walked to the window, and after confirming that she didn't see Ye Jingchen at the door, her eyes darted around cleverly. "The boss probably eats lunch out by himself, right? Should I give him a call?"

"Ugh! Never mind, I might get a really bad scolding!"

"I'll leave a little note for the boss."

Xia Mi wrote a message for Ye Jingchen on a small note, placed it on the table, and gently weighed down one corner with a teacup.

He then turned off the underfloor heating, left the living room, and closed the door.

Xia Mi carried a large gray plastic bag into a convenience store, emptied the shelves of potato chips, and stuffed them all into the bag.

Under the cashier's astonished gaze, Xia Mi confidently paid and left the convenience store carrying a large sack of potato chips.

The cashier stared blankly at Xia Mi's departing figure, "Does this girl eat potato chips for every meal?"

Xia Mi patted the sack she was carrying, feeling a unique sense of fulfillment. When she used to buy potato chips to visit her brother Fenrir, she usually could only afford the smallest package because she didn't have much money.

It's cheap, the portions are small, and its only advantage is that the taste is relatively authentic.

Xia Mi raised her index finger and rubbed it in front of her nose. "Hmph, I'm doing pretty well now! When I make a lot of money in the future, I'll buy two bowls of porridge, drink one, and pour the other away!"

Xia Mi, with her small frame, carried a large sack, though it wasn't very heavy.

She was worried that someone was following her, so she wandered around the streets and alleys several times.

That's how we entered the Beiping subway station...