Liang Taibai’s words made sense, Xiao Lin knew that the military felt that Dawn Academy’s greatest threats in the future came from the other academies as opposed to Planet Norma. That was why they would rather focus their manpower and resources on preparing to deal with the other academies. As for their subordinate countries, they only needed to preserve the core, which was the resurrection towers. As for who was the king, that did not matter.
However, Xiao Lin’s expression sank. He thought of an even more serious question. “How many people know about the contents of this monthly examination?”
“Not many, but not that few either. That’s because it involves the intelligence and foreign affairs department, so those involved would know about it, but it’s kept a secret from outsiders.”
Liang Taibai furrowed his eyebrows. “Do you think someone sold out your information internally, which caused you to be attacked? That’s not very possible. Why would they sell out their own people?”
“I wish I knew the reason as well. Otherwise, everything would be too big of a coincidence. We were attacked the moment we entered the Rosa Kingdom’s borders, and we were captured the moment we arrived at the town. If the enemies did not know all of our movements, there’s no way they could set up such an ambush.”
“Don’t think too much. I’m sure a problem just came up somewhere.”
Dawn Academy’s embassy was situated in the most prosperous area of the city. The building that was filled with Chinese architecture could be seen from far away. Compared to how quiet everywhere else was, the embassy’s entrance was very busy. There were a lot of people gathered at the front, but when they saw Liang Taibai appear, those people rushed forward, and the troops maintaining order nearby could not help but chase them away, even whipping them. Only then did they give way, allowing Liang Taibai to bring Xiao Lin inside.
Xiao Lin looked at those of them who had been violently thrown to the ground, shouting in pain as they were beaten. He could not stand it, saying, “Is this really okay?”
Liang Taibai sighed, but did not even turn around as he said, “You’ll get used to it after awhile. Most of Planet Norma’s countries are like this. Be they led by kings or religious figures, commoners have no rights as well. These people want to gain the right to enter our colonial territories, but that’s impossible.”
“Why? Isn’t an increase in the labor force a good thing?” Xiao Lin asked. Even if Dawn City’s facilities were already quite complete, the surrounding areas were still being developed. As colonists, they would naturally not do such laborious jobs themselves, so the work could only be handed to the natives, which was why population growth was important to the colonists.
“The issuing of the permits were quite lax initially, but...” Liang Taibai paused for a moment, looking around before whispering, “Surely you know about the attempt on the dean. The assassin had been issued a permit to enter the capital. Who do you think would take responsibility for that; who would dare? That’s why, since then, the issuing of permits have gotten stricter, and we no longer dare to give it out so casually.”
Xiao Lin was shocked. The dean’s attempted assasination was actually made too big a deal last semester. Initially, everyone was shocked when it happened, but after that, even the papers moved onto other topics, and it was slowly forgotten by a lot of people.
He felt like he needed to understand more of it, but it was not the time to do that. As Dawn Academy’s subordinate country, the embassy’s facilities were all of good quality. They had jeweled decorations, high quality beast-skin sofas and gilded floors. Even five-star hotels could not compare.
According to Liang Taibai, due to the civil war, the embassy had been quite busy recently, and a lot of them were working out of office. The ones remaining were all low-ranking office workers helping to clear up documents.
Liang Taibai seemed to be quite high-ranked because he had a large and luxurious private room to himself. The candles on the walls caused the room to feel warm.
“Let me pour you a local specialty.” Liang Taibai warmly helped Xiao Lin prepare something, but it was not coffee or tea. Instead it was a red, rose-like flower. The flower had been taken out even with the roots. Liang Taibai smiled and said, “This is the rose–oh, of course it’s not the rose we know; it’s a Normese rose, the symbol of this country.”
Xiao Lin was speechless. Was it popular to bring out flowers for guests here?
Liang Taibai was laughing; he picked up another rose before taking out a small straw, sticking it into the roots before sucking on it. The light-red colored petals suddenly darkened before decaying in a flash.
Xiao Lin was surprised, and tried it out as well. He sucked on it, and a refreshing liquid flowed into his mouth through the straw. The faint fragrance of the flower had a thick and natural sweetness. That feeling of refreshment coursed through his entire body, and even reduced the fatigue he felt after resurrecting.
“Not bad.”
“Haha, isn’t it? This thing is quite a popular product in most of the academies. Differently colored petals all have different flavors.
Liang Taibai had wanted to continue, but looking at Xiao Lin’s distracted look, it was obvious what was on his mind, and Liang Taibai wisely switched to the main topic. “As for the ones who kidnapped you, do you have any leads? I don’t have a lot of manpower here, but the Rosa Kingdom listens to us. It’s not impossible to get their help.”
“I suspect it might be Asabanor.”
“That undying old man again, son of a b*tch. That incident in Wildfire Town had already tortured us enough. If it’s him, then it’ll be troublesome.” Liang Taibai furrowed his eyebrows. Last semester, Xiao Lin and Lilith had met the spirits Asabanor controlled in Wildfire Town, and even found a corrupted resurrection tower. However, the matter did not cause any waves to this day, so it was probably concealed, probably to prevent panic.
“Right, what happened with Wildfire Town back then?” It seemed like Liang Taibai had some understanding of what happened last semester, and Xiao Lin could not help but ask about it.
Liang Taibai sucked on two roses before leaning into the sofa, staying quiet for a long time before vaguely saying, “This matter involved a lot of people, and it’s very serious. The Academy has already reported it to the high council. It won’t be easy to hear about it; it’s very rare for anything to be reported there. Basically, this isn’t something you or me can get involved in.”