“Are we here yet? Come in.”
The voice, somewhat hoarse and gentle, clearly belonged to a woman.
Lu Mingming found it unexpectedly familiar.
“Hehe, I’ll bring Teacher Mingming in then!”
Aisha smiled playfully as usual, pushing the heavy wooden door open with all her might.
The little girl hopped into the room, not forgetting to turn back and remind.
“Teacher Mingming, follow me. Grandma is very nice.”
Lu Mingming nodded hesitantly.
She took a deep breath, slowly unfurled her brows, and followed Aisha’s steps into the dean’s office.
The dean’s office was quite spacious, about fifty square meters, with basic configurations similar to the classroom.
What was more unique was:
To the left stood a bookshelf made of redwood, densely packed with the hottest books of contemporary interstellar times, clean and tidy.
On the opposite wall hung portraits of many academy benefactors and celebrities, clearly a thoughtful arrangement, each lifelike, as if the real person were present.
The dean sat in the massage chair in the center, with a tall solid wood desk in front of her.
The chair’s back was to Lu Mingming, obscuring her face.
The large massage chair involuntarily made Lu Mingming tense up a little, as if she had entered a TV show and was facing the final boss.
“Grandma!”
Aisha ran over with her short legs, calling out crisply.
“Yes, Teacher Mingming, please sit.”
The massage chair slowly turned, gradually revealing the dean’s true appearance.
A tall old woman was warming her hands with a pot of warm water.
She was dressed as a most ordinary woman, even wearing an old, faded floral dress.
The old woman’s temples were streaked with white hair, her nose was a bit long, and her face wore a kind smile.
How could it be her?!
Lu Mingming and the little white tiger were equally surprised.
This was the old woman they had met a few days ago while traveling in the Dream Star Sea, the one who had come up to ask for food!
After finishing her meal, the old woman had left, and before departing, she had learned of Lu Mingming’s live stream ID and competition status, saying they would meet again.
At the time, Lu Mingming had dismissed it as polite talk, but she never expected the old woman’s words to be true, and they had indeed met again.
Presumably, the old woman had confirmed her identity early on and knew she would participate in the third round of the competition.
“Grandma, this is Teacher Mingming. Her cub is missing, can you help a little?”
Aisha pulled her grandmother and, in a sweet voice, used her unique pouting technique.
“Do you remember me? Streamer Mingming.”
The old woman seemed to have a deep memory of this matter, her face showing more and more wrinkles due to her smile.
“Of course, I remember. I didn’t expect it to be you.”
Lu Mingming replied briefly.
Seeing that the two knew each other, Aisha pouted and went to play with the little white tiger alone.
The little white tiger ignored her completely, lost in its own thoughts.
So she’s the dean of Sal City Royal Academy?
Orlannal pieced together memories of the old woman from fragmented recollections. The last time she saw the old woman was at the successor’s banquet.
After repeated confirmation, the little white tiger, which had never revealed its true form in front of others, breathed a sigh of relief.
No need to worry about her identity being exposed.
Lu Mingming was still in heated conversation with the old woman.
The old woman said, “My original name is Salche, so you can call me Salche, or Madam Salche.”
Lu Mingming politely called her Madam Salche and briefly recounted yesterday’s sudden incident again.
During this time, Madam Salche kept tapping the table rhythmically with her fingers.
After Lu Mingming finished speaking, Madam Salche pondered for a moment and then slowly revealed in the quiet atmosphere:
“Streamer Mingming, do you know how crazy the star network news on Xingfu Star became because of you this morning?”
Lu Mingming was clearly unaware and stunned, failing to react.
She had just woken up, washed up, and rushed to the dean’s office, so she had no idea about any other news.
Madam Salche sighed, opened the star network, and showed Lu Mingming the screen, adding:
“As that scoundrel said, they hired a group of internet trolls to hype up the headline ‘A Certain Streamer Lost Her Cub Last Night.’
All of a sudden, netizens on the star network began comparing and searching, and only your little red flower count was zero.”
On the light blue screen, the entertainment section was in a heated argument.
Countless comments flooded in, reaching a level of 99+ per second.
Lu Mingming glanced at a few comments.
All of them accused her of the grave offense of intentionally losing her cub, requesting that Xingfu Star remove Lu Mingming’s spot and impose a permanent ban.
Lu Mingming understood.
This was clearly a conspiracy to frame her!
“Including the Nine-tailed Fox you brought down earlier, her management company also made a move.
There’s also streamer Oscar. I don’t understand what you did to offend him, but after posting a sarcastic message, he deleted it immediately, pushing this matter to a new height.”
To prevent more embarrassing remarks from disturbing Lu Mingming’s mood, Madam Salche closed the star network and observed Lu Mingming’s reaction.
Seeing her expression grow increasingly troubled as she spoke, Madam Salche poured a cup of water from the kettle and handed it to her.
“This is Mount Tian Shan snow water, which helps to calm the mind and spirit.
If you trust me, the noble factions of Xingfu Star have temporarily contained the spread of this matter, and I am also controlling public opinion. You should remember these enemies who have appeared.”
Madam Salche spoke with implication.
“Of course, after investigation, we can ascertain the IP addresses of some of those internet trolls. The police were dispatched early this morning to carry out arrests and interrogations.”
“I understand. Thank you, Dean, for your guidance. I just didn’t expect them to act so quickly.”
Lu Mingming took a sip of the water in the cup.
The snow water was indeed extraordinary. One sip, and its coolness and sweetness lingered in her mouth.
It instantly reduced Lu Mingming’s agitated, depressed, and stressed inner state to a minimum.
Lu Mingming added:
“So, what I need now is to compete peacefully.”
Salche nodded. “Go do what you need to do.”
Actually, Salche had one more thing she hadn’t told Lu Mingming.
She narrowed her eyes in thought.
In the early morning investigation, a mysterious force was intervening to help Lu Mingming.
The Xingfu Star Special Police, investigating with all their might, had actually traced the source to the Alliance’s official channels.
A mere request from Aisha’s granddaughter and Lu Mingming’s meals were not enough to make Salche help wholeheartedly.
But if it involved the Alliance’s official channels…
Madam Salche’s gaze darkened, and she opened her mouth as if to say something.
Suddenly, the optical computer on Lu Mingming’s wrist began to flash frequently, indicating an incoming message.
Lu Mingming quickly apologized and opened her optical computer to check the message.
The new message was from an unknown account, and it read:
“Arrive at the northwest forest precisely at 8 PM tomorrow. I warn you not to bring any police or bodyguards. This concerns your reputation across the entire network and the life of the A-class cub. If you don’t want everything to be lost, you’d better follow my rules.”
“What is it?”
Seeing Lu Mingming remain silent for a long time, Madam Salche leaned in, full of questions, to look at the optical computer’s message together.
As she read it word for word, she became so angry that she slammed the desk forcefully, turning her palm red even though it was thick.
“How can this be! Do they really think Xingfu Star has no law?!”
Lu Mingming lowered her head, using her hair to cover her face, a cold curve forming on her lips.
Heh, incredibly bold.
After thinking about it last night, Lu Mingming deduced that the final culprit was likely Hui Lan, with high probability.
However, she was unsure how much family influence he had mobilized.
This was what troubled Lu Mingming.
Hui Lan could use family power to deal with ordinary people. Perhaps in this unique interstellar world, Lu Mingming would need more to live peacefully.
For example, power.
There were too many things Lu Mingming had failed to achieve.
She couldn’t always rely on luck and others’ help; first Orlannal, and now Aisha’s grandmother.
She should have realized this long ago.
She had to use her own hands to gain a status where she was no longer at the mercy of others, so that she could protect herself and the safety of her two cubs.
Having figured all this out, Lu Mingming made up her mind, her eyes becoming unusually firm.
Lu Mingming expressionlessly typed on the optical computer screen:
“Okay.”
She clicked send.
It showed as delivered.