Chapter 98: The Internship

"Xiao Xiao?"

Seeing the girl who was bouncing out of the car, Su Xiaofan felt uneasy. Why would Su Xiao Xiao come here?

"Third Brother?"

Not only Su Xiaofan, but also Tong Dongjie, who was standing beside him, seemed to recognize someone, his face full of surprise.

The mountain road was not very wide, and the business car Su Xiaofan and his group were in had already caught the attention of the minibus. As Su Xiaofan and Tong Dongjie spoke, the people on the other side also saw them.

Actually, Su Xiaofan knew a few people. The leader seemed to be Professor Lei, and next to his sister was Zhao Zhengshan's daughter, Zhao Qingyao. Another one was Mo Zixuan, whom he had met in Yanjing. The others were her classmates whom he had met when they had dinner in Yanjing with his sister.

However, Su Xiaofan couldn't figure out why they were here. Yanjing was thousands of miles away, and they should be studying at school. Why would they come to this place?

"Su Xiaofan!"

Seeing her brother, Su Xiao Xiao excitedly waved her hand and was about to run over, but then she glanced at Professor Lei by the minibus. After two months of school, she hadn't learned much, but she had been trained to be very disciplined.

"Big Brother?"

To Su Xiao Xiao's surprise, Professor Lei seemed to recognize the people on the other side. He waved his hand and said, "Go over, they're all acquaintances."

Seeing that most of the students in the class had already gotten out of the car, Professor Lei continued, "Rest here for a moment, I'll be back."

"Su Xiaofan, why are you here?"

Su Xiao Xiao ran to her brother's side and grabbed his arm, "I didn't tell you I would come here today when we video chatted yesterday."

The siblings had been relying on each other since they were seven or eight years old, so their relationship was naturally very close. They would almost always call or video chat every day, but recently, Su Xiao Xiao had talked less and less about her studies.

"I didn't come here for you." Su Xiaofan glared at his sister, "Call me Big Brother, don't be disrespectful."

"Su Xiaofan, hello, nice to see you again."

Mo Zixuan also came over and greeted Su Xiaofan. As an assistant teacher in the special admissions class, she naturally had to participate in the class activities.

"Teacher Mo, hello, what a coincidence." Su Xiaofan replied to the girl.

"Teacher Mo, do you really know my brother?"

Su Xiao Xiao looked at Su Xiaofan and then at Mo Zixuan, her eyes sparkling with curiosity.

Previously, Su Xiaofan had told Su Xiao Xiao that he knew their counselor, but Su Xiao Xiao didn't quite believe it. With her brother being so poor and lowly, how could he have the chance to know a rich and beautiful girl? At most, he had just seen her, and saying he knew her was just putting on airs.

"Yes, we've had dinner together, and your brother is a classmate of one of my classmates." Mo Zixuan explained, but her attention was on Professor Lei.

"Songwei, why are you here? Aren't you teaching in Yanjing?"

Seeing Professor Lei, Tong Dongjie was even more shocked than Su Xiaofan. This was his brother-in-law, and when he married Lei Songwei's sister, the boy was only about ten years old.

Lei Songwei had been a prodigy since childhood, entering the National University of Science and Technology at the age of thirteen or fourteen, studying abroad at sixteen, and returning to China after completing his postdoctoral studies at twenty-two to join the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Now, Lei Songwei was in his early thirties and had achieved a high level of expertise in his field. Tong Dongjie often heard his wife praise this younger brother.

However, one was a university teacher, and the other was the boss of a listed company, so they had no overlap in their work and only met once or twice a year, not being very familiar with each other.

"Brother-in-law, why are you here?" Lei Songwei greeted his brother-in-law, knowing that his brother-in-law was the boss of a listed company and was usually very busy.

"I have a tourism project here." Tong Dongjie said somewhat helplessly, "Songwei, didn't your sister tell you?"

"I rarely talk about these things with my older sister."

Lei Songwei and his older sister had a seventeen or eighteen-year age gap. Whenever they met, she would only ask if he had found a girlfriend and when he would get married, never discussing his brother-in-law's affairs.

"Songwei, what are you doing here? Why come to this remote mountain area?"

Tong Dongjie knew his wife doted on this younger brother, so he said, "This place is a bit eerie, Songwei, you'd better not go in."

"Brother-in-law, we are conducting some natural science research, and this time we brought the students for an internship. Brother-in-law, why did your project come here? I heard this place is going to be sealed off by the relevant authorities, you should leave."

As a teacher in the special admissions class, Lei Songwei naturally knew the peculiarities of this place, but they had their own methods to deal with it and didn't want his brother-in-law to take the risk.

Both the brother-in-law and the younger brother thought the other was an ordinary person, so they were trying to persuade each other, leaving Su Xiaofan and Jing Shizhen somewhat speechless.

Both the master and the apprentice had cultivated the art of observing qi and could see that the dozen or so students all had the fluctuations of magical artifacts on them.

Lei Songwei and Mo Zixuan, in particular, had some true qi emanating from their bodies, clearly indicating they had practiced internal cultivation techniques, though they couldn't control their true qi, and at most had only opened the small heavenly cycle meridians.

"Brother, why are you here?"

While the brother-in-law and the younger brother were still trying to persuade each other, Su Xiao Xiao pulled her brother aside, "Tell me the truth, Brother, are you here because you have a crush on Teacher Mo and came to run into her by chance?"

"Who would have a crush on a big-headed ghost like you? You're too young to have so many thoughts."

Su Xiaofan playfully tapped his sister on the head, "I took on a job and came here with my master, by the way, Uncle Jing, to handle some business, not as dirty as you think."

Being hit on the head in front of so many classmates, Su Xiao Xiao felt embarrassed. Her eyes darted around, and she loudly said, "Oh, so you're calling Teacher Mo a big-headed ghost? Brother, you're in trouble!"

"You're just asking for it."

Su Xiaofan glared at his sister, then turned around and saw that Mo Zixuan's expression was not good. He quickly said, "Teacher Mo, don't listen to this girl's nonsense, I didn't mean it that way."

"I know, I'm not even as good as a big-headed ghost." Mo Zixuan said calmly, having heard the conversation clearly from a distance of just a few meters.

"Cough, you're prettier than a big-headed ghost..."

As soon as Su Xiaofan opened his mouth, he knew he had said the wrong thing again and quickly shut up.

"Meow!" At this moment, Duo Bao, who had been in Su Xiaofan's backpack, became impatient. They had been there for so long, and he didn't understand why Su Xiaofan wasn't going to his birthplace yet.

"Hey? Brother, you have a cat?" Seeing the little head poking out of the backpack, Su Xiao Xiao's attention was immediately drawn, and she reached out to pet the little tiger cat.

"Don't, Duo Bao is fierce." Su Xiaofan pushed his sister's hand away. One swipe from this little guy could tear off a piece of flesh, as Tong Dongjie had found out the day before.

"Calling it Duo Bao? What a terrible name." Su Xiao Xiao pouted, her eyes full of stars, and her hand instinctively raised again.

"Duo Bao, go play by yourself." Su Xiaofan let the little tiger cat out of the backpack, knowing he couldn't stop Su Xiao Xiao, the big demon, from petting the cat.

The little tiger cat, having been to Shuangmen Village several times, was already familiar with the place. It jumped off Su Xiaofan's shoulder and disappeared into the dense forest.

"Su Xiaofan, aren't you afraid this little cat will get lost?" Seeing Su Xiaofan's actions, Mo Zixuan forgot about the previous incident and looked at him curiously.

Whether or not they had raised cats, most people knew that cats had limited loyalty to their owners, which was why there were so many stray cats in cities.

"It's fine, Duo Bao is different from other cats." Su Xiaofan waved his hand indifferently. Once he went in, Duo Bao would find him.

"By the way, Teacher Mo, what are you really here for?" Seeing the two brothers still arguing and trying to persuade each other to leave, Su Xiaofan decided to ask Mo Zixuan directly.

"We are indeed here for an internship."

Mo Zixuan frowned slightly and said, "Mr. Su, I don't want to lie to you, but what we are studying is confidential and cannot be disclosed. I hope you understand."

Hearing Mo Zixuan's words, Su Xiaofan immediately understood.

He and his master's previous speculations were correct. The students in this special admissions class were likely part of a government-sponsored superhuman class, gathering people with the potential to cultivate together.

Seeing the true qi fluctuations on Mo Zixuan and Lei Songwei confirmed their suspicions.

"Teacher Mo, are you here to investigate the spatial rift?"

Su Xiaofan didn't beat around the bush and asked directly.

"How did you know?"

Not only Mo Zixuan but also Lei Songwei, who was still arguing with Tong Dongjie, were shocked.

A spatial rift was a state secret. They had all signed confidentiality agreements before learning about it. Now, someone had said it outright, naturally causing them to be stunned.

"Songwei, you know about the spatial rift too?" Tong Dongjie finally realized that his younger brother was not just a simple teacher at the school.

"You shouldn't know about this." Tong Dongjie and Lei Songwei said in unison.

"Teacher Lei, my magical artifact was sold to me by Grandpa Jing." Suddenly, Zhao Qingyao's voice rang out.

"Grandpa Jing?"

Lei Songwei looked at Jing Shizhen, who seemed to be only in his forties, and his heart stirred. He quickly said, "So you are a senior, I wonder which department you work for?"

Although Lei Songwei's strength was not great, he couldn't discern Jing Shizhen's cultivation level. However, the way Jing Shizhen stood, like a towering mountain, with an extraordinary aura, suggested he was either a con artist or a highly accomplished cultivator.

"I haven't joined any relevant departments, I'm just a businessman, dealing in antiques." Jing Shizhen smiled, his aura immediately收敛, making him appear ordinary and unremarkable.

In fact, Jing Shizhen had been consuming a lot of true qi recently and, thinking he wouldn't encounter anyone in this remote area, hadn't concealed his aura, which is why Lei Songwei had noticed it.

"Senior, your cultivation is profound. I hope you can guide us when you have time."

Lei Songwei practiced cultivation but focused more on research and teaching, not being very adept at social niceties. His words touched on a taboo for cultivators.

The various lineages had been passed down through centuries of trials and tribulations, and their techniques were not easily shared. Lei Songwei's request was not something Jing Shizhen could fulfill with just a few words.

"Sure, sure. I wonder what kind of internship you are here for?"

Jing Shizhen, a seasoned veteran, could see that Lei Songwei's words were unintentional and didn't hold it against him. He smiled and changed the subject.