The guy standing in front of him had ridiculous dyed hair, colorful clothes, a s.h.i.+ny n.o.ble emblem and a smile that made him look like an idiot, but despite the standout features Cillin couldn’t recall ever having met him in his life.
The quiff-haired young man was panting by the time he ran up to Cillin. His face was red with excitement.
“Are… are you… Cillin? The driver of Vege-Fritter?”
Cillin shot him a suspicious look before nodding. “I am.”
“Thank goodness! I’ve been dying to meet you!” The young man bounced off the ground several times before he finally recalled his manners. He rubbed his hands, straightened his clothes and saluted Cillin. Unlike the one Lunani had tried to perform earlier, this one was just a common salute between n.o.bles. It was positively oozing with admiration, however.
After chatting to Hong Xi for a bit, Cillin finally learned how he recognized him.
Hong Xi was a flying car hobbyist who had attended the grand prix held by the Sizer Family. However, he was but one of the many, many n.o.bles who attended that event, not to mention his family wasn’t very important or attached to a powerful family. That was why he wasn’t present in Gen Xingming’s circle or noticed by Cillin that day. Cillin wasn’t going to memorize every face on the stands as a matter of course.
After knowing the whole story, Cillin had a friendly chat with Hong Xi before bidding him goodbye. He then returned to Chang Four’s group.
“You know him, Hong Xi?” Thomas walked over to him and asked.
Hong Xi was still watching Cillin’s back with starry eyes as he said, “He’s my idol! You have no idea how G.o.ddam amazing he was! Do you know why Vege-Fritters are so popular these days?”
Thomas thought for a moment before looking up suddenly. “It was him?”
Thomas might not be a flying car hobbyist, but he did pay attention to big races. He had heard of the recent resurgence of Vege-Fritter.
“Wasn’t Naimi of the Sizer Family the reason it became popular?” Thomas asked.
“You don’t understand anything! Naimi is just the navigator, but Cillin’s the driver! Don’t you get it?! The driver!” Hong Xi had looked deep into this because it involved his pa.s.sion.
“Cillin, you say? Where is he from? He’s not wearing a n.o.ble emblem, is he?”
Most n.o.bles would wear their emblem when they appeared in public. Of course, there were people who forwent them because they thought it was troublesome or because they preferred to keep a low profile, such as the self-proclaimed “low-key” Gen Xingming.
“That I don’t know. But I do know that he was talking to the three princes after the match was over. They looked very close to each other.”
Thomas raised his eyebrows when he heard this. Was he a member of the royal family after all?
Meanwhile, the person in question was checking the time and thinking that it was about time he contacted the administration of San Calombo. He didn’t want to make them more worried than they already were. After bidding Chang Four goodbye, he and Wheeze left Blossoms Garden and found a secluded spot inside a park. There were less people in this location around this time.
The moment the administration of San Calombo received Cillin’s message, they immediately sent someone to fetch him without even verifying if the message was real. But when they arrived at the spot Cillin told them to fetch him, all they found was a young man lying atop a bench and reading a book. They subconsciously thought that he was one of their students and overlooked him completely, but no matter where they looked they couldn’t find anyone who matched the image of a scholar in their head.
Whoos.h.!.+ It was at this moment another flying car stopped in the area. The headmaster of San Calombo himself rushed out of the car to greet the honorary scholar from the RAS, only to be met with the stupid looks of his own met. He stared at them sternly and asked, “Where is the person you’re supposed to receive?!”
Technically speaking, there was no need for the headmaster himself to show his face at all. He himself was of n.o.ble background, and his influence in the twenty third star region was pretty good. However, the scholar the RAS sent to make a presentation at their inst.i.tution was Guan Feng’s replacement; Guan Feng’s favorite pupil no less. Guan Feng was so famous in the academic circle that even those who didn’t dabble in his fields of studies had heard of him, and that was without mentioning his second ident.i.ty, the imperial mentor. The headmaster was taking no chances since one bad word from Guan Feng’s student, and by extension Guan Feng was all it took to sound the end of his career. Countless people would happily replace him as the new headmaster.
Unfortunately, his men couldn’t give him a satisfactory answer at all. No, we didn’t see anyone who might look like an honorary scholar of the RAS. Did you?
It was usually easy to identify anyone who came from the RAS. First, they usually came with their own private escorts. Two, they carried themselves with a sense of superiority that some of them thought they could hide, but really couldn’t. Three, they were scrawny and/or middle-aged. But this time, not even their “veterans” could spot anyone that even remotely fit these criterias.
Just when the headmaster was starting to panic, the young man on the bench closed his book and walked toward them. He forced himself to put on a kind, elderly smile before asking, “h.e.l.lo there. Is it okay if I ask you something? Did you see anyone who stood out while you were here?”
Instead of answering his question directly, Cillin asked, “Excuse me, but are you Headmaster Flick?”
“I am.” There were plenty of people who knew Flick in San Calombo, so he still didn’t make the connection.
After confirming the headmaster’s ident.i.ty, Cillin showed him the relevant doc.u.ments and said, “I’m the one you’re looking for. I believe my mentor has contacted you already.”
Flick’s smile froze. He accepted the doc.u.ments and stared at them, then at Cillin, then at the doc.u.ments again, then at Cillin again…
The headmaster wasn’t a stubborn man, but this was literally the first time he met someone like Cillin since he joined the academic circle. For one, he couldn’t sense any of the usual arrogance he came to expect from a member of the RAS. Two, and this was the most jarring thing of it all, was that Cillin looked the same age as the students who attended his inst.i.tution! Not everyone could retain a youthful appearance like that monster Guan Feng, and he was absolutely sure that Cillin was only in his twenties. He hadn’t even graduated from AF1 yet, for G.o.d’s sake!
“You… you’re Cillin? The RAS honorary scholar who’s going perform a presentation in San Calombo on behalf of scholar Guan Feng?” Flick asked carefully.
“I am.”
It wasn’t just Flick. Everyone was wearing a dumb expression on their faces. They also had a new appreciation for the proverb “comparison kills”...
Although they were still suspicious of Cillin, a video conference where the person-in-charge of both San Calombo and the RAS would be attending would be held prior to the official presentation. He would be exposed immediately if he was a fake.
Despite his suspicion, Flick still politely invited Cillin to the location where the video conference would take place together. There were things they needed to discuss and communicate, and the sooner they could confirm them the better.
Meanwhile, the few visitors in the park were confused by the presence of the inst.i.tution-owned cars. What happened? Why did they come and leave so urgently? Did a fight between n.o.bles break out again? A lot of people started grabbing their things and left when they thought of the possibility. No one wanted to be dragged into a fight between n.o.bles because it could only end in tragedy.
Flick brought Cillin to a high level conference room where the deputy headmaster and a couple of retired but still influential old people in the academic circle of the twenty third star region were already present.
Sun Fu was one of them. Because he was researching the Golden Thread Turtle with his friends, he had ignored the higher-ups’ attempt to call him. That lasted until they visited his house and almost physically dragged him to the inst.i.tution. At first Sun Fu was p.i.s.sed that the visit had cost him precious time, but his jaws. .h.i.t the floor when he saw Flick walking in with Cillin carefully like the young man was made of gla.s.s.
Flick introduced Cillin to Sun Fu, and as expected the entire room was enveloped in a bizarre atmosphere. Their gazes swept up and down Cillin’s body like laser scanners.
After greeting everyone present, Cillin entered his seat and nodded again at Sun Fu with a smile.
Sun Fu s.h.i.+vered as an indescribable chill crawled up his spine. Is he really the RAS’ honorary scholar? No wonder he was lucky enough to catch a hundred-year old Golden Thread Turtle!
If Cillin could hear his thoughts, he would definitely retort the old professor: Whether or not I’m an honorary scholar of the RAS had nothing to do with my luck or my catch!
The video conference began. San Calombo’s administration and Cillin were seated on one side of the call, and the RAS manager responsible for lecture tours on the other. This manager had heard about Cillin before, so he wasn’t too surprised when he saw that the young man was Guan Feng’s replacement. He gave him a friendly greeting, and Cillin responded in kind.
The atmosphere in the room grew even stranger, but at least they confirmed that Cillin was the real thing. Still, the San Calombo administration couldn’t help but think to themselves: we thought we had produced and seen many geniuses in our lives, but this Cillin… truly is a rarity.
And how could they not be surprised? The guy looked about the same age as their son or grandson, and he was already an honorary scholar!
After the conference was over, Sun Fu wanted to talk to Cillin but didn’t know how to start. While he was ruminating his words, the head of the Department of Microbiology squeezed past him and got in a word first, p.i.s.sing Sun Fu off so much that he hit the ground repeatedly with his walking stick.
The rest of the administration were unaware, but the head of the Department of Microbiology had immediately made the connection between Cillin and the young man who convened the Zebra Summit to research the Zebra Virus. So far, no one in the virology field had been able to create a better cure than the so-called perfect cure to the Zebra Virus, the third-generation cure, and the man who spearheaded that research was standing right in front of him! Naturally, he wasn’t going to let this opportunity slip by!
After making some chit-chat with a couple of heads, Cillin looked at Sun Fu—still waiting for his turn to get a word in—and smiled. “How is your research on the Golden Thread Turtle going, Senior Sun?”
“It’s… it’s going well.” Sun Fu suddenly felt like slipping into the ground and hide. It was because he recalled that his tone wasn’t exactly the friendliest when he met Cillin the first time, and he even “detained” the young man’s catch for his own selfish wishes. He was going to compensate Cillin for his kind gesture after researching the Golden Thread Turtle, but now that he knew the truth, he realized that there was probably nothing he could give Cillin that was worthy of his status. What a conundrum!
Sun Fu eventually relaxed when he also realized that Cillin wasn’t as annoying as the RAS scholars who visited them before. It wasn’t long before he really started going into his research on the Golden Thread Turtle.
No one enjoyed being accused of currying favor with someone, and yet they couldn’t stop themselves from doing exactly that despite the awareness. After all, who in their right mind would let go of an opportunity to communicate with a young, outstanding person like this?
It wasn’t long before they learned that Cillin was a master of verbal Tai Chi. He didn’t mind talking about academics, and he was knowledgeable enough that he could speak intelligently in many different fields. But the moment you tried to sidetrack the topic into something less academic: Sorry, can we talk about something else?
Although no one was able to pry any useful information that wasn’t academic-related from Cillin’s mouth, they had to admit that Cillin was the real thing. They understood now why he was able to sit on the seat of their dreams at his age.
For the next few days, Cillin hung out with the administration of San Calombo to prepare for the presentation. As the day grew closer and closer, more and more foreigners came to the planet for the presentation. Flick was especially high-strung because he was worried that something bad might happen during this time. While keeping a close eye on everything that happened within the campus, he contacted his family to gather whatever information they could on Cillin. It would’ve been fine if he didn’t hear about it, and it was true that the information he got was incomplete. But since then, every time Flick ran into Cillin, he broke into a smile that somehow resembled a blooming a.n.u.s. It was so creepy that the mere sight of it caused gooseb.u.mps to spring all over his colleagues’ body. It also made them really wonder why Flick was acting so strangely around Cillin.
Finally, it was the day of the presentation. The biggest academic hall in San Calombo was of course, fully packed with people. Even those who didn’t manage to buy a ticket in time were walking back and forth outside the hall in hopes of catching a glimpse of the living legend that was the representative of the RAS.
Some time later, a s.p.a.ceplane slowly made its way to the academic hall. It had an official-looking design, and it had San Calombo’s insignia on it.
Everyone outside the hall started stretching their necks to see if the RAS representative had finally arrived. A lot of recording devices were disallowed from being brought into the venue, and strict inspection points were set up at every entrance. It was something Flick had specifically instructed while the preparations were still ongoing.
The s.p.a.ceplane flew over a crowd and landed at a reserved landing site. Not many people were allowed into this area, so the guests stuck outside were disappointed that they wouldn’t get to see the representative’s face first hand.
The hatch opened, and a group of people walked out.
“Hey, which one of them is the representative?”
“I don’t know, I can’t see anyone who might look like one.”
Said two patrols at the landing site.
The lighting inside the academic hall changed, and the uproar suddenly subsided into silence. A group of people then entered the hall from the side entrance and took up the seats at the front row. Each seat had a name on it, so there were no worries that someone might claim the wrong seat.
Their entrance was already eye-catching in the first place, but the young man surrounded by a bunch of older people was even more conspicuous. After all, everyone in that group except the hostesses was a notable figure in San Calombo, so who on earth was that young man they had never seen before?
“Hey Four, why do I feel like I’ve seen that guy before?” Chang Four’s cla.s.smate asked while b.u.mping him with an elbow.
Chang Four simply stared at the young man and said nothing.
On the other side, Thomas and Hong Xi were speechless with shock. What was this? Did today’s presentation include a special guest or something?
Flick walked up the stage and gave a standard speech while everyone was trying to guess Cillin’s ident.i.ty. A while later, the giant screen behind him lit up, and the camera started zooming in on Cillin. Then, a short summary of his info appeared on screen.
“Cillin, an honorary scholar of the Royal Academy of Sciences, is currently studying at First Affiliated Higher Education Inst.i.tution of the Royal Academy of Sciences. His research achievements include…”
The academy hall was utterly silent.