C17 Chapter 17

Living under constant pressure—surrounded by danger and fear—didn’t seem to offer any real upside for a college student like Shidian.

“I’m taking this one!” Chen Xinxin shouted, claiming a sunny room. Chen Rui chose the room directly across from his younger sister, Chen Xinxin. That left the room next to the study for Shidian—and it happened to be the one he wanted anyway.

That way, he’d be closer to Professor Feng.

Before long, the three of them had moved their things into their rooms and gotten settled. After Chen Rui and Chen Xinxin finished unpacking, they headed over to Shidian’s room.

“You know, Professor Feng seems pretty friendly,” Chen Xinxin said, puzzled. “Like he doesn’t have any other agenda at all.”

“Maybe he does, maybe he doesn’t. I don’t know,” Shidian said after thinking for a moment. “Didn’t I warn you on the plane? You can’t be fooled by appearances. Someone might look one way on the outside, and be something else underneath. And with Professor Feng, we can’t let his friendliness throw us off, either. He’s warm right now, sure—but who’s to say there isn’t something else behind it?”

“Man, you really are a bookworm,” Chen Rui laughed. “But I’ll give you this—you’ve got some street smarts in there.”

“No kidding. It’s not that hard to figure out,” Shidian shot back, rolling his eyes.

“Think about that shadow demon,” Shidian said, emphasizing his point. “Everything we’ve been through has been real. If we don’t stay alert, and something even stronger shows up, we might not even realize what hit us until it’s too late.”

“Dinner’s ready, kids!” Professor Feng’s voice suddenly called out, inviting them to eat.

Shidian, Chen Rui, and Chen Xinxin hurried to the dining room.

“Whoa!” Chen Xinxin gasped. “All this food?”

A huge rectangular dining table was packed from end to end with dishes—every kind you could imagine: fish, shrimp, vegetables, fruit. Anything the three of them could think of was on that table.

“Professor, this is insane—did you put out a whole banquet?!” Chen Rui and Shi Dian were just as excited. The table was packed with food—the sheer amount and variety were way beyond anything they’d expected.

“Professor, you’re unbelievable,” Chen Xinxin joked, looking at Professor Feng. “You whipped up all this in no time. You’re trying to scare us to death!”

“Hey, hey, hey—no, no,” Professor Feng said with a grin. “Most of it was already prepped. I got everything ready before you showed up. If I waited until you got here to cook all this from scratch, by the time I finished, either I’d drop dead from exhaustion or you’d be starving.”

The three of them burst out laughing.

Shi Dian, Chen Rui, and Chen Xinxin really were starving. After nearly a twelve-hour flight, the tiny airline meals hadn’t even come close to filling them up—especially not Chen Xinxin, and definitely not the other two. Being “full” hadn’t even been on the table.

Now, the three of them were genuinely famished.

So they dug in like they hadn’t eaten in days.

Watching the three hungry wolves, Professor Feng couldn’t help but laugh. “Slow down, slow down. I’ve still got more—no need to rush.”

“What? There’s more?” Chen Xinxin stared at him in disbelief. “Then I’d better eat faster so you can bring out the next dishes.”

“Ha! Ha! Ha!” Professor Feng couldn’t help laughing again.

“Looking at you three, you really were starving,” he said, shaking his head with a smile. “All right—eat up.”

Before long, all three of them were leaning back with full, rounded stomachs—so stuffed they couldn’t possibly eat another bite.

“Oh, right, Professor,” Shi Dian said, looking at him. “That thing I asked you about at the airport—the lower section of the Moon Wheel Stone Tablet… how’s that going?”

“Mm-hmm.” Professor Feng nodded and gestured toward the living room. The four of them walked over, where the table was covered in stacks and stacks of photos—all of them related to the Moon Wheel Stone Tablet.

Professor Feng showed up and immediately dove into the stack of photos, quickly flipping through them to find the ones of the Moonwheel Tablet.

“Here! This one—take a look.” Professor Feng handed it to Shidian, Chen Rui, and Chen Xinxin.

“Huh? You already found it?” Shidian and Chen Rui stared at him in disbelief.

“Yep.” Professor Feng nodded firmly. “No question. We found it.”

“That’s awesome!” All three blurted out at once. “You found it that fast?”

Shidian, Chen Rui, and Chen Xinxin were practically giddy. They stared at the photo of the newly unearthed Moonwheel Tablet, grinning like kids. Finding it this quickly felt like a huge weight off their shoulders.

They studied the picture closely, wide-eyed and thrilled, like they couldn’t believe what they were seeing—like it was the first time they’d ever laid eyes on something like this.

They’d already braced themselves for the possibility that if the Moonwheel Tablet couldn’t be found, they might be stuck in the States for a long time. Instead, they’d been here less than half a day and the tablet had already been dug up. For the three of them, that was the best possible news.

A break like this didn’t come around often. The timing was almost too perfect—and it meant a whole lot less work for them.

“Professor, Professor—so where is the Moonwheel Tablet right now?” Chen Xinxin asked, practically buzzing with excitement and curiosity. “Can we go see it?”

“Yeah, yeah!” Chen Rui chimed in. “Can we take a look at the Moonwheel Tablet?”

Shidian looked at Professor Feng too, full of hope, clearly wanting to see it for himself.

But their request put Professor Feng in a tough spot. “Uh… you’re really putting me on the spot here…”

“What’s wrong?” Shidian asked, a hint of unease creeping in. He could already sense the problem. Something this valuable and mysterious wouldn’t be on their radar alone. There were probably multiple groups—maybe even dozens—watching it from the shadows, all hungry for whatever power the Moonwheel Tablet held. They wanted it for the same reason: to claim that power for themselves, to become a summoner who could call up demons and monsters, and use it to strengthen their own side.

That instantly cranked their pressure through the roof—far beyond what it would’ve been if they’d gone digging for it themselves. If it were just an excavation, it’d be only a handful of them; if they found it, it was theirs, and no other group would even know where the thing was. But now it was different. The Moonwheel tablet was out in the open, while the forces trying to seize it were operating in the shadows. No one knew how many groups were involved, where they were, or when the danger would strike.

The darker it gets, the more likely something goes wrong—that was common knowledge. And the people trying to take the Moonwheel would definitely know how to exploit that. They could stay hidden, pull strings, and make their move. If anything happened, the Ten Halls, Chen Rui, Chen Xinxin, and Professor Feng would have no way to stop it.

Professor Feng calling the Ten Halls, Chen Rui, and Chen Xinxin over probably had one clear purpose: to help him win it. Yeah—at this point, “win” really meant “take it.”

And Professor Feng’s goal probably wasn’t as simple as grabbing the Moonwheel tablet. The Ten Halls couldn’t shake the feeling that something else—something worse—was waiting for them.

Thinking back to what happened with the Shadow Demon, danger could hit at any moment. They had to be fully prepared, ready to face whatever came. Since they’d stepped into this, there was no turning back.

There are plenty of things in this world where, once you choose to do them, there’s no undoing it. You move forward, and life or death is unknown. But if you turn around, there’s nothing behind you but a bottomless drop.

Now that the Ten Halls had become a summoner, if he ever decided he didn’t want to be one anymore, would the people in the dark—maybe even Professor Feng—let him live? Whether their reasons were good or bad, would they?

The answer felt painfully obvious. Professor Feng had probably latched onto that exact weakness. He knew the Ten Halls would figure it out, which was why he didn’t hesitate to use him. And Chen Rui and Chen Xinxin—his closest friends—could easily become leverage. Professor Feng bringing them along was likely meant to make sure he had something to lose, something that would keep him in line.

Maybe they were scared. If Ten Halls turned out to be the kind of person who didn’t fear death, then with nothing left to hold him back, would he still be willing to work for them?

The answer was just as obvious: everything was far more complicated than Ten Halls had imagined—maybe even far more complicated than what he could see or guess right now.

The Wheel of the Sun, the Wheel of the Moon—those felt less like objects and more like a cycle of fate. And that cycle, somehow, had landed squarely on Ten Halls. He knew the stone tablets weren’t limited to what he’d found so far, and the power behind them wasn’t, either.

By now, he was stuck deep in the mud and couldn’t pull himself out. And he couldn’t just run, either. There was Chen Rui and Chen Xinxin. Ten Halls could choose not to care about his own safety, but he couldn’t ignore theirs. Protecting the two of them was the one thing he had to do.

And to carry out Professor Feng’s request—to make sure the people around him didn’t get hurt—Ten Halls had only one real option: get stronger. He had to push his abilities as a summoner until he could unleash them fully. If he ever ran into something like that shadow demon from the voyage again, he couldn’t afford to be that helpless. At the very least, he needed to stop being so passive—because if he couldn’t do that, what right did he have to talk about protecting anyone?

That was what Ten Halls had to do now: fulfill Professor Feng’s request, protect everyone, and protect himself.