Once they had made up their minds, the two started to explore the rumors circulating among the students. After visiting the classes ripe with gossip, they had gathered some intelligence.
Firstly, Luo'er certainly knew Principal Luo Qishan, as there had been more than one occasion when they were seen together. Secondly, Luo'er evidently had quite a presence at the Academy, as it appeared that most of the faculty, along with the military officers, knew Luo'er. Lastly, Luo'er seemed to enjoy a certain degree of protection from the Academy, which was apparent from the way he dealt with troublemakers—he was not worried about their retaliation.
They checked the academy's public records and found even more clues. Firstly, there was no record of Luo'er in the student archives, essentially rendering him non-existent. There could only be two reasons for this: either Luo'er was not a student, or his files had been encrypted. Regardless of which reason it was, it made his background even more elusive.
Luo'er had never revealed his age, and though he seemed to be under eighteen years old based on his looks, he was, after all, a half-elf, making his age difficult to ascertain.
The more Tangmo delved into it, the more mysterious Luo'er seemed—a fact she had never paid much attention to before.
"If Luo'er's files were sealed because he's a rare half-elf, then the files of the other half-elf haven't been sealed!" Hu Daoke pointed at the screen and said seriously.
The screen displayed profiles of another half-elf, a girl of mixed Night Elf blood named Shangguan Jiu. Unlike Luo'er, her ears were small and pointed, with deep, purple eyes.
The Elf Race had a very low birth rate, which caused their numbers to remain low. Furthermore, the success rate of their breeding with Earthlings was terrifyingly low, making the number of half-elves in the vast Haiya Academy minuscule.
The Academy's network was semi-enclosed, enabling the students to have limited contact with the outside world. However, they couldn't send out any information. Thus, the Haiya Academy had been operating secretly for twenty-three years, still shrouded in mystery for the outside public.
Their investigation in the archives room turned up nothing, leaving them feeling disheartened. They had never questioned Haiya Academy, believing they should rightfully stay there without any contact with the outside world. However, when they suddenly realized someone was unlike them, someone who might know things they never knew, Tangmo and the others were frustrated.
"Teacher Zhu!" The day after, Zhuyan Yu was stopped just as she finished her class.
Turning around, she was met with one of her best students, Tangmo. With her hands behind her back, she looked up at Tangmo, who looked quite worried.
"What's the matter, Little Momo?"
"Well, Teacher...do you know anything about Luo'er's background?" Tangmo hesitated for a moment and asked slowly.
Zhuyan Yu paused, not quite understanding why Tangmo would suddenly show interest in Luo'er's background. However, there were quite a few things she didn't understand regarding Luo'er. So, she nonchalantly replied, "What's wrong with Luo'er's background?"
"That is..."
Tangmo glanced around, her hesitation apparent. Understanding her predicament, Zhuyan Yu gently led her to an empty classroom and locked the door.
"What do you want to know?" Zhuyan Yu closed the latch on the door, turned around, and asked.
"Teacher Zhu, I suspect...Luo'er has some...relationship with the...Principal!" After putting careful thought into it, Tangmo finally voiced her suspicion.
"Principal..."
Zhuyan Yu was taken aback for a moment, but she wasn't particularly surprised. After all, there had been numerous rumors linking Luo'er to Principal Luo Qishan in the Academy. Even though she had tried to get more insider info from Wang Xu, that fellow had kept his lips sealed, not willing to disclose anything, even to her as an insider.
However, looking at the curious young girl in front of her, she had some new ideas to unravel the secrets of the Academy.
"Little Momo, do you know anything?" Zhuyan Yu looked at her and asked seriously.
"Luo'er, he seems to be the Principal's son, or grandson or something..." Tangmo did not hold back and presented her investigation results.
Zhuyan Yu was somewhat disappointed, as this piece of information wasn't fresh to her. She knew Luo'er and Luo Qishan had some kind of family relation, but what she didn't know was how Luo'er was born, why he had Elf blood, and whether he was the son of Luo Qishan's son, Luo Chuan. If Luo'er was, she wondered when Luo Chuan had fathered Luo'er, given that he died during the second Otherworld war. Wasn't he already dead by then?
According to the decrypted files from within the United Nations, the multinational forces initiated the second Otherworld war on May 1, 2021, and endured a devastating blow only five days in. On May 5, the Otherworld army flanked voiding the multinational forces' assault front, then surrounded the penetrating group of military forces. Luo Chuan died in the battle that day. If so, then how was Luo'er born? If he was a posthumous child, then how did the headquarters find him and bring him back to Earth? Or did Luo Qishan use Luo Chuan's genes combined with the Elf's genes to breed Luo'er?
"Teacher Zhu, Teacher Zhu!!" Seeing the distracted Zhuyan Yu, Tangmo could not help but call out to her.
"I'm sorry. I was lost in thought..." Zhuyan Yu said, tapping her forehead.
"It's fine," Tangmo shook her head, then continued to ask, "Teacher, do you know anything?"
"Momo..." Zhuyan Yu looked at her, hesitated for a long time, and then asked, "If you knew that your birth was entirely due to an inhumane plan, then...what would you do?"
"What do you mean?" Tangmo asked, somewhat startled.
"That is, you were born for a specific purpose." Zhuyan Yu did her best to control her words, afraid to reveal anything she should not.
Tangmo stared blankly at her, overwhelmed by the sudden onslaught of information.
Zhuyan Yu sighed, she still felt that they shouldn't know too much. After all, knowing too much was definitely not a good thing for her. The academy was under surveillance at all times, and any attempt to overstep the boundaries would be restricted and prohibited.
"Listen well, Little Momo!" Zhuyan Yu said solemnly, "There are some things you better not delve into, not only for your sake but for your friends too. Don't ask questions you shouldn't ask!"
Tangmo looked up at her, her eyes seemed very confused, her breathing became a bit rapid, but she just couldn't say anything.
Zhuyan Yu reached out and touched her little head, hesitated for a moment, then continued, "All I can tell you is that Luo'er's background has something to do with the entire academy. Attempting to probe into his background may likely invite backlash from the academy's power. Therefore, unless Luo'er is willing to tell you, do not inquire about him everywhere, this is your teacher's advice."
Having said this, she let go of her hand, turned around, opened the door and left, leaving a stunned Tangmo behind.
...
In Otherworld Language class, Tangmo sat blankly, seemingly still thinking about what Zhuyan Yu had just said. What could be the relationship between Luo'er... the academy...?
Luo'er gave her a worried look, afraid that she would suddenly turn her head, so he took a glance at her and immediately withdrew his gaze. Seeing Tangmo's soulless look, he always felt a strange feeling inside.
After class, Luo'er, as usual, went to the restroom to wash his face. When he was about to leave, he ran into Wang Xu, who was full of enthusiasm.
"Are you having a disagreement with your little squad?" Wang Xu asked directly.
"How do you know?" Sometimes, Luo'er felt that Wang Xu might be watching him in the surveillance room when he had nothing to do.
Wang Xu looked around, lowered his voice and said, "I heard that your squadron leader has been digging around for your information lately. Her behavior seems to have attracted the attention of the higher-ups."
He looked back at Luo'er to find that his face had suddenly gone frightful.
"Tell him if he dares to hurt my friends, I won't let him go!" Luo'er said firmly, his face cold. As for the "him" he was speaking about, Wang Xu naturally understood.
"This isn't something that the academy can control. If things get too big and the headquarters intervene directly, it's going to be terrible!" Wang Xu shrugged.
Luo'er stood there dumbly, unable to say a word.
Wang Xu then asked, "What do they want to know about you?"
"My relationship with that guy!" Luo'er pursed his lips, turned his head aside and said reluctantly.
"Did you tell them?"
"No," Luo'er shook his head and hesitated for a long time before he slowly said, "I don't want that guy to be involved because of me."
Wang Xu nodded in understanding. He had watched Luo'er grow up, so he had a fairly good understanding of him. Despite saying that he disliked Luo Qishan, he really cared about him deep down.
"What are you going to do?" he asked.
"I don't know; I am thinking about whether to confess to them directly..." Luo'er sighed.
"What about the Principal?"
"Neither do I know..." Luo'er was in a dilemma.
Looking at Luo'er's predicament, Wang Xu thought for a while before he couldn't help but say, "Do you need my help?"
"How can you help?" Luo'er looked up at him.
"You tell them the truth. If you're worried that they might leak information and drag the Principal into it, I can send people to secretly monitor them. If they're about to leak the information, I will deal with them directly, what do you think?" Wang Xu offered a plan which Luo'er found hard to accept.
"Is there no other way?"
"Anyway, if they continue to mess around like this, problems will inevitably arise sooner or later. If we can't resolve it internally, the headquarters will directly intervene. By then, it will really be impossible to deal with!" Wang Xu said solemnly.
Luo'er closed his eyes, pondering for a long time before slowly opening them and asking, "Can you guarantee that you will only monitor them?"
"Yes," Wang Xu nodded, "Camera surveillance is still surveillance, and information surveillance is also surveillance. It doesn't necessarily have to involve physical surveillance. But if they plan to leak information or defect from the academy, we won't show mercy."
"I see. Let's do it like this..." Luo'er sighed deeply and nodded.