Loren: Huh?

Along both sides of the main avenue of Ikerite Academy, ancient oak trees spread their dense canopies, sunlight filtering through gaps between the leaves to cast shimmering ribbons across the flagstone pavement. Not far off, the Learning and Education Building stood tall and imposing—one of the academy's landmarks, perpetually bustling with life. Lanqi, Hyperion, and their new classmate were strolling along this very path when Loren suddenly appeared. The leather soles of Dean Loren's shoes scraped lightly against the ground as he approached the trio. Around them, only the laughter of other students and the rustle of the breeze through the leaves remained. "Lanqi, Hyperion." Dean Loren spoke, his gaze locked firmly onto the pair. "Lanqi, what on earth happened with your match against Adams?" For the moment, he had no mind to care why Lanqi and Hyperion were hanging around with a student from the Aloran Kingdom. It was no big deal. As long as the two of them didn't send someone else's perfectly fine student to prison, Loren felt it was nothing worth fussing over. Lanqi and Hyperion glanced at each other, clearly not expecting to run into the dean here. "Dean Loren!" As if he had been looking for him all along, Lanqi was utterly delighted to see Dean Loren drop out of the blue. "My friendly match with Adams is already over! He chose the 'Bone-Chilling Cage of Despair' artificial Shadow World, and I agreed." Lanqi answered Loren's question first. "It's over?" Loren asked, puzzled. If it was over, why was Adams still in the seventh-floor atrium? "...And why hasn't he been able to contact Juliana all day?" "Adams is still inside the Shadow World..." "Huh? You didn't win?" "I lost." A sudden chill ran down Loren's spine. Never in his wildest dreams had he expected Lanqi to lose. There was only one possible reason this fellow could lose so easily— He had never intended to win in the first place. For a moment, Loren couldn't even begin to guess what stunt Lanqi had pulled. Loren hurriedly turned to Hyperion. Hyperion was that rare normal person; she at least spoke like a human being compared to Lanqi. "Hyperion, tell me what happened." "..." Hyperion glanced at Lanqi, then pursed her lips and stammered, "Lanqi and Adams made a bet. If Lanqi won, Knight Commander Juliana would go on a date with you." "...A date?" Loren was utterly shocked to hear of this wager, but upon hearing the rest, he let out a huge sigh of relief. Thank goodness Lanqi didn't win! Yet on second thought... To make Juliana agree to such an outlandish condition, what kind of price would have to be paid if Lanqi lost? Loren promptly looked back at Hyperion, waiting for her to finish. Hyperion fidgeted, clutching the hem of her clothes, unable to speak for the longest time. Her hesitation began to make Loren nervous. He felt as though a bolt from the blue could strike him at any second. At that moment, Lanqi sensed Hyperion's dilemma, took a slight step forward, and said: "It's like this: if Adams won, you wouldn't need to pay any extra price at all; you just have to go with the flow. And then you can get ready to go on a date with Knight Commander Juliana." "?" Loren could not make heads or tails of what Lanqi meant. How could there be such an asymmetric agreement? And why was Juliana going on a date with him either way? How did that make any sense?! "Knight Commander Juliana agreed that as long as you apologize to her and obtain her forgiveness, she will go on a date with you..." Lanqi explained to Dean Loren. Just as they were talking on the academy avenue, a commotion appeared at the entrance of a building in the distance, drawing their gaze, followed immediately by hurried footsteps. A medical team wearing white uniforms emblazoned with the emblem of the School of Alchemy hurried out from the Learning and Education Building, their demeanor thoroughly professional. In recent days, they had been dispatched multiple times; this was a hat-trick. What proved even more shocking was the person they were carrying on the stretcher—Adams. His once cheerful, confident face was now deathly pale. Having just survived a grave ordeal, he was on the brink of collapse, his face coated in thick frost as if he had just been pulled from a freezer. Loren's gaze was drawn to Adams, unable to look away. "This..." A mixture of disbelief and shock surfaced on Loren's face. His eyes went wide and his mouth fell open, at a loss for words. His head leaned back slightly as he tried to find answers from the baffling scene in the distance. As the stretcher passed Loren, Lanqi, and the others on the avenue, the trembling Adams on the stretcher noticed Loren's horrified expression. Like a dying flash of vitality, a faint victor's smile quickly crept onto his face. He had won! A sweeping victory! This was the exact expression he had wanted to see on Loren. This academic visit to the Hutton Kingdom had not been in vain! However... When the angle of the stretcher shifted and Adams caught sight of Lanqi beside Loren, his eyes slowly froze. Lanqi was brimming with energy and high spirits. The complete opposite of Adams. While Adams was suffering in that freezing prison, Lanqi had undoubtedly spent a splendid day eating well, drinking well, and sleeping soundly. Adams's brain kicked into overdrive. "Lan... Lanqi... Could it be that you..." His lips and teeth chattered, letting out a feeble croak as the stretcher glided past Lanqi. "..." Lanqi pressed his lips together, his sorrowful expression tinged with a hint of regret and reproach. As if asking Adams why he hadn't trusted him—it was clearly just a friendly match. "Lanqi, you're so..." Finally, Adams's head lolled to the side, and he passed out cold. "..." Silence descended on the avenue. Watching Adams being carried away, Loren felt a lump in his throat. Some things were beyond words. He now understood what Lanqi meant by "go with the flow." Now he had no choice but to go apologize to Juliana. "Dean Loren, just go happily on your date with Knight Commander Juliana. If you ever need a matchmaker in the future, just come to me! I guarantee I'll take care of your lifelong happiness!" Lanqi thrust his hands into his pockets and sighed. When he looked back at Loren, his smiling face resembled a little angel holding an arrow of love. "..." Staring at Lanqi, Loren cycled through several different expressions. Going on a date with Juliana should have been a dream come true. Loren had never dared imagine such an opportunity would ever arise. Yet why, at this moment, did he feel an overwhelming sense of tragedy? His already rocky romantic path, having undergone Lanqi's personal touch, was now very likely to turn into an expressway to heaven. Finally. Loren laughed. A laugh where one wanted to cry, but had no tears left. "I was truly a fool. Truly..." Loren raised his lifeless eyes and shook his head, unable to string a coherent sentence together. He was burned out to ash...