The comments said I was deeply affectionate, I just added points by using an alternate account.

However, whatever he wants, he shouldn't treat people like this.

In Long Ao's eyes, who disliked reading and writing, a five-thousand-word self-criticism was a severe punishment.

An Changqing sat to the side, carefully wiping his longsword with a soft cloth.

Hearing Long Ao's complaint, he stopped wiping his sword.

"You don't understand." An Changqing shook his head: "This isn't punishment."

"What is it if not punishment? A reward?" Long Ao rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"It's a form of protection." An Changqing sheathed his longsword and looked at Long Ao with the same gaze he would give a child who hadn't yet learned his lesson.

"Didn't you notice? From beginning to end, Chen Guan remained far too calm. Facing the Demon King, facing life and death, his emotions didn't fluctuate at all. Is that normal?"

Long Ao was taken aback: "He...he's always been like that, hasn't he?"

Scenes flashed through his mind.

It seems that Chen Guan was already like this when they first met, so of course he wasn't surprised.

"That's different." An Changqing shook his head: "Before, it was silence, but at the top of the Ten Thousand Demon Tower, it was deathly stillness, a deathly stillness where even despair had been burned away. His spirit had been stretched to its limit."

"Long Ao, you can't assume that his current behavior is normal just because he's always been this way."

An Changqing stood up and paced around the room.

"Instructor Jing made him write a self-criticism not to punish him, but to give him a space to be alone, a window to vent, so that he could pour out all the repressed things through writing. This is a kind of psychological counseling. At the same time, the form of self-criticism is also a reminder to him that he is still a student."

Long Ao was stunned, his mouth agape, unable to close it for a long time.

So... that's how it is?

He recalled Chen Guan's perpetually expressionless face and his eyes that revealed no emotion.

It seems that An Changqing has a point.

Chen Guan was indeed a unique person he had ever met, and he could not ignore the other person's psychological needs just because he was used to him.

"I understand." Long Ao nodded heavily, his eyes filled with admiration: "Instructor Jing...you've put a lot of thought into this."

He's misunderstood; Baihu is a good person.

An Changqing didn't speak again, but looked out the window towards the direction of the solitary confinement room where Chen Guan was, his eyes filled with complex emotions.

He didn't know the root of Chen Guan's problem, and because of the other party's personality, he didn't dare to ask too much.

However, before he came to the North, his father's assistant sent him a message saying that the other party had bought back a treasure that could heal the human soul.

Although the exact condition of the person in the coffin is unknown, being unconscious likely indicates damage to their soul. If the person can awaken, Chen Guan might be able to recover somewhat from his depression.

When I get back this time, I'll think of a pretext to deliver it to Chen Guan in a reasonable way.

……

Eight o'clock in the morning, not a second earlier.

Chen Guan, holding his self-criticism, knocked on the door of Instructor Jing's office.

"Enter."

A lazy response came from inside.

Chen Guan pushed open the door and went in. Instructor Jing was sitting on the sofa with his legs crossed, drinking goji berry tea.

The office was a mess, with documents, weapon parts, and snack bags piled up everywhere.

"Finished writing?" Instructor Jing raised his eyelids and pointed to the table.

Chen Guan didn't say anything, but walked over and neatly placed the manuscript paper on the corner of the table.

Instructor Jing put down his teacup and picked up the manuscript paper with some surprise.

"Wow, that's quite a lot."

What an honest kid.

He casually flipped to the first page.

At first, the expression on his face was that of a cynical and lazy one.

But as he watched, the smile on his face slowly faded.

He turned the pages faster and faster, his brows furrowing more and more deeply.

The office was so quiet that only the rustling of papers turning could be heard.

Chen Guan stood there, like a statue.

Finally, Instructor Jing turned to the last page.

He closed the manuscript, looked up, and examined Chen Guan from head to toe with an unprecedentedly strange gaze.

In that look, there was three parts surprise, three parts confusion, and four parts absurdity as if he had seen a ghost; it was as if the eyes of a living person were turning into a pie chart.

He remained silent for a long time before slamming the stack of self-criticisms on the table with a dull thud.

"Classmate Chen Guan."

Instructor Jing leaned forward, his fingers interlaced and supporting his chin.

He raised his head and stared intently at the coffin.

"Don't you... have some huge misunderstanding about the word 'self-criticism'?"

Chen Guan looked at Instructor Jing's face, which was about to crack like a fan-shaped statistical chart, and answered in a serious tone: "Reporting, Instructor, five thousand words. I have checked, and there are no more than five thousand words."

Instructor Jing slammed the manuscript paper down on the table, but the dull thud did nothing to disturb Chen Guan's expression.

He leaned back on the sofa and let out a sigh that was somewhere between a toothache and constipation.

He casually turned to another page and read it aloud in a tone that was full of ups and downs and utterly disdainful.

"When the blood of my comrades stained my eyes, I realized that the darkness in this world is not the darkness of night, but the despair that cannot ignite the dawn. My sickle trembled, longing to sever the chains of fate, but could only swing in vain in the mire of reality."

Instructor Jing looked up, his eyelids twitching. "Long Ao was just thrown back by the shockwave. He's currently bouncing around, asking the nurses for chicken legs. Whose blood stained your eyes?"

Chen Guan remained unfazed: "Art originates from life, but transcends it."

[This is beyond real life, hahaha! Chen Guan, my online mouth double!]

[Instructor Jing: I told you to write a self-criticism, and you're going to recite a poem for me?]

[This writing style is so good, it's a shame she's not an author. It's all rambling, yet somehow it manages to say something. A master of crafting a good piece of fluff.]

[I'm dying of laughter. It's like seeing myself handing in my graduation thesis. My advisor's expression is exactly the same as Instructor Jing's.]

The comments scrolled rapidly across my retina, and the popularity score in the background was jumping up at a delightful pace.

Even in this location where An Changqing isn't, the comments section is still monitoring him.

He found the data access code again.

Instructor Jing clearly didn't want to discuss literary creation with him anymore.

He pinched the bridge of his nose, pushed aside the stack of self-criticisms that could be used as weapons, as if he were dealing with some kind of biological weapon.

The air in the office quieted down.

The lazy and unruly air about Instructor Jing disappeared. He sat up straight, and his eyes, which were always half-closed, opened completely.

"Chen Guan." His voice turned serious, the previous playfulness gone: "You're very smart, your progress is faster than I expected."

Chen Guan remained silent; he knew that the real conversation was only just beginning.

"In my opinion, Nandou's data analysis is a complete load of rubbish."

Baihu interlaced his fingers and rested them on his knees. Regardless of whether Chen Guan knew Nan Dou or not, he said to himself, "He can analyze your combat model and your mental resilience, but he can't analyze what's hidden in a person's bones."

Aren't you curious? Why did we ultimately choose you?

"You should be more curious about why I chose to join you."

Chen Guan threw the question back at Bai Hu, who was momentarily speechless. Oh no, he had really been curious about this question before.

To say it was a temporary expedient out of fear of death wouldn't be accurate; this kid has some kind of sorcery that he's practically immortal.

Damn it, that kid got away with it.