On how PhDs become human evil

Unfortunately, this virtual body is already pretty much at its limit. While it's not impossible to go further, there might be some aftereffects. After all, Bai Jie isn't the invincible evil of this world who can't be killed no matter what.

"Roar--!"

The roar of a fiery dragon echoed through the night sky. The raging flames stirred with the dragon's roar, creating a raging torrent of fire. The scattered sparks and the intense heat of the fire stunned Sayaka Kirasaka and Yukina Himeragi, who were not far from Bai Jie.

Himeragi Yukina was alright, because she had already witnessed Hakujie using the Fire World Curse once, but Kirasaka Sayaka was seeing it for the first time!

(Is this guy a monster?! Such powerful spiritual energy... and this Fire Boundary Curse... are you really human? Ashiya Dōryū! Is this the kind of anomalous being that Setsuna was monitoring?)

Ignoring the already utterly shocked Sayaka Kirasaka, Bai Jie's golden-red eyes turned to Vatora.

In that instant, eight demonic snakes appeared behind Vatola!

"Fantastic! You are truly amazing! Ashiya Dōryū! A sorcerer like you is one in a hundred years, let alone decades!"

"This burning sensation, this feeling that my soul is being consumed... I'm so satisfied! It's so exhilarating! I never imagined that there was such a powerful figure as you hidden on Itogami Island!"

Vatora felt incredibly excited. He had thought that the biggest fun of this visit to Itogami Island would be his own plan, but he never expected to encounter someone like Hakuge on the very first night. His battle maniac side told him that Hakuge was definitely an opponent worth his full effort!

The magic power surged like an elevator, and Vatora's magic power flowed into the eight demonic snakes like water flowing freely, causing the oppressive aura emanating from them to expand violently. This made the pressure exerted on Bai Jie by each familiar reach the same or even higher level as that of the fused familiar.

"Come on! Ashiya Michiru!"

The eight-headed serpent, like the Yamata no Orochi from Japanese mythology, roared as it flew out from behind Vatora, its magical aura even cracking the space along its path.

"As you wish, come on."

As Bai Jie spoke, he took out a stack of talismans from his sleeve and let them scatter in the gale. Then he formed the "Dispelling Talisman" hand seal, and the talismans immediately transformed into a whirlwind, and a raging hurricane erupted.

The wind fanned the flames, and the divine flames, which were already threatening to engulf the heavens, were propelled into the sky in an instant by the help of the hurricane. The golden-red divine dragon also swelled to a size of nearly a thousand feet in the hurricane!

"Hurry, hurry, as the law commands!"

At Bai Jie's command, the Fiery Dragon shot out like an arrow, its nearly thousand-foot-long body speeding across the night sky like a fiery meteor with a long tail falling from the heavens.

Eight-headed demonic serpents and a golden-red divine dragon.

The distance between the two, less than a hundred meters, rapidly shrank to zero. Just as they were about to collide, a beautiful figure suddenly rushed into that forbidden zone where there was no chance of survival!

"The divine son of the Suanni and the high-ranking swordsman pray here! The dawn of breaking the demons, the divine wolf of Xuexia, swiftly use the divine power of steel to help me destroy the evil gods and demons!"

Singing the incantation of the Holy Lance, Yukina Himeragi, carrying the Snow Wolf that shimmers with azure holy light, bursts into the battle as a third party!

"Drink it! Ahhhhhh!"

With a sharp cry, Himeragi Yukina unleashed her Snow Wolf with the power and momentum to pierce through everything, facing the demonic serpent and the divine dragon that were about to collide!

A flash of cold light appeared first, followed by the spear thrusting out like a dragon!

"Buzz————————!!!"

The divine vibration wave drive spell engraved on the Snow Wolf operated at an unprecedented maximum power. The power of the Demon-Slaying Holy Lance was released without reservation at this moment. The azure light instantly overwhelmed the power of Vatora and Bai Jie, and began to devour the demon serpent and the divine dragon with the force of a whale!

(My spiritual power has been erased? Isn't the Snow Wolf only able to nullify magic? Could it be... Li Dou? You changed the settings again!)

Watching his own dragon weaken at a visible rate, Bai Jie sighed deeply. Since Dan Kuroto had intervened directly, even going so far as to change the settings to prevent him from fighting Vatora, then he would just have to leave it at that.

"However... you still made a move in the end, Teacher Nangong."

Section 387, 22. Narakwira

"So, you were put in solitary confinement by Xiao Nayue?"

In Bai Jie's apartment, Lan Yu Qian Cong looked at Bai Jie lying on the sofa reading Weekly JUMP and sighed speechlessly.

"I think you deserve it. You just went to a banquet and ended up fighting with a noble from the War King's Domain. Do you know how shocked I was when I saw that huge fire dragon at home?"

The current time is one week after Vatora arrived at Itogami Island.

The battle with Vatora ended with both Bai Jie and Vatora's powers being wiped out by the Snow Wolf. Immediately after the battle, Nangong Nayue brought Xiaogucheng to the upper deck and gave Bai Jie a merciless beating. Afterwards, she locked him in the apartment and put him in solitary confinement. To prevent him from escaping, she also put space magic on all the doors of Bai Jie's house.

Bai Jie didn't object to the confinement. He had started the fight, so it was only right that he took responsibility. Besides, he had almost demolished an artificial island. Confinement was already a very lenient punishment.

While Bai Jie was in confinement, Himeragi Yukina was hospitalized. Although she was protected by the Snow Wolf, there was a possibility that she would die on the spot if she directly entered the battle between two of the world's top experts. Fortunately, although she was seriously injured, she was out of danger and was saved by the medical institutions on Itogami Island.

And now—

"I'm so sorry, Senior Lan Yu, I'm still a bit clumsy, so I was a little slow in making dinner."

Holding a plate of tempura and wearing an apron, Yukina Himeragi said apologetically.

Waving her hand, Aiba Asagi looked at Himeragi Yukina: "It's nothing, it's nothing. Rather, it's that you're inconvenient to move around, yet you're still asked to cook dinner. Ashiya, don't you have any compassion for women?"

"Please don't say that. My senior took good care of me during my hospitalization. Now it's my turn to take care of him."

Yes, Yukina Himeragi is currently the housekeeper of Hakuge's family, responsible for Hakuge's daily life. It is said that because of the Vatora incident, Itogami Island and the Lion King Organization have increased their attention to Hakuge, and there are even many radicals who plan to eliminate Hakuge's existence.

After a series of political wrangling, the final decision was to increase the surveillance on Bai Jie, and to have Himeragi Yukina live with Bai Jie so that he would be under close surveillance 24 hours a day.

In other words, it meant that the two of them lived together. As the roommate, Himeragi Yukina took on the responsibility of cooking three meals a day and cleaning the house. In addition, during her hospitalization, Bai Jie visited her every day, and she did these things as a way of returning the favor.

With a helpless sigh, Lan Yu Qiancong looked at her junior, who was her love rival, speechless: "You were hospitalized because of this guy, and now you're taking care of him instead? What's going on?"

"So I've already given my senior a good talking-to."

"How were you disciplined?"

"Use the cooking poison technique learned from the Lion King Organization."

Mentioning that "culinary poisoning technique," Bai Jie, lying on the sofa, immediately shuddered: "Demon... I cooked so many delicious meals for you while you were in the hospital, and this is how you repay me, Ji Qiu?"

"That's why I always prepare the antidote. Besides, I've made a delicious meal to take care of you, senpai. Stop lounging on the sofa reading comics and come have dinner."

"You didn't make any culinary disasters today, did you...?"

"Don't worry, Senior Lan Yu is here today, so I won't do it."

The implication was that if Lan Yu Qiancong weren't there, Bai Jie would have suffered from terrible cooking again today.

Grasping Lan Yuqian's hand tightly, Bai Jie said from the bottom of his heart, "Lan Yu, please stay here, I'm begging you."

"...You're really going all out to avoid eating culinary disasters."

Being asked by Bai Jie was something Lan Yu Qian Cong had always dreamed of, and being asked to stay by his side was practically like a marriage proposal, but for some reason Lan Yu Qian Cong just couldn't be happy.

(But, Himeragi...we were supposed to compete on the same stage!)

Watching Himeragi Yukina move in and out of the kitchen with such ease, Aiba Asagi bit her lip with a sour feeling. She, Aiba Asagi, was still working hard to take things a step further with Bai Jie, but he skipped the intermediate steps and went straight to living together.

Don't think that having powerful connections means you can do whatever you want!

(Uh... As expected, Senior Lan Yu is angry.)

Although she couldn't see because her back was turned, Himeragi Yukina could clearly feel Aiba Asagi's gaze fixed on her; the scent of lemons even reached her nose!

(I'm sorry, Senior Lan Yu, this is the Lion King Organization's arrangement, I can't make the decision myself, I can only apologize to you....)

————————————————————

After dinner, in Bai Jie's room, looking at Lan Yu Qiancong sitting at the computer desk, Bai Jie couldn't help but ask, "So why do you need my computer?"

"I just received a challenge while having dinner. They want me to solve a puzzle, but I'm too lazy to go home, so I'll borrow your computer."

As Ai Yu Qiancong spoke, she turned on her computer, and then she was stunned the next moment.

"...Ashiya, don't you even have a password for your computer?"

"Because I hardly ever use a computer, and besides, there's nothing on my computer. Even if someone hacks in, they can't get anything, so why would I set a password?"

Hearing Bai Jie's words, Lan Yu Qian Cong, a hacker, fell silent. She couldn't believe that in this information society, there were still people who hardly ever used computers. Even if Bai Jie was an Onmyoji, this was going too far! Are all Onmyoji so old-fashioned?

With a slight sigh, Asagi connected her phone to her computer and opened the challenge letter that had just been sent while she was having dinner.

It was an email containing a strange string of text of unknown origin, a frighteningly complex language system, and a flawed logical array. It was unlike any language that had ever existed on Earth, yet it was not a spell used for magic or incantation.

Even if all the linguists or magicians were mobilized, deciphering these would likely still be difficult, but—

"Solve the mystery? You dare to mess with me? You've got guts."

Asagi's hacker instincts told her that this string of characters was not designed for humans, and therefore could not be deciphered using ordinary linguistic methods.

This is a language created for things other than humans, a command system for manipulating unknown and special structures—it is a program.

Unfortunately, Aiba Asagi is, by design, the strongest computer programmer in this world, so there is no program she cannot analyze.

"But... what is this? Narakvira?"

Section 388, Chapter 23: We are just friends.

Generally speaking, surprise occurs in situations that deviate from the norm, and if the situation is too bizarre, people tend to become calmer—this is a common argument.

Bai Jie is currently in a state of extreme calm due to being overwhelmed with surprise.

Bai Jie, lying on the bed, frowned as if he had a headache, staring at Lan Yuqian from above and below. "I won't ask why you're in my bed. I can probably guess the reason—what do you want with me?"

"Can't I contact you if there's nothing wrong? Don't guys like this? Waking up to find a beautiful girl lying on top of them."

"..."

In a sense, Asagi was right. Bai Jie was a man too, and naturally he would love to be in this situation. But if he could, Bai Jie would prefer his wife to treat him like this, rather than this young and naive girl.

Would you be interested in a baby who is only three months old than yourself?

With a silent sigh, Bai Jie said, "Get off me quickly. Ji Dong will be here soon, and it will be troublesome if she misunderstands."

"Oh dear, what's the misunderstanding? You two aren't dating."

"Yes, I'm not dating Himeko, and I won't be in the future, but I'm sure she'll throw a tantrum if she comes in."

Bai Jie could already foresee how Himeragi Yukina would react when she came in and saw this scene—drawing Yukishou, aiming at her head, physical amnesia, EX: Senpai is an idiot.

That's practically a four-part display of poor manners.

Hearing Bai Jie's words, the faint smile on Lan Yu Qian Cong's face suddenly disappeared. She turned over and sat on the edge of the bed, her back to Bai Jie, and asked in an unusually calm tone, "Ashiya, how long have we known each other?"

"It'll be a year in four months, what's wrong?"

"It's been almost a year... and I've liked you for about half a year now."

"...What are you trying to say?"