Chapter 743: Colleagues
“Crack, crack, crack~”
“Thump, thump, thump~”
The heavy sound of the train passing over the tracks echoed, and accompanied by this drum-like sound, the train, which did not have too many passengers, slightly swayed.
Fisher widened his eyes slightly, peering through the transparent window behind his seat, curiously looking at the buildings standing tall beyond the tracks. Those unfamiliar high-rise buildings and wooden structures with styles distinctly different from Nali reminded Fisher that this was the world of the Trans.
A world solely inhabited by humans.
“What is Professor Fisher looking at?”
Beside him, a soft voice like cotton candy pulled Fisher’s attention back, and he turned to see Jasmine sitting next to him, her head slightly raised with a smile as she looked at him.
“Still not quite used to it?”
“Ah, a bit, I suppose.”
Not just a bit; it was quite unfamiliar indeed.
But is this really the world of the Trans?
According to Mikhail, Tang Zeming Asuka and the time he was in were quite different, separated by a significant gap. And even in Mikhail’s eyes, the era Tang Zeming Asuka lived in was already considered somewhat ancient; for Fisher, an outsider, it still appeared remarkably advanced.
No wonder Mikhail could bring something like the Mechanism.
“It’s okay, Professor Fisher. If there’s anything you’re not used to, just let me know. I’ll do my best to help you get accustomed.”
“Okay.”
“Hehe.”
Earlier at the dining table, Fisher couldn’t bring himself to disrupt the warmth that she had worked hard to create. Though he found an internal reason that it was “strangely polluted and one should be cautious,” he couldn’t continue like this forever.
Fisher began to contemplate, his thoughts circling back to the state of Gouwen and Xu earlier.
Xu was next to Jasmine, and since Jasmine had interacted with the pollution, it was likely that Xu hadn’t escaped either. Meanwhile, Gouwen had been swallowed by the pollution along with David. What Fisher was puzzling over was whether the Xu and Gouwen he had seen were truly affected by the pollution or just dreamlike images constructed by it?
Fisher leaned towards the former, as he was also assigned the identity of a “foreign teacher,” even if he didn’t know why he hadn’t fully integrated into this world like Xu and Gouwen.
If that were the case, then Renee was also likely assigned an identity just like himself.
With that thought in mind, Fisher casually rubbed his forehead and spoke to Jasmine,
“By the way, Jasmine.”
“What’s up, Professor Fisher?”
Jasmine turned her head in confusion, and Fisher asked her,
“Do you know Renee?”
“Renee… um… I think I might have some impression of her, maybe she’s in Class C? I’m not too sure.”
“Classmate?”
Fisher blinked in surprise; this clarified things immediately.
It seemed that Jasmine’s dream had arranged identities for everyone entering it.
“Yeah, Class C is the international class; it seems that Renee transferred from abroad. I don’t interact with them often, so I’m not very clear. But speaking of that…”
Jasmine pursed her lips, her originally bright expression suddenly becoming hesitant. She turned her head slightly and asked Fisher in a low voice,
“Why did Professor Fisher suddenly bring up a classmate from Class C? Is she from another class you teach?”
“…”
Fisher was about to respond when he suddenly felt a shadow glide across his profile. He blinked in surprise and looked out the window, only to see that the originally clear sky had gathered layers of dark clouds, signaling impending rain.
It’s going to rain.
Fisher slowly withdrew his gaze, only to find Jasmine staring at him, undeterred by the scene outside, keenly probing for an answer.
Fisher’s internal alarm was almost at its limit; he had no doubt that the abnormal weather outside was connected to the girl in front of him, yet he maintained a calm demeanor, as if merely discussing an inconsequential matter,
“I just suddenly remembered some unpleasant things from class earlier, so I wanted to ask you about it; after all, I’m not familiar with this place yet.”
“Really?”
Jasmine tilted her head, though her confusion remained.
“Did she do something bad in Professor Fisher’s class?”
Fisher opened his mouth, initially intending to fabricate a casual response to dodge the question, but as soon as he thought about it, all the misdeeds that Renee had committed during class flooded his mind, leaving no need for him to make things up.
“Mischief, disrupting my work, pulling various pranks, and stealing snacks.”
“Stealing?”
“…Stealing from other students.”
“Ah, that’s just too awful.”
Sorry, Ms. Renee’s reputation suffers.
Jasmine covered her mouth, looking incredulous, but the wary expression on her face didn’t diminish at all.
But why wasn’t it completely gone?
Fisher glanced at the darkening sky outside; the ominous clouds showed no signs of dispersing. Could it be because he guessed wrong, that the weather had nothing to do with Jasmine?
What Fisher didn’t know was that whether in Tang Zeming Asuka’s time or Jasmine’s, experiences had given her a stereotype about Fisher.
If a woman isn’t bad, Fisher won’t love.
So when Fisher mentioned how the student named Renee caused trouble, she surprisingly remained unsettled.
What if?
What if this mischievous girl was more to Fisher’s liking?
Oh no, she had seen that sort of story in comics before.
The gentle, kind childhood friend being completely outmatched by the bad girl with a sharp character, strong and wicked!
Though she wasn’t a childhood friend, who could guarantee that some Renee wasn’t the bad person trying to steal him away?
“Ding dong.”
“Zuo Jing, we’ve arrived.”
At this moment, the vehicle finally stopped, and Jasmine glanced at the platform, quickly shouldering her backpack and standing up. She said to Fisher,
“Professor Fisher, we’re here! Let’s hurry, the weather outside isn’t great. We should get to school before we turn into drenched chickens.”
Fisher glanced at the still looming clouds and nodded, standing up.
“Okay.”
“Is this my office?”
The teachers’ office here was quite different from Fisher’s separate office in Saint Nali University. The teachers were all grouped together, but when Fisher arrived, the place was completely empty.
Those with morning classes had gone to their respective classes, and those without hadn’t arrived yet.
Jasmine had gone to Class B to teach, and on his way from the station to the school, Fisher hadn’t encountered any familiar faces. He could only follow Jasmine’s directions to the office, and his next class was exactly the one that Renee was in, Class C.
Alright, since that’s the case, let’s meet up with Renee first.
Fisher made up his mind and was about to leave the office when he suddenly remembered something and walked back to his desk.
What was he teaching again?
Fisher lowered his head and picked up the lesson plan he had previously left on the table, which already had familiar characters written on it.
“English.”
Fisher blinked and then flipped open the textbook. Sure enough, it was filled with a language he understood nothing of, resembling the characters written in Mikhail’s completion manual.
Is this the native language of Jahl Uzz from the Kingdom of Great Britain?
But why does Tang Zeming Asuka’s country need to learn other countries’ languages?
Schools in Nali wouldn’t teach related content about other countries’ languages. Fisher had relied solely on self-study to learn Shivali.
And the scariest part was that this time, the dream did not grant the great Professor Fisher any conveniences.
He stared at the text labeled “English” for a long time but couldn’t alter it like he could with Japanese. He simply couldn’t grasp it; if he didn’t understand, he didn’t understand.
It would be fine if he were outside, but the issue was that his identity in this dream was that of the teacher for this subject!
How on earth could he teach others if he couldn’t do it himself?
By bluffing?
With so much teaching experience, Professor Fisher felt an immense pressure at this moment. Just then, the whole teaching building started ringing, marking the beginning of morning classes.
Fisher sighed helplessly, gathered up all the English textbooks visible on the desk, and then left the office. He followed the corridor, identifying the classroom numbers until he found the corresponding class.
Class C.
Right, Renee is in this class.
Fisher took a deep breath and pushed open the classroom door. About twenty to thirty students were seated inside, and the moment he opened the door, all the blonde, blue-eyed students turned to look at the entrance.
Inside, the familiar face Fisher first saw wasn’t Renee.
“David?”
“Ah? I’m here, Professor Fisher!”
Fisher had just spoken out in confusion when the originally head-down, red-haired handsome boy stood up in bewilderment, pointing to himself while looking at Fisher.
Oh no.
David’s expression, which blended harmoniously with the other students, suddenly filled Fisher with ominous premonitions.
He opened his mouth and then quietly said,
“Sorry, it’s nothing. You can sit down.”
“Ah? Oh, okay.”
David sat down, bewildered, scratching the back of his head.
Fisher also stepped up to the podium, his eagle-like gaze sweeping over the classroom, and then suddenly fixated on a person sitting at the very back row.
His throat moved, and unsurely he began,
“Renee?”
“Pop!”
With Fisher’s words, the sound of popping cotton candy echoed, and the black-haired woman in a school uniform sitting at the back row turned her gaze away from her flip phone.
She chewed her gum and lifted her gaze, looking unconcerned and confused, asking,
“Hmm? What’s up?”
As soon as she said that, she provocatively blew a bubble with the gum in her mouth.
“…”
Ah no, I just made a few comments about you to Jasmine. How did you really end up turning into this troublesome student?
Fisher’s mouth fell open, and he helplessly covered his face, suddenly not knowing what to say.
This was bad; Renee had also fallen!
No, rather, it seemed like everyone except him had fallen.
It was as if they had all become the truest part of this dream.
Fisher’s eyes wandered; before entering this pollution, he had focused most of his attention on plotting against Hela, but it seemed that the dream formed by this pollution was not to be underestimated either.
Although it hadn’t harmed Fisher in the slightest till now, even someone of Renee’s True God level had fallen, appearing like a delinquent high school girl. He really didn’t know what to say to Fisher.
“…”
Fisher wearily waved his hand at the now seemingly much younger Renee, indicating that it was fine. Ignoring the whispers from below, he took a seat behind the podium, covering his face with the English textbook he just picked up, hiding his current expression.
As a few studious students pulled out textbooks from their desks below, Fisher’s voice emerged once again.
“This class will be self-study first; please remain quiet and arrange your time as you see fit.”
“Eh?”
Fisher waved his hand, prompting a few puzzled glances among the students below, yet they had no further questions and began to do their own things.
What Fisher didn’t notice was that after he obscured his face with the textbook, below, Renee, who had previously been blowing bubbles with a nonchalant expression, suddenly cupped her heart and laid her head on the desk.
Upon closer inspection, one could see that her face facing the window had turned red without anyone knowing.
“Thump, thump, thump.”
Her heart raced so fast.
Clearly, the Renee who had fully integrated into the dream wasn’t pretending to forget previous matters just to tease Fisher.
But she truly liked Fisher, just like in the outside world; yet here in this dream, her feelings were only a timid, secret crush.
I’m sorry, Professor Fisher; I didn’t mean to.
Did I make you angry for making that dismissive and indifferent expression earlier? Is that why this class is self-study now?
Renee, covering her flushed face, twisted in distress like a shy little deer.
But, but Professor Fisher seems to have a great relationship with Jasmine from the next class.
If her rival is Jasmine, then there’s absolutely no chance.
Thinking of this, Renee’s originally flushed face faded to gray, feeling shame before such a strong opponent as Jasmine, completely lacking the spirit to fight back, she could only bow her head and admit defeat like a pitiful creature.
This defeatist mindset was still blossoming deep within Renee’s heart at the moment. If the Fisher on the podium heard that, his eyes would probably pop out of their sockets.
Just then, while Fisher was left feeling isolated and troubled about the progress, the door to the classroom next door opened simultaneously, and the students inside craned their necks, eagerly watching as a beautiful, blonde woman in a black-and-white teacher’s outfit stepped through the entrance.
The woman carried several textbooks labeled “English” casually, her golden curly hair falling down her creamy-white skin, and her blue-golden eyes twinkled with a honey-like smile.
This teacher, like Fisher, had a three-dimensional appearance from a foreign land, and seemed to be a colleague of Professor Fisher at that moment.
The teacher, smiling, closed the door behind her, achieving a good sound insulation effect.
At the same time, she walked slowly to the podium and apologetically said to the students below,
“Sorry, I’m late, everyone.”
“It’s okay.”
“Oh, thank you so much.”
The blonde woman placed the textbooks on the podium, and her blue-golden eyes narrowed with a smile.
Yet, it was clear she wasn’t looking at the students below but at the wall at the end of the classroom, as if she wanted to see through that wall to the next classroom or perhaps, the next room over.
“In that case, let’s not delay and start the class now.”
“Okay! Teacher Hela!”
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(End of chapter)
