Chapter 4: Facing the Authorities
At this point, Xu Luo had to consider progressing on the Path of Invaders.
Unless he stopped advancing his Zerg, consumption was unavoidable. His divine realm, lacking any resources, could only collect evolution points by consuming the land, which would continuously shrink the realm's area, making it unsustainable. More importantly, due to the scarcity of resources, collection was extremely slow.
If he were as wealthy as Xiang Yang, he wouldn't need to worry and could simply buy resource cards to build his realm.
But coming from an ordinary family, he had no spare money for resource cards.
The only option was to plunder!
Since he hadn't started plundering yet, Xu Luo temporarily held off on advancing his Zerg. He could do it when needed, preferring to store evolution points for now.
The next day, after waking up and consuming some unpalatable toothpaste-like nutrient fluid, Xu Luo checked his divine realm's progress. Seeing the tireless efforts of the mayflies, he had accumulated some evolution points; with continued accumulation, he would grow stronger.
After reviewing the changes in his realm, Xu Luo took the city rail to school.
As usual, their homeroom teacher, Zhang Jianming, explained divine realm development methods to the class. This was valuable experience accumulated by generations of human predecessors; alien civilizations wouldn't share such information with them.
How to harvest faith, efficiently cultivate follower species, enrich the realm's biodiversity, and manage various resources were all subjects of study, not something to be developed haphazardly.
Xu Luo listened attentively. Although the Zerg didn't need diverse species (other creatures would just become their food), learning how to efficiently build a divine realm was still useful to him.
However, halfway through the lesson, a thin, tall middle-aged man appeared at the classroom door.
"Teacher Zhang, could you come out for a moment?"
The man's face was expressionless, showing no emotion; though puzzled, Zhang Jianming told the class to study on their own and stepped out. A while later, Zhang Jianming returned with a troubled expression.
"Xu Luo, come with me for a moment." Hearing this, Xu Luo's face changed, but he followed; meanwhile, the classroom buzzed with discussion. Although they didn't know what had happened, the teacher's expression suggested it wasn't good news.
Outside the classroom, Zhang Jianming couldn't help but look at Xu Luo. "I heard you invaded Xiang Yang's divine realm and killed his goblins?"
When he first heard this news, Zhang Jianming thought he was dreaming.
"Teacher Zhang, to clarify, he invaded my realm first. I was merely counterattacking."
"Hiss! So it's true!"
Zhang Jianming still found it hard to believe. Wasn't Xu Luo's initial species insects? That was considered the weakest species. Although goblins weren't top-tier either, compared to insects, the difference was like heaven and earth!
In the classroom, students sitting near the door overheard their conversation.
"What? Xu Luo killed Xiang Yang's goblins? That can't be true!"
"Is it real? Didn't Xu Luo have insects? How could he possibly kill Xiang Yang's goblins?"
The students shared Zhang Jianming's disbelief, unable to accept this as fact.
"Sigh, let's go to the Dean of Students' office first," Zhang Jianming sighed. He was just an ordinary teacher, but he had already messaged the principal, hoping he would arrive in time.
***
In the Dean of Students' office.
"So you're Xu Luo?" The thin, tall middle-aged man who had called Zhang Jianming earlier was the Dean of Students, named Zhao Yiming. He was also Xiang Yang's uncle.
"Absolutely lawless. Don't you know that invasions between classmates are forbidden?"
No mutual invasions allowed?
Xu Luo sneered inwardly. If he didn't know this was Xiang Yang's uncle, it might have been different. But knowing this, his words seemed ridiculous.
No matter how righteous he sounded, it couldn't hide his bias.
"Xiang Yang invaded my realm first. I was forced to counterattack," Xu Luo replied calmly. Knowing this was Xiang Yang's relative, there was no point in saying much. The aggressive approach made their intentions clear.
"Hm?"
Originally only hearing that Xu Luo had invaded Xiang Yang's realm and killed his goblins, Zhang Jianming's expression changed upon hearing Xu Luo's explanation. He turned to look at Xiang Yang.
"Xiang Yang, is this true?"
"Uh?"
Xiang Yang, who had only wanted to see Xu Luo in trouble, hadn't expected the focus to shift to him. Hearing Zhang Jianming's question, he was momentarily speechless.
"That's enough, you don't need to say anything."
Seeing his reaction, Zhang Jianming knew Xu Luo was telling the truth.
"Dean Zhao, according to school rules, Xu Luo was forced to defend himself. Even if he had destroyed Xiang Yang's entire realm, it would be considered self-defense. I think we should end this here, otherwise, invading a classmate's realm is punishable!"
"Teacher Zhang, are you telling me how to do my job?"
Zhao Yiming frowned, looking displeased at Zhang Jianming. As a son-in-law of the Xiang family, he had always had things his way and wasn't used to being contradicted.
"If Dean Zhao wants to use his position to pressure others, then let's go to the principal to discuss this. But when the punishment comes down..."
Seeing the two opposing each other, Xu Luo felt a warmth in his heart. This homeroom teacher was quite responsible; he knew how powerful the Xiang family was in this city.
"Fine!" Zhao Yiming sneered. He didn't believe the principal wouldn't give face to the Xiang family.
And so, with Zhao Yiming leading, Zhang Jianming brought Xu Luo and Xiang Yang from the Dean's office to the principal's office.
"Come in!"
Before Zhao Yiming could knock, the principal's voice came from inside.
Zhao Yiming pushed the door open, and the others followed. They saw a robust middle-aged man sitting there, exuding authority even without speaking. He was currently looking at documents in his hand.
This was Zhong Tianyue, the principal of Tianhai City's Sixth
High School, a former divine warrior with medium divine power, holding a place among human deities in the Divine Continent.
"Principal, this Xu Luo disregarded school rules and chose to become an invader right after establishing his divine realm, invading a classmate's realm. If such a lawless student isn't dealt with properly, who will take school rules seriously?" Zhao Yiming immediately accused, turning the tables. "Oh?"
Although aware of the invasion incident, Zhong Tianyue didn't know the details.
"Principal, Xiang Yang invaded first. Xu Luo was only forced to counterattack!" Zhang Jianming quickly explained.
"Since both parties are present, why don't you tell us who invaded first?"
Zhong Tianyue ignored Zhao Yiming and Zhang Jianming, looking directly at Xu Luo and Xiang Yang.
Xiang Yang opened his mouth but said nothing. He had only wanted his uncle to teach Xu Luo a lesson, not expecting it to escalate to the principal's office.
"Principal, Xiang Yang invaded my realm. He threatened to buy my divine realm, and when I refused, he directly launched an invasion. I have his emails and the invasion records from my divine realm!"
Facing Zhong Tianyue's gaze, Xu Luo spoke calmly and confidently.