Chapter 1249: with translation of chapter title

No. 153: Untouchable, thus shining

The nursery school had no abandoned classrooms.

Buildings will be renovated, desks and chairs refurbished, and the more crucial educational equipment will likewise follow the trends of the Demon Realm's education sector, being adjusted every few years.

Amidst all that has changed, who is still feeling nostalgic?

The feathered serpent's curious eyes scanned around, eventually settling on the old and young pair.

Although the visual feedback felt especially awkward, in the information she could find, only the former's age was not a secret.

Even among the 'Sakatze' group she knew of, an age fast approaching five digits could hardly be called young.

Such longevity is practically a living history.

But...

Studying inanimate objects and studying living people are ultimately different, especially in terms of cost.

Inanimate objects do not intentionally conceal themselves, but living people have 'concealment' etched into their bones, forcing you to devise extra ways to probe their value.

The simplest example is right now:

Aomo: 'The third‑grade classroom… I wasn't even in third grade back then.'

Hanna: 'Three years after you left, Old Gutte finalized the reshuffle; that year had especially many kids, with each grade getting extra classes.'

I remember saying that online back then.

Wasn't there any abandonment from the start?

Since we discovered its obvious utility, abandoning it would be wrong.

Good, then do you want to go see the original sports field?

Why not? I've been concerned ever since I arrived that that space seems smaller than before.

The Demon Realm's track and field events have never been ideal, and in recent years the friendly races with the Horse Girls have been a heavy blow.

Ah, that's easy to understand—under equal source‑energy conditions, only those who are likewise horse‑type specialists could possibly compete on equal footing...

Hey, listen—what are they even talking about?

Although I didn't initially expect this old demon to reveal any secrets of the past, I had at least hoped to hear some childhood‑related info about Aomo Lindun.

But the result… if you ask whether this counts as childhood‑related info, it certainly does, yet what significance does this talk of the alma mater's development path and the horse‑item suppressing other track events have?

Even after a few seconds of inattention, the topic jumped to the nearby bone flute, then expanded to recent years' magical beasts used exclusively for flute‑making, whose new medicinal‑value direction has driven up flute prices!

This recollection‑based topic trajectory is overly all‑encompassing; even someone as adept as Huo Erhaiya at extracting information from chaotic chatter can only feel that these two are purely chatting about life.

They chat about daily life, work, and students' difficulties, but if you claimed they discussed everything, they actually both avoided recent events, never mentioning Xiao Qian, Texas, or Aomo's foster father.

Nor did they talk about Aomo's job as a trainer in Tresen.

Yet if you say they lived here for over two years back then, they obviously don't harbor deep nostalgia, nor do they have many topics.

So their talk has increasingly turned to the present, to the current state of the nursery school.

Although some curious, enthusiastic children occasionally stepped forward to greet or ask for help, acting as interruptions to the topic, once the issues were properly settled the two could easily and naturally resume that conversation, as if that were the focus of their meeting.

When such dialogue continued to the end, continuing until I and Mr. Aomo walked away under Ms. Hanna's gaze, reaching the nursery school's gate, Huo Erhaiya finally dropped her surface smile, breaking the politeness of not speaking up beforehand.

She said:

"Really spooky."

"A very restrained comment."

Compared to Huo Erhaiya, who glanced back twice on the way, Aomo Lindun never turned his head, merely lifting his gaze to the sky as if waiting for something, evaluating her evaluation.

He still added consolingly: "Really, you've worked hard, sticking it out to the end."

Whether it was him or Hanna, both had once offered Huo Erhaiya a chance—when other teachers greeted her, when other children asked for help, they'd naturally inquire if she wanted to stay awhile to pass the time, and the fact is this feathered serpent likewise naturally shook her head.

Even Xiao Qian's remarks were used by her as a shield.

When she claimed she was here to watch over Xiao Qian for herself, Aomo still recalled Miss Qian's expression upon seeing her, which made things even spookier.

But to expose her, it's clearly unnecessary.

Perhaps it really could be like this…

Just thinking back to that pink‑haired JK's obviously hard‑to‑accept reaction, he felt that having multiple explanations was also fine.

As for Grandma's reactions to the 'nostalgia trip' from various unrelated people…

She accepted it with the usual tolerant kindness she shows before children, letting both sides accept that… Aomo couldn't help but admit that the feathered serpent lady's full gear—height, outer robe, and exoskeleton—presented a visual silhouette that truly couldn't be called a small tail.

But since that big tail can be so calm and patient, it's still worth a bit of praise.

"What's that? Ha~ just a bit boring," the woman yawned, stretched, causing Aomo's gaze to drift elsewhere; seeing this, she merely squinted and smiled, "You're looking for her not just to follow up on that matter, are you? Then I'll bring out a more serious atti~tude~"

"But is this a success or a failure?" she suddenly asked, turning her head again toward the nursery school left behind, "You're just engaging in a completely fake nostalgia chat, not discussing any real business at all."

"Success… it only counts from now on."

At the corner convenient for waiting for transport, Aomo raised his hand to tap open the public settings on the light screen, letting Huo Erhaiya, who had come up beside him, see the unread messages above.

【Thank you for coming specially to find me and walk this road, little Aomo】

【The information you want is inside this software】

——————Hanna sent you an APK software titled 《Demonic Dao Source》

Reject

Accept←

"Haven't you checked it first? What if it has a virus?" she asked, looking at the file and also noticing Mo Lisen. exe peeking at the file from the corner, her gaze turning strange as well.

This also let her blend into Aomo's scrutinizing gaze.

Because at this moment, speaking is as fragrant as exhaling orchids, but since there's no physical contact and what's seen is only the screen, Aomo can only say the other party merely lacks a sense of distance.

To ignore it is fine; actively pointing it out would likely just give them an excuse to expand on it.

This young lady always remains composed yet frivolous in this regard, able to subtly remind him of someone.

That is the chief executive officer of the Two Worlds Safety Bureau, another version of myself from another universe.

Such an association truly makes it hard not to feel subtle.

"She doesn't need to do that." He shook his head, seeing Aomo's upload complete, pressed install, immediately turned back, then saw that familiar flash of red light spreading, just about to raise his hand, but instead saw Huoerhaiya's ever-present staff burst forth a visible green wind vortex, instantly creating a temporary gap in it.

It then re-'healed' a few meters past the two, striking the road and buildings, bringing a piercing cacophony of vehicle noise and shattering sounds.

The magical energy surge, this local feature that reminds of urban reconstruction, is also functioning as usual today.

"Just as you also heard before, she never said anything like trying to keep me or invite me."

"Ah, indeed, the way you two pretend to be nostalgic makes me want to vomit," Huoerhaiya bluntly said, "It's obvious they're putting on an act, yet they insist on chatting about the past like that, sighing about the present—could that also be considered your kind of fun?"

"Not really that kind of fun, but perhaps it can be seen as a ritual; ordinary rituals are to please the gods, whereas walking like that just now is to please grandma."

"... Then she's still quite easy to serve." Yushe was somewhat speechless.

"Indeed, as long as you prove you haven't wasted your talent and become mediocre, she will feel satisfied, and won't even want to keep you, nor want you to hesitate and waver."

"I actually understand her quite well."

"Because you truly are what she believes you to be, her kind?" The earlier Huoerhaiya, though not present, still cannot be underestimated for her information network.

"No." Aomo shook his head, speaking softly, and tapped the software's open button.

"I understand it from the trainer's perspective."

"Eh?"

"Hope the children's spirit can be maintained, hope their desires won't be corrupted, at least before retirement, wanting to see them still as striking and even dazzling as when first seen..."

"Such a conflicted mindset is really easy to understand."

"Conflicted?" Huoerhaiya hearing it didn't feel there was any conflict.

Isn't this just an ordinary hope for the other to do better?

"It's love, Miss Huoerhaiya."

"All hope stems from your admiration for those appearances; the more you hope, the more it stems from affection, and that affection within desire is so wavering that it easily skews toward selfish love."

"But you also clearly know how selfish your love is, and how far she is from the image you hope for."

"It's not that she changed, but your hope for her has already changed unknowingly."