翁公和媛媛在厨房里猛烈进出

"I\'ve received some information that the ch-"

"No."

"b-"

"Hell no."

"..."

The last time I had gotten involved with Astrid, I had been time-traveled and found a cat, which was resting in my area of the warehouse right now.

Though I couldn\'t say I completely regretted it as I gained the Dragon\'s Transformation ability from absorbing the blood-red sword, there was no way I was doing it again.

Seeing Astrid still looking at me with an expected expression, I sighed before asking.

"Who exactly are you receiving this information from?"

One time could have been a coincidence, but for Astrid to receive another piece of information that required my help was weird.

Why couldn\'t she go to the school or to her large family or the countless connections she had made as her student council president term?\\\\

Why did it have to be me?

Shaking her head, Astrid replied.

"If I knew that, would I really go to you for help?"

...so she\'s trusting a random piece of information given by some random guy that she doesn\'t even know?

Well, it worked last time, so I can\'t really complain...

Curious as to what the information would be, I asked.

"Alright... I\'ll hear you out, but don\'t get your hopes up."

Placing her two hands on the table, Astrid took out her own smartwatch before projecting the screen of the smartwatch onto the table.

On the table in front of me lay a three-dimensional replica of the academy, complete with all the correct trees and bushes.

Well, I could do that too now with corruption!

Nodding my head and prompting Astrid to continue, I watched as she pinched her figures, zooming in on a specific portion of the academy by making the scale larger.

Pointing at the academy\'s multipurpose room, Astrid asked.

"You should know about what\'s happening here, right?"

Nodding my head, I replied.

"The winter ball."

How could I not know?

Right now, I was currently receiving countless messages about Jin and Han about that very topic!

[Jin: SO YOU ALL KNEW ABOUT THIS BALL THE ENTIRE TIME!?]

[Ren: Hate to break it to you, but I think everybody beside you knew.]

[Han: I saw posters for it three months ago...]

[Jin: I\'M ALREADY BEHIND. WHAT IF ALL OF THE GIRLS HAVE BEEN ASKED OUT ALREADY!?]

[Ren: ...don\'t think you\'re going have to worry about that, not gonna lie.]

[Jin: And what is that supposed to mean?]

[Han: Yeah, you\'re one to talk after that Lily incident at the start of school, Ren.]

[Ren: Low blow dude...]

Putting my smartwatch on Do Not Disturb, I looked back up at the three-dimensional replica of the building where the ball would take place.

Looking up at me, Astrid asked.

"Aren\'t you curious about why I pointed at the building for the ball?"

"An area where the entire student population gathers for a night? A villain and djinn\'s greatest dream."

" *PFFT*"

From beside me, Raven almost fell off his seat while struggling to contain his laughter.

Ignoring the confused Astrid, Raven screamed out.

"YOU HEAR THAT, ZENG? IS THAT REALLY YOUR FANTA-"

Pushing Raven off the chair and interrupting his screaming, I watched him head over to Zeng and sit on the couch next to Zeng before returning my attention to Astrid.

"Sorry about them."

"It\'s fine; it\'s probably my fault for dropping by so abruptly."

Pulling her stool closer to me, Astrid further zoomed in, revealing the inside of the ball room building.

It looked like just what I had expected, resembling those high-school dances that my friends had told me and constantly gossiped about... as my mother had never allowed me to go.

"While they\'re out wasting their time, you\'re creating a better future for yourself."

"Only a certain amount of students are allowed each year into the top colleges; do you want to give up this headstart just because of some silly school event?"

There was a gigantic and currently empty room with a high ceiling with windows and doors all over the place.

Above the flat and empty floor and just below the ceiling, there was just a short ledge that allowed you to see everything below.

Turning my head to Astrid, I asked.

"And why exactly are you showing me this...?"

Picking up a pencil, Astrid started counting all the entrances into the building out loud, even including the glass roof.

"one... two... three... four... five."

"...seventeen...eighteen. nineteen."

Interrupting her count, I said.

"Alright, I get your point, but what are we supposed to do about it? Can\'t we just leave it up to academy security and the heroes?"

Rapidly shaking her head, Astrid immediately replied.

"And you trust them?"

...the book\'s characters are actually... becoming self-aware of the cliches that the author wrote into the plot!

Normally, I would have agreed with her point, but this time, I shook my head in disagreement.

In the main plot of the book, it was the same scenario: a ball with hundreds of students and countless entrances.

Yet, nothing happened.

There were no djinns, villains, or problems.

The reason for this?

Of course, not the useless and nonsensical academy security.

An incident would take place during the Winter Wonderland, but before the ball, and in that incident, the djinns would be majorly defeated by Liam and company.

Thus, the djinns had no resources or energy to attack and invade the ball despite the potential it had for them.

Responding to Astrid\'s confused expression, I said.

"Ironic how the student council president doesn\'t even trust her own school? But, instead, she trusts a random piece of information."

Not wasting another moment, Astrid stood up from the stool, giving me one last glance before saying.

"I\'ll take that as a no to helping."

Without waiting for my response, Astrid turned around and swiftly exited the warehouse.