Chapter 488: Protocol And Planning

But why?

Who was she and what did she want? If it was only to attend his class, why couldn’t she just waltz in openly like the rest of the students?

That was unless attending his class wasn’t her objective.

All possible explanations, some bordering the level of conspiracy theories started appearing in Lin Jin’s mind.

‘Is she an enemy?’ Lin Jin thought. He had considered that possibility but Lin Jin was so new to Heavenly Spiral City that it didn’t make sense for him to have enemies yet.

However, due to a coincidence that allowed him to discover the footsteps of the Demonic Appraisal Association, Lin Jin ended up killing Chu Gou and eliminated the rich young master along with his master, the Century Battle Saint, Shi Yuandao.

With this, his grudge with the Demonic Appraisal Association was formally established. Though, they were already enemies long before this.

Chu Gou, Shi Yuandao, and the young master’s corpse must have been discovered by now and the enemy was probably onto Lin Jin.

This was Lin Jin’s intention too. Heavenly Spiral City was most suitable for him to deal with their organization and he need not worry too much here. Otherwise, Lin Jin could have effortlessly disposed of the corpses if concealment was what he was aiming for.

He had deliberately left them behind to make an official statement to the Demonic Appraisal Association that he was the culprit.

Lin Jin had eavesdropped on Chu Gou’s discussion the other night and apparently, their organization was rather influential here in Heavenly Spiral City. According to him, their ‘Black Envoy’ was here and could very well be a member of Heavenly Spiral’s Beast Appraisal Association.

Coincidentally, Appraiser Yang Ming was strangely against Lin Jin during the Rank 4 assessment so Lin Jin couldn’t help but suspect the man’s real identity.

Could Appraiser Yang Ming somehow be related to the Demonic Appraisal Association?

Lin Jin wasn’t just making wild speculations. Otherwise, how should he explain Appraiser Yang Ming’s puzzling resentment and opposition towards him?

After all, they weren’t the least bit acquainted.

The sudden appearance of the mysterious young woman only served to confirm Lin Jin’s suspicions.

Of course, everything only went on inside Lin Jin’s head. He didn’t show it on his face nor did he talk to anyone about it. However, he still felt that it was time to investigate this matter.

Subsequently, Lin Jin began asking about Appraiser Yang Ming in a roundabout way.

Wang Xin didn’t think too much about it. He could tell that there was some disagreement between Lin Jin and Yang Ming too. Since Appraiser Lin was asking, he would tell him what he knew.

“It’s quite rare but since Appraiser Yang Ming wanted to use this hall, he should have shown up but didn’t. This is blatant proof that he’s trying to make things difficult for you. Appraiser Lin, did you somehow offend Appraiser Yang Ming?” Wang Xin asked in a hushed tone.

Lin Jin seemed undisturbed by that question. “I’ll be honest with you, Appraiser Wang. I’ve only just met Appraiser Yang Ming yesterday so how could there possibly be any grudges between us? What more to say of me offending him. It is exactly because of this that I am confused. Hence, I hope to learn more about Appraiser Yang Ming to find out why he’s so against me.”

Wang Xin nodded and started telling Lin Jin what he knew.

With this, Lin Jin came to learn many things about Appraiser Yang Ming from a different perspective.

Here in Heavenly Spiral City, not all Rank 4 beast appraisers were locals of Heavenly Spiral Kingdom. Just like Lin Jin who was Jade Dragon Kingdom’s Supreme Appraiser, he was only here to gain his qualifications in accordance with Tan Xun’s recommendation. Once the three months were up and his agreement with Mr. Zhong ended, he would return to Jade Dragon Kingdom.

Yang Ming was also a ‘foreigner’. He hailed from an intermediate country, Great Deer Kingdom, and was a chief appraiser there. He had traveled here to Heavenly Spiral City three years ago to obtain his Rank 4 qualification.

However, instead of going home, Yang Ming chose to stay in Heavenly Spiral City.

Unsurprisingly, Heavenly Spiral City welcomed him with open arms. After all, a Rank 4 beast appraiser was considered a valuable asset nearly everywhere so it was music to their ears that he had decided to stay.

Not only did Yang Ming boast a significant position in headquarters, but he was also a distinguished teacher of the academy.

As for Great Deer Kingdom’s thoughts on his decision, no one cared. Even if they were unsatisfied, they couldn’t do anything. Not only were they afraid of offending a premium country like Heavenly Spiral Kingdom, but they were also fearful of provoking Yang Ming.

On the topic of personality, Yang Ming was famous for being prideful and arrogant. He scorned those below him and loved being shown respect. However, due to his strength, no one saw fault in his behavior. With enough prowess, he could do as he pleased.

That was the gist of it.

Just like Lin Jin had said, he and Yang Ming weren’t previously acquainted so why was the latter so hellbent on making Lin Jin’s life miserable? Lin Jin could overlook what happened during the assessment but Yang Ming was even trying to disrupt his classes.

How unfortunate that his target happened to be Lin Jin. Other people might have just let him have his way for the sake of maintaining peace and order, but Lin Jin would never do that.

Whoever backs down from this fight would see their reputation go down the drain.

Wang Xin could only provide this much information. Lin Jin thanked him as a brazen assumption came to mind. If Yang Ming was a member of the Demonic Appraisal Association, it would make sense why he was so against Lin Jin.

After all, Lin Jin and demonic appraisers were mortal enemies.

That was a huge possibility.

If that was truly the case, Lin Jin had to start treading carefully from now on.

Of course, all he could do was to raise his guard. Yang Ming’s true identity remained unclear, and there was no real reason for Lin Jin to go on the offensive yet. Though, even if it was confirmed that Yang Ming was a demonic appraiser, Lin Jin would still hold back for now.

After all, he didn’t have a hold of Yang Ming’s weakness nor any evidence that he was actually a demonic appraiser in the first place.

If he acted recklessly, he risked breaking the laws of either Heavenly Spiral Kingdom or the Beast Appraisal Association. When that happens, what awaited him was a severe punishment.

Given his current strength, he was still far from being able to shrug off the repercussions.

His best option was to do things step-by-step. Also, he had to plan further ahead because he would be staying at Heavenly Spiral Academy for only three months. Three months wasn’t a short time nor was it too long, but it was enough to require a mid to long-term arrangement. As for the Demonic Appraisal Association, he definitely had to plan far ahead.

For now, Lin Jin didn’t want to overthink things. He had already made arrangements for the near future.

Besides teaching classes as usual and taking in a few more students tomorrow, his other mission was to visit the Beast Appraisal Pavilion to get an opportunity to record all the beast specimens into the museum.

This was most important because Lin Jin knew full well how heavily he relied on the Museum of Deadly Beasts. Also, the more beasts and rare beasts he recorded, the more rewards and benefits he would reap from the museum.

Before he could do that, Lin Jin was held up.

A few students who attended his lecture hurried over and bowed respectfully at him. One of the lavishly dressed Rank 1 appraisers leaned toward him and whispered, “Lecturer Lin, the third prince has sent me here to show our support for you.”

He knew it!

Lin Jin knew these frivolous scions must have been sent here by Feng Ziqian.

Frankly speaking, Lin Jin was quite grateful that this happened, or his first lesson would have been a rather tragic sight. Besides Tan Lin and Li Xinqi, there would only have been Fan Yuan attending his lecture.

With only three attendees, he was bound to be a laughing stock among his peers, and the students.

Lin Jin observed their little clique. They were three guys and two girls, all of whom held ‘inside information’ and were Feng Ziqian’s people. The other students were rallied by these five individuals and were blissfully oblivious to the fact that Feng Ziqian was somehow involved in this.