Suddenly, an awkward silence fell.

The off-road vehicle sped straight down the road and onto the square at the base of the towering building. As soon as the car came to a halt, a crowd of people dressed in black surged forward, surrounding the vehicle in tight, impenetrable ranks.

At a glance, there must have been several hundred of them.

Clearly, Lu Feng was extremely uncomfortable with such a scene. For nineteen years, his life had been defined by loneliness, pain, superfluousness, indifference, and lovelessness. Suddenly being the object of so much attention, in his eyes, could only mean he was here to be mocked.

This nineteen-year-old boy still kept his heart tightly locked away.

“Are you ready?” Lin Doudou looked at Lu Feng and asked.

“Ready for what?” Lu Feng was slow to react.

“All these people outside are here for you.” Lin Doudou had anticipated a commotion when she reported his imminent arrival to headquarters, but she hadn’t expected anything of this magnitude.

“For me? That can’t be…” Lu Feng stared at the sea of black-clad figures outside the SUV, suddenly recalling the swarm of ghosts from the previous night, and felt a chill in his heart.

“Why?” Lu Feng’s nerves tensed abruptly.

“Because your talent is extraordinary. Everyone wants to see you for themselves. Here, power is everything.” As Lin Doudou spoke, Xiaoxue shot a sidelong glare at Lu Feng, the words clearly stinging her pride.

Lin Doudou opened the door and stepped out, closing it behind her with a practiced motion.

When the crowd saw where Lu Feng was sitting, a wave of excitement swept through them. Almost instantly, the door on Lu Feng’s side was pulled open by a middle-aged man in slightly more opulent attire.

“Hehehe, you’re here at last?” The man’s words were gentle, his smile radiant, the lines on his face deepening as he grinned.

Lu Feng looked at him, noticing how he’d only cracked the door open a sliver, wedging his body firmly in the gap, as if afraid anyone else might get ahead of him.

Behind him, several others dressed in similar finery jostled and clawed at his back, their anxious faces twisted with impatience, muttering curses under their breath.

Watching these well-dressed men squabble for position outside the SUV, Lu Feng felt both bewildered and amused.

“Hey, move over, will you?”

“Come on, can’t you show a little dignity?”

“Step aside, can’t you act like a teacher for once?”

From their words, it was obvious these men were teachers.

Their enthusiasm was overwhelming—almost frightening.

“Enough! All of you, step back!”

A voice like a drumbeat thundered from afar, and another splendidly attired middle-aged man strode quickly toward the SUV.

Through the window, Lu Feng saw Lin Doudou following close behind him.

Lu Feng was no fool; he immediately realized Lin Doudou had gone to fetch reinforcements.

“Good day, Director.”

“Director, good day.”

“Good day, Director.”

As the middle-aged man approached, the crowd parted respectfully, greetings laced with awe trailing in his wake.

He must be the highest-ranking official here, Lu Feng thought.

“This is a disgrace. Let go!” The Director barked at the man blocking the door.

Reluctantly, the man released his grip, stepping back and dragging his peers with him, faces set in childish petulance.

“Have you forgotten what it means to be a role model? Acting like this in front of so many students—how shameful! All of you, get back to your posts. And you, and you, what are you staring at? Go back!”

The Director’s words restored order in an instant, dispersing the crowd of onlookers as if they had never been there.

Lu Feng was deeply impressed. Silently, he gave the Director a mental thumbs up.

When only the Director, Lin Doudou, and a few of the well-dressed men remained in the square, Lu Feng finally felt safe enough to push open the door and step out.

“Hehehe, you’re here at last?” The Director’s face bloomed into a smile as he warmly seized Lu Feng’s hand, his enthusiasm eclipsing even that of the man who’d opened the door earlier.

Lu Feng, just stepping from the car, nearly stumbled, his legs buckling beneath him, and a startled expletive escaped his lips.

Behind the Director, Lin Doudou jerked with surprise, her round eyes fixed on the Director in disbelief.

There was no helping it—the Director’s transformation was simply too drastic. His smile was even more shameless than the first man’s.

Wait, he’d mentioned “in front of so many students” a moment ago… But now, there were no students present.

The Director was a master of wordplay, no question. Truly a sly old fox.

Lu Feng glanced at the middle-aged men who had been jostling moments before; their faces were livid, their teeth clenched as they glared at the Director with undisguised contempt.

They were seething but dared not speak—clearly, the Director had some real authority.

After this brief interaction, Lu Feng suddenly felt he might have come to the wrong place.

To be honest, this was a world apart from the impression Lin Doudou’s squad had given him in the field. Still, judging by their matching black uniforms, this was surely a special authority agency. The sense of the unknown here eased a little in his mind.

Once Lu Feng was out of the car, the Director kept a firm grip on his hand, leading him toward the building. The intimacy between the two men was so uncomfortable that Lu Feng tried several times, unsuccessfully, to reclaim his hand. The grip was ironclad.

The other splendidly dressed men trailed behind, heads hung low, looking as though they’d lost their dearest relatives.

Inside the dim building, they took the elevator to the Director’s office, where at last the Director let go of Lu Feng’s hand.

“Now, why have you all followed us here? Get back to your work, the lot of you. Captain Lin can stay.”

“Director, isn’t this a bit inappropriate?” the well-dressed men prodded one another, finally pushing one forward to speak.

“Old Liu, what are you implying? I haven’t done a thing,” the Director replied shamelessly.

“Director, we’ve all known you for years—who doesn’t know what you’re up to?”

The Director chuckled slyly. “Look, here’s the situation. Everyone wants to take young Lu as their own student, right?”

They all nodded eagerly.

“I understand how you all feel—after all, a genius like this comes once in a century. But if any one of you takes him, the rest will never agree, right?”

Again, they nodded in fervent agreement.

“So, the only solution is for me, reluctantly, to take him myself. That way, the conflict is resolved at its root. I’m the Director, after all—you can hardly object to me, can you? Hahaha.”

Seeing the Director’s words tying the others in knots, Lu Feng could hold back no longer. He spoke up:

“Gentlemen… Please wait a moment. I don’t believe I ever said I was joining you.”

The room fell instantly silent, every face darkening with embarrassment.

Indeed—they’d completely overlooked the person at the center of it all.

An awkward predicament, to say the least.

They had considered many possible scenarios, but never this one.