“Something wrong? Laura Jensen asked.

“Yeah, we have to go to our living quarters.” Jason took a look at his phone, it was actually not his phone, but his phone case.

“Someone came inside our living quarters without permission.” Caroline shook her head and checked her jeans pocket to make sure that her translucent crystal ball that would turn into her weapons were still there: “These fucking spies - I can’t believe they’re actually still here.”

“Okay, I’ll come with you.” Laura Jensen stood up with Jason and Caroline.

“Nonono, it’s okay you don’t have to.” Jason immediately attempted to refuse: “It’s way too dangerous.”

“Hey! Hey! Don’t forget how we met!” Laura Jensen pointed at Jason with her finger and responded with a stern tone: “I bet if we do a rematch, I can kick your ass this time. I’m going with you, and then we can come back and finish our meal together. Deal?”

“Bring her, Jason.” Caroline shrugged: “If you’re about to be in each other’s world.”

“Alright, come.” Jason said as he conjured a spell to dump the leftovers and put the trays and plates to the rack.

The three of them headed back to the big tree of spacial bubbles where the living quarters of audit students were located.

Jason held Laura Jensen by the hand while extending his hand at the tree, and Caroline extended hers all by herself. The next moment, their bodies turned into beams of light and were absorbed by the tree.

When Jason and Laura Jensen appeared in Jason’s own living quarter - a small cottage by a small pound and a small forest nearby. Jason whipped out his silver pen-spear, while Laura Jensen conjured a short sword with long winding patterns carved on both sides of the blade.

Jason headed first into the cottage with Laura Jensen following him, and when they got inside, they saw a male student hunting ground ranger completely entangled by vines and rattan extending from the walls. These vines and rattan were obviously enchanted, so they not only restrained the physical movements of the ranger, but also suppressed all of his magical or superpower abilities. One particularly thick vine wrapped around the mouth area of the ranger, preventing him from speaking or even making a sound.

“Looks like weapons are not needed.” Jason still pointed his silver pen-spear forward as he approached the ranger and lifted the vine that was covering this intruder’s mouth: “Speak, who are you? Why are you here? Who are you working for?”

“I … I …” the ranger struggled, his eyes and his cheeks twitched, his lips trembled as if something was messing with his mind: “I… My … My name is Edward Bloom. I - I came here because we have the suspicion that you or Caroline Baker still have the codex connected to the Hellinger Castle with you. And if you don’t, I was supposed to get the information out of you.”

“Wait, did you say Hellinger Castle?” Laura Jensen’s eyes widened, then she turned to Jason: “Did you know about this?”

“Yeah, I’ve heard about this Hellinger name mentioned by Boss and Ms. Wong before we came here, I just didn’t pay much attention to it.” Jason frowned: “What? Is it important enough for them to come after us like this?”

“You have no idea, don’t you?” The ranger scoffed and shook his head, then went off in some sort of frantic rant: “You shouldn’t have taken it from the artifact archive, you shouldn’t have kept it for yourself and you should have given it to us instead of going behind the administration like a coward. You have NO idea who you’re dealing with, and you should have kept yourself out of it!”

“Yeah, well, sorry I’m just skittish that way.” Jason scoffed back and said: “Now, who do you work for again? And WHY does your employer want the codex?”

“I - I don’t know who I was working for.” The ranger struggled a bit and then succumbed to the influence of the vines: “I just know that his name is Mason. I know that he wants the codex, or at least the information about where it could be, who it was given to and under whose care it is right now.”

“What is this codex anyway?” Jason asked while gently holding Laura Jensen’s arm: “What did this ‘Mason’ say it was?”

“I - I -” the ranger started to struggle again: “I don’t know…”

“So what the fuck is with that angry rant about me not knowing stuff, huh?” Jason shrugged: “Do you at least know what this ‘Mason’ looks like?”

“I - I don’t know.” The ranger was stumped and began stammering: “I - I just thought I’d sound more intimidating so you’ll let me go.”

“Yeah, no, not gonna happen buddy. In fact, after that fucking rant I’m even less willing to let your ass go. Laura, you have some questions for him before we hand him to the academy?”

“Thank you.” Laura Jensen hugged Jason from the side then stepped forward: “What’s with the Hellinger family, why now? What does your employer, this ‘Mason’, want?”

“Something - something about a business opportunity … I’m not sure. He doesn’t tell us that much…”

Jason sat on the side and let out a long sigh after hearing this answer.

“What kind of business opportunity? And what’s in it for you?”