Black Bird Academy

The next day Bi Ling was summoned by Madame Fu. She was not a huge fan of the woman. She could see the envy in her eyes. If this were the Bai Ling of the past, Madam Fu's eyes would seem bright, not vicious.

Looking back on the past, her friend Gao Mei has such eyes as well. Bai Ling smiled at the thought. She was too naive.

"Yes, Madame?" Bai Ling lowered her head like Shi Jing and answered the jealous woman.

Madame Fu saw the slight mockery in Bai Ling's eyes and pursed her lips. It didn't matter. After she threw the little slut into the academy, her skin, face, and body will toughen up after training.

Bai Ling will no longer be a threat to her them. Joy filled Madam Fu at the thought of this.

"You will be apart of the Pavillion. This time, you will be in the background." Shi Jing frowned at this order.

Shi Jing knew this was where Madam Fu sent the prettiest girls to be mauled, mutilated and roughened up.

The training in the Black Bird Academy was a place she sent her spies. They had to train for three years before she used them. Some of the girls didn't even make it past the first year.

"I will be sending you to my Black Bird academy. There, you will train along with other girls. If you complete the three-year education there, you will work for me for the rest of your life."

Bai Ling did not like the terms Madam Fu set before her. However, she needed the power to reject. That much she understood. She saw the way the men around the madam flocked to her. Some subservient and others had plain worship in their eyes. They didn't care how Madam Fu treated them; instead, they loved it.

"I accept your order, Madam." Bai Ling had to play the system for now. She wasn't stupid enough to show her disdain for the proposal. Who knew if she would gain something from the academy?

Shi Jing was visibly worried for Bai Ling. She did not want Bai Ling to be devoured in the academy. As much as she wanted to defend Bai Ling, she how to know her place.

So the two left the hall, both feeling strong emotions of helplessness.

Madam Fu watched as the two girls left the hall. A tall guard came in after them to report to his mistress.

"Speak."

"Madam, the two recruiters you hired from the mercenary clan is missing. The clan is demanding an explanation from you." Madam Fu raised an eyebrow at the report she received.

"Why should I explain? They did not even deliver the five girls they promised. I only got one, and she came to me." Now that she was thinking about it, Madam Fu was curious. What happened to the men she hired?

She then remembered that one of her men told her that Bai Ling was sent here by two men. If so, where did they go after sending her here.

Seeing as they had no proof of the men being here after getting the mission, Madam Fu decided to turn the table on the mercenary clan. She sent out orders to demand an answer as to why their clan members did not finish their work.

"How dare they demand anything from me?" Little did Madam Fu know, she protected the very girl she hated by doing this.

*

Shi Jing led Bai Ling to through countless hallways until they reached the other end of the pavilion.

They went outside, and Bai Ling came before a huge wall of trees. Through the trees, Bai Ling could faintly see the outline of a wall.

"I will open the wall for you. The academy is up ahead." Shi Jing looked like she wanted to say more, but she held back. She played with her fingers a bit before turning to the trees.

With a raise of her hand, the previously stagnant trees started to move. This surprised Bai Ling. She had heard about the supernatural but have never seen it before.

She looked at Shi Jing moving the trees with a series of movements and wondered if she could do it as well.

[Heh. Not in your state.]

The voice from before whispered in Bai Ling's ears, and she looked around, wondering who or what it was. This was the second time she heard the voice; she hoped she could find what it was soon. Seeing no one else in sight, Bai Ling left it in the back of her head.

"Let's go." Before Shi Jing was a path to the building, Bai Ling saw earlier. She walked down the path, and the two came before two men standing guard before the academy.

"State your name and class."

"I am not attending the academy. This is Bai Ling she will be in class 3." The two men took the papers from Shi Jing and glanced at Bai Ling. She stunned them with her beauty, but Bai Ling seemed indifferent to their shocked faces.

Shi Jing seemed irritated by their looks. No one should look at Bia Ling like that. Shi Jing took snatched the papers from their hands and brought Bai Ling in.

"I'll take her to where she is staying." With heated steps, Shi Jing brought Bai Ling to the Class three dorms.

"This is where we part ways for a while." Looking like she had something to say, Shi Jing lingered around Bai Ling.

"What is it?" Bai Ling grew impatient at her jittery nature.

"Uhm, be careful." Bai Ling tilted her head, puzzled. Shi Jing continued, "Madam Fu only sent you here because she is threatened. You would have been one of the girls working on the front, but she sent you here. She wants you to be tortured and run rugged by the training here."

Bai Ling smirked at her. "Don't worry; I felt jealousy oozing from the old bat. Besides, I prefer this than selling my body." Bai Ling had to thank the woman this time. Because fo her, Bai Ling did not have to meet and interact with any unnecessary man.

"If that is all, this is goodbye." Bai Ling had nothing else to say despite Shi Jing's kindness towards her. Bai Ling has already been hurt by someone she considered a close friend before. So she was very wary towards others.

Bai Ling went into the dorms without looking back at Shi Jing, and instead of being hurt, Shi Jing found her cool.