Gather Together

“Let’s wait for now.”

“If Senior Qin Wu and the others are nearby, they’ll inevitably run into another team. We can just head over and help when a fight breaks out.”

An Changqing nodded in agreement. “Exactly. This is the center of the city. We’ll be able to sense anything that happens.”

“Both Kamitani Academy and Number Zero Academy have taken heavy losses. Hiiragi Qingbai and Ross have been eliminated, and Charles can’t handle things on his own. He won’t dare provoke us again anytime soon.”

Su Yuehe added, “The two students from Beishi Academy have already left on their own. They said they would try to avoid any battles and look for their teammates.”

An Changqing thought for a moment, then suddenly called out, “Junior Shan Heng.”

Shan Heng straightened at once. “Yes, Senior.”

An Changqing’s gaze was calm. “There’s no need to be so formal, Shan Heng. Can your ability be used for scouting?”

Shan Heng adjusted his glasses and replied somewhat awkwardly, “The range of my domain analysis is limited. And once I activate it, I can easily be detected by ability users of the same level who specialize in knowledge or mental powers. It works fine in a jungle, but in an open area like this, my position would be exposed very easily.”

“I see. So your ability is more suited to close-range analysis and decryption.”

An Changqing nodded in understanding. “In that case, forget it.”

Everyone remained quietly inside for a while. Suddenly, Chen Guan opened his eyes.

“I found them. That’s Senior Qin Wu’s aura.”

An Changqing turned his gaze toward Chen Guan. “Chen Guan, can you tell whether they’re fighting?”

Chen Guan closed his eyes and carefully distinguished the fluctuations in that thread of aura. A moment later, he shook his head.

“That’s strange.”

He opened his eyes, his brows drawing together slightly. “Senior Qin Wu’s aura is very steady. There’s no sign of a battle, and neither are there any signs of fighting from the people around him.”

Those words instantly cooled Long Ao’s previously overheated enthusiasm.

“They haven’t started fighting?”

He looked disappointed and muttered, “Then what are they all gathered together for? A tea party?”

“We’ll know once we go take a look.”

An Changqing made the decision. Without wasting any more time, the group quickly set out, moving through the abandoned streets in the direction Chen Guan had sensed.

Sure enough, when it came to perception, Chen Guan was still the reliable one.

“You’d better come clean.”

Long Ao moved closer and nudged Chen Guan with his elbow, lowering his voice. “Did you secretly keep some ultimate trump card hidden away and use it to send that charlatan Hiiragi Qingbai packing?”

Clearly, Long Ao still wasn’t ready to let it go. The fact that his buddy had apparently unlocked yet another cheat was eating away at him.

Chen Guan stared ahead and answered casually, “He talked too much.”

“Huh?”

Long Ao froze, unable to follow the logic.

“Villains die because they talk too much. That’s common knowledge.”

Chen Guan said it as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Long Ao opened and closed his mouth, but not a single word came out. He simply shut it again. He had just realized that Chen Guan’s train of thought had left his own ten miles behind.

[Brother Ao: I suspect you’re taking a shot at me, but I have no proof.]

[Hahaha, Brother Coffin’s answers are always so refreshingly unconventional.]

[For real. If Hiiragi Qingbai had just gone all-out the moment he entered, Brother Coffin might not have dealt with him so easily. But he had to show off, chanting for ages and flaunting all that windup.]

Because his short legs had kept him at the very back the whole time, Shan Heng silently listened to their conversation. The curiosity in his eyes behind his lenses deepened further.

Soon, they passed through a narrow alley, and the view before them suddenly opened up.

It was a vast city-center plaza. The statue of a hero in the middle had been broken into several pieces, which lay scattered across the cracked paving stones.

Qin Wu and the three fourth-year students under his command stood amid the ruins. Facing them was the team from Beishi Academy, led by none other than their fourth-year captain, Bai Huanran.

The two teams were not fighting. Instead, they maintained a delicate distance from each other and stared together at the scorched patch of ground in the very center of the plaza, surrounded by the statue’s wreckage.

“What’s going on?” Long Ao asked in a low voice, his brows furrowing into a knot. “Why aren’t they fighting?”

“They look exhausted, especially the people from Beishi Academy.”

Su Yuehe spoke softly beside him, her eyes settling on a girl in the Beishi Academy team. Her face was deathly pale, and she could barely stand without her teammates supporting her.

It was obvious that Beishi Academy had drawn the short straw this time. Not only were they down several people, but some of those remaining were clearly battle-damaged.

An Changqing raised a hand, signaling the others to stay where they were. He stepped forward alone and called out, his voice carrying across the silent plaza.

“Senior Qin Wu.”

At the sound of his voice, Qin Wu’s massive frame jolted. He quickly turned around, and the surprise in his eyes immediately gave way to delight when he saw An Changqing and the others.

He made a stopping gesture and called out clearly across the empty plaza, “Don’t come any closer. Stay where you are.”

“Quite the entourage for the defending champions. You show up with quite a crowd.” Beishi Academy’s captain, Bai Huanran, let out a cold laugh. It was impossible to tell whether his tone was praise or mockery. “Qin Wu, it seems our agreement is off.”

Qin Wu ignored the provocation. Looking at An Changqing, he quickly explained, “Half an hour ago, we arrived at almost the same time as the people from Beishi Academy. Then that thing appeared.”

He pointed toward the scorched patch of ground. “A black orb of light appeared out of nowhere, then vanished just as inexplicably.”

A lingering fear showed on Qin Wu’s face. “We agreed to a temporary truce and investigated it together, but no one dared to be the first to approach and get themselves killed.”

Long Ao snorted. “A ball of light…”

“That wasn’t an ordinary ball of light.”

A cool female voice came from behind Qin Wu. It belonged to one of the fourth-year senior students on his team.

“Every object that gets close to it—whether metal or stone—vanishes instantly.”

As she spoke, she picked up a stone beside her foot and threw it.

The stone traced an arc through the air. When it reached a point three meters from the scorched ground, it abruptly disappeared without a sound, as though an eraser had wiped it from existence.

The entire plaza fell completely silent.

Everyone stared at the empty stretch of ground, their eyes filled with an indescribable wariness.

“If you’re too scared to approach it, then stop wasting time and fight us instead.”

A boastful voice suddenly rang out from the other end of the street.

Charles appeared at the entrance to the plaza with the rest of his team.

The remnants of Kamitani Academy, along with their low-year students who had only come along for the experience, followed at a distance. Clearly, the two sides had formed a temporary alliance.

With the eliminated teams excluded, the main forces of all four academies had gathered here in this strange fashion.

Charles swept his gaze across the plaza, finally locking onto Chen Guan and the others. His eyes were so sinister they looked ready to devour someone.

“We meet again.”

He ran his tongue over his lips, making no attempt to conceal his murderous intent. “Looks like that useless Hiiragi Qingbai really was eliminated by you, Chen.”

“You can go ask him yourself whether I was the one who eliminated him.” Chen Guan replied calmly.

“Very well.”

Charles let out a low laugh. Then he drew a blue genetic injection from his waist and, without even looking at it, plunged it into his own neck.