Chapter 99.1: Teacher Ying’s Speech
Wu Heng and a nearby hand withdrew at the same time. He seized the initiative and said, “Be a little nicer to the teacher.”
But Xie Chongyi, right in front of everyone’s eyes, reached toward his neck.
Wu Heng couldn’t see it himself, but he could—dark red marks encircled his neck, torn open and then closing again.
The spot Xie Chongyi touched turned icy cold, but he said nothing. After lowering his hand, he shifted his gaze elsewhere.
After Liu Ning nodded to accept Ying Liuquan’s self-recommendation, Lin Mengzhi asked, “That kid… did he really die? That man just now said he did.”
Liu Ning nodded.
Lin Mengzhi’s eyes flickered with darkness and then faded. Finally, he slumped his shoulders. “I didn’t intend to kill him. I just wanted to teach him a lesson. And I couldn’t see him at the time, I…”
Liu Ning patted his shoulder, interrupting his self-blame. “This kind of situation is common and normal. Right now, ability users are unstable weapons in every way. We provide protection and labor for humanity, so the collective should also give us appropriate respect and tolerance.”
“But wanton killing is still forbidden. At no time can we lose our humanity. So a report still needs to be filed, so that in the future, management policies regarding espers can be developed more comprehensively.”
“Then I’ll go too,” Lin Mengzhi said. “A’Heng will go as well.”
Wu Heng asked, “Why do I have to go?”
Lin Mengzhi replied, “I kill one, you kill two.”
“Teacher Ying will be responsible.”
Ying Liuquan immediately jumped up. “I’m not responsible for murder!!!!”
The others looked at him with disgust.
They’d never seen a teacher like this.
“Then I’ll go,” Wu Heng said. He didn’t trust Ying Liuquan to bring Lin Mengzhi along; he had no doubt that, at the decisive moment, Ying Liuquan would hand Lin Mengzhi straight under the guillotine.
Once the participants were confirmed, Liu Ning forced out a smile for them once more, then turned gracefully and strode toward Liu Shen, who was still sprawled on the ground. She kicked him upright. “Drive the car over here.”
Dou Lu remained on high alert. She looked at the two of them and said, “Be careful. Who knows if they’re really good people.”
Xue Shen considered things more rationally. “Kuhuang has already made contact with Jingzhou, right? Wu Dian and Sheng Jiang should be fine.”
“Who knows if Wu Dian and Sheng Jiang are really good people,” Dou Lu said.
Lin Mengzhi chimed in, “Isn’t the class monitor acquainted with them?”
“Who knows if the class monitor is… ugh!” Dou Lu’s words were abruptly muffled by Shen Ping’an, who acted with lightning speed.
“Stay safe,” Shen Ping’an said, looking at Wu Heng.
Xie Chongyi remained silent the entire time. He looked inexplicably sour. After Shen Ping’an finished speaking, Xie Chongyi opened his palm, and a bug appeared on his hand.
Wu Heng didn’t even have time to dodge. The insect crawled along Xie Chongyi’s fingertip and leapt upward. He only felt a chill on his forehead as the bug quickly vanished into his thick, soft hair.
Dou Lu flailed her arms and struggled, making muffled noises. Her eyes widened as she tried to threaten Shen Ping’an.
Worried she might suffocate, Shen Ping’an finally let go.
She gasped a few times, then raised both hands. In each palm appeared a faint golden-silver glow, spinning faster and faster until they transformed into three hollow pendant-like spheres. Proudly, she said, “That gold-type ability user just threw a cage. I adapted it on the fly.”
Then, she hurled one toward the open ground in the distance. The instant it flew, it began to expand. Unlike Meng Haiqing’s spheres, which split in two to capture targets, Dou Lu’s sphere shattered upon touching the ground, forming countless short silver rods of uniform length that swarmed the target. A trash can was surrounded, and the rods immediately reorganized, encasing it within the silver sphere.
“I think mine is more flexible than his,” Dou Lu said, clapping her hands. She called the silver spheres back to her palm and handed one to each of the three. “But I don’t know how long this ability can last. Come back as quickly as you can.”
Xue Shen had little to offer them, so he simply filled each of their water bottles.
Wu Heng hung the silver sphere on his messenger bag and carried a bottle of heavy water on his back. He found Xie Chongyi’s gaze lingering in the distance and tilted his head, staring at him. “Why aren’t you talking to me?”
“Nothing to say.” Although Xie Chongyi’s attention was elsewhere, his response was quick and sharp. He tightened the strap of his steel helmet and looked at Wu Heng with a faint smile. “Go early, return early. Don’t die out there.”
The boy’s attitude was different from usual; a rare trace of latent hostility showed through. Everyone else instinctively fell silent. Xue Shen frowned. “Who pissed him off this time?”
Wu Heng felt pleased with himself. “Definitely not me. I just worked perfectly with the class monitor.”
The others couldn’t help but reflect on themselves.
The Kuhuang control center was located at the outermost edge of the Kuhuang outskirts. Buildings of varying heights were shrouded under layers of black clouds. Sunlight shone from behind but couldn’t pierce through, only gilding the edges of the clouds.
Below, the buildings were dilapidated. Rusting, yellowed propaganda signs promoting ethnic culture hung on the walls. The plaza tiles in front of the buildings were cracked from drying out.
Walking beneath the black clouds, the temperature dropped; even the wind carried a chill.
Lin Mengzhi grabbed Wu Heng’s arm from behind, lowering his voice and wearing a tense expression. “This place feels haunted!”
Wu Heng looked up at the top of the buildings and realized that what he thought were clouds wasn’t clouds at all. It was layer upon layer of flowing black shadows, the same kind of entity he had seen earlier near the greenhouse.
He instinctively glanced at Liu Shen, a short distance behind them. The man’s tall and muscular frame did little to offset the horrific disfigurement of his face. Under the shadows, he exuded the aura of a demon.
Noticing Wu Heng glancing back while walking, Liu Shen curled his lips into a grin and strode forward.
His approach didn’t scare Wu Heng. Wu Heng tossed out a remark, “You might want to consider wearing a mask,” and then turned his gaze away.
Inside, the building rose dozens of meters high. Several pots of lush ferns stood atop the non-operational elevators. The polished floors radiated cold air, making the interior feel like a completely different world from the outside.
Liu Ning led the four of them into the elevator. She moved aside the control panel, and her fingers transformed into five spearheads, plunging into it.
Lin Mengzhi was still studying how to operate it when the floor jolted beneath them.
“Waaaahhh—”
The elevator shot upward.
Clang! —The doors opened. Liu Ning stepped into the corridor with long strides, while the others clutched the cabin walls, dizzy and disoriented.
“The center controls electricity. Power must first be supplied for use within the base, so elevators rely on ability users to manually raise and lower them. The speed is hard to control. Please understand,” Liu Ning explained. “Follow me.”
“Teacher, you go first,” Lin Mengzhi said, pushing Ying Liuquan to the front.
Ying Liuquan exhaled, removed his steel helmet, and brushed back the sweat-soaked hair stuck to his forehead. Heart pounding, he nervously followed Liu Ning.
The corridor was long and winding, not straight at all. Along the way, the group even examined the walls, which detailed Kuhuang’s development before the apocalypse: its urban culture, city layouts, and historical highlights. Numerous photos adorned the walls, none yellowed with age—nighttime fountains in the plaza, uneven yet smiling groups performing square dances, images of community cultural events along the streets, and close-ups of intangible cultural heritage items.
After looking at the photos for so long, glancing out the right-side windows brought a stark contrast: broken walls, endless ruins. Nearby, dark clouds loomed; in the distance, the land seemed to be scorched by blazing fire.
The deeper they went into the building, the cooler and darker it became.
Lin Mengzhi shivered, turning to glance at Wu Heng. He kept his head slightly lowered, calm and composed.
Liu Ning led them into a reception room, holding two cups. “Tea or coffee?”
Given these conditions…
“Just water,” Ying Liuquan said, rubbing his thighs, speaking cautiously.
Wu Heng also wanted water. Lin Mengzhi asked for a can of cola.
“Water will be better,” Liu Ning said. “Sugary drinks are reserved for base residents first.”
She poured the water for each of the three and placed it in front of them. Then, suddenly, she reached toward Liu Shen. A mist of pale blue, dreamy and ethereal, burst forth. Liu Shen furrowed his brow, too slow to dodge, and crashed onto the sofa.
“Send him to the dungeon,” Liu Ning said.
The three of them didn’t know who she was speaking to—there was no one else in the room.
Lin Mengzhi had no choice but to put down his water and stand up.
Behind them came the clatter of leather boots striking the floor. Two guards emerged from the walls.
They walked directly to the unconscious Liu Shen, one on each side, grabbed his shoulders, and dragged him into the wall.
“What… what kind of ability is that?” Lin Mengzhi thought to himself. Knowledge of one’s enemy is key to victory; he realized he needed to ask and investigate more.
“Earth type,” Liu Ning said, sitting down on the sofa across from them. “Mr. Mo doesn’t like too many people, so the guards are mostly hidden inside the walls. We also have office rooms inside the walls.”
“Wow, amazing! The ability users at your base are all incredible!” Lin Mengzhi exclaimed genuinely.
“All thanks to Mr. Mo,” Liu Ning replied, keeping her legs elegantly to the side, maintaining a poised demeanor. She added, “You three are impressive too, able to withstand so many attacks from Liu Shen and Mr. Mo. No one else in Kuhuang could manage that.”
Lin Mengzhi waved his hand. “Of course.”
“Not at all, not at all,” Ying Liuquan quickly interjected, worried his students might become overconfident from the praise.
Wu Heng sat in the middle of the sofa, holding his cup of water. After a moment’s thought, he asked, “What kind of ability does Liu Shen have? Can he disguise himself?”
“Wood type. His true form is a poplar tree,” Liu Ning revealed without hesitation.
Wu Heng traced the rim of his cup with his fingers, thoughtful.
Ugly? Perhaps a bit. But his level more than made up for it.
Liu Ning refilled all three of their cups. “Liu Shen doesn’t know his own limits. For matters he considers important, he can be quite capable, but if he thinks it doesn’t matter… then he can be as disgusting as he wants. Even Mr. Mo often has no solution for him.”
Wu Heng and Lin Mengzhi nodded—a gesture showing they were listening.
Ying Liuquan looked at the two of them, then at Liu Ning, tentatively asking, “You mean… there won’t be any real punishment for Liu Shen, right?”
Liu Ning set down the kettle and gave Ying Liuquan a deep smile. “That depends on what Mr. Mo decides.”
Wu Heng and Lin Mengzhi subtly tapped knees under the table, a silent understanding passing between them without a single word.