Chapter 87
Chapter 87
“Then what do we do?”
“Are we supposed to fight that… thing?”
Xue Chuan’s eyes widened as he began rummaging through his pocket. “If there’s no other choice, I’ll gamble on my luck and blow it apart!”
“Who asked you to blow anything apart?”
Seeing that Xue Chuan remained as unreliable as ever, Qin Lan was speechless.
“The objective clearly says to escape its pursuit. All we have to do is stay out of its sight. It’s just a simple hiding sequence.”
“The only question is where we’re supposed to hide.”
Qin Lan was in no hurry. He watched the mass of ink slowly advance with open interest.
“It moves so slowly… At that speed, I could smoke a cigarette right in front of it and still–”
Boom!
The roiling black fluid abruptly surged like a stormy sea, and several black tentacles shot from the viscous mass.
At almost the same instant, Qin Lan reacted on instinct. He grabbed Xue Chuan by the collar and sprang backward at full speed.
But this was an attack from a 4-Star anomaly.
Despite doing everything he could to evade it, Qin Lan was still struck.
“So that’s your game–slow windup, lightning-fast attack! Did the Dean of Students train under a FromSoftware boss?”
Qin Lan was alarmed, but then realized he had not died.
He had not even been injured.
Xue Chuan had also been struck by a black tentacle, yet he appeared completely unharmed.
“Strange…”
Qin Lan cautiously opened the distance between them. Under his watchful gaze, the two tentacles rapidly withdrew into the Dean of Students.
Still shaken, Xue Chuan felt the spot the tentacle had touched.
His expression turned tragic.
“This is bad, buddy!”
Qin Lan shuddered. He heard tremendous pain in Xue Chuan’s trembling voice.
What had happened?
Qin Lan’s heart clenched, and countless possibilities flashed through his mind.
Had Xue Chuan been hit by some effect? What about the Death-Substitution Doll?
Had he failed to activate it in time, or could this anomaly bypass the item’s effect?
And why was Qin Lan unharmed? Had his curse resistance blocked it?
Xue Chuan clutched his chest, his face deathly pale.
“It’s over, buddy…”
“That tentacle monster violated me…”
He covered his chest with a look of utter despair. “It touched my tender nipple. I feel unclean…”
“What am I supposed to do, buddy? An anomaly has defiled my purity–fuck, what are you doing?!”
With a dark expression, Qin Lan slapped the back of Xue Chuan’s head.
“Hurry up and die.”
“You made me worry for nothing.”
Xue Chuan looked deeply wounded. “How can you say that? Does a man’s purity not matter?”
Qin Lan’s fist clenched.
He fought back the urge to punch Xue Chuan and returned his attention to the constantly churning black ink.
Ever since the two tentacles had withdrawn, the ink had continued to roil.
It bubbled like boiling liquid, swelling larger and larger.
Then, under Qin Lan’s bewildered gaze, a somewhat thin figure emerged from the surging mass.
The figure appeared to be a man nearly sixty years old. His eyes were as sharp as a hawk’s.
Although wrinkles lined his face, his posture radiated vigor and authority.
Qin Lan had no idea who this stranger was, but Xue Chuan looked as if he had seen a ghost.
He gaped at the man before letting out a bizarre cry.
“Fuck! Dad!”
“You’re still alive?!”
Qin Lan turned toward Xue Chuan in astonishment. The shock on his face seemed entirely genuine.
Was that really his father?
In a flash, Qin Lan understood the purpose of the black tentacles.
He also realized what ability belonged to the Dean of Students.
It was the nightmare of countless generations of students and the most powerful weapon in every teacher’s arsenal–Call the Parents.
It did not matter what kind of monster a student might be, or whether he was a top scholar or the most popular boy in school. The moment his parents appeared in the teacher’s office, even the toughest man would be lectured like a disobedient son.
“Is that really your father?”
“That’s really my father!”
Xue Chuan swallowed, his legs beginning to tremble.
“What’s going on, buddy? I’ve barely met my dad a handful of times. Even when I do see him, he never puts me under this much pressure…”
“But I’m terrified right now!”
Hearing Xue Chuan’s words, Qin Lan instantly understood what type of ability Call the Parents was.
A mental ability.
Qin Lan was tempted.
He had already copied Verbal Condemnation, which was also a mental attack, but Call the Parents was a miraculous ability capable of forcibly summoning an opponent’s mother or father.
Even if it had no effect and dealt no damage whatsoever, Qin Lan would still be sorely tempted.
Imagine the pressure it would create if, at the most intense moment of a battle, he raised one hand and summoned his opponent’s mother directly onto the battlefield.
Aside from the unfortunate minority who were orphans, the move would be virtually unstoppable.
As it happened, Qin Lan belonged to that minority.
The Dean of Students churned again. After a long struggle, however, it produced only a blurry human silhouette. The figure had no discernible face, and only its slender build suggested that it was a woman.
“Hah! You didn’t see that coming, did you? I’m an orphan!”
Qin Lan’s lips curled into a wildly triumphant grin. “I forgot what my parents looked like ages ago!”
His smile quickly disappeared, replaced by irritation.
“Wait. That doesn’t seem like something worth bragging about…”
“Why do I suddenly feel so unhappy?”
At that moment, Xue Chuan’s father stepped forward.
He fixed Xue Chuan with a piercing stare and spoke in a deep voice.
“I pay your tuition so you can come to school and associate with people like this?”
The rebuke nearly frightened a few drops out of Xue Chuan.
“I… I, uh… I’m sorry…”
As Xue Chuan had said, he rarely interacted with his wealthy father. They had barely exchanged more than a few sentences in his entire life.
Yet because this was a mental ability, he still felt overwhelming tension and fear.
Xue Chuan’s legs began to move beyond his control, and terror gradually consumed his gaze.
Just as he was about to drop to his knees and apologize, Qin Lan flew into a rage beside him.
“Fuck! Watch your mouth, old man!”
“Who are you calling bad company? Huh?”
“Have you looked at that sorry bastard you call a son? Does he even look human? I’m obviously the respectable one here!”
The barrage left Xue Chuan stunned. “Hold on, buddy. That was a little…”
Then he quickly came back to his senses. “Wait, why did I want to kneel?”
Qin Lan sneered. “Because you’re spineless, obviously.”
The reason Xue Chuan had regained his clarity was that Qin Lan’s tirade had not been a stream of ordinary insults. He had activated his newly acquired Verbal Condemnation.
By pouring a full forty points of curse energy into it, Qin Lan had canceled the effect of the Dean of Students’ ability.
When Verbal Condemnation activated, two mental forces collided in a realm Xue Chuan could not perceive, sending waves of illusory ripples through the air.
Qin Lan swayed on his feet, seemingly unable to remain steady. His face turned slightly pale.
He had lost that exchange.
Although he had successfully neutralized the summoned figure’s influence, the mental ripples produced by the collision still inflicted substantial damage on Qin Lan himself.
Nevertheless, the clash had given him a clearer sense of a 4-Star anomaly’s strength.
“After amplification, my Spirit is already close to fifty… But this Dean of Students probably has more than ninety Spirit!”
“Phew… Good.” Qin Lan exhaled, his gaze sharpening. “The test is over. Now it’s my turn!”
Xue Chuan immediately grew excited.
“Wow, that sounded awesome!”
“What ultimate move are you about to use?”
Then he watched Qin Lan lower his head and charge straight toward the twisted, pitch-black mass that was the Dean of Students.
[Your sanity was destroyed. Killer: Dean of Students.]
[Spirit permanently increased by 7.]
[Current Spirit: 33 > 40]