Chapter 27
Chapter 27
Inside the office, Qin Shiyu sat in a daze. Her beautiful face looked as though she had just seen a ghost.
That was the Sovereign Seal-an S-class anomalous entity! Ever since she had successfully contained it, it had never once failed her.
Yet now, this man before her, who did not carry even the faintest trace of an anomaly’s aura, was somehow completely immune to it!
To everyone else, her words were inviolable commands, ironclad laws. To Li Que, they were nothing but air.
“That’s impossible…” she murmured.
Li Que calmly handed Qin Shiyu a glass of water, then sat down.
“Why would it be impossible? Miss Qin, you need to understand something. When a student has problems, the root cause often lies with the parents.”
“So I can’t say I approve of the way you’re handling this.”
To Qin Shiyu, the whole thing sounded absurd beyond belief.
An unimaginably powerful anomaly wielder was sitting here talking to her about education?
Worse yet, she could tell Li Que was serious. He genuinely, solemnly wanted to discuss this issue with her!
“Are you really a teacher here? You actually came here to teach?”
She could not stop herself from asking outright.
“Of course. The genuine article.”
Li Que spoke with complete composure.
“You can think it over. If she truly wants to attend, she can enroll through the proper procedures.”
“And rest assured, if your younger sister really does join my class, I’ll take responsibility for her as well-”
Qin Shiyu stared at him as though he were a ghost.
She bit her lip and regarded Li Que with an extraordinarily complicated expression.
What in the world was this man talking about?
Wait-
Then something occurred to her.
Li Que was very likely an SS-class anomaly wielder!
There was no way he had failed to see Frost’s true identity. Yet he had remained perfectly calm, sitting here and spinning all this nonsense with her…
Unless Li Que had absolute confidence in Rain, who was still inside the classroom!
The moment that thought struck her, the color drained from her face.
They had believed the Hall of Anomalies’ plan was flawless and that Rain could never escape their grasp again.
But now, perhaps the hunter and the prey had switched places long ago.
By bringing Frost to this school, she had delivered Frost straight to her death!
And Li Que’s leisurely conversation with her here made it obvious that he had everything under control.
Frost, on the other hand… was probably in danger!
Qin Shiyu instinctively wanted to bolt outside.
Yet her extreme self-control suppressed the impulse. She knew that, in front of Li Que, she did not even possess the right to leave!
“What… exactly do you want from me?”
Her throat was dry.
Li Que rummaged across the desk, pulled out a small booklet, and handed it to her.
“How about this? This is our school’s admissions guide and handbook of administrative regulations. Read through it first and learn a little more about us. Then you can decide whether you want to send your sister here.”
Qin Shiyu’s heart sank into bleak despair.
He wanted her to read this?
Was he toying with her?
She gritted her teeth, intending to refuse and lay everything out in the open. Yet the words that left her mouth were, “All right… I’ll read it carefully!”
Then she actually accepted the booklet and began reading it with complete concentration.
What was happening?!
Qin Shiyu reeled inwardly.
She clearly still retained a measure of reason and a will of her own.
Yet one sentence from Li Que had left her utterly incapable of refusing. She could only obey.
Worse, as she read against her will, every school rule and regulation in the booklet began flooding madly into her mind!
What in the world was going on?
Her entire body went cold as terror spread through her.
Does he control… an anomalous entity similar to the Sovereign Seal?
The thought slowly took shape in her mind.
Yes!
That had to be it.
Only by controlling a higher-level anomalous entity of the same kind could Li Que perfectly resist her influence and even suppress her in return.
But an anomalous entity similar to the Sovereign Seal, only stronger? She had never even heard of such a thing!
I’m finished…
Head bowed over the booklet, Qin Shiyu sank into utter hopelessness. She could not move; only her eyelashes trembled faintly.
Li Que glanced at her and nodded with satisfaction.
Qin Shiyu was taking her reading quite seriously.
At the very least, that proved she was not one of those stubborn guardians who refused to listen.
“All right, keep reading. If there’s anything you don’t understand, just ask me.”
Li Que lifted his teacup and took a sip, in no hurry whatsoever.
…
Meanwhile, inside the classroom.
Lin Xiaoyu stared at the emerald scale embedded between Frost’s brows, fury burning in her eyes.
“That scale was left behind by the Water God. Auntie Miao has always been its keeper… How could you possibly have gotten it?”
Frost gave a cold laugh.
“A dying anomaly like her thinks she’s worthy of guarding the Water God’s Scale?”
“The Water God has been dead for far too many years. A new bearer of the divine authority should have appeared long ago… Once I kill you and contain your anomalous entity as well, I’ll be able to truly contain this scale and become the new Water God-”
She took a step toward Lin Xiaoyu.
In that instant, countless layers of ice and frost spread around the classroom. The tiny snakes formed from her hair suddenly transformed into enormous flood dragons, each riding a raging river as they surged forward to devour Lin Xiaoyu!
It was a fragment of the Water God’s power, enough to suffocate anyone who faced it.
Lin Xiaoyu seemed to have been cast into another world. A celestial river poured down from the heavens and vicious dragons roared, while she stood as insignificant as a speck of dust.
Yet there was not a trace of fear in her. She simply raised her head, lifted one hand, and said,
“You… are no longer worthy of commanding the power of water-”
At that moment, the bracelet woven from red cord around her wrist began to emit a hazy glow.
Wherever that light reached-
“ROAR-”
A great beast seemed to let out its dying bellow. Before Lin Xiaoyu, the sky full of vicious dragons and the boundless flood rapidly receded. The flood dragons shattered, and the waters vanished!
Lin Xiaoyu found herself back inside the classroom.
At the front of the room, Frost suddenly clutched both eyes. She screamed in agony and stumbled backward, slamming hard into the blackboard!
Every snake formed from her hair had died, and green blood streamed from her eyes.
“No…”
Frost shrieked, “How is this possible? That’s the Water God’s Knot! You successfully contained it?!”
Her voice was steeped in terror.
The Water God’s Scale and the Water God’s Knot were the only two relics the Water God had left behind.
But hadn’t the Hall of Anomalies tainted the Water God’s Knot with Divine Fire Ash?
The moment Lin Xiaoyu tried to contain it, she should have suffered grievous injuries!
Yet Lin Xiaoyu did not look injured at all. On the contrary, she had become immeasurably stronger than before. She had gained genuine command over part of the Water God’s power-enough to suppress Frost in return.
“No, that’s not the Water God’s Knot! It isn’t!”
Frost suddenly realized something and cried out in disbelief.
She was almost instantly certain that the knot around Lin Xiaoyu’s wrist was not the one taken from the Southern Suburbs Escape Room!
Its aura did not even bear the slightest connection to the Water God from Five Dragons Mountain.
Yet it possessed a similar power, only stronger!
Could another, even mightier Water God have already been born into this world, one who commanded an even greater divine authority?
“No…”
Terror gripped Frost. She spun around almost instantly and tried to flee.
Against Rain, who wielded a higher order of power, she had no chance of victory.
But the moment Frost turned her head, she saw Meng Mo standing by the door, looking up at her with a smile.
Her head immediately began to swim. She rubbed her eyes, only to discover that Meng Mo had vanished. Lin Xiaoyu and the others… had disappeared as well.
In their place, a platter holding a bloody, still-beating heart sat atop the lectern!
“Rain’s anomaly heart. That’s her anomaly heart…”
Frost murmured to herself. Then, as if compelled, she walked over, picked it up, and bit down.
But the next instant-
“AAAH!”
Agony tore through her entire body. The pain was so intense that it jolted even an anomaly like her awake. When her eyes opened again, she found herself biting down on the disciplinary ruler lying nearby!
That single bite had torn her mouth apart. Green blood ran everywhere.
“What the hell is this thing?!”
Frost hurled the ruler to the floor in terror. When she looked up, she saw Meng Mo standing behind Lin Xiaoyu, smiling at her.
“I told you. Other than Sir, no one gets to throw chalk at me.”
Meng Mo smiled. “How about I send you to the public restroom so you can find yourself some company?”
Frost retreated again and again, terrified beyond measure. She had realized that this boy was no normal human. He was an anomaly too, and…
He was every bit as powerful as she was!
Then she instinctively glanced toward the girl in the back who was still admiring herself in a mirror. A strange dread gripped her. That girl seemed… even more terrifying than Meng Mo.
No, what kind of insane class was this? Were they all above S-class?!
“Qin Shiyu… save me!”
She screamed at the top of her lungs.
But her voice seemed sealed inside the classroom. Not a trace of it escaped.
“I can give the Water God’s Scale back to you… Let me leave!”
She looked at Lin Xiaoyu, her eyes full of bitter unwillingness.
Lin Xiaoyu merely shook her head calmly.
“I already have the knot Sir gave me. I don’t need that scale.”
“Since you like it so much, you can take it with you to your grave.”
Her tone was perfectly calm.
Frost, however, froze.
That powerful anomalous entity around Lin Xiaoyu’s wrist… had been a gift from her teacher?
The man who had been teaching the class a moment ago?
But he was clearly just an ordinary human. If Qin Shiyu had not been here earlier, Frost could have killed that teacher with a thought.
Suddenly, she understood why Qin Shiyu had paid no attention whatsoever to what was happening in the classroom. Perhaps it was not that Qin Shiyu did not want to intervene.
Perhaps she was no longer capable of intervening at all!
Perhaps the most terrifying thing in this school was not the class full of anomalies above S-class.
Perhaps it was the teacher who taught them.
An unfamiliar emotion welled up inside Frost… the despair of a human being.
And the instant that emotion appeared, she felt herself fuse a little more deeply with the Water God’s Scale.
She suddenly recalled something Qin Shiyu had once said: humanity was the ladder to divinity.
“I understand… I finally understand.”
This revelation on the brink of life and death brought a complex emotion into Frost’s heart for the very first time.
She could not help looking at Lin Xiaoyu once more, envy and jealousy mingling in her eyes.
At last, she understood why Lin Xiaoyu had chosen to attend class here. Lin Xiaoyu was clearly using this opportunity to acquire humanity!
And then… she would gradually become a god.
Perhaps that was also why Lin Xiaoyu could command that powerful red knot.
“I’ve found the right path too… I’ll become just as strong as you!”
“I refuse to believe I’ll die here! I refuse!”
Frost gritted her teeth and activated the Water God’s Scale with all her might. She squeezed her eyes shut to prevent Meng Mo from controlling her again, then charged out of the classroom.
A ripple of water seemed to spread from the Water God’s Scale and envelop her.
This time, Frost did not feel the drowsiness that came with being drawn into a dream. Delight surged through her. Could she actually escape?
But the moment she rushed through the classroom door, a foul, bloody gust struck her in the face.
It was as though an enormous beast had opened its jaws wide to welcome her!
Frost’s eyes snapped open in shock. She saw a gigantic scarlet tongue whip around her and drag her straight toward an abyssal throat!
She was terrified beyond measure. She tried to climb back out, but the saliva coating everything around her began dissolving her hands and feet.
“Another monster above S-class… Aah…”
“What is that taste…? It ate the Water God’s Knot? Aah…”
Her terrified screams gradually faded.
Gulp.
Outside the classroom, Nian Youyu had just returned from the public restroom. He leaned against the wall, still looking somewhat drained, but a satisfied smile now spread across his face.
“Eating her… should keep me from getting hungry for a long time!”
Then he smacked his lips and frowned.
“Something’s wrong. Why didn’t she taste like anything? And why didn’t she have an anomalous entity?”
Puzzled, he looked into the classroom.
Every anomaly possessed some kind of anomalous entity of its own. As an S+ anomaly, Frost should have carried a very valuable one in addition to the Water God’s Scale.
Meng Mo and Lin Xiaoyu turned as well, looking toward Bai Lu, who had been admiring herself in a mirror at the back of the room all this time.
Bai Lu carefully combed her bangs. When she finally seemed satisfied, she raised her eyes.
“Her anomalous entity produces frost. It’s rather useful for setting my hair.”
Her wispy bangs looked beautiful in the mirror.
At those words, the atmosphere in the classroom abruptly froze.
Lin Xiaoyu, Meng Mo, and the others had barely even seen Bai Lu make a move.
Yet Frost’s anomalous entity had already been stolen by her?!
“What a freak…”
Meng Mo’s expression grew complicated.
“One more thing.”
Bai Lu glanced indifferently at Nian Youyu.
“The Hall of Anomalies tampered with that scale on her body. You can’t digest it… Now get back to the public restroom.”
Her brow furrowed, as though she had just imagined something disgusting.
Nian Youyu froze and opened his mouth to speak, but Bai Lu cut him off impatiently.
“I’ll count to three. If you haven’t moved by then, I’ll kill you too-”
“Three-”
Nian Youyu’s expression changed drastically. He spun around and raced downstairs!
The instant he left the teaching building, his guts indeed began churning violently. He could barely hold it in!
“Damn you bastards in the Hall of Anomalies! Twice in one day! Just you wait-AAAH!”
Nian Youyu completely lost it.
Not long afterward, he finally staggered out of the public restroom. This time, he was genuinely weak from the ordeal.
Once he had left-
“What incredible stuff! Hahaha… I, Qin Zhenye, am about to soar to the heavens!”
A deep shout rang out from inside the septic tank.
“Hm? This scale is incredibly hard… Even that enormous beast couldn’t digest it? Something’s definitely wrong with it! Toss it!”
Qin Zhenye flung the scale away.
…
Outside the school wall.
“So cold… It’s so cold!”
Sun Cheng and Liu Ying were on the verge of passing out.
The anomalous entities within them were nearly exhausted.
But just then, the frost beneath their feet mysteriously receded.
At the same time, an emerald scale flew out from nowhere and landed right beside Sun Cheng’s hand…
…