Chapter 46
Chapter 46
After returning to school, Li Que let out a long breath of relief.
Lin Xiaoyu’s situation had finally been resolved. With nothing left to worry about, she could focus on her studies at school.
“Ding! The host has completed a home visit and stabilized Lin Xiaoyu’s education. Reward: 50 Good Teacher Points! Reward: one [Dreamcatcher]!”
The system’s voice rang out at once, and Li Que’s eyes lit up.
The system had actually awarded him fifty points this time!
Previously, he had taken Meng Mo and the others to care for Granny Zhang and participate in the cultural festival, yet those activities had only earned him a little over ten points.
It seemed the number of Good Teacher Points awarded by the system was closely connected to the impact Li Que had on a student.
This home visit had been extremely successful. In a certain sense, it might even have been pivotal to Lin Xiaoyu’s growth. That was probably why he had received so many points.
He also examined the Dreamcatcher several times.
It had been woven from pitch-black crow feathers. Instead of looking warm and comforting, it appeared downright sinister.
What normal Dreamcatcher looked like this?
Still, most things provided by the system were bizarre. Li Que had long since grown accustomed to it.
“Teacher Li, you’re finally back.”
Leng Qingyan walked over. At the sight of Li Que and Qin Shiyu, she looked as though her saviors had arrived.
“Vice Principal Leng, what’s wrong?” Li Que asked. “Did something happen?”
Leng Qingyan’s expression grew complicated. She clearly had a great deal to say, but ultimately forced it all down.
“Nothing… Your students simply missed you too much.”
In truth, substituting for Li Que over the past few days had nearly broken her!
Every time she entered the classroom and stepped onto the platform, she became unbearably nervous. After all, every student below was an anomaly above S-class.
Li Que had spoken with Meng Mo, Nian Youyu, and the others in advance, so they had behaved quite well. Even so, Leng Qingyan discovered that her mental strength could barely hold out while she taught them!
Meng Mo and the others merely had to sit quietly and listen. The pressure they exerted was already enough to make a low-level anomaly wielder collapse.
The person on the platform had to endure the stares of so many great anomalies. It was truly unbearable.
She had even fainted several times during class and made repeated trips to the hospital.
How could she not be delighted to see Li Que return?
“Those little brats.”
Li Que chuckled. “All right, I’ll go see them.”
He headed toward the classroom with Lin Xiaoyu.
After they left, Qin Shiyu could no longer contain herself.
“Vice Principal Leng… You’ve reached A-minus-class?”
She stared curiously at Leng Qingyan.
Before they left, Leng Qingyan had barely reached B-plus-class.
Even if she possessed something that could improve her anomalous entity, she should never have been able to advance so far in just a few days.
“Jealous?” Leng Qingyan asked with a complicated look. “All you need to do is teach a few more classes for Teacher Li’s students.”
Every lesson meant enduring the pressure of several anomalies above S-class. Under those conditions, her potential had naturally been forced out in full.
“Teacher Li’s classroom isn’t a classroom at all… It’s a boot camp from hell!”
She sighed. “Except the ones being trained aren’t the students. They’re the teachers.”
Qin Shiyu was speechless.
She recalled how she had felt the last time she entered Li Que’s classroom.
She had only sat below and listened beside Lin Xiaoyu and the others, yet the tension had nearly overwhelmed her.
Teaching so many anomalies truly was beyond anything an ordinary person could endure!
And now… there was a god in the classroom too!
Just then, Qin Shiyu’s phone rang. She picked it up, glanced at the screen, and her expression changed slightly.
The caller ID read: Senior Brother.
There was no name, because she had only one senior brother.
After a moment’s thought, she exchanged a few pleasantries with Leng Qingyan, found a secluded place, and answered.
…
Meanwhile, at the Mingjiang City Anomaly Suppression Bureau…
“Director, you’re finally back.”
Xu Changjiang, Shi Xuan, and the others had only just returned when Dashan, Erhe, and those who had remained behind hurried over to report.
“Over the past two days, the Provincial Department has sent one warning after another. A group of anomalies appears to be approaching Mingjiang City…”
Xu Changjiang’s expression changed slightly. He exchanged a glance with Shi Xuan and immediately sat down while Dashan gave them a detailed account of recent developments.
Yesterday, the Provincial Department had issued a blue alert: the A-class Knocking Corpse had appeared repeatedly, and trajectory analysis indicated that its next destination was Mingjiang City.
This morning, an orange alert followed: large numbers of Night Ghosts had appeared, and a Night Ghost King above S-class might be on the move.
The most alarming intelligence was a red alert.
There had been unusual activity at Sun-Swallowing Gorge in Jiangdong Province. A god was suspected to be on the move, and anomalies throughout the surrounding region were fleeing madly. The gorge lay downstream from Mingjiang City, and the being there might travel upstream!
A-class, above S-class… even a wild deity.
Xu Changjiang’s scalp went numb as he read the reports.
“Like Five Dragons Mountain, Sun-Swallowing Gorge is a divine-anomaly forbidden zone,” Shi Xuan said gravely. “But judging by our limited clues, the wild deity there may be even more terrifying than those five dragons.”
Xu Changjiang asked, “Is all of this… because of Teacher Li?”
Shi Xuan’s expression grew complicated.
“Who else in Mingjiang City could make such an enormous move and draw so many things here?”
“Every one of these powerful anomalies and wild deities desperately covets divine investiture. Now Lin Xiaoyu shines like the moon in the night sky, illuminating the world around her. Every wild deity will come…”
“Add the Eclipse Organization and the Hall of Anomalies, and Mingjiang City is growing livelier by the day.”
Shi Xuan sighed.
“Teacher Li’s game is expanding further and further. No one can see through it.”
Xu Changjiang stared at him. “You mean… Teacher Li deliberately guided all of this?”
“Of course.”
Shi Xuan analyzed the situation earnestly. “Why else would Teacher Li choose this precise moment to make Lin Xiaoyu a god-and even grant her divine investiture?”
“Obviously, Lin Xiaoyu’s ascension through divine investiture was only his first step. His true objective was to use her to draw every faction here!”
Xu Changjiang was dumbfounded.
This was astonishing!
Teacher Li intended to scheme against wild deities from every direction and countless powerful factions?
What in the world was he trying to accomplish?!
The scale of his plans was simply staggering!
“I’m beginning to feel that being director of the Mingjiang City Anomaly Suppression Bureau… is a truly miserable job.”
Xu Changjiang’s expression was complicated. In the past, even a single A-class anomaly had been enough to give them endless headaches. Now every arrival exceeded anything they were equipped to handle!
The Mingjiang City Anomaly Suppression Bureau genuinely could not keep the situation under control anymore.
“What are you worried about?” Shi Xuan asked. “With Teacher Li here, even if the sky falls, you won’t be the one holding it up.”
Xu Changjiang nodded. That was true.
After some thought, he asked, “What does the Provincial Department say?”
They could disregard anomalies and wild deities, or even the Hall of Anomalies and Eclipse Organization.
But they had to consider the Provincial Anomaly Suppression Department’s attitude toward Mingjiang City.
After all, Shi Xuan and Xu Changjiang were ultimately government officials.
Shi Xuan took out his phone and checked it.
“Old Guo will arrive this afternoon. He’s personally leading the team. Judging by the message he sent me, an extremely important figure will accompany him.”
There was no joy on his face. Instead, his brows drew faintly together.
Xu Changjiang probed, “Director Shi, are you worried about our superiors?”
“Just as you were before, I’m genuinely caught in a difficult position now,” Shi Xuan replied.
“Old Guo is the director of the Provincial Department, and an important figure is accompanying him. Their purpose is obvious. Should we tell them everything, or conceal the truth for Teacher Li?”
Xu Changjiang’s heart sank. He understood perfectly well that this dilemma would not exist if Shi Xuan trusted the Provincial Department completely!
“Besides Zuo Qingting and Wang Zhong, are there other traitors inside the department?” he asked.
On the journey back, Xu Changjiang and Shi Xuan had compared their views and essentially confirmed that Wang Zhong had motives of his own.
His behavior at Five Dragons Mountain had been anything but ordinary.
After careful consideration, however, they decided to give him enough rope for the time being.
First, Wang Zhong had not betrayed them outright. They could not prove he was a traitor.
Second, judging by his knowledge of wild deities and the black mist, the faction behind him was unlikely to be simple.
Shi Xuan shook his head. “I don’t know… If the problem were only traitors or spies, it wouldn’t be so frightening.”
He sighed deeply.
“The Black Mist Calamity is approaching. The Eclipse Organization and Hall of Anomalies are already preparing. Who knows what those important people at the top are thinking? That’s the real issue.”
“A single thought from someone high above becomes a mountain when it falls upon those below. Before beings like that, ordinary people truly have no control over whether they live or die.”
His words carried deep feeling. He had clearly suffered greatly from such matters before.
Xu Changjiang’s expression grew solemn. Could the important figure whom Provincial Director Guo Shoubo was personally accompanying be coming with hostile intentions?
And the moment the Water God’s Authority surfaced in Mingjiang City, those important people arrived. Did they intend to seize it too?
“Is Teacher Li’s strength still not enough to deter such people?” he asked.
Li Que was at least SS-class and commanded Rain and several other beings above S-class. Few factions in all Jiangdong Province should have been capable of challenging him.
“Even the Anomaly Wielders’ Alliance should treat him with exceptional respect!”
The Anomaly Wielders’ Alliance governed the suppression departments throughout the country and held supreme authority.
The person whom even Provincial Director Guo Shoubo had to accompany was most likely from the Alliance’s upper ranks.
“It’s different. Those important people at the top still have old graves in their families,” Shi Xuan sighed.
Xu Changjiang shuddered. He had heard rumors that certain families within the Anomaly Wielders’ Alliance possessed ancient graves. Terrifying things were buried inside every one of them.
Such families were commonly known as the Old-Grave Clans.
The thing inside any single grave was beyond imagination, and some families possessed more than one.
Even the official Anomaly Wielders’ Alliance had only been established with the support of these Old-Grave Clans.
If someone from such a family had truly come here and wanted the Water God’s Authority, who could possibly stop them?
“Forget it. I’ll meet them this afternoon and determine their intentions first,” Shi Xuan said softly. “Some Old-Grave Clans still abide by the old rules. They won’t all behave so tyrannically.”
…