Chapter 7
Chapter 7
Inside the classroom, Xu Changjiang and Leng Qingyan broke into a cold sweat as they stared at the ruler.
That was an A-class anomalous entity!
The Mingjiang City Anomaly Suppression Bureau wasn’t even qualified to come into contact with something like this. There might only be two or three such entities in the entire province, all held by the Provincial Anomaly Suppression Department.
Moreover, A-class anomalous entities were extraordinarily difficult to control. They could easily affect the surrounding environment and people’s minds, so they had to be stored through special means. Some even needed to be sealed.
Yet this ruler had simply been left lying here?
It was treated no differently from any ordinary teaching aid!
“Put it down, quickly!”
Xu Changjiang finally came back to his senses and hurriedly warned Leng Qingyan.
This was an A-class anomalous entity. Li Que, as its master, could suppress it, but anyone else could easily fall under its influence.
Leng Qingyan jolted and hurriedly put it down.
“Teacher Li… This thing…”
Xu Changjiang looked at Li Que.
“It’s only a ruler,” Li Que said.
“Those students can be a little mischievous at times, so I occasionally rap their palms with it. But don’t worry, Director Xu. I would never administer corporal punishment without cause!”
Xu Changjiang’s expression turned complicated.
He used an A-class anomalous entity to rap his students’ palms?
What kind of student could withstand that?
Could even an anomaly like the Cat-Faced Crone survive a single strike from that ruler?
Xu Changjiang suddenly became extremely curious about Li Que’s students.
“Teacher Li, could we meet them?” he asked.
“Of course.”
Li Que led them toward the dormitory.
“This is a boarding school, so the students normally live in the dorms…”
Conditions in the dormitory building were fairly decent, though the interior was a little dim. Li Que led them toward Room 203, where Nian Youyu and Meng Mo lived.
The sign for Room 203 came into view. Li Que stepped forward and knocked.
“Something’s wrong!”
At that moment, Leng Qingyan started in alarm and raised her wrist. The anomaly-detection watch displayed a reading of…
999-plus!
That meant the anomaly reading here had exceeded the watch’s limit!
Xu Changjiang’s face instantly went white with terror.
He knew the Anomaly Suppression Bureau’s detection watches very well. Their maximum detection threshold was A-minus-class.
Could an A-class-or perhaps even stronger-anomaly be hiding in this dormitory building?
They were finished.
Sweat poured from his body. He and Leng Qingyan exchanged a glance, and in that instant, both prepared themselves to die.
“Nian Youyu, why are you littering again?”
Just then, Li Que abruptly spoke. He had spotted a potato-chip bag outside the door. One look was enough to know Nian Youyu had thrown it there.
The dormitory door immediately opened.
A chubby head poked out. The moment Nian Youyu saw Li Que, fear entered his eyes.
“Sir… I’m sorry. I’ll pick it up right now!”
He bent down and retrieved the empty bag.
“Sir, what brings you here?”
Meng Mo came out as well. Then he spotted Xu Changjiang and the others behind Li Que, and his eyes lit up as though he’d found something fun.
Xu Changjiang and Leng Qingyan instantly felt chills sweep through their bodies. When Meng Mo’s gaze passed over them, they found themselves completely unable to move.
Every hair on their bodies stood on end.
A-class. He’s definitely A-class!
Leng Qingyan screamed inwardly.
Is A-class really this powerful?
Xu Changjiang was horrified. Years ago, he’d participated in an operation led by his superiors to hunt an A-class anomaly, but even that creature hadn’t exerted pressure as overwhelming as this.
“These officials are visiting from the departments above us. I brought them here to look at your dormitory.”
Li Que frowned. “Aren’t you going to greet them?”
Meng Mo immediately withdrew his gaze and stood obediently at attention.
“Hello, uncles and aunties!”
In that very instant…
“What?”
Leng Qingyan noticed that the anomaly reading on her watch had somehow fallen all the way back to zero.
She was dumbfounded.
What was going on?
The reading had been beyond the scale a moment ago, but now it had disappeared completely. Had the anomaly left this place?
That couldn’t be right.
“Perfect control…”
Beside her, Xu Changjiang’s throat went dry and his lips trembled. He stared at Meng Mo, who was standing obediently before them, unable to conceal the terror in his eyes.
“It’s him… He’s the anomaly here!”
Xu Changjiang had completely identified the anomaly.
“But because Li Que appeared, he restrained himself and concealed every trace of his true nature…”
Countless thoughts raced through Xu Changjiang’s mind as dossier after dossier on different anomalies surfaced in his memory.
To hide one’s anomalous presence completely would require a minimum rank of…
A-plus!
His gaze drifted toward Nian Youyu.
If Meng Mo was A-plus-class, then his gluttonous, chubby roommate was probably no ordinary creature either.
Two A-class anomalies?
Xu Changjiang felt dizzy. What had Mingjiang City possibly done to deserve this?
Two anomalies of that level had chosen to descend upon it!
And that wasn’t even counting the S-class anomaly Rain, who periodically stirred up trouble!
Fear and lingering dread gripped him.
If these two anomalies ran amok, Mingjiang City’s population of several million would likely be wiped out.
“Why is your dormitory such a mess? Clean it up immediately!”
Li Que glanced around the room and frowned in displeasure.
He had intended to bring the officials here to improve their understanding of special-needs children, making it easier to secure more support in the future.
But Meng Mo and Nian Youyu’s dormitory looked like a pigsty. It was unbearable.
Nian Youyu and Meng Mo immediately turned around. Meng Mo ran to fold the bedding while Nian Youyu grabbed a broom and began to sweep.
They were clearly terrified of Li Que.
Xu Changjiang and Leng Qingyan stared, dumbfounded.
Those were two anomalies of at least A-class, perhaps even A-plus-class.
They possessed the power to slaughter hundreds of thousands. Their anomaly domains were almost impossible to counter, and once either appeared, the entire province would have to mobilize against them.
Yet one word from Li Que had sent them scurrying off to work?
Folding bedding?
Sweeping the floor?
Were these really A-class anomalies?
The two officials were utterly stupefied.
Wait. He can suppress two A-class anomalies. Then his own rank…
Xu Changjiang came to the realization. He looked at Li Que and sucked in a sharp breath.
Previously, they had assumed Li Que was A-class at most.
That was already the highest estimate imaginable. Even across the whole of Mingzhu Province, there were only a handful of A-class anomaly wielders, let alone in Mingjiang City.
An unregistered anomaly wielder who reached C-class was already considered extraordinarily gifted.
But now it seemed…
Li Que might be more than A-class. He had to be A-plus-class at the very least.
He might even have touched the threshold of S-class.
An S-class anomaly wielder stood at the pinnacle of the entire nation!
Xu Changjiang and Leng Qingyan were stunned beyond words.
“Director Xu, these are the students in my class: Meng Mo and Nian Youyu,” Li Que said.
“They both had some psychological issues in the past, and their habits weren’t very good. But now, they’ve been growing more obedient by the day.”
“Given enough time, I’m certain I can guide them into becoming normal people and help them begin entirely new lives.”
His voice was calm and resolute, carrying a quiet confidence.
But to Xu Changjiang and Leng Qingyan, his words crashed down like a thunderclap.
They exchanged a glance, their expressions turning grave.
By now, they were accustomed to Li Que speaking in riddles.
When he said Meng Mo and Nian Youyu had once suffered from psychological issues and poor habits, he probably meant the two anomalies had committed boundless atrocities in the past.
When Li Que said they were becoming more obedient, he meant they had already been suppressed.
And when he said he intended to turn them into “normal people” and give them new lives through his own efforts, did that mean he intended to reform anomalies?
Once they understood the hidden meaning in Li Que’s words, a storm surged through both their hearts.
“Li Que isn’t teaching at this school because he truly wants to teach. He’s here to suppress anomalies-and change them!”
At last, they understood everything.
…