Chapter 19: Mutation
Chapter 19: Chapter 19: Mutation
Fang Chen also rushed out of the classroom and into the corridor. The sight before him made his heart sink.
On the other side of the third floor, the areas of Class Six, Class Seven, and Class Eight were completely engulfed in a sea of fire. Tongues of flame danced wildly, blazing toward the sky!
Class Seven was in the most tragic state. The entire classroom was like a furnace, and the fire was madly spreading toward the neighboring Class Five and Class Nine!
Thick smoke, wrapped in rolling waves of heat, spread outward and nearly suffocated everyone. Students from the classes closest to the fire screamed as they fled. Some even had flames clinging to their bodies, running only a few steps before collapsing and rolling on the ground in agony.
The thick black smoke quickly swallowed the corridor, threatening to reach the Class Two area where Fang Chen stood!
"Hurry! Mr. Wang, there’s no time to slowly circulate your True Qi! Take Liu Rui down first!" Fang Chen acted decisively, his voice overpowering the surrounding noise. "Everyone! Go downstairs in an orderly manner! Use the stairs by Class One! Hurry!"
Under the direction of Mr. Wang and Fang Chen, the students supported each other, nervously but relatively orderly surging toward the stairs. This side had not yet been affected by the fire and was temporarily safe.
However, Fang Chen did not move.
Class Five! Xia Chu was still inside! He immediately rushed to the sink in the classroom and quickly drenched himself in water.
To avoid colliding with the fleeing crowd, he didn’t take the crowded corridor. Instead, he vaulted over the corridor’s railing with one hand and moved swiftly toward the door of Class Five along the narrow ledge on the outside!
The entrance to Class Five was in utter chaos. Students were desperately pouring out of the front door, back door, and windows.
Fang Chen shouted at the top of his lungs, "Xia Chu! Xia Chu!"
Soon, Xia Chu’s anxious response came from within the smoke. "Chen! I’m here!"
Following the sound, Fang Chen rushed inside. "What’s wrong? Are you hurt? Did you sprain your ankle?"
Xia Chu’s voice was tinged with tears. "No! It’s Zou Shuyao and Li Mengqi! The two of them... they seem to be unconscious! I can’t wake them up! If this continues, they’ll die in here!"
From the direction of her voice, he could hear her struggling to drag something heavy. Fang Chen immediately groped his way toward the source of the sound, only to hear another male voice ring out.
"Xia Chu! Leave them! Get out of here! I’ll get them both out! Hurry!"
Was it Yang Fan? Fang Chen’s heart stirred. "This kid is actually quite righteous," he thought.
But Xia Chu insisted, "Yang Fan! You can’t carry two by yourself! We’ll take one each!"
"Okay!"
Right at that moment, Fang Chen finally broke through the thick smoke and reached the two of them. Fortunately, Class Five was not yet completely filled with smoke. Up close, it was still barely possible to see.
He saw that Yang Fan had already gritted his teeth and hoisted the unconscious Li Mengqi onto his back, his face flushed red from the exertion. Meanwhile, Xia Chu was struggling to prop up Zou Shuyao, violently coughing from the choking smoke.
"Here! Leave her to me!" Fang Chen dashed forward in a single stride.
Hearing this familiar voice, Xia Chu felt as if she had grabbed a lifeline. Spotting Fang Chen’s figure in the smoke, she cried out through her tears, "COUGH COUGH... Chen! You’re here!"
Without another word, Fang Chen took Zou Shuyao from Xia Chu’s shoulders with one arm, scooping her up into a bridal carry. Simultaneously, he turned around and crouched down. "Get on! Hold on tight!"
Xia Chu didn’t hesitate for a second. She immediately hopped onto Fang Chen’s back, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck.
True Qi surged within Fang Chen’s body! The Perfection realm of the Twelve-Step Leg Springing Technique and the Great Success Realm of the Gale Step Technique were activated simultaneously.
He locked his gaze on the area outside Class Five’s window. There stood a tall, lush, century-old parasol tree. Its sturdy branches were barely four or five meters away from the window!
"Hold on tight!" Fang Chen gave a low shout and pushed off the ground with explosive force!
WHOOSH!
Carrying Xia Chu on his back and Zou Shuyao in his arms, he leaped straight out of the window, landing precisely on a branch of the parasol tree! The branch bobbed up and down but didn’t snap.
With swift and steady steps, Fang Chen walked along the slightly sloping side branch, quickly reaching the junction with the main trunk. He adjusted his posture, clutching Zou Shuyao tightly with one arm while clamping his legs around the rough main trunk. Using his free hand to control his speed, he slid smoothly down the tree!
In a few swift movements, he safely brought the two girls down from the three-story-high tree, landing steadily on the ground floor!
After landing safely, Xia Chu immediately hopped off Fang Chen’s back.
Fang Chen looked at Zou Shuyao with a deep frown. Imitating Mr. Wang, he placed his fingers on her wrist to check her pulse. The pulse under his fingertips was exactly as Mr. Wang had described—frivolous and chaotic, with Qi and Blood flowing in reverse, crashing against her Heart Spirit!
Fang Chen’s mind raced. "Liu Rui as well, Zou Shuyao too, and Li Mengqi who was just carried away by Yang Fan... This is absolutely no coincidence! Mr. Wang said they were hit by an Illusion Art. But an Illusion Art must require some sort of medium, right? A sound? A visual? Or perhaps..."
He suddenly remembered the anomaly he had witnessed that morning. "Could it be those insects? Both Zou Shuyao and Liu Rui had unnatural insects land on them this morning! But Xia Chu also had butterflies and bees on her. Why is she perfectly fine?"
Xia Chu walked around to the front and saw Fang Chen holding Zou Shuyao while grasping her wrist. Out of habit, she wanted to tease him, "Chen, have you hugged her enough? Tsk tsk, you’re even holding her little hand, and you said you didn’t want me to introduce you two?"
However, as the words reached the tip of her tongue, she felt it was inappropriate to joke in this situation, so she forced herself to swallow them back down. She knew Fang Chen well; he definitely had no such intentions at a time like this.
Instead, she asked with concern, "Chen, how is she?"
Fang Chen shook his head and asked in return, "Is there anyone else in your class who fainted?"
Xia Chu thought for a moment before replying with certainty, "No, just the two of them. Eh? Now that I think about it, it’s really strange. They were perfectly fine this morning, so how did they suddenly..."
As they spoke, the two walked around the teaching building toward the other side, trying to rendezvous with Mr. Wang and the others.
"Before they fainted, did they show any symptoms... like sweating or expressions of pain?" Fang Chen pressed.
Xia Chu shook her head. "I didn’t really notice. Chen, do you suspect someone poisoned them?"
"It’s not poison," Fang Chen said. "Mr. Wang judged it to be a Mental Attack similar to an Illusion Art. Someone in our class fell victim to it too."
Xia Chu was startled. "Ah? An Illusion Art? Then... then could this massive fire also be an Illusion Art?"
Fang Chen shot her a glance. "Do you want to rush back into the fire and test it out?"
Xia Chu hurriedly waved her hands. "Uh... true. The heat of the fire feels so real, and it looks like all the teachers and students in the school saw it. It can’t possibly be a mass hallucination." She paused, quickly dismissing the theory herself.
A flash of Spiritual Light struck Fang Chen’s mind, and he grasped the crucial point. "Xia Chu, try to recall carefully. Did they just faint out of nowhere, or was there some sort of process leading up to it? For instance, did they act abnormally at all?"
Xia Chu racked her brain. "They didn’t suddenly faint. It’s the third period right now...
"You know how boring cultural classes are. Plus, everyone has been training desperately for the martial arts exam lately, so we’re all extremely sleep-deprived. Many students fell asleep on their desks as soon as class ended."
Her eyes suddenly lit up. "Right! It was right after the first period! Zou Shuyao and Li Mengqi also laid their heads down to take a nap then, and after that... they never woke up again!"
Fang Chen’s heart jolted as he spoke. "That’s almost exactly what happened to Liu Rui! She rested her head on her desk for a bit and then slipped into a coma.
"Could it be... someone invaded their dreams!"