Chapter 21: Desire
Chapter 21: Chapter 21: Desire
Zou Shuyao’s words seemed to flip a switch. The reactions of the other awakened girls nearby instantly became far more intense. Some cried even louder, practically gasping for air. Others buried their faces in their knees, shoulders trembling violently. Still others let out uncontrollable shrieks filled with rage and terror.
Teacher Liu’s heart sank. "Then... Yaoyao, what exactly did you encounter in that dream?" he asked tentatively.
His question was like pouring cold water into boiling oil!
"No! Don’t say it!"
"Nothing! There was nothing!"
"Stop asking! Please, Teacher Liu, stop asking!"
Several girls immediately shook their heads in terror, screaming to stop her. Their faces were written with resistance and an unspeakable, humiliating shame.
Zou Shuyao also shuddered all over. She bit her lower lip hard, her eyes flickering with fear as she didn’t dare recall the memories.
Seeing their intense, uniform reactions, Teacher Liu instantly realized something. He stood up at once, turning to face the growing crowd of students and faculty around them.
"Alright! Everyone, teachers and students! Please step back a bit and give these newly awakened girls some quiet space! Let them catch their breath! Disperse and return to your respective class areas!" he announced loudly.
Under the teachers’ direction, the crowd gradually dispersed. Fang Chen also resumed helping with the rescue efforts. The open flames at the scene had been extinguished, but the lingering smell of gunpowder and an atmosphere of panic still shrouded the campus.
What caused the explosion? Why did a large number of girls simultaneously fall into a bizarre coma? Why were they exclusively the most attractive female students? Various speculations and rumors spread in private.
Fang Chen already had a rough deduction in mind. "Most likely, someone is testing out their newly awakened Superpower!" he thought. "No... there’s probably more than one! Setting those bugs aside, a sudden explosion and a collective deep sleep prove that at least two Superpower Users are playing around with their abilities!"
But what exactly was the purpose of the explosion? Simple revenge? Why drag an entire class of students down with them? Was it to cover up a specific target and confuse the public? Unable to sort out the clues for the moment, Fang Chen could only focus on aiding the injured classmates in front of him.
The second floor of the teaching building and above—especially Class Seven on the third floor where the explosion occurred and its surrounding areas—had been reduced to a dilapidated structure. Its structural integrity was highly compromised. There were likely no survivors left inside. Only a few teachers and high-level Martial Artists were using trees or ropes to approach the windows, trying to search for any potential survivors.
"I... I’m sorry," a slightly hoarse voice came from behind.
Fang Chen turned around to see Zou Shuyao. She handed him a bottle of mineral water. Her emotions seemed to have stabilized somewhat, but lingering fear and distress still remained between her brows.
"It’s fine. As long as you’re safe," Fang Chen said, taking the water without asking any further questions.
He unscrewed the cap and was about to drink when he saw several other girls walking over—Liu Rui, Li Mengqi, Wang Lu, and a few others who looked familiar but whose names escaped him. He remembered that in the past, he seemed to have helped them out of some trouble or chased away relentless delinquents pestering them.
"Class Rep, thank you," Liu Rui spoke first, and the other girls followed suit with murmured thanks.
Fang Chen waved his hand. "Why are you all thanking me? Liu Rui, you were saved by Wang, and Li Mengqi, Yang Fan carried you down. You should go thank them instead."
The girls gave a soft murmur of agreement but exchanged glances, appearing somewhat hesitant and uneasy.
Seeing that something else was weighing on their minds, Fang Chen asked, "Is there something else?"
At some point, Xia Chu had also arrived by his side, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with him.
Eventually, Zou Shuyao gestured for everyone to move to the side under a secluded large tree. After making sure no one was around, she finally mustered her courage and spoke in a trembling yet clear voice.
"Class Rep, we... we were raped... by someone in that dream."
"What?!" Xia Chu covered her mouth in shock.
Even though Fang Chen already had his suspicions, his heart still sank heavily upon hearing the victims confirm it themselves! What angered him even more was that someone would actually use their newly awakened Superpower for something so utterly despicable!
"I never even did such things when I entered the Time Stop Domain, yet someone actually used a dreamscape to do it?" he thought.
Fang Chen stayed silent for a moment before asking, "Then why did you seek me out specifically to tell me this?"
"Because we trust your character and abilities, Class Rep," Liu Rui replied. "And... we’re hoping to borrow your strength to hunt down that utterly heartless piece of trash!"
"Me?" Fang Chen smiled helplessly. His classmates seemed to treat him as a natural-born good Samaritan.
Over the years, he had helped quite a few people and beaten up a fair share of bullies in school. But only he knew that he wasn’t inherently a model student who loved looking for trouble or took joy in helping others. The root of all this stemmed from the endless stream of heinous news reports about bullying the weak in schools he had read on Earth in his previous life. He simply possessed a pure, extreme, teeth-grinding, deep-seated hatred for bullying the weak.
Since his talent in this life wasn’t bad—currently reigning as the number one Martial Artist in The Three Greats—casually dealing with these scum who practiced bullying the weak was just a matter of following his heart and acting in passing.
He didn’t make any sweeping promises right away. Instead, he spoke cautiously. "I can’t guarantee that I’ll definitely help you find that assaulter. That’s beyond my scope of abilities. But if... I happen to catch him, I don’t mind dealing with him while I’m at it."
"Thank you, Class Rep!" The girls quickly expressed their gratitude, and Liu Rui even managed to squeeze out a tearful smile.
Beside him, Xia Chu smiled as well. The look in her eyes as she gazed at Fang Chen held undisguised admiration, as if sharing in his glory.
Fang Chen shifted the conversation, cutting to the crucial point. "By the way, when you were in the dream, did you get a clear look at that person’s face?"
Zou Shuyao shook her head vigorously. "No... at the time, right after the first class ended, I felt especially sleepy, so I wanted to rest my head on the desk and close my eyes for a bit.
"But I had only intended to rest for a minute or two. I had just closed my eyes for a few dozen seconds before I felt my consciousness sink uncontrollably, and I fell completely asleep."
She recalled, her body trembling slightly, "After entering that dreamscape, I found that all the students in the school seemed to have left. I was the only one left in the classroom.
"I thought I had overslept, so I hurriedly got up to see if everyone was practicing martial arts on the sports field.
"But when I walked out of the classroom... I saw a figure walking over. His face was covered! I immediately felt something was wrong, and an inexplicable panic welled up in my heart. Who would cover their face in school?
"I tried to run away and escape the teaching building. But the moment I turned around, two dark shadows... like Ghost Shadows, emerged straight out of the walls and pinned my hands down hard! I couldn’t move at all! I screamed desperately, but the surroundings were completely empty. There was no response.
"And then he..."
Her eyes reddened, and the rest of her words choked in her throat. She couldn’t continue.
Li Mengqi hugged her shoulders and picked up where she left off. "My situation was pretty much the same. But when I entered the dreamscape, I already saw Yaoyao there. Seeing her... looking completely pale as snow, I was scared witless. Later... what happened later was almost identical to Yaoyao’s experience."