Chapter 24: The Truth
Chapter 24: Chapter 24: The Truth
"The school’s list of Superpower Users?"
Hearing Fang Chen’s question, Wang Mang pointed toward a corner of the sports field with a solemn expression. "Aside from you, whom the school completely trusts, the other registered Superpower Users have been temporarily gathered over there. They are currently... undergoing questioning."
Fang Chen followed Wang Mang and quickly walked over.
He saw a stern middle-aged man wearing gold-rimmed glasses in a standoff with a few students. It was none other than Director Du Mingfeng. Several teachers stood beside him, while opposite them stood a few students who had awakened superpowers, led by Huo Ming. They all looked indignant.
"Director Du!" Huo Ming’s voice was loud, laced with obvious resistance. "During the Spirit Awakening, the Spirit Awakener told us that our superpowers are highly classified personal secrets and must not be leaked! This concerns our trump cards and our very survival on the battlefield in the future! Now you’re interrogating us, how could we possibly tell you?!"
Du Mingfeng pushed up his glasses, forcibly suppressing his impatience. "Huo Ming! This is a special situation! The school is under an unknown attack, and we must eliminate all internal threats! This is for everyone’s safety!"
"So you can force us to violate the rules just for the sake of safety? Who knows if leaking our abilities will make us targets in the dark?"
Huo Ming refused to back down, and the others chimed in with their agreement, bringing the situation to a stalemate.
Fang Chen walked up to Du Mingfeng and lowered his voice. "Director Du, why don’t you let me give it a try?"
Du Mingfeng glanced at Fang Chen and nodded. "...Fang Chen, you’ve always been full of ideas," he said in a deep voice. "Go ahead, but mind your methods. If you can’t get anything out of them... don’t force it."
He ultimately maintained his restraint and refrained from saying anything further out of line.
Fang Chen nodded and turned toward Huo Ming and the others.
Huo Ming immediately directed his hostility at him. "What, Fang Chen? You’re a Superpower User too. Do you want to set an example?" he provoked. "Sure, then why don’t you tell everyone about your superpower and its side effects first?!"
"Sure. Since you want to know about my superpower, I’ll tell you.
"My superpower is—BAM BAM BAM!"
"What BAM BAM BAM?" Huo Ming was confused.
Fang Chen looked at him and suddenly moved! He moved with astonishing speed, grabbing Huo Ming’s wrist and twisting it in one fluid motion. He drove his knee into Huo Ming’s lower back, instantly pinning the caught-off-guard boy firmly to the ground!
"BAM BAM BAM!"
Fang Chen didn’t use any True Qi, but his fist slammed solidly into Huo Ming’s back, producing a series of muffled thuds.
"Ah! Fang Chen, you fucking—!"
"Sorry," Fang Chen said blankly as he released him and stood up. "This is BAM BAM BAM. The side effect is emotional instability, especially when I see someone failing to grasp the situation during a crisis."
Huo Ming scrambled up in a sorry state, his face livid with anger. "You... you’re a violent maniac! You all saw that, right?! Stay away from him!"
Fang Chen ignored his clamoring and swept his gaze over the other five Superpower Users present. He knew most of them, and they usually got along decently. Although their attitudes were slightly better than Huo Ming’s, they were still silent and full of vigilance, clearly unwilling to reveal their abilities.
Fang Chen observed them as he paced, furrowing his brow slightly. "Aren’t there eleven Superpower Users? Including me, why are there only seven here?"
Du Mingfeng sighed from the side, his tone heavy. "Sigh... Everyone we could find is right here. Our people have repeatedly checked the list on the sports field..."
He didn’t continue, but the implication was self-evident. The other four had most likely... perished in the explosion and the subsequent monster attack.
Fang Chen’s heart sank as his gaze swept across the faces of the six students before him once more. Suddenly, he stopped in front of the second boy on the left.
Even though it was a scorching June day and everyone was wearing short-sleeved school uniforms, this boy, named Zhu Hao, was the sole exception. Not only was he wearing long sleeves, but his collar was also tightly buttoned. His face was flushed, and fine beads of sweat continuously seeped from his forehead and neck. He looked abnormally hot and nervous.
Suspicions instantly arose in Fang Chen’s heart, but on the surface, he feigned nonchalance. "Zhu Hao, it’s so hot out, and everyone is wearing short sleeves. Why are you still wearing a long-sleeved turtleneck? You might as well take it off. We’re all guys here, there’s nothing to be embarrassed about."
It was meant to be a probing question, but Zhu Hao reacted like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. He trembled violently and defended himself incoherently.
"I... I’m not hot! Uh, no... I-I have a skin allergy, I can’t be exposed to sunlight! Ah, no, that’s not it! There’s nothing wrong with my skin! You... mind your own business about what I wear!"
His excessively nervous reaction, which was riddled with holes, instantly sharpened Fang Chen’s gaze!
"It’s not up to you!" Fang Chen shouted in a low voice and struck with lightning speed!
One hand firmly clamped onto Zhu Hao’s neck to subdue him, while his other hand grabbed the boy’s high collar and yanked downward!
RIIIP!
The sound of tearing fabric rang out, completely exposing the skin of Zhu Hao’s upper torso!
"Look! I told you this guy was a lunatic! He’s abusing his power with violence!" Huo Ming gloated loudly from the sidelines, but the others merely rolled their eyes at him before looking at Zhu Hao’s exposed torso.
"Damn it, they’re all on that kid’s side," Huo Ming muttered. But when he actually laid eyes on Zhu Hao, he couldn’t help but freeze in shock.
Zhu Hao’s skin was densely covered in colorful patterns! The patterns were astonishingly lifelike. There was a fluttering bee, a curled-up gecko, and a peering rat.
Fang Chen touched the skin on his arm where the bee pattern was, actually feeling fine fuzz and a hard, shell-like texture! It was as if his body were slowly mutating to take on the traits of these animals!
"Cough, cough, cough..." Released, Zhu Hao clutched his neck and coughed violently, his face deathly pale. "I... I just like tattoos! Are you going to micromanage that too?!"
Fang Chen stared intently at him. "No, these aren’t tattoos," he stated coldly, his tone leaving no room for doubt. "This is the side effect of your superpower, isn’t it?"
Zhu Hao shuddered all over. "You... you’re talking nonsense! I..."
With time being precious, Fang Chen had no patience for his excuses. "Your superpower is controlling animals!" he interrupted sternly. "And the side effect is that your body gradually manifests the traits of the animals you control! You’re the one who hid in the girls’ bathroom and used a rat to peep, and you’re the one who controlled bugs to land on specific female students to spy on them, right?!"
As Fang Chen interrogated Zhu Hao, he kept an eye on the battlefield from his peripheral vision. On the sports field, the surviving students and teachers had gathered in small clusters. Even though they were still being attacked sporadically, everyone’s nerves were tightly strung. The moment the Ghost Shadow emerged from the ground, several attacks would instantly follow up!
Although the blades, as well as the strikes of fists and feet, mostly passed right through the phantom without dealing any substantial damage, the frequent energy impacts and physical interference seemed to effectively stall the Ghost Shadow’s attack rhythm, preventing it from easily slaughtering the crowd.
"It seems the Ghost Shadow has two states—intangible and physical?" Fang Chen thought.
A character he had seen in an anime in his past life flashed through his mind—Daito.
Meanwhile, Zhu Hao still refused to admit it. "That’s not my superpower. You... what proof do you have?!"
Fang Chen’s gaze turned vicious. He raised his steel sword slightly, making no attempt to conceal his killing intent. "I don’t have time to waste on you right now, let alone the interest to find solid proof. At worst, I’ll just kill you and claim you died in a monster attack!"
As the cold edge of the sword touched his skin, the terror of death instantly crushed Zhu Hao’s psychological defenses!
"Don’t! Don’t kill me! I’ll talk! I’ll talk!" he screamed in a breakdown. "It... it wasn’t me! But I know who it was! It’s... it’s Ji Kai!"
His screech didn’t just stun Director Du and Wang beside them; even some nearby students who were standing guard and had vaguely heard the commotion, along with those few Superpower Users, looked over in shock!
"Ji Kai?!"
"What are you saying, Zhu Hao? Ji Kai is behind this?!"
Shouts of disbelief and fury erupted instantly.
Zhu Hao was sobbing, snot and tears running down his face in his desperation to wash his hands of the matter. "It’s him! He told me himself that his superpower can pull people into his dreams! He probably messed up playing with these monsters, and they escaped into reality after he lost control! If you want to find someone, go find him! It has nothing to do with me!!!"