novelraw Chapter 6 : Chapter 6
Chapter 6 : Chapter 6
Chapter 6
Do these two know each other?
Ji Qing felt puzzled by this, but he still remembered that something was wrong with Song Xiaoran. Although he did not know the reason, if the two of them started arguing now, it would only be disadvantageous for Song Xiaoran.
Just as Ji Qing was pondering, someone had already stepped over the railing on the second floor.
Zhou Que dropped straight down from the second floor into the lobby on the first floor. The overloaded marble tiles cracked with a sharp sound. With a gloomy expression, he strode forward and roughly yanked away the hand Xie Chang’an had extended.
The sparks that splashed out scorched Xie Chang’an’s sleeve.
Forced to retreat several steps, Xie Chang’an shook Zhou Que’s arm off. He lowered his head to look at his own arm, only to see that the skin around his wrist had been burned by fierce flames, exposing blood-red flesh and bone.
His clothes could no longer withstand the heat and had turned into charred fragments, mixed with the flesh and difficult to distinguish. Waves of pain stabbed at Xie Chang’an’s nerves, yet he stared at Zhou Que with a grave expression. “You…”
“Can the trash from Class F stop talking to us so casually, alright?” Zhou Que glanced at the nameplate on Xie Chang’an’s chest and sneered. “I thought something serious had happened.”
“So it was just such a trivial matter.”
With a look of disgust, Zhou Que shouted at the dazed Song Xiaoran, “Hey—I’m talking to you. How can you not even handle such a small thing? Why don’t you just come be my potted plant? At least then I could—”
“He is not a potted plant!” Xie Chang’an suddenly interrupted.
“What does it have to do with you whether he is a potted plant?” Zhou Que looked at Xie Chang’an with disgust in his eyes. “Do you even have the right to speak here? Trash like you, who are protected by the military and Hunters and can only hide behind the walls for your entire life—what right do you have to interrupt?”
“You…” Xie Chang’an was stunned speechless by those words.
Perhaps because the environment Xie Chang’an had previously lived in had been too peaceful, he had rarely encountered someone whose words were this sharp.
“Am I wrong?” Zhou Que pressed forward step by step. “Is your Ability useful for exploring outside the walls? Can it defeat Aberrants? You were already assigned to Class F. Don’t you even have that little bit of self-awareness?”
“Do you think you can stand above me? Do you really think that just because you enrolled in an Ability high school, you can stand shoulder to shoulder with us who were born with S-rank Abilities? What a joke.”
Those words were truly infuriating, Ji Qing thought.
Ji Qing quietly glanced at the reactions of the surrounding students and found that some were clenching their fists while others were gritting their teeth as they glared at Zhou Que.
The hierarchical division of the wasteland society was indeed severe. Yet when reality was placed before ordinary people, they still felt angry. But no matter how furious they were, none of them had the courage to step forward.
Ji Qing thought with mild boredom: They probably did not want to get themselves into trouble.
“Please do not judge people by their Ability rank.”
Just as Ji Qing was drifting off in thought, a clear and forceful female voice came from the crowd on the first floor. Gu Lingxue stepped forward solemnly. Her high heels struck the marble floor, producing a sound similar to the one when Zhou Que had made his entrance.
This plot…
Ji Qing secretly sucked in a breath of cold air.
“Student Xie is the bravest person I have ever met,” Gu Lingxue said with a frown. “He has helped me a lot. But because I do not currently understand the cause of this matter, I will not take sides for the time being.”
“But please speak with more respect,” Gu Lingxue emphasized each word.
“Class A, a girl?” Zhou Que first glanced at Gu Lingxue, then shifted his gaze back to Xie Chang’an and suddenly laughed. “A beauty saving the hero?”
In the next second, Zhou Que’s expression darkened instantly.
“I do not have time to argue with you.”
“If you have the ability, defeat me in the competition. Only those without ability argue endlessly.” After saying this final sentence, Zhou Que grabbed Song Xiaoran by the collar and dragged him away like a piece of trash.
Song Xiaoran did not resist. He simply blinked in confusion.
Seeing Song Xiaoran’s reaction, Ji Qing guessed that he might be trying to figure out what had just happened. Although he was clearly the source of the entire incident, he reacted like a passerby who knew nothing.
Truly bewildering, Ji Qing concluded.
At some point, You Xingluo had come to stand beside him and explained, “His level of aberration is very high.”
Ji Qing asked in confusion, “Aberration?”
“When an Ability is severely overdrawn, this phenomenon may occur,” You Xingluo said softly, keeping his voice low enough that only the two of them could hear. “But only a small number of high-rank Ability users experience it. And aberration is irreversible, and it is not publicly disclosed.”
“I understand now,” Ji Qing said immediately.
Now the reactions of everyone in Class S and Xie Chang’an made sense. Within Class S, where only he and Song Xiaoran came from ordinary backgrounds, everyone else could recognize that something was wrong with Song Xiaoran—but Xie Chang’an could not.
Because Xie Chang’an belonged to the group of the public who “could not be informed.”
Was Zhou Que originally trying to help Song Xiaoran? Ji Qing sighed inwardly. But that mouth of his really… made people hate him.
The two of them then headed toward the grand lecture hall.
The grand lecture hall of the Third Ability Academy was indoors. Its decoration resembled a movie theater Ji Qing had once visited. The red curtain on the stage had already been drawn open, leaving behind a podium and a microphone stand.
The seats for Class S were extremely conspicuous.
By the time Ji Qing and the other arrived, some people were already seated.
Shao Huayu sat in the first row with his legs elegantly crossed. He nodded toward Ji Qing and said gently, “I saved the first seat in the first row for you. It is absolutely eye-catching.”
“Thank you, but that will not be necessary,” Ji Qing replied coldly.
Ji Qing originally intended to walk toward the back, but his gaze drifted to another empty seat beside Shao Huayu. He frowned. “Who else are you planning to seat in front of you?”
“Xingluo,” Shao Huayu said with a smile. “I have to give him that much face. Otherwise, the elders at home will scold me. In our class, he is publicly the one with the highest status.”
“…”
Ji Qing fell silent.
“I have never asked you to flatter me like that!” You Xingluo hurriedly covered Shao Huayu’s mouth and tried to persuade him. “Let us not talk about things outside the school. I came here to study!”
“I will take this seat,” Ji Qing said decisively.
You Xingluo immediately stiffened and turned back awkwardly. “Let me explain. I really meant it sincerely.”
“I do not think there is any problem,” Ji Qing said, raising his hand to stop him. “But your relationship seems better than I imagined. Did you come to the Third Ability Academy together?”
“No,” Shao Huayu shook his head. “Zhou Que and I came together. Xingluo only learned later that he had enrolled. As for Ling You’er, I am not very familiar with her.”
“Then why did you suddenly decide to enroll in the Third Ability Academy?” Ji Qing continued. “Isn’t the First Ability Academy closer to your home? Yancheng is not particularly prosperous either.”
“Well… the reason is rather complicated.” Shao Huayu’s expression turned somewhat complicated.
“Then take your time explaining,” Ji Qing said as he casually sat down in the seat beside Shao Huayu, pressing You Xingluo into the seat next to him as well.
Now You Xingluo was sitting in the first seat of the first row.
You Xingluo: QAQ.
“The school culture of the First Ability Academy is not very good,” Shao Huayu explained with a smile at the sight. “My sister did not recommend that I go there. Even if I had not enrolled in the Third Ability Academy, I would probably be at the Second Academy of Abilities now.”
“The Second Academy of Abilities… I remember it is in the far north,” Ji Qing recalled.
“Yes. It is too far from Central City,” Shao Huayu said calmly. “I do not want to worry about whether I can safely return home every year in the future. The accident rate of the elevated trains has been increasing year by year. No one can predict what will happen in the future.”
“That sounds very reasonable,” Ji Qing commented.
“What about you?” Shao Huayu asked meaningfully. “With your Ability potential, the First Ability Academy must have tried to recruit you. Why did you come to the Third Ability Academy?”
Honestly, he did not know either.
One day sooner or later, he would uncover the truth and beat up the person who had caused him to end up in this situation. What kind of malicious mind would it take to arrange such circumstances?
Ji Qing replied vaguely, “There is something here that I want.”
After hearing this, Shao Huayu revealed a faint smile and said confidently, “I understand.”
…Understand what?
Ji Qing suddenly felt as if three crows were cawing as they flew over his head. But he knew this question could not be asked out loud. The matter of aberration had already been explained by You Xingluo on his own initiative.
But speaking of aberration…
Ji Qing looked around the hall. Zhou Que walked in with his hands in his pockets, looking carefree and unruly, and behind him followed a silent Song Xiaoran.
Song Xiaoran stood at the entrance, observing the surroundings.
Not hearing his footsteps, Zhou Que immediately stopped and waved to signal him. Ji Qing thought with some surprise that the relationship between those two seemed to have improved.
But before Ji Qing could finish the thought, he sharply noticed Zhou Que raising his middle finger toward a certain direction.
【Be careful not to run into me in the individual match.】
Through lip-reading, Ji Qing understood Zhou Que’s meaning.
Following Zhou Que’s line of sight, he unsurprisingly spotted Xie Chang’an in the crowd. It was impressive that Zhou Que could find him in such a sea of people.
This familiar trope…
Ji Qing suddenly froze.
He felt the question he most needed to ask the system was: what kind of manga exactly was this? Were all classic shonen mangas built around traditional face-slapping plots? If that was the case, was he now sitting among a group of villains?
The more Ji Qing thought about it, the more absurd it felt.
He simply gave up thinking and waited for the principal to come deliver the speech.
The principal of the Third Ability Academy was a handsome elderly man wearing a suit and a bow tie. A white lily was pinned to his chest, and he looked exceptionally kind and benevolent.
“Thank you all for enrolling in the Third Ability Academy,” the principal said. “I am Principal He Yun. Over the next three years, I hope that all of you students…”
Such a cliché opening ceremony speech.
Ji Qing quickly grew bored and stopped paying attention halfway through. After the principal finished speaking, the next speech was delivered by the freshman representative, the class monitor of Class A.
The Class A monitor had striking blue hair and looked rather proud.
To be honest, his speech was also very boring. Ji Qing idly thought that it would be amusing if the speaker learned that the speech opportunity had originally been rejected by Class S.
Of course, Ji Qing did not have that kind of malicious intent.
He thought he should first visit the library to cram some knowledge about the wasteland. The information he obtained from the manga was limited after all, and who knew what kind of pitfalls he might encounter in the future.