Chapter 25 (continued)

No one knew the dangers of the various areas of Katebis Island better than the families of the First Hunter Academy that had once participated in the YR Research Institute's project. Even after the Number 8792 incident occurred and the experiments were shelved, the Teleportation Devices the families had left on the island had not all been deliberately destroyed and were occasionally activated in secret.

Although the Seventh Hunter Academy had not reported how it would divide the areas for this Weekly Assessment, its merciful practice of assigning assessment areas according to Esper Ability level was, to some extent, well known among the other Hunter Academies.

As such, any other family formerly connected to Katebis Island could easily work out how the Seventh Hunter Academy would divide the Weekly Assessment areas, as long as they put their minds to it.

As the Flint Family's eldest son, Ron had easily obtained a map of Katebis Island and deduced the area where Beixing of Class F would be staying this time. He had arranged in advance for two Old Humans to wait for a chance to assassinate him. After all, only actions taken by Old Humans could harm Beixing. It was as abstract as the Esper Abilities New Humans had suddenly gained after the mutation.

The Aircraft Apron.

Li Qin, the dean, watched the six planes take off one after another. Holding a white handkerchief, he dabbed at his moist eyes and sighed guiltily. "It's all my fault. I've let them down..."

Yu Kaicheng stole a glance at the handkerchief in Li Qin's hand and saw that it was indeed wet. He hadn't prepared any eye drops for him this time, so those had to be real tears. The dean genuinely felt guilty this time; he wasn't acting.

"Dean, things have already come to this. Don't be too upset," Yu Kaicheng comforted him.

It was no wonder Yu Kaicheng thought that way. Whenever he accompanied the dean to a meeting at the First Hunter Academy, the dean would have him bring eye drops so he could wipe away tears, play the victim, and squeeze them for handouts at the meeting. As far as the dean was concerned, it was a loss if he didn't bring something back to the academy each time. It was no exaggeration to say that more than half the Seventh Hunter Academy's belongings had been shamelessly squeezed out of others by their dean.

"If only this lousy hand of mine had been a little luckier, I wouldn't have drawn the YR Research Institute. The assessment sites the other academies drew this time are all very easy. I regret it so much..." He would rather Zong Qizheng had rigged things, but Zong Qizheng hadn't done a thing during the draw. That left him no grounds to deny the result.

He'd simply had bad luck and dragged a whole group of students down with him.

Yu Kaicheng said quietly, "Superstition can't save the unlucky, and spending money can't change fate. Dean, you'd better accept your lot and stop thinking..."

Before he could finish, Yu Kaicheng seemed to remember something, and a smile appeared on his face.

He knew what would actually comfort the dean.

"Dean, have you forgotten? Qi Yue is there this time. He's a terrifying existence who reduced the Esper Detection Crystal Ball to ashes while chatting and laughing. Is there any need to worry?"

Li Qin froze in the middle of dabbing at the corner of his eye. "Ah, that's right."

Thinking of the money Qi Yue had transferred and the unfathomable power of his Esper Ability, Li Qin tucked his handkerchief into his pocket and immediately stopped panicking.

"Little Yu, you're right. With Qi Yue there, and..."

Instead of wiping away tears, Li Qin confidently stroked his snowy white beard. "The other Hunter Academies all have seven classes taking the assessment, but our Seventh Hunter Academy has six. What does that mean? It means everything will go smoothly! So they'll definitely complete the Weekly Assessment and return safely."

Yu Kaicheng said, "...That's right."

When it came to superstition, no one could beat their Dean Li. He had been so worried he'd actually shed tears just moments ago, and now his confidence was frightening.

"Oh, right, Dean, I asked at the Item Depot. Item Slot 397 contains Defense Potions made by Bai Yening, the Class F teacher. They cost one point per bottle. Very cheap."

Li Qin said, "?"

It was just a Defense Potion. According to Liao Yuanliang, Qi Yue had mentioned it specifically. Was there some deeper meaning to it?

Li Qin pondered for a few seconds and realized he couldn't make anything of it.

"Forget it. I won't think about it." Li Qin looked at Yu Kaicheng. "Little Yu, when we went to the First Hunter Academy for the meeting last time, how much did Ba Wen say the Teleportation Device cost?" Ba Wen was Zong Qizheng's secretary.

After the mutation, the First Hunter Academy had naturally become the best-funded institution, with the most resources, thanks to the support of enough families. The Teleportation Device had also been developed and sold by a corporate group belonging to the First Hunter Academy.

Its selling price was astronomical, and both money and resources could be exchanged for it.

Li Qin hadn't listened carefully to the quoted price before because he couldn't afford it.

Yu Kaicheng gave him a price.

"Dean, why are you asking? We can't aff—"

"No, no, no." Thinking of that wonderful string of digits, Li Qin's grin was harder to suppress than the recoil of an AK. "I'm not the man I used to be. Anyway, submit the order. Our Seventh Hunter Academy wants to order..."

Li Qin thought it over and decided he couldn't bear to be too extravagant. His voice grew quieter. "One."

Yu Kaicheng said, "...All right."

Has Old Man Li gone mad again? He sounds so hesitant. Does he really have the money to pay?

Though he had his doubts, Yu Kaicheng still contacted the First Hunter Academy and placed an order for a Teleportation Device. After all... this wasn't the first time Old Man Li had abandoned his dignity and shamelessly pulled a stunt to keep the Seventh Hunter Academy running.

But would Zong Qizheng really accept such an astronomically priced stunt?

No, when the order reached Zong Qizheng, he would probably reject it without mercy.

On the Class F plane.

As Qi Yue gazed out the window in thought, he suddenly felt his ears grow scorching hot beneath his cloak. He resisted the urge to reach up and touch an earlobe, and a question mark slowly appeared in his mind.

Who's bad-mouthing me behind my back now?

Is it the other Class F students?

Qi Yue withdrew his gaze from the clouds and swept his eyes over the other Class F students.

It was no wonder he thought so. To maintain his persona and style in Class F, Qi Yue knew just how many people his "arrogance" had offended. On the surface, everyone was wary of the strength he had deliberately advertised as "the strongest esper in Class F" and didn't dare say anything, but behind his back was another matter.

If their private grumbling could make his ears burn, they must have been grumbling quite a lot. Fortunately, the Monthly Assessment would follow the Weekly Assessment, and he would soon leave Class F for Class E.

"Why does my back feel a little chilly?"

"Mine too..."

"Should we turn around and look?"

"Nope. I refuse."

The Class F students chatting in low voices unanimously rejected the suggestion, as if by tacit agreement. There was only one reason: Qi Yue and Beixing were behind them. Qi Yue was the important part, of course. They didn't want to turn around and unexpectedly meet those cold, fierce crimson eyes of his.

"Qi Yue, what are you looking at?" Beixing had been watching Qi Yue's every move and asked in puzzlement. Not long after boarding the plane, Qi Yue had pulled up his oversized cloak hood, his whole body radiating a gloomy, cold aura.

"Nothing." Hearing Beixing's voice, Qi Yue followed the topic of the other Class F students' conversation and answered in a voice only the two of them could hear. "Just watching our classmates talk."

No matter how emo he felt, Qi Yue kept his eyes and ears open at all times, silently observing the students while seeking out deliberate angles to strike a handsome pose in his hood. He played the part of someone with a gloomy, mysterious air, deliberately guiding the other students to imitate him. Saying he was listening to them talk wasn't actually wrong, either.

Qi Yue was naturally aware that Beixing had been facing him with that mosaic face of his for a long time without looking away. He didn't want Beixing to worry about him or pay him too much attention, so his gaze fell on the information booklet tucked into Beixing's pocket, which he hadn't opened since boarding the plane. "Have you memorized it all?"

Rather than focus on him, Beixing would be better off reinforcing his knowledge, so he could make more kills and earn more points in the Weekly Assessment that was about to begin.

Beixing said, "...There's still some left."

Memorizing things was something he really couldn't do.

Qi Yue smiled at Beixing. "Carry on."

The essence of being mysterious was keeping quiet and saying little. He couldn't talk too much with Beixing. After all... what mysterious big shot was a chatterbox?

"...Okay, I'll carry on." Beixing, whose vision went dark at the mere sight of the booklet in his hands, no longer had any time to pay attention to Qi Yue's mood.

Thinking that Qi Yue could have sat up front chatting with their classmates, but was instead sitting with him at the very back of the plane to keep him company, Beixing read even more attentively. He absolutely couldn't let Qi Yue down!

The chatter up front still hadn't stopped.

Zhao Yu rubbed the numbers on the cloak and said quietly, "Speaking of which, I've always wondered why the cuffs of every piece of clothing the academy provides have the number 666 on them. We're the Seventh Hunter Academy, after all. At the last Joint Monthly Assessment, the Sixth Hunter Academy students dissed us for trying to usurp their academy's position."

"Why else?" Jin Yuxuan explained. "Old Man Li and his feudal superstitions. Our academy doesn't have any S-rank espers, right? So we only have six classes. That's what the first six means. The second six is because the deans of the other academies often call the dean a scheming old fox. The third six was added by the dean to wish for everything to go smoothly. Anyway, it's just a simple superstitious prayer and blessing. I don't know what those people from the Sixth Hunter Academy are so smug about. They're only one rank above us. Who wants to usurp their position?"

"Exactly!" As always, Zhou Wei eagerly chimed in with Jin Yuxuan.

Qi Yue thought, ...I have to say, Dean Li has pretty good taste.

It was something he would have done too. Superstition couldn't save the unlucky, and spending money couldn't change fate, but... when things were at rock bottom, he would also choose to try a little superstition. Take him now, for instance: his Esper Ability practically amounted to nothing, and he especially wanted to rely on the supernatural to win.

But that was something he absolutely couldn't do now. Burning incense and praying to Buddha would ruin his persona.

And... people usually only tried to change their luck through supernatural means when they were extremely unlucky. Dean Li had even gone out of his way to put a "666" blessing on the clothes worn for the academy's assessments. He seemed... to be a very unlucky old man.

And he himself had indeed been very unlucky with his Esper Ability lately.

Looked at that way, with all the buffs stacked, the more he thought about it, the more inauspicious it seemed.