Chapter 4

A rough, resonant voice abruptly cut in, breaking the suffocating silence.

Qi Yue saw the people with mosaics for faces, who had been facing him, turn their heads or get up to look at the man who had appeared by the classroom door. He stood with his hands on his hips and a frown on his face, over 1.8 meters tall, and his voice sounded like that of a man in his forties.

Jian Haosen stood with his legs apart and his arms crossed, frowning and glaring at Liao Yuan. "I only teach one day a week. How much longer are you going to eat into my time?" he asked, his displeasure evident.

Classes at Seventh Hunter Academy were different from those at other academies. There was only one class a day.

It lasted until 5:30 in the afternoon, and occasionally ran longer.

"Ah..." Liao Yuanliang slapped his forehead apologetically and walked over to Jian Haosen. "Sorry, Teacher Jian. Introducing the transfer student took a little longer than expected. I'll send the students down right away."

Usually, transfer students were introduced quickly. But the new transfer student had headed straight for Beixing, the source of contamination, as soon as he arrived. He had come with some unknown purpose, leaving everyone shocked and curious, inclined to watch and see what happened.

That had inevitably held things up.

"Didn't you hear Teacher Jian? Get downstairs."

Liao Yuanliang waved the students out.

Their intense curiosity still unsatisfied by the transfer student, the students muttered among themselves, venting their dissatisfaction on Jian Haosen.

"Ah, I almost forgot. It's physical combat class today. But we're all new humans with abilities. Physical combat is survival training for old humans."

"Exactly. Only weaklings need physical combat or whatever to protect themselves. We all have abilities. Who'd use physical combat in a dangerous situation? We'd just use our abilities. I really don't get why the academy insists on giving our Class F a separate physical combat class. They must be looking down on us."

"Even if we have abilities, who can get close to Teacher Jian? He might be the only old human at our school without an ability, but he's still really strong," Zhao Yu retorted with a frown.

Jin Yuxuan sneered disdainfully. "That's because he's in our Class F. Let him try it in an advanced class. Wouldn't they beat the shit out of him?"

"That's enough, Jin Yuxuan. If you don't want to learn, there's no need to put it so nastily, is there?" Wu Anyi retorted, her brows knitted.

"So I'm not even allowed to tell the truth..."

Muttering and arguing, the students gradually filed out of the classroom.

Qi Yue had only been a meter away from Beixing in the back corner of the classroom to begin with, so he wasn't blocking the students leaving from the front.

Qi Yue "weakling himself, old human with no ability for the time being": "..."

He had suddenly taken a stray bullet.

But...

Qi Yue's gaze fell discreetly on the empty space in the middle—the aisle where he stood.

Normally, with three aisles, there would be people using all three as the students left.

In fact, the students were only using the aisles on either side, deliberately leaving the middle aisle, the one closest to Beixing, empty.

It stood out, yet seemed habitual.

They were used to doing this.

Why?

Jian Haosen looked at the student standing in the middle aisle, very close to Beixing. His surprised gaze moved between Liao Yuanliang and Beixing as he silently questioned Liao Yuanliang, his longtime partner.

What's going on?

Liao Yuanliang shook his head slightly. Leave it alone.

Jian Haosen raised an eyebrow.

Liao Yuanliang had borrowed a little of his class time, saying only that a transfer student was coming and little else.

Clearly, the transfer student was the white-haired, red-eyed boy in the middle aisle.

He was so close to Beixing, and given Liao Yuanliang's attitude... Had he come for Beixing?

He dared to approach Beixing, so surely he had some way of dealing with Beixing's ability.

They had even managed to develop an Artificial Esper like Lu Zhaobei. It made sense that they could develop a way to counter Beixing's contamination.

Those researchers always managed to come up with things that shocked the world, anyway.

Jian Haosen hoped Beixing could have friends of his own here too. He wasn't an ability user and didn't think so much about it. Whatever others thought of the transfer student, who seemed to have come with some purpose, as long as he could talk to Beixing...

He didn't care about the rest.

Jian Haosen pulled his lips into a friendly smile at Qi Yue.

Puzzled, Qi Yue saw Teacher Jian, who had been studying him, suddenly pull open his mosaic mouth. The curve widened and the corners turned up; it was probably a smile.

"..."

Qi Yue cautiously returned a superficial smile.

Then he saw Teacher Jian's mosaic face turn toward Beixing, and the teacher walked in Qi Yue's direction.

Judging by the direction his mosaic face had just turned, Qi Yue guessed he was going to Beixing.

Qi Yue stepped aside to make way.

Sure enough, Teacher Jian walked past him.

Qi Yue kept a faint smile on his face. He didn't turn around to look deliberately at Teacher Jian, but watched discreetly out of the corner of his eye.

Jian Haosen stepped into the space no one had entered before and reached Beixing's side, touching his shoulder.

Nothing happened.

The other students were all used to it.

Qi Yue: "..."

Why had everyone reacted so strongly when he did it?

On closer thought, the reason no one was near Beixing might not simply be that he was the strongest in Class F and the students were afraid of him.

There had to be another reason the students kept their distance. After all, it was too strange that they took it for granted that a teacher without an ability would wake the sleeping strongest ability user in Class F.

What was different about Teacher Jian... Wait.

One of the students had muttered earlier that Teacher Jian taught physical combat and had no ability!

Qi Yue thought of the information about himself on the panel.

The panel only said he could 100% Copy other people's abilities; it didn't tell him how. All things considered, he was like Teacher Jian for now: he had no ability either.

He was an ordinary person.

So...

Could only ordinary people without abilities approach Beixing? Could he approach Beixing just like Teacher Jian?

Realizing this was very likely the truth, Qi Yue felt the blood in his veins rushing with excitement.

It was information he could put to good use in putting on an act and establishing himself.

With Beixing backing him up, he would at least be safe in Class F until he figured out how to "100% Copy" other people's abilities.

"Teacher Jian." Suppressing his excitement, Qi Yue deliberately raised his voice.

Sure enough, the students' steps halted, and their mosaic faces involuntarily turned toward him.

The noisy classroom fell silent in an instant.

Aware of the gazes coming from every direction, Qi Yue smiled sincerely for the first time since arriving in this world. Ignoring the appraising and shocked looks, he looked only at Beixing and Teacher Jian, resumed the steps he had deliberately paused, and walked toward them, throwing caution to the wind.

One step, two steps... He was only a dozen centimeters away.

Good. He had won the gamble. He was fine.

Qi Yue breathed a sigh of relief, and the smile on his lips grew more sincere. "Need a hand?"

"...?!"

Both Qi Yue's words and his actions shocked the students of Class F.

What silenced them even more was that the transfer student, Qi Yue, had suddenly stopped after leaving them in suspense. After enjoying their disappointed expressions, he had stepped into the forbidden zone they couldn't enter, doing so as if it were nothing.

His cheerful voice as he offered to help was plainly showing them—

Look, stepping into the forbidden zone was as simple as eating and drinking for him, not even worth mentioning.

Yet they were making such a fuss.

It was rather ridiculous.

The faces of some Class F students twisted.

Qi Yue, that damned aristocratic poser, was a lunatic who fooled them behind a gentle mask, taking a roundabout way to mock them.

And they were like puppies led around by the nose.

Qi Yue was arrogantly announcing a cruel fact to them—

I don't even take Beixing, the strongest among you, seriously. Why would I care about the rest of you?

Some students were unwilling to accept it, but didn't dare act rashly. They looked at Qi Yue warily.

The change in the atmosphere among the students let Qi Yue know he had succeeded in using Beixing as his "backing."

Seeing the transfer student approach Beixing with an easy expression and calmly offer to help, Jian Haosen nodded eagerly. "Yes, yes, yes!"

Sure enough, Old Liao had meant what he thought: the transfer student had some unknown way of dealing with Beixing's contamination.

Jian Haosen patted Beixing's shoulder harder, frowning and muttering, "Oh no, how long has he been asleep? He's about to sleep until he melts! We have to wake him up quickly."

Sleep... until he melted?

Qi Yue raised an eyebrow. What did that mean?

Chapter 4

Hearing the strange expression but unable to ask about it, Qi Yue kept his face calm and lowered his gaze to examine Beixing.

A large black robe wrapped Beixing tightly from head to toe, so Qi Yue couldn't see his limbs.

"Then there's no helping it."

Jian Haosen took a deep breath and waved at Qi Yue. "Qi Yue, right? Sorry, could you step aside for a moment?"

"...All right." Qi Yue smiled and moved back a little.

What is he going to do?

Qi Yue's question was soon answered.

Jian Haosen rubbed his palms together, assumed a boxing stance, and hammered left and right hooks into Beixing's back, making a bang-bang-bang sound like rice cake being pounded until springy.

Qi Yue: ...What is this?

Work is dull and boring, but the student is springy and crisp?

He won't really beat him to death, will he?

But the homeroom teacher and the students all looked used to it and made no move to stop him. Apparently, he wouldn't. Qi Yue stayed put.

Brute force worked wonders. After a few punches from Jian Haosen, an unintelligible "awoo gurgle..." came from inside the robe.

A dozen seconds later, the robe began to move.