Yi, Go, Not One

■Yi, ■■go, ■not one■■

At the end of the hour of the Dog, Shrek Academy's cafeteria was nearing closing time. The absent-minded Zhou Yi finally finished dinner. After tidying up, the enormous cafeteria, capable of holding tens of thousands of teachers and students, was left with only her besides the cooks.

Even the students of Freshman Class One had left early. Those who needed to cultivate cultivated, and those who needed sleep went to sleep.

Seeing Zhou Yi's face remain tense, the head chef asked with concern, "Teacher Zhou, your complexion doesn't seem quite right today?"

Zhou Yi seemed to shudder reflexively, but she was, after all, a high-level Soul Emperor and quickly composed herself. "It's nothing. Maybe there's just too much to deal with at the start of the school term."

The head chef did not pry into her private affairs. He merely told her to take care of herself, then watched Zhou Yi leave the Shrek cafeteria, which was about to close.

After locking the doors and windows, the head chef also went back to rest. But as he turned around, a patch of scarlet that was still writhing reflected in one of the glass windows.

Shrek City was bustling. Even at night, it remained brightly lit.

Yet tonight's darkness felt utterly out of place.

Silent. Chilling. The night wind howled, cold enough to no longer feel pleasant, while the rustling of wind through leaves could occasionally be heard.

There was neither moon nor stars, as though they had been eroded by dark clouds and haze. Shrek's cafeteria had completely shut down for the night, with only the streetlamps on either side providing faint illumination.

Zhou Yi walked alone down the road at night. Deathly silence surrounded her; not even the cries of cicadas or birds could be heard. From time to time, she felt a faint chill.

Could a high-level Soul Emperor be affected by the weather?

Deep down, Zhou Yi had always felt that something was wrong. But whenever she turned around, there was nothing but silence. The streetlamps remained lit, with no apparent issue.

The distant gates of Shrek City were also brightly illuminated, yet the cries of hawkers could not reach this place.

Bzzzt...

It sounded like an electrical short circuit. Zhou Yi immediately became alert and turned to look. Inside one streetlamp's bulb, what flickered was no longer a pale yellow light, but a vicious dark-red eyeball.

"■Yi, hurry ■!"

A broken, intermittent electric buzz sounded by her ear, seemingly calling out to her. Zhou Yi instinctively tried to summon her martial soul, but in that instant, she was unable to move.

"You... who are you... This is Shrek Academy!"

The dark-red eye within the streetlamp narrowed, seemingly mocking her ignorance. It twisted and flickered strangely, appearing within the second streetlamp, then the third, the fourth...

"Hee hee hee..."

The genderless laughter drew closer to Zhou Yi along with the streetlamps.

"Dean! Dean! Fan Yu! Fan Yu!!"

Zhou Yi screamed herself hoarse, but Shrek seemed like a dead city. No one answered her.

At last, that dark-red eyeball arrived inside the streetlamp closest to her and abruptly opened wide!

"Aahhh—!!"

Boom!!

The scream was incredibly piercing, but the explosion that followed seemed to break the deadlock. Zhou Yi also realized that she could finally move again.

"Yi Yi!!"

A man's shout woke her.

The newcomer was tall, around 1.8 meters, with extremely broad shoulders. He wore simple cloth clothing, his thick, powerful arms exposed and displaying muscles like granite. His sharply defined face carried a deep, steady gaze. Simply standing there gave him the impression of an immovable mountain.

Upon seeing him, Zhou Yi seemed to have seized a lifeline and screamed hoarsely, "Husband, save me!!"

Fan Yu covered ten meters in a single stride and quickly scooped Zhou Yi up from the ground, shielding her in his arms in a princess carry. With her husband to rely on, her heart finally relaxed a little, and she felt a trace of safety.

Fan Yu had all eight soul rings unleashed as he glowered at the streetlamp he had shattered with a single blast.

"Who is it? Stop hiding, you cowardly rat!!"

Bzzzt...

No one answered him apart from the sound of broken electrical current.

Hiding in Fan Yu's arms, Zhou Yi had long since gone pale with fright. Clutching her husband's neck tightly, she cried, "Husband, hurry and leave! Run first! Find the Dean and the others!!"

Fan Yu used his other hand to soothe his wife in his arms. "Don't be afraid, Yi Yi. I just used a Class 7 Soul Cannon. Even a Titled Douluo would be injured if they weren't careful!"

"R-Really?" Zhou Yi still could not be certain. What had just happened was simply too terrifying.

"■Yi, ■leave ■!"

That hair-raising voice suddenly sounded again, broken and intermittent. This time, a hint of urgency could be heard in it. Zhou Yi did not dare open her eyes again.

"Fan Yu, run! Let's go home!!"

With his teeth clenched, Fan Yu held a light Soul Cannon in one hand and raced toward a certain building without looking back, the wind rushing beneath his feet.

"■Yi, ■■go, ■not one■■..."

No matter how Fan Yu fled with Zhou Yi in his arms, that demonic whisper continued to echo by their ears!

Zhou Yi did not dare open her eyes and could only cry out in terror, "Fan Yu, haven't we found the Dean and the others yet?!"

"We're almost there, almost there! Don't be afraid, Yi Yi!!"

While comforting his wife in his arms, Fan Yu ran like mad toward the teachers' private dormitory, where Yan Shaozhe and the other academy higher-ups were resting.

"We're here, we're here! We're safe!!"

The bone-piercing cold was gone, and the lingering whisper seemed to have vanished as well, replaced by the warmth of a soul-tool air conditioner and bright lights.

Only then did Zhou Yi dare open her eyes again. She saw that Fan Yu had already carried her to the entrance of the Dean's lounge.

Half her heart settled.

Knock, knock, knock.

Fan Yu's knocking was somewhat hurried.

"Who is it?"

Yan Shaozhe's voice came from within. Once she recognized it as the Dean's voice, Zhou Yi finally let go of the fear in her heart completely.

"Dean, it's me, Fan Yu! There's an assassin in the academy!!"

"An assassin?"

Yan Shaozhe did not open the door immediately, but he clearly did not quite believe it. "My spiritual power covers the academy at all times. How could there be an assassin here? Besides, Lin'er and Qian Duoduo are not useless either."

Fan Yu grew anxious. "It's true, Dean. Zhou Yi nearly died. It was not far from Shrek Academy's cafeteria, on a road where the streetlamps had shattered. The assassin attacked Zhou Yi there."

The room fell silent for a moment. Then Fan Yu and Zhou Yi both clearly heard a window open, followed by a flash of blinding light through the gap beneath the door.

"I'll go take a look right away. Teacher Fan Yu, take Teacher Zhou and rest first. Don't worry. No one would dare cause trouble in Shrek under my watch!!"

With the Dean's assurance, Zhou Yi and Fan Yu gained another layer of security. Gazing at Fan Yu, who was holding her, Zhou Yi shyly tore off the human-skin mask on her face, revealing a breathtakingly beautiful visage. She appeared only twenty-eight or twenty-nine, with brows like spring mountains and soft, captivating features.

"Husband, thank you for protecting me just now..."

Fan Yu said nothing more, merely gently stroking his wife's head. "What husband wouldn't protect his wife? Let's go back. With Dean Yan here, that assassin must already be in deep trouble. Let's go back and sleep~"

As he spoke the last sentence, a heated look appeared in Fan Yu's eyes.

Zhou Yi merely shot him an annoyed glance, her face slightly red as she nestled back against her husband's broad chest.

Fan Yu lowered his head slightly and kissed his wife's forehead. Then he started walking toward a certain direction.

Faint dark-blue ripples spread beneath his feet, and the entire floor began to spin and twist without a sound...

The Herrscher of Erosion... had already descended.