What Kind of Person Was He, to Be Treated So Respectfully by the Principal?

Wang Lu's words fell.

The air sank into an eerie, deathly silence.

"Is that Chu Qingli? What are the two of them doing there?"

"No idea. There's a guy too. Is he one of their boyfriends? Don't tell me he's Chu Qingli's? No wonder she always brushed off Senior Student when he tried to court her..."

"I've never seen her boyfriend before. Could he be from another school?"

Classmates passing by began discussing it among themselves.

On Chu Qingli's very first day at Qingbei, everyone had silently acknowledged her as the beauty of their class. She had even attracted admirers from other departments and outside the school. If there were a Campus Belle selection, she would be first place—or at least in the top three.

Hearing that, Wang Lu looked at Fang Yi again.

She let out a soft sigh.

First love might be beautiful, but the gap between them now was something Fang Yi's appearance at Qingbei could not bridge.

Chu Qingli bit her lip. She wanted to say something, but in the end, she said nothing.

Wang Lu's words had been a little blunt, but they were not wrong. Fang Yi and she were already people from two different worlds. There was no possibility of their paths crossing again.

Fang Yi caught their sighs, as well as the regret in their eyes.

He looked completely baffled.

Lingering attachment?

An ex-girlfriend?

"Fang Yi, are these your friends?"

A puzzled voice rang out, instantly drawing everyone's attention.

A strikingly beautiful woman with a voluptuous figure appeared in the center of their view. Her eyes were deep, and her slender legs were so slim they seemed graspable in one hand, making it impossible to look away.

Her beauty was not merely superficial. She possessed a powerful presence, along with a rare, iron-blooded heroism. Even when she walked, she seemed to carry an aura of killing intent.

When they suddenly saw a peerless beauty whose figure and looks did not pale in comparison to Chu Qingli's walking toward them, everyone was stunned.

"High school classmates. We can barely be called friends," Fang Yi said indifferently.

"So, just classmates."

Upon hearing that, Chu Lan casually swept her gaze over the two female students before looking away.

She walked straight past them, came before Fang Yi, and lowered her voice.

"I spoke with the Principal just now. The situation with the Heavenly Fire is a little more serious than we thought. It's hard to explain in a few words. We need to inspect the place where the fire first started, and as the military's specially appointed advisor, you need to come too."

"It's that serious?"

Fang Yi's expression turned solemn as well.

The Great World Change was already an inescapable natural disaster for ordinary people.

It could neither be predicted nor avoided.

This time, it had only descended onto an empty sports field, yet it had already caused such a commotion. What if it appeared in a residential area next time? Or descended directly onto a teaching building?

Chu Lan understood the Qingbei Principal's concerns very well.

Just as she was about to say something—

A figure suddenly approached from behind.

"Officer Chu."

"Principal?"

Many students around them recognized him.

The Principal was usually overwhelmed with work and rarely showed himself. Even the vice principal found it difficult to meet with him once, much less ordinary students like them. Many students had only seen him from afar during the entrance ceremony.

Yet now, the suited Principal was actually striding toward them, a smile on his usually stern face.

Under the utterly shocked gazes of everyone present, he shook Fang Yi's hand.

"Mr. Fang Yi, hello."

"Hello."

Still holding his hand, the Principal said slowly, "I'll leave the matter of the No. 1 sports field to you. I've been at my wits' end over it lately, afraid that the flames might harm the students. It couldn't be better that you've come to resolve it."

This...

Chu Qingli and Wang Lu exchanged looks at the side, feeling as though their CPUs were about to burn out.

The surrounding students and teachers also stared over in astonishment.

A principal of a top university in his fifties was showing respect to an eighteen-year-old boy. The sight was so shocking that people could not help wondering just who this person was.

Who could make the Qingbei Principal treat him like this?

Fang Yi said in a deep voice, "You're too polite, Principal. Please take me there."

After saying that, he exchanged a glance with Chu Lan. Chu Lan nodded.

The three of them immediately prepared to leave.

Chu Qingli had watched the entire scene from the side, and a powerful sense of defeat rose within her.

That woman, whose appearance and figure were in no way inferior to hers, possessed an inviolable aura completely unlike her own youthful immaturity.

More importantly, from beginning to end, she had not even looked at her once.

It felt like the indifference of someone from an entirely different social class—a dismissive kind of disregard.

Chu Qingli looked at Fang Yi again.

And Fang Yi...

Fang Yi's gaze had not lingered on her either.

He left together with Chu Lan and the Principal without even sparing her a glance.

He left behind a group of dumbfounded students, utterly bewildered where they stood.

Along the way, the Principal described Qingbei's recent situation.

"Ever since that day when the Golden Sun descended at Qingbei's gates and dissipated a few days later, I thought things had mostly come to an end."

"But unexpectedly, a few nights ago, flames suddenly fell from the sky. The blazing fire floated in the air for no reason, as if it would burn forever..."

When they arrived at the No. 1 sports field where the Heavenly Fire had descended, they discovered that the situation here was even more severe than outside.

The flames raged wildly across the sports field, roaring like an enraged giant beast. The red firelight was as scorching as the blazing sun, dyeing everything around it crimson. As the flames danced, countless tongues of fire seemed to lick at the air, radiating blistering heat that made one feel as though they were standing in hell.

The Heavenly Fire devoured everything around it—grass, basketball hoops, even the signs on the sports field had turned to ash.

Under the firelight, the air over the sports field was filled with the stench of char and searing heat. Even people merely passing by could smell the choking scent of burning.

"The Heavenly Fire hasn't stopped burning at all?" Chu Lan asked.

"That's right. We tried every method we could think of, but fire extinguishers were completely useless. Even the fire department was helpless. All we could do was seal off this sports field and keep the teachers and students away."

The Principal's words were full of helplessness.

Fang Yi looked toward the sports field.

The raging flames cast distorted shadows, making the entire sports field appear warped and eerie. The sound of burning fire was deafening like war drums. Amid this rampaging sea of flames, everything seemed so powerless and insignificant.

Before the increasingly frequent anomalies of the Great World Change, ordinary people truly were insignificant.

If the situation had not been so extreme, the military would not have been so eager to establish a Pioneer pilot program at universities and proactively train a group of Pioneers.

Looking at the scene, Chu Lan raised her wrist. She had always worn a silver bracelet around it, made of some unusual material.

When she brought her hand close to the sports field before her, the bracelet suddenly lit up, and the numbers on it began to jump.

"1, 2, 3..."

"What is that? Some kind of testing device?"

Fang Yi looked at the bracelet and asked curiously.