Volume Three: The Academy Runs Completely Amok

Boom!!!

A giant beam of light, hundreds of feet in diameter, descended from the sky, ionizing all the air it passed through. However, the beam disintegrated into countless light particles the instant it approached Huang Huo's head, and then vanished into the air.

"Is this all there is to it, little Fiaz?"

"Hmph... a superpower that can Matter Collapse? That's unexpected..."

Behind Fiaz, besides the pair of mechanical wings, there were hundreds more Floating Cannon and Light Sword- like objects, like an enhanced version of a ship girl. Of course, there are no ship girls in this other world.

On the other side, Huang Huo had transformed into its battle form. With arms that extended past its knees, large, reptilian-like fluorescent blue eyes, pinkish-purple skin, and blue tattoo patterns, it possessed a strange beauty amidst its eeriness.

"Ship Slicing Blade!"

Dozens of orange-yellow swords, each hundreds of meters long, slashed down at Huang Huo, leaving behind trails of vacuum wherever they went.

"Mountain Storm Missile Modification! X-15 Laser Cannon! Penetration-Specialized Plasma Cannon!"

Missiles, lasers, and plasma cannons bombarded Huang Huo, but without exception, they all Earth Collapse disintegrated within tens of meters of him, leaving not even a trace.

"Had enough? Then it's my turn--"

An overly long arm reached out towards Fiaz, and with a slight gesture, Fiaz suddenly accelerated and dodged to the side.

"Man-made disasters and other calamities"

A terrifying shockwave swept past Fiaz's mechanical wings, instantly shattering the precision superalloy machinery into molecules and atoms. Below, the once-flat coconut grove was transformed into a kilometer-long ravine, as if someone had slammed a giant whip into the ground! The ravine wasn't filled with the remains of coconut trees or soil, but with extremely fine sand, each grain so small that it couldn't be seen even with a magnifying glass!

Fiaz's eyes flickered, making it impossible to tell whether he was excited or wary. He simply readjusted the data and generated new equipment. Numerical strings scrolled across the six lenses of his glasses, so numerous that they would give an ordinary person a headache at a glance, and even Fiaz frowned.

"Are you analyzing my ability?" Huang Huo chuckled. "My ability is the simplest and most brutal among the higher-ups: Matter Collapse. It's purely destructive. It should be easy to analyze, right?"

"You really dare to say that..." Fiaz retorted with a sneer, "It's powerful precisely because it's simple and brutal; my processing center is about to burst, you know."

"I'm truly sorry. But to be honest, at first I thought that after you escaped the pursuit from the Void Realm, you would obediently hide away and not show your face again!"

A buzzing sound echoed through the space, and the air in a spherical area with a radius of one kilometer in front of Huang Huo was completely disintegrated. Tiny elementary particles emitted a colorful halo, which was the color of death in its entirety.

A water-film-like protective barrier rippled out around Fiaz. Although he looked quite disheveled, he had indeed blocked the Collapse attack of the Huang Huo.

"Oh? You analyzed my superpower and created a machine that can recombine matter in an extremely short time? That's terrifying scientific power. If you weren't in this world full of superpowers, you would definitely shine."

"Science is something supremely great and sublime! It is proof of human wisdom! Don't equate great science with crude superpowers!"

"You're certainly sharp-tongued... You really think you can stand against us? The reason we wanted to recruit you into the higher-ups was because we valued your intellect, not your strength! Indeed, given enough time to analyze and calculate, there's probably no opponent you couldn't defeat. Too bad, your current opponent is the strongest in terms of pure attack power among the higher-ups besides Gustav —me!"

Huang Huo raised his arms, letting out a piercing laugh in a hoarse, unpleasant voice, as a tremendous energy coalesced in his hands—

"Tsk..."

Fiaz spat; it seemed he'd really messed things up this time...

A cruel smile appeared on the face of what looked like a reptile.

"A calamity of demons, a scourge upon the ferry crossing!"

In a huge room that resembled a conference room, many Spirit Light Screen were arranged in a circle, each displaying the image of a person. They included both men and women, but the youngest was over forty years old, and all were dressed in luxurious attire.

They are the heads of state of the various countries in the Central Sea Islands.

"The Central United Academy has suffered the most serious terrorist attack in its history."

"According to the latest intelligence, this indirectly led to the liberation of the Boundary Breaking Armor."

What about the Central United Academy?

"The General Council has mobilized the guards."

"It's time for us to make our move."

"As the largest educational and academic institution, the Central United Academy is comparable to a small country, and its development is closely related to all our countries."

"Several hundred years ago, the Central United Academy of the Central People's Government signed mutual defense treaties with the high-level officials of various countries, but they have never been used."

"Intervening is necessary; it also earns us a huge favor."

"But..."

One of the leaders looked troubled.

"Our United States of the North Sea will withdraw this time. Well... the economy has been sluggish in recent years, which has forced us to downsize our military. I'm afraid... it will be difficult to send troops to support other countries."

"Ah... in that case, I'm afraid I, Worostan, will have to withdraw from this joint military intervention as well."

Another leader lowered his head in shame, his gaze somewhat evasive.

"Like the United States of the North Sea... no, it's probably even more serious. Last year, our country experienced a financial crisis, which has largely subsided, but there are still some..."

"Actually, we in Oshelenia are also..."

"Same as above for the White Lake Republic..."

"The Silver Birch Merchant Alliance is also..."

"Eh?"

Only then did they all realize that something was wrong.

"Phew... Those countries that have close ties with the Central United Academy must be having a tough time right now. It seems that intervening in their economies a couple of years in advance was the right thing to do."

On the giant airship of the Gray Starling Group (of course, it was disguised to cover up the Gray Starling Group's logo), Yu He stared blankly at the ground, muttering to himself, while fiddling with a checkbook in his hand.

"The President insightful!"

The secretaries rushed to flatter him, but Yu He simply waved his hand dismissively.

"Well, as long as we can keep them in check for now, it'll relieve some pressure on me... Ankri, get the rope ladder ready, I'm going down."

"Ah!? President, but downstairs—"

"It's okay, trust me."

A few minutes later, Yu He descended to the ground using the rope ladder. Although he considered himself a strategist, his physical strength was not bad either.

However, they were no match for the pack of ravenous beasts in front of them.

"Intruders, surrender and give in!"

"Look at what you're saying. They've already infiltrated us, how could we possibly just give in obediently..." Yu He complained helplessly.

Although their arrival was abrupt, the tens of thousands of people before them were undoubtedly a real army. About 70% of them were ordinary people armed to the teeth, and 30% were powerful superhumans, making it a rather large force.

On Spirit Star, armies are never very large; tens of thousands are considered a significant force. This is because of the presence of superhumans; a single, extremely powerful superhuman can be equivalent to an army of thousands or even tens of thousands, directly influencing the course of battle. However, this doesn't mean armies are unimportant. Such powerful individuals are not found in every nation. Large nations with abundant talent have this advantage, but smaller nations lacking exceptionally strong individuals can only compensate for their lack of quality with sheer numbers. This creates a peculiar situation on Spirit Star where larger nations often deploy fewer troops than smaller ones in wars. Large nations might send only two or three (extremely powerful superhumans), while smaller nations often send tens of thousands (ordinary people and weaker superhumans).

And the army before us—

"Everyone's holding something very dangerous. They've even mass-produced Treasure Artifact. No wonder it's the Central United Academy."

Seventy percent of the ordinary soldiers carried weapons of the same style. Although they looked plain and unadorned, the power they exuded was indeed that of Treasure Artifact.

"An army of tens of thousands, thirty percent of whom are superhumans, seventy percent wielding Treasure Artifact, plus two members of the General Council personally leading the charge—you really think highly of me..."

Right in front of the army stood a bald old man and a gray-haired old woman. Although they were old, they showed no signs of decline, and the aura they exuded was extremely impressive.

The two members of the General Council's fighting faction are Wu Ke and Natasha. They are the only two super-strong fighters in the General Council. They were both famous strongmen in their youth, and their strength has not diminished at all. If they join forces, even Fiaz would have to back down in terms of pure combat power.

"Youngster, how dare you cause trouble at the Central United Academy? You must be prepared for the consequences!"

"Now that you're here, don't leave, junior!"

"You keep calling me 'junior'..." Yu He chuckled wryly and scratched his head. "I'm actually older than all of you combined, you know..."

"Further discussion is pointless!!!"

At their command, tens of thousands of soldiers launched a simultaneous attack, countless Treasure Artifact emitting blinding light as they rained down on Yu He! The enormous light barrier formed by the convergence of these countless lights forced even the organization's senior and Special Class Combatant to temporarily evade its onslaught!

However, Yu He showed no intention of dodging. He simply took out a small savings book from his pocket and flipped through it idly.

"Business warfare - risk transfer"

Rumble rumble rumble!!!!

All the attacks landed on Yu He, but at the very moment of impact, tens of thousands of soldiers suddenly coughed up blood, some even bursting into clouds of Blood Mist, a scene of extreme gore! The other soldiers were horrified, and panic spread like a plague!

On the other side, after the radiance faded, Yu He hadn't lost a single hair.

""What!?""

The two elderly people were shocked. This young man in front of them must be a superhuman with some strange abilities. Pure violence would be useless against him!

"Honestly, we live in a civilized society, why resort to knives and guns? Wouldn't it be better for everyone to sit down at the table and resolve issues through negotiation? But now, I guess I have no choice but to harden my heart..."

Yu He shrugged, then took out an ordinary checkbook, tore off a check, and wrote something on it. Judging from his hand gestures, it seemed to contain many zeros.

"'Poaching'."

The remaining soldiers suddenly froze, then turned around in unison, pointing their Treasure Artifact at Wu Ke and Natasha!

"This is... mind control? Controlling tens of thousands of people at once?"

"No, they don't look like they're being controlled!"

Wu Ke looked closely and saw that the soldiers all had bright eyes and did not seem to be under control at all.

"There's nothing special about it," Yu He said lazily. "If other companies could offer you better compensation, even the most loyal employee would be tempted to switch jobs, even though it cost me a lot of money..."

After saying that, he looked at the passbook with a pained expression, and the check spontaneously combusted and turned to ashes.

"Now that they've all switched jobs to our group, it wouldn't be right not to give them some work. So—let's get to work, everyone!"

"""""Yes!!!"""""

Countless Treasure Artifact launched another attack, and countless streams of light merged into one, but this time their target was the two old men!

"Snort!!"

Wu Ke snorted coldly, stepping in front of Natasha to take the full brunt of the attack! When the light faded, he not only survived, but his body actually grew even larger!

"Energy absorption? That's truly rare." Yu He blinked in surprise.

Die!!!

Wu Ke roared, releasing all the energy he had just absorbed, which transformed into a thousand-foot-long rainbow of light that pressed down on Yu He! Natasha beside him also stretched out her withered hands and clenched them tightly in the void. The space around Yu He immediately twisted and deformed, as if to crush him into mincemeat!

"This is troublesome--"

Yu He waved the bankbook, and the two incredibly powerful attacks vanished simultaneously. However, he looked distressed and sighed repeatedly as he watched the numbers on the bankbook decrease.

Seeing this, the two old men exchanged glances. It seemed that the strange young man's use of his abilities was not without cost; he had simply manifested the losses in other forms. This was a breakthrough!

On the other side, Yu He was watching them coldly.

"You've made me lose so much money for nothing, you'd better pay the price..."

Just as they were about to launch a second attack, the two suddenly trembled.

"How--?"

"You're so heavy!?"

Yu He took out a thick ledger and flipped through it quickly.

"If I remember correctly, our group provided a lot of assistance when the Central United Academy) was expanded, as well as the subsequent reclamation of wasteland, introduction of funds, and training of personnel... Our group has not received sufficient compensation. All in all... tsk tsk tsk, it's an astronomical figure. How do you intend to compensate us?"

Yu He narrowed his eyes.

"Since you two are members of the General Council, you should bear the consequences. Let me do the math: if we were to convert financial debts into physical harm... oh dear, how terrifying."

He revealed a shrewd businessman's smile.

"Take care, you two~"

Unable to resist, the bodies of the two super-strong members of the General Council exploded, turning into countless pieces of flesh scattered on the ground.

Yu He put away his passbook, checkbook, and ledger, and walked back to the airship with an air of ease.

"So, good children shouldn't leave debts unpaid."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A popularity poll for Volume 3 has just started; feel free to participate!

Also, to salvage our ranking on the Monthly Votes charts (...), let's have a little event. We'll release a lighthearted side story when we reach 50 Monthly Votes, another when we reach 100, another when we reach 150, and so on. Each side story will be at least 3000 words. Some might think it's unfair to only release a side story after every 50 tickets, but the author has his reasons, like summer social practice at school... QAQ