Information Gap

The rain fell again.

As [Abyssal Court Heavy Domain] lifted, the downpour filled the ten-meter vacuum once more.

Jiangnan lowered his head and looked at the black silhouette beneath his feet, now completely flattened into a two-dimensional paper cutout.

The Hungry Ghost, which had once wiped out the Cherry Blossom Country squad and struck fear into the hearts of Supernatural Ability users.

Now it looked like a sticker pressed flat, stuck to the muddy ground.

It was still twitching faintly, but had clearly lost every ounce of its threat.

Without a word, he reached out and pinched the edge of the paper cutout.

Rip!

A sharp sound like tearing silk.

The Hungry Ghost was as easy to peel up as a scrap of paper. Jiangnan casually tore it off the ground and crumpled it into a ball.

"..."

In Guo Shuai's mind, Albert—the one who'd been so utterly full of himself just moments ago—fell completely silent.

"Hey, old man."

Guo Shuai gloated in his mind, unable to hide the smugness in his voice.

"Cat got your tongue? Who was it that said my boss was a weakling? Who said we were going to die?"

"A bet's a bet. Hand over your secret skill!"

"Hmph..."

It took a long while before Albert finally gave a defeated snort.

"This god... honors his bets."

"I never imagined a man without even a trace of Supernatural Ability fluctuations could wield such terrifying power..."

"I misjudged him."

"Listen up, kid. This ability was a forbidden technique I invented back then to fight against... No, to study the bizarre creatures. It's called..."

Albert's voice grew low and mysterious in Guo Shuai's mind.

A few seconds later.

Guo Shuai sounded thrilled.

"For real?!"

"This thing... is ridiculously overpowered! I love it!"

Though he didn't know what the ability was, just look at Guo Shuai. He was so excited he was practically drooling.

That hidden ability was clearly worth a great deal.

At that moment.

Jiangnan ignored his delirious subordinate and patted him, making his meaning clear.

Go call them over.

"Yes, boss!"

Guo Shuai ran back to summon the others.

Rumble!

Before long, the RV rolled over the gravel and bones scattered across the slope and stopped at the school gate.

Jiangnan climbed aboard and looked at Liu Yuqing.

She had also spotted the ball of black paper in his hand. As usual, she pushed up her glasses and used [Appraisal].

The next second, all traces of sleepiness vanished.

[Item]: Void Stomach

[Rank]: A-Class

[Type]: Material

[Information]: The core organ of the A-Class bizarre entity "Hungry Ghost." It possesses unparalleled elasticity and toughness.

It contains a miniature folded space, making it ideal for crafting spatial storage equipment.

[Note]: Once expected to evolve into an S-Class bizarre entity, it never understood until the day it died why the rain was so heavy.

"Great stuff!"

Liu Yuqing wrote down the appraisal results and handed them to Jiangnan, her eyes full of admiration.

"Boss, this is top-grade material for making spatial equipment! Wang Meng can definitely turn it into something amazing!"

Jiangnan glanced at the information and gave a slight nod.

An A-Class bizarre entity, and an A-Class material.

That meant Jiangnan had probably already claimed first place on the Novice Ranking for both the third and fourth days.

In other words, he no longer needed to deal with those things.

Jiangnan put the material away and looked up through the window at the gloomy Teaching Building not far outside.

A figure could be seen moving faintly behind a second-floor window.

But he had no interest in dealing with those people.

Whether they were survivors or Supernatural Ability users from another faction made no difference to him, so long as they didn't stand in his way.

Jiangnan turned around, closed the door, and issued a command through the Main Control Panel.

[Go to the red dot.]

Now that the obstacle was gone, there was no need to waste any more time.

The red dot marking the Terminal Signal Tower showed that it was somewhere inside the school. Getting the map sooner was what mattered.

Class 3-2.

Lu Shiyan and Yekaterina hadn't gone downstairs.

They stood in the shadows behind the curtains, silently watching everything below through night-vision goggles and their abilities.

"I can't make out his face..."

Lu Shiyan lowered the goggles, his brows drawn tight.

"Going by his build and complexion alone, he looks like a typical Asian man."

He turned to glance at Hoshino, trembling in the corner, then looked down at the imposing figure below and shook his head.

"That girl looked completely unfamiliar with him—and terrified."

"So there's no way he's Muraguchi Nissuu, the Cherry Blossom Country commander."

"If he isn't from the Cherry Blossom Country, then the only people on Weird Island are our own..."

Lu Shiyan stroked the stubble on his chin.

"That leaves only two possibilities."

"Either he's the [Stocking Bandit]."

"Or... he's that mysterious former number one, [No Need to Say More], who just fell off the rankings."

"I'm leaning toward the latter."

Lu Shiyan exhaled a ring of smoke, his expression complicated.

"That presence, tearing an A-Class Monster up like a paper cutout... The name 'Stocking Bandit' doesn't exactly sound like someone capable of that."

"But unfortunately..."

Lu Shiyan glanced at the Black RV as it started up and sighed.

"The truly terrifying thing about this Ghost Middle School has never been the 'Hungry Ghost' guarding the gate."

"They're going in just like that. They're probably in for a world of hurt."

Beside him, Yekaterina hadn't said a word.

Her beautiful eyes seemed glued to Jiangnan.

Even after he'd climbed into the RV, her gaze stayed fixed on it.

"Yekaterina?"

Lu Shiyan noticed something was off with his companion. "What's wrong? Got your eye on that Drag Brother?"

Yekaterina didn't answer.

Her golden slit pupils tried to See Through the RV's interior.

However.

The instant her gaze touched the front of the Black RV—

Hum!

A hideous Scarecrow face suddenly surfaced on the vehicle's body. It grinned wickedly right at her!

"Ugh!"

Yekaterina's face went deathly pale. She stumbled backward, clutching her chest, and nearly fell to the floor.

She quickly shut off her slit pupils and gasped for air, cold sweat beading on her forehead.

"What's wrong?"

Lu Shiyan hurried to steady her, his expression tense.

"Th-that vehicle's not right..."

Yekaterina's voice trembled as she pointed toward the RV, which had already driven deeper into the campus.

"It gives me an absolutely terrifying feeling... That's the pressure of an S-Class Superior!"

"The vehicle's outer shell... It might be made from the hide or corpse of an S-Class Monster!"

"What?!"

The cigarette butt fell from Lu Shiyan's hand onto the floor.

A car cover made from the hide of an S-Class Monster?

What kind of family could afford that?!

"Looks like this group... isn't simple."

Lu Shiyan's brows knitted together, his expression more grave than ever.

They didn't have a tablet linked to the Shelter System.

They had no way of knowing that although Jiangnan hadn't appeared on the Novice Ranking, he had shown up on the Boss Kill Ranking.

"Could they not be newbies? Are they veterans, or 'Chosen of God' from up above?"

"No, that doesn't make sense... According to the intel, only newcomers should have descended onto Weird Island so far."

"Forget it."

Lu Shiyan took a deep breath and forced down his shock.

"Whoever they are, as long as they're not here to kill us, that's enough."

"Let's wait for tomorrow's rankings to be calculated. Then everything will become clear."

He glanced at the clock on the wall, its hands pointing to four in the morning, and his expression turned solemn.

"Right now, the most important thing is preparing for the crisis at 4:44 AM."

"Mm."

Yekaterina sat on the floor and took a moment to recover.

"Thanks for the effort, Lu."

"Remember to have those Cherry Blossom Country students in the classroom treat their wounds. The smell of blood is too strong. The Principal won't be happy."

"If they show up to class injured, it'll be a lot of trouble."

"Understood."

Lu Shiyan nodded.

He picked up the unfinished Huazi from the floor again. He didn't even mind the dirt; he blew off the dust and lit it once more.

Then he turned and walked toward Hoshino in the corner.

Hoshino was hugging her knees. When she saw the terrifying middle-aged man approaching, she shrank her neck like a frightened quail.

"M-Mr. Lu?"

Lu Shiyan looked down at her and exhaled a ring of smoke.

Then, without expression, he said,

"Hey, little girl."

"Take off your clothes."

Hoshino: "E-e-e-eh?!!"