Shikai

"Everyone gather behind me! If anyone's hurt, help them!" Lu Mingfei shouted.

The scattered crowd seemed to have found someone to rally around and ran toward him.

Most of them had been saved by Lu Mingfei before. They knew they had to listen to him if they wanted to survive.

"Are you sure you can handle this?" Su Xiaoqiang asked worriedly.

It wasn't that she didn't trust Lu Mingfei. There were simply too many monsters, enough to make anyone despair.

"Don't worry, I'm fine. Once everyone's gathered, I'll put up a barrier. Keep an eye on the injured for me," Lu Mingfei replied.

"Okay!" Su Xiaoqiang nodded firmly.

Once everyone had gathered, Lu Mingfei had them huddle together, then held out his hand.

"Binding Way: Mirror Gate."

At his words, a high-level barrier enveloped the entire class.

"This barrier can reflect attacks from outside, but it's easy to break from within. Remember, whatever you do, don't come out," Lu Mingfei warned.

Inside, Su Xiaoqiang comforted some of the girls who were crying in fear.

Meanwhile.

Jiu De Mai raised her sniper rifle again and aimed at the white-coated figure standing in a tree.

"Should I take him out now?" she asked into her earpiece.

"No. Even if you take him out, the Dead Servants won't disappear. They'll just go berserk ahead of schedule."

She paused briefly.

"Besides, the Boss said this is a good chance to see how much strength Lu Mingfei has been hiding. If things really go south, we can always step in and save him," Su Enxi replied.

"Fine." Jiu De Mai shrugged.

Boom!

Blazing light burst in every direction. Flames surged like a rising tide through a weak point in the Dead Servants' ranks.

Jiu De Mai pulled her eye away from the scope and looked toward the explosion.

She saw Chu Zihang blazing a path through the Dead Servants' encirclement.

"Holy shit, why is Chu Zihang so reckless!" Jiu De Mai exclaimed.

Boom!

Another explosion followed. A girl, completely covered in black combat gear, also used flames to carve a path behind Chu Zihang.

"Holy shit! Why is the emotionless girl so reckless too!" Jiu De Mai cried, stunned.

"The Boss told me to do everything in my power to protect Lu Mingfei," Zero said, her voice utterly devoid of emotion.

Jiu De Mai and Su Enxi both put a hand to their foreheads.

"Well, I guess there's no choice, then. Be careful, emotionless girl. I'll provide support from a distance," Jiu De Mai said, adjusting her scope.

"Mm." Zero's reply was as cold as ever.

Someone else was using Lords Flame, just like him?

A flicker of confusion crossed Chu Zihang's mind.

But he didn't look back. He knew the people inside needed help more.

What was that explosion?

Lu Mingfei looked toward the direction the flames had struck.

A man emerged from the fire, holding an Alchemical Longsword. He had a cold, impassive expression and a pair of dazzling Golden Pupils. He was running straight toward Lu Mingfei.

"Senior Brother Chu?"

Liu Miaomiao cried out from behind Lu Mingfei, inside the barrier.

Her words reminded Lu Mingfei who it was: Chu Zihang, the number one name on Shilan High School's Must-Kill List.

"Lu Mingfei?"

Although Lu Mingfei had changed a lot, Chu Zihang still recognized him at a glance.

How did he remember me?

Lu Mingfei knew that he used to be a nobody, one of the forgettable ones.

And he'd changed so much, yet Chu Zihang had recognized him instantly. That was ridiculous.

Looking at Chu Zihang's burning Golden Pupils, Lu Mingfei saw that, like him, Chu Zihang hadn't lost his reason like those monsters.

It seemed he'd found a way to connect with this real world.

Chu Zihang looked at the students behind Lu Mingfei. He hadn't expected the group surrounded by Dead Servants to be students from Shilan High School. Was this barrier an Alchemical Matrix?

From the way Lu Mingfei held his blade, he was probably a Half-Blood too.

Although Chu Zihang didn't know much about Lu Mingfei's situation, he still said, "Quick, I can use a Spirit Word again to open a way out. You and the students can follow me."

"It's too late."

A cool voice spoke.

Zero said from behind Chu Zihang, "We were able to get in because that spot was weak, but it's been sealed now. We can't use Spirit Words to force our way out. It looks like whoever's behind this was deliberately waiting for you to come in."

Chu Zihang frowned and looked at the girl in black combat gear. "Have you been following me this whole time?"

Zero glanced at him without a word.

"Enough. I don't really understand what's going on with you two, but can someone tell me what these monsters are?"

Lu Mingfei pointed at the Dead Servants.

"They're Dead Servants. When the dragon-blood percentage in a Half-Blood exceeds the critical limit, the person loses their mind and degenerates into a Dead Servant," Chu Zihang explained.

Lu Mingfei nodded.

"I still don't really understand, but welcome aboard. The war is about to begin," Lu Mingfei said.

An eerie whistle sounded.

After hearing it, the Dead Servants began to rampage. Lu Mingfei knew what was controlling them.

He pinpointed the direction of the whistle.

At its sound, the Dead Servants stopped holding back their instincts and charged out in a mass. Some crawled along the ground on twisted limbs, while others ran upright. There were countless of them.

"Are they attacking?"

Lu Mingfei looked at the countless Dead Servants all around him and tightened his grip on his Zanpakuto.

Chu Zihang and Zero also gripped their Alchemy Blades.

The students inside the barrier were at a loss. Lu Mingfei, Chu Zihang, even these former classmates and upperclassmen—none of them were ordinary people. What was happening to the world?

"Is this their world?" Su Xiaoqiang thought as she watched them.

"For now, just focus on attacking. As long as the Dead Servants don't break through in large numbers, the barrier behind us will be enough to protect everyone," Lu Mingfei said.

Chu Zihang and Zero nodded slightly.

Normally, a Zanpakuto could only be released by a spirit. But after fusing with Shinigami Power for some time, his body could now withstand Shikai.

Lu Mingfei raised his Zanpakuto horizontally, pressed his left index and middle fingers together, and ran them along the blade.

"Part, Zanshin."

As his voice rang out,

the blade instantly turned black. It was three feet and two inches long, with a thin black cord sprouting from the end of its hilt. A small black cross was tied to the cord.

He expanded his domain, covering a radius of five hundred meters around the camp.

Lu Mingfei swept Zanshin forward and issued a command to everything within the domain:

"Vision Deprivation."

"Auditory Deprivation."

"Olfactory Deprivation."