Footsteps came from beyond the sheet-metal gate.
They kept drawing closer.
Then a figure clambered over, looking somewhat clumsy.
Two more figures followed, moving much more nimbly than the first.
Qin Ran, who had already slipped into the shadows, narrowed his eyes as he studied the three.
Their youthful faces still unmistakably marked them as students, even in casual clothes.
Leading the way was a tall girl. Behind her was a girl with glasses and thick bangs, while the last girl looked rather unusual.
Though clearly a girl, she wore a buzz cut, with two metal studs in her nose and a large hoop dangling from her left ear, almost touching her shoulder.
Those accessories gave what should have been a delicate face a defiant, unruly look.
A nonconformist-the word seemed made for her.
Of course, her appearance wasn't the only thing that caught Qin Ran's attention. It was her unusual aura.
There was a faint, cold gloom to it.
But above all, it was violent.
It resembled negative energy, yet wasn't quite the same.
What is this?
Qin Ran searched through everything he knew, but found no term that could accurately describe this aura.
Did negative energy have a violent side?
Yes!
And it was far more violent than most people imagined.
Once that energy, formed from people's negative emotions and dying wails, erupted, its power was beyond imagination.
But the violence of negative energy was concealed.
It was like a raging undertow beneath a calm river.
Nothing like the... blatant violence before him!
After a moment's thought, Qin Ran settled on that description.
The three girls who had climbed into the school never noticed Qin Ran hiding nearby. His Transcendent-level [Stealth] had long since surpassed the sight of ordinary people.
Even if one of them seemed anything but