Campus Confrontation

The campus lay languid during the lunch break. The sun baked the rubber track until it was scorching, and the air carried a mix of dust and rubber. Students clustered in twos and threes, some eating bread, some playing basketball, making a noisy mess of the place.

Alone, Xiang Yi slowly followed the shade of the plane trees along the edge of the field toward the garbage area behind the school building. His steps floated as though he had just recovered from a serious illness. Deep in his temples, the dull ache of mental exhaustion pounded against his nerves, while last night's fatigue still lingered like an icy tide that had not fully receded.

He only wanted to find somewhere empty and catch his breath. The spot behind the building where the trash cans were piled up was usually deserted even by ghosts. It was perfect.

Unfortunately, today's peace and quiet was doomed to end.

Just as Xiang Yi was about to turn into the garbage area, several shadows stretched long by the sun covered the ground in front of him a step ahead of him, like spiders waiting for prey.

Xiang Yi stopped. Without looking up, his gaze swept over several pairs of mud-stained, expensive sneakers.

"Well, if it isn't our class's sickly little runt?" A raised voice dripping with mockery pierced the silence beneath the trees. Zhang Hao had both hands in his uniform pockets, his grin stretched from ear to ear as he sauntered out from the shadow by the wall. Three boys in the same school uniforms followed behind him, though each was visibly much bigger. Their faces carried the same contempt and excitement. They loosely formed a semicircle around Xiang Yi, cutting off his path.

"What, you've only been better for a few days, and you already dare crawl into this rat hole alone?" Zhang Hao walked up to Xiang Yi and deliberately lowered his head until his face was nearly pressed against his. His hot breath smelled of cheap mint candy. "Got some guts now, huh, Xiang Yi? Or did those guys last time not 'serve' you well enough, so you want something more 'exciting' today?" He emphasized "serve" and "exciting," prompting knowing laughter from his lackeys.

Xiang Yi slightly raised his eyelids, his calm gaze passing over Zhang Hao's malicious face. Zhang Hao's uniform sleeve was rolled up, exposing his sturdy forearm muscles and... the faint edge of a dark bluish tattoo on his wrist, its color still fresh. Its lines carried a chill that did not belong to a student.

Zhang Hao did not notice the sharpness that flashed through Xiang Yi's eyes. He was still immersed in his own swagger. "I heard your dad got lucky?" He extended a finger, intending to poke Xiang Yi's shoulder in an insulting manner. "That garbage company of his managed to turn things around? Did he step in dog shit again, or..." His finger halted in midair, the malice in his eyes deepening. "Did he secretly start worshipping some god?"

Just before Zhang Hao's finger could touch him, Xiang Yi shifted back half a step, barely perceptibly, neatly avoiding it. To Zhang Hao, that tiny movement was pure provocation.

"You're dodging?" The fake smile vanished from Zhang Hao's face, replaced by anger at being defied and a trace of viciousness. "Turning down a toast only to drink a forfeit, huh?" he snapped, suddenly raising his voice as spit flew everywhere. "Last time I had someone 'invite' you, and you got lucky! This time, I'm handling you myself! Let's see how brittle your sickly little bones are!" He waved a hand. "Drag him behind there! Give him a proper 'welcome'!"

"You got it, Brother Hao!" The biggest of the boys behind Zhang Hao, his face covered in acne, answered with a vicious grin. He stepped forward, his palm as large as a fan as it swept toward Xiang Yi's thin arm. The other two closed in with snickers, blocking off every escape route.

Just as that huge hand was about to touch Xiang Yi's arm—

Buzz!

An incredibly faint tremor, as though it came from deep underground, swept across everyone's eardrums like a pebble dropped into still water. It passed so quickly it could have been an illusion.

The next second, a sudden change erupted!

The half-full green plastic garbage bin closest to Xiang Yi and the burly boy exploded without warning in a burst of blinding orange-red flames!

Boom—!

The explosion tore through the afternoon laziness like thunder striking level ground! The flames were no ordinary fire; they were more like condensed energy erupting all at once! Thick black smoke, reeking of scorched plastic, surged into the sky like a crazed black python!

A scorching blast wave swept outward from the garbage bin, carrying burning debris and choking smoke in a violent horizontal sweep!

"Fuck!!"

"What exploded?!"

"Fire!!"

The three boys surrounding him bore the brunt of it! The burly one reaching for Xiang Yi was closest, and the incoming heat and smoke instantly swallowed him! Blinding red light and rolling black fog filled his vision, his skin burned, and his nose was seared by the acrid smoke. His scream caught in his throat, leaving only strangled gasps! Instinctively clutching his head, he staggered back, tripped over his own feet, and slammed face-first onto the ground.

The other two were scared out of their wits by the sudden explosion and thick smoke. How could they still care about Xiang Yi? They screamed and sprang backward like startled rabbits. One crashed into the other, and the pair tumbled into a heap, their uniforms covered in dust and sparks.

Even Zhang Hao, who had been standing farther back, was forced several steps away by the blast. The ferocity on his face was instantly replaced by shock and confusion. He reflexively raised an arm to block the smoke, his eyes stinging and watering as he could only see chaotic flames and thick smoke through his fingers.

Chaos! Complete chaos!

Only one person stood utterly unmoved at the instant of the explosion, like a rock in rushing rapids.

Xiang Yi.

The moment the flames erupted, it was as if he had expected it all along. He neither dodged nor panicked, merely narrowing his eyes against the glare. He stood at precisely the blind spot of the blast wave and spreading smoke. The violent air and burning fragments seemed to be stopped by an invisible wall, surging past him and knocking Zhang Hao and the others sprawling, yet failing to so much as lift the corner of his clothes.

He remained where he was, watching the chaos he had orchestrated with cold eyes. Smoke obscured their vision, while the crackle of flames mingled with the boys' frightened coughing and curses.

The moment had come!

The instant Zhang Hao stumbled back in disarray, his arm blocking the smoke and his attention completely captured by the explosion, Xiang Yi moved!

Fast as a ghost and precise as a machine! There was nothing flashy about it, only the most efficient charge forward! His left foot stamped down, and his body shot forward like an arrow released from a bow, cutting through smoke and silhouettes straight at Zhang Hao!

Zhang Hao only saw a black blur flash before him, followed by a cold wind carrying the scent of death! Before he could even see what it was, his right wrist was clamped in something like an icy iron vise! An irresistible force yanked him, and the world spun around him!

The instant Xiang Yi seized Zhang Hao's wrist, he used his forward momentum to twist his waist and exert force! A clean, sharp restraint hold! Zhang Hao's much larger body was as fragile as a torn sack before that precise, violent strength!

"Urgh—aaah!" Zhang Hao let out a pig-slaughtering scream as Xiang Yi viciously slammed him to the ground! His back struck the cold concrete hard enough to dislodge his organs! His right arm was twisted behind him, and the tearing pain in his shoulder joint instantly left him limp, capable only of wailing.

It had all happened too fast! From the garbage bin's explosion to Zhang Hao being taken down, only two or three seconds had passed!

Only when Zhang Hao's heart-rending scream rang out did his three dirty-faced, still-shaken lackeys snap back to their senses!

"Brother Hao!"

"You little bastard, you're dead!"

"Let go of Brother Hao!"

Furious and alarmed, the three ignored their disheveled state and the choking smoke, howling as they rushed forward to save Zhang Hao.

Xiang Yi pinned Zhang Hao's lower back firmly with one knee, his left hand gripping Zhang Hao's twisted right arm like an iron clamp. He turned his head slightly, his icy gaze sweeping over the three restless lackeys like poison-tempered blades.

That gaze was terrifyingly calm. It held none of the panic or anger expected from someone his age, only the indifference of someone looking down on ants and a bone-deep killing intent. It silently declared: Whoever moved, died.

The three boys who had been charging over were struck by that gaze as though a bucket of ice water had been dumped over their heads. The rage in their chests froze in their throats! An instinctive fear of a top predator seized them! Their feet stopped dead, and nothing remained on their faces but terror. The burly boy still dazed on the ground even instinctively shrank his neck.

The thick smoke still rolled through the air, and the fire in the garbage bin still crackled. The atmosphere in that little corner was as oppressive as solidified lead.

Xiang Yi's eyes returned to Zhang Hao beneath him, who was trembling like a sieve. The agony left Zhang Hao's face streaming with tears and snot, his body convulsing violently from fear and pain as garbled curses escaped his mouth.

Xiang Yi leaned down slightly, bringing his face close to Zhang Hao's pain-twisted ear. His voice was not loud, and even retained a trace of a young boy's clear tone, but every word seemed carved from an ice cave—piercingly cold, cutting through the flames and wails.

"Zhang Hao, listen carefully."

Zhang Hao's wailing abruptly caught in his throat, and his body stiffened.

"Last time was a warning. If you provoke me again..." Xiang Yi paused, then the fingers gripping Zhang Hao's right arm joint abruptly tightened!

"Ah—!" Zhang Hao screamed miserably again, feeling as if his bones were about to shatter!

"The ones that break..." Xiang Yi continued in a voice like Death's whisper, "won't be those pieces of trash's hands."

He deliberately slowed his words, his gaze like an ice spike nailed into Zhang Hao's pale, twisted face.

"It'll be your neck, Zhang Hao."

The last three words fell softly, yet struck Zhang Hao's heart like a boulder weighing a thousand pounds!

Fear! An unprecedented terror instantly drowned Zhang Hao! A chill shot from the soles of his feet to the top of his head, freezing his blood! The classmate he had regarded as a "sickly runt" now radiated a murderous aura a hundred times more terrifying than the fiercest bodyguard by his father's side! This was not an empty threat! This was someone who had seen blood and did not care about human lives!

"Wuh... wuh... let... let go..." All of Zhang Hao's arrogance vanished, leaving only instinctive terror and pleading. He shook like a leaf in the wind.

At that moment, Xiang Yi's gaze precisely caught something fully exposed beneath Zhang Hao's rolled-up uniform sleeve as he struggled and thrashed in fear!

It was no longer a vague edge.

It was a complete tattoo, its twisted, bizarre lines radiating evil!

Against a pitch-black background coiled a ferocious monster that looked neither like a dragon nor a snake! Its body was knotted with muscle, its fangs bared, while a cold vertical eye rested at the center of the design, staring outward with the malice of a living thing. Beneath its claws, the monster tightly gripped a distorted Japanese emblem!

Beast!

That symbol instantly overlapped in Xiang Yi's mind with the fragmentary intelligence Xuan Weizi had overheard in the Zhang family study last night: worshipping the "Beast" totem!

The Hand! It really was the mark of The Hand! Judging by the freshness and location of the tattoo—on the inner forearm, extremely private—it was absolutely not decoration! Zhang Hao, this arrogant rich second-generation heir, had already been recruited by The Hand, or at least deeply bound to them! The Zhang family's collusion with The Hand ran deeper than Xiang Yi had imagined!

Intelligence confirmed! Objective achieved!

The icy killing intent in Xiang Yi's eyes receded like a tide, and he instantly became that slightly frail, bewildered twelve-year-old boy again. He released Zhang Hao and even took a "frightened" step back, as though he had been startled by his own "impulsiveness."

"Cough, cough... cough cough..." He covered his mouth and coughed violently, his thin body swaying as his face turned even paler. Fine cold sweat appeared at his temples. This time, it was not entirely an act—the exhaustion from overexertion was surging back. His eyes darted away, too afraid to look at the groaning Zhang Hao or the three stunned lackeys.

"Brother... Brother Hao... are... are you okay?" Xiang Yi's voice trembled with just the right amount of lingering fear, like a startled rabbit. "I-I'm sorry... I was... too scared just now... I didn't mean to..."

That instantaneous change left Zhang Hao, who had just caught his breath from the pain and terror, and his three lackeys, who had been frozen by a single look from Xiang Yi, completely dumbfounded!

Where had that Xiang Yi gone—the one with eyes cold enough to freeze stone, whose moves were ruthless and vicious, like a god of slaughter possessed?

Could this pale-faced, violently coughing, evasive-eyed sickly runt who looked scared out of his wits possibly be the same person?

The immense contrast turned Zhang Hao's mind into mush. The agonizing pain in his wrist and shoulder was still there, reminding him that what had just happened was no dream. Yet Xiang Yi's harmless, pitiful appearance made him wonder whether the smoke had muddled his brain. Had that suffocating pressure just been a hallucination born of fear?

"You... you..." Zhang Hao clutched his agonizing right arm and struggled to rise, glaring at Xiang Yi in shock, rage, and fear, unable to form a complete sentence. Should he keep making threats to recover his pride? Or... should he get away from this cursed freak first? The huge shadow of terror still weighed on his heart.

Just then, hurried footsteps and shouts came from the distance:

"What's going on over there?!"

"Is there a fire?! Go take a look!"

"Who's over there?!"

The school security guards and teachers had heard the explosion and were coming over!

A faint, imperceptible chill flashed through Xiang Yi's eyes. He gave Zhang Hao another "frightened" look, as though the approaching guards had terrified him, then turned and staggered away. Almost crawling and scrambling, he quickly vanished down another tree-lined path leading toward the school building. His retreating figure looked panicked and helpless.

Zhang Hao and his three dirty-faced lackeys were left beside the burning garbage bin, surrounded by spreading smoke and the suspicious gazes of the arriving security guards and teachers, along with the mess on the ground and an inexplicable chaos.

Zhang Hao stared in the direction Xiang Yi had vanished, then lowered his eyes to the ferocious Beast tattoo fully exposed on his wrist from his struggle. A chill mixed with agony rose from deep in his heart again. He yanked down his uniform sleeve and tightly covered the tattoo, his face ashen and his eyes filled with alarm and lingering fear.

Amid the chaotic scene, no one noticed a nearly transparent speck of dust glowing faintly gold drift silently up from the edge of a burning garbage bin. It merged soundlessly into the air, followed the direction Xiang Yi had gone, and disappeared deep into the shade of the trees.

In the shadowed corner of a quiet stairwell in the school building, Xiang Yi leaned against the cold wall and breathed lightly. The panic on his face had long vanished, leaving only icy calm and deep exhaustion.

He raised a hand, palm upward.

A faint golden glimmer silently gathered in his palm, forming an extremely tiny point of light. It gave a soft flicker, then completely dissipated.

"Mr. Guiguzi," Xiang Yi's voice sounded in his mind, utterly even, "the Beast mark is confirmed. The Zhang family is bait—and fish caught in the net as well."

He closed his eyes briefly. When he opened them again, only the faintly tired calm of a student remained. He straightened his slightly rumpled uniform collar and began walking, calmly merging into the stream of students heading toward the classrooms like an utterly ordinary student who had just woken from a nap.