Pearl Ability Academy had specialized courses teaching students how to judge the danger level of Mutated Beasts.
Once an animal became a Mutated Beast, its eyes became more spirited. As the supernatural power within its body continued to grow, its eyes would also acquire a distinctive radiance.
This light could not be seen during the day, but at night, it became visible with careful observation.
A Basic Mutated Beast's pupils would faintly glow white at night, and its rank could be judged from the brightness of that white light. Upon reaching the Intermediate level, the glow in its eyes would gradually become more restrained, shifting from white to green. Beyond that came the blue of High-Tier Mutated Beasts and the red of Top-Tier Mutated Beasts.
Zhang Ping was not an experienced Awakened and could not determine a Mutated Beast's exact level from the brightness of its glow. However, he could roughly judge the Heavenly Foxes' ranks through the light in their eyes.
Based on his observations, most Heavenly Foxes were between Intermediate and High-Tier, roughly Levels 19 to 25.
Unfortunately, Heavenly Foxes had not inherited the Nine-Tailed Fox's talent. Otherwise, he could have judged their Levels far more easily and accurately.
There were many Mutated Beasts in the wilderness whose ranks could be determined without relying on the glow in their eyes.
For example, once a Nine-Tailed Fox became a Mutated Beast, it would definitely have two tails. Upon becoming an Intermediate Mutated Beast, it would have three to four tails. As a High-Tier Mutated Beast, it would have five to six tails. One step further, it would become a Top-Tier Mutated Beast with seven to eight tails.
It was said that King-Level Nine-Tailed Foxes possessed nine tails.
Therefore, the Level of a Nine-Tailed Fox Mutated Beast was easy to determine. One glance at its tails was enough.
In fact, there were similar ways to judge Awakened as well.
As far as Zhang Ping knew, fire-type Awakened found it easiest to determine their own Levels in the early stages.
At Level 1, a fire-type ability user could condense at most one basketball-sized Fireball at full strength. At Level 2, they could condense two. This continued up to nine Fireballs at Level 9, making the Level very easy to judge.
However, after breaking through Level 10 and becoming an Intermediate Awakened, Levels became difficult to assess due to the qualitative change in supernatural powers and the different ways people tended to use their abilities.
Taking advantage of the night, Zhang Ping recorded information on the Heavenly Foxes in several nearby streets before turning back toward the academy.
Over the following days, he used the academy as his center of operations, constantly gathering information about the Heavenly Foxes in the city. At the same time, a question arose in his mind: quite a few Heavenly Foxes in the city were only Basic Mutated Beasts, yet they had deceived so many High-Level Awakened.
"Another Basic fox!"
Zhang Ping crouched in a corner not far from the academy, watching a Heavenly Fox in the distance whose eyes emitted a bright white glow. He muttered to himself.
No matter how powerful a Basic Mutated Beast's ability was, it would be extremely weak against Level Suppression. For example, a Novice Awakened with Mind Control could almost never inflict serious harm on an Intermediate Awakened.
Even if they truly managed to control one, the target would break free within seconds and might even cause the ability to backlash.
Zhang Ping remembered that Teacher Chen from practical combat class was an Intermediate Awakened. Back then, the entire class had gone all out and still failed to inflict much damage on Teacher Chen.
On one hand, there was the gap in experience. On the other, there was Level Suppression.
So the question was—
Why had Intermediate and even High-Level Awakened failed to notice these Basic Mutated Beasts eating people in the city?
In theory, no matter how powerful a Heavenly Fox's supernatural ability was, it should not have been able to suppress a being of a higher rank across Levels.
Yet according to Zhang Ping's observations during this period, these Basic Mutated Beasts were likewise running rampant through the city and eating people, while everyone around them remained completely unaware.
There had to be information he did not know, and that information was especially crucial.
Zhang Ping glanced at the Basic Mutated Beast swaggering down the street, then returned to the academy under cover of darkness.
By now, he had a rough understanding of the situation. At least sixteen streets around the academy had been infiltrated by Heavenly Foxes, with no fewer than fifty living there.
Outside the academy, the strongest Heavenly Fox he had found was probably between Levels 25 and 27, while the weakest was likely only Level 5.
It was a Heavenly Fox cub that often roamed around the snack street.
As for inside the academy, the Heavenly Fox posing as a teacher was probably above Level 29 and terrifyingly powerful.
But...
Even more terrifying was the Heavenly Fox that had killed Luo Shiyu.
Zhang Ping did not even dare use the Appraisal Technique on it.
Because several times when he had wanted to appraise it, he had felt that the moment he used the Appraisal Technique, it would immediately lock onto him.
That feeling was definitely not an illusion.
Therefore, Zhang Ping suspected that the Heavenly Fox that had killed Luo Shiyu was extremely high-level, perhaps even a Top-Tier Mutated Beast!
"Now that I've gathered almost enough information."
"I can be sure that I can't deal with all the Heavenly Foxes on my own."
"The problem is that Heavenly Fox abilities are too strange. Even low-level Heavenly Foxes can easily deceive High-Level Awakened. Without evidence, no one will believe my word alone."
"The only way is to kill a Heavenly Fox and use it as evidence."
"Only with evidence can I possibly draw the attention of some powerful people."
In the dormitory, Zhang Ping did push-ups while analyzing the situation in his mind.
Hunting a Heavenly Fox would inevitably alert the enemy.
Moreover, Zhang Ping was not confident that he could retreat unharmed after killing one.
After thinking it over and over, Zhang Ping finally sighed inwardly. He was still too weak. If he were strong enough, he would not have so many concerns.
When all was said and done, strength was the key thing preventing him from taking action.
"Sit-ups, another five hundred!"
Zhang Ping gritted his teeth and gave himself the command inwardly.
These past few days, he had eaten two Contract Gems every day. Unfortunately, no new talents had appeared.
However, as his potential continued to rise, the effects of his training became increasingly obvious. This feeling of improving every day was what kept him from falling into despair.
He had actually already concluded that this city had fallen.
The ones controlling this city were Heavenly Foxes, not humans.
The next day.
Zhang Ping opened his eyes and found that he had woken even earlier than before.
It was a little after four in the morning. The sky had not yet brightened, and he was the only one running on the field.
The surroundings were utterly quiet.
When the cool breeze blew over him, he even felt as if he had returned to a campus from his previous life.
It would have been nice if there were no Heavenly Foxes.
Thinking of the children and students who had been killed, Zhang Ping unconsciously clenched his fists.
Suddenly, he felt himself step on something. He turned and looked behind him, only to find a ring on the ground.
"Abandon morning run. Free action!"
Zhang Ping gave himself the command inwardly, then turned around and went back to pick up the ring.
It was a dark-colored ring. He did not know who had dropped it there. Although its material did not look especially valuable, its craftsmanship was exquisite, and the patterns on it were exceptionally intricate. It did not look like an ordinary accessory.
"Appraisal!"
"Appraisal failed!"
"Appraisal!"
"Appraisal failed!"
Zhang Ping was slightly surprised.
Appraisal rarely failed on ordinary objects, yet this ring had failed two times in a row.
He continued using Appraisal, and after more than ten failures, he finally appraised the ring's attributes.
[Appraisal successful] [Assassination Ring: After wearing the ring, all lifeforms will subconsciously overlook the wearer. High-Level Awakened and above are immune.]
At the same moment the appraisal succeeded, an image naturally appeared before Zhang Ping's eyes. An elderly man with white hair and beard pressed his left hand against the ring and his right hand against a sinister-looking bound man.
As golden light radiated from the old man's hands, the bound man's face twisted in agony. Blood flowed from his seven orifices as he opened his mouth and let out a shrill scream. Finally, streaks of blood-red light were drawn out of the man's body, flowing along the old man's hand and merging into the ring.
Then the image changed. Zhang Ping saw a man in white clothes wearing a black mask fighting "Luo Shiyu" on the field. However, the man was clearly no match for "Luo Shiyu." Not only had three of his fingers been cut off, but one of his kidneys had also been removed...
Unfortunately, the image ended after the kidney was taken. Zhang Ping did not see whether the man in white escaped. "This is bad!"
The image ended.
Zhang Ping suddenly realized something.
Could this ring be bait left behind by a Heavenly Fox?
He quickly looked toward the girls' dormitory, but did not spot any Heavenly Fox. He forced himself to calm down and put on the ring without revealing anything.
Whether this ring was bait or not, he had already picked it up. Throwing it away deliberately now would only make him more suspicious.
Before dawn came, while Nightwalker was still effective, he had to hurry back to the dormitory.
Having made his decision, Zhang Ping swiftly turned and vanished into the darkness.
At the corner of the wall outside the field, a Heavenly Fox was a little distracted and could not help yawning.
Suddenly, it felt that something was wrong. It focused on the field, then rubbed its eyes. Only then did it realize that the ring was gone.
"Not good!"
It immediately leaped onto the field and lowered itself to the ground, carefully sniffing the surrounding scents.
The field was filled with mixed scents, but it could distinguish when each scent had been left behind. Yet after searching for a while, it subconsciously "overlooked" one particular scent and found nothing at all.
"No one came here?"
"How is that possible!"
The Heavenly Fox was dumbfounded.
It obeyed "Luo Shiyu" and had watched the field the entire night.
Even when distracted, it had still kept an eye on the field. How had the ring vanished into thin air?
"No, someone definitely came here. Anyone who could evade me must be an Intermediate Awakened or higher!"
The Heavenly Fox calmed down, its narrow fox eyes slowly narrowing further. It scanned its surroundings but found no suspicious tracks, so it turned and headed toward the girls' dormitory.
The boys' dormitory.
Zhang Ping watched the Heavenly Fox leave the field from the balcony and let out a faint breath of relief.
Fortunately, it was only a little after four and dawn had not yet arrived, so his presence was extremely low. After putting on the Assassination Ring, his presence had weakened even further.
The Heavenly Fox's furtive glances showed that it had not discovered him. For now, he was still safe.
However, he absolutely could not wear the Assassination Ring during the day. If "Luo Shiyu" discovered it, he would be in danger.
"So I'm not the only one who noticed Mutated Beasts in the city."
Zhang Ping returned indoors, lowered his head to look at the Assassination Ring, and pondered inwardly.
Clearly, the man in white had also noticed that Mutated Beasts had infiltrated the city. But why had he attacked "Luo Shiyu"? Did "Luo Shiyu" hold some special significance among the Heavenly Foxes?
And was there an organization behind the man in white?
"There's still too little information."
Zhang Ping lightly rubbed the ring with his fingers. When he reached a point he could not understand, he simply lay down on the bed and stopped dwelling on it.
However, the Assassination Ring made him realize that strength was not limited to one's own power. Mingzhu City also contained many miraculous pieces of equipment.
These pieces of equipment were generally made by forgers and possessed special abilities.
The reason he had overlooked this before was mainly because the original owner of this body had been an orphan and had never encountered this sort of equipment. Thus, he had almost no memories in this regard.
What the original owner did not know, he naturally could not know either, having merely inherited the original owner's memories.
"I'll go out tonight and investigate the prices of this kind of equipment."
Zhang Ping set his goal inwardly, then glanced at the alarm clock. It was a little after five in the morning, so he could still sleep for another hour.
He closed his eyes and commanded himself to sleep. In the blink of an eye, he fell into a deep slumber.
"Zhang Ping, you're in danger. Get up!"
In his daze, Zhang Ping saw Su Jingyao.
Her body was hazy and indistinct, with only her eyes clear as water. Those lovely almond-shaped eyes were staring anxiously at him.
A dream?
No!
Wake up!
On the bed, Zhang Ping suddenly opened his eyes.
The next second, he instinctively removed the Assassination Ring, stuffed it into his mouth, swallowed it, and continued sleeping.
A few minutes later.
"Luo Shiyu" pushed open the door and leisurely entered the dormitory.
It walked around the dormitory once, then came to Zhang Ping's side, lowered its head, and stared directly at him.