Assassination Ring

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 lively. As the supernatural power within its body continued to grow, its eyes would also develop a distinctive glow.

This light could not be seen during the day, but at night, it could be spotted with careful observation.

The pupils of low-level Mutated Beasts would faintly emit white light at night, and their rank could be judged by its brightness. Upon reaching the Intermediate Awakened level, the light in their eyes would gradually become restrained and shift from white to green. Beyond that came the blue of high-level beasts and the red of top-level 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 ranks of these Heavenly Foxes through the light in their eyes.

According to his observations, Heavenly Foxes generally ranged from Intermediate Awakened to high-level, around levels 19 to 25.

Unfortunately, Heavenly Foxes had not inherited the Nine-Tailed Fox's talent. Otherwise, he could have judged their Levels more easily and accurately.

There were many Mutated Beasts in the wild whose ranks could be determined without looking at the light in their eyes.

For example, once a Nine-Tailed Fox became a Mutated Beast, it would definitely have two tails. Upon becoming an Intermediate Awakened Mutated Beast, it would have three to four tails. As a high-level Mutated Beast, it would have five to six tails. Any further, and it would become a top-level Mutated Beast with seven to eight tails.

It was said that the king among Nine-Tailed Foxes possessed nine tails.

Thus, the Level of a Nine-Tailed Fox Mutated Beast was easy to determine. One look at its tails was enough.

In fact, there were similar ways to judge Awakened as well.

As far as Zhang Ping knew, among Awakened, those with fire abilities found it easiest to determine their own Levels in the early stages.

At level 1, a fire ability user could gather a Fireball no larger than a basketball at full strength. At level 2, they could gather two. This continued until level 9, when they could gather nine Fireballs. Their levels were extremely easy to judge.

However, after breaking through Level 10 and becoming an Intermediate Awakened, the qualitative transformation of supernatural abilities and the different ways people tended to use them made Levels difficult to judge.

Taking advantage of the night, Zhang Ping recorded information on the Heavenly Foxes along several nearby streets before turning back toward the school.

Over the next few days, he used the school as his center and continuously gathered information on the Heavenly Foxes in the city. At the same time, a question arose in his mind: there were actually quite a few Heavenly Foxes in the city that were only low-level Mutated Beasts, yet they had deceived many High-Level Awakened.

"Another low-level fox!"

Zhang Ping crouched in a corner not far from the school, watching a Heavenly Fox in the distance whose eyes emitted a bright white glow. He muttered to himself.

No matter how powerful a low-level Mutated Beast's ability was, it would be quite helpless against Level suppression. For example, a Novice Awakened with Mind Control could almost never inflict much harm on an Intermediate Awakened.

Even if it truly controlled one, the control would be broken within seconds, and the ability might even backlash against its user.

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 cause Teacher Chen much harm.

On one hand, there was the gap in experience. On the other, there was Level suppression.

So the question was this.

These low-level Mutated Beasts were eating people in the city. Why had neither Intermediate Awakened nor even High-Level Awakened noticed?

In theory, no matter how powerful a Heavenly Fox's supernatural ability was, it should not be capable of suppressing an existence of a higher Level.

Yet according to Zhang Ping's observations during this time, these low-level 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 low-level Mutated Beast strutting down the street, then returned to the school under cover of night.

By now, he had a rough understanding. At the very least, sixteen streets around the school had been infiltrated by Heavenly Foxes, with no fewer than fifty of them living there.

Outside the school, the strongest Heavenly Fox he had discovered was probably between Level 25 and Level 27, while the weakest was likely only Level 5.

That was a Heavenly Fox cub that often roamed around the snack street.

As for within the school, the Heavenly Fox pretending to be a teacher was probably above Level 29, and its strength was terrifying.

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 perform an Appraisal on it, he had felt that the moment he used the Appraisal Technique, it would immediately lock onto him.

That feeling was absolutely not an illusion.

Therefore, Zhang Ping guessed that the Heavenly Fox that had killed Luo Shiyu was extremely high-Level, perhaps even a top-level Mutated Beast!

"By now, I've gathered almost enough information."

"I can be certain that I can't deal with all the Heavenly Foxes on my own."

"The problem is that the Heavenly Foxes' 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 is it possible to 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 escape unscathed after killing a Heavenly Fox.

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.

At the end of the day, strength was the key factor hindering his actions.

"Sit-ups. Another five hundred!"

Zhang Ping gritted his teeth and gave himself the command in his mind.

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 apparent. It was this feeling of improving every day that kept him from falling into despair.

He had actually already concluded that this city had fallen.

The ones controlling this city were the Heavenly Foxes, not humans.

The next day.

Zhang Ping opened his eyes and discovered that he had woken up even earlier again.

It was just past four in the morning. The sky had not yet brightened, and he was the only person running on the field.

The surroundings were utterly silent.

When the cool breeze blew over him, he even felt as if he had returned to the campus of his previous life.

If only there were no Heavenly Foxes.

Thinking of those murdered children and students, Zhang Ping unconsciously clenched his fists.

Suddenly, he felt that he had stepped on something. He turned back and saw a ring on the ground.

"Abandon the morning run. Free activity!"

Zhang Ping gave the command in his mind, then turned around and walked back to pick up the ring.

It was a dark black ring. He did not know who had dropped it here. Although its material did not look particularly valuable, its workmanship was exquisitely fine, and the patterns on it were especially delicate. It did not look like an ordinary accessory.

"Appraisal!"

"Appraisal failed!"

"Appraisal!"

"Appraisal failed!"

Zhang Ping was slightly surprised.

The Appraisal Technique rarely failed on ordinary objects, yet this ring had caused two consecutive failures.

He then continued using the Appraisal Technique. After more than ten failures, he finally appraised the ring's attributes.

[Appraisal successful]

[Assassination Ring: After wearing this ring, all living beings will unconsciously ignore the wearer. High-Level Awakened and above are immune.]

At the same time as the Appraisal succeeded, an image naturally appeared before Zhang Ping's eyes: an elderly man with white hair and beard pressed one hand against the ring and the other against a sinister man who had been tied up.

As golden light radiated from the old man's hands, the bound man's face twisted. Blood poured from his seven orifices, and he opened his mouth in a miserable scream. Finally, streak after streak of blood-colored light was extracted from the man's body and flowed along the old man's hand into the ring.

Then the scene changed. Zhang Ping saw a man in white robes wearing a black mask fighting "Luo Shiyu" on the field. However, the man was clearly no match for "Luo Shiyu." Not only were three of his fingers severed, but one of his kidneys was removed as well...

Unfortunately, the scene cut off after the kidney was taken. Zhang Ping did not see whether the man in white escaped. "Oh no!"

The vision ended.

Zhang Ping suddenly realized something.

Could this ring have been bait left behind by a Heavenly Fox?

He quickly looked toward the girls' dormitory, but he did not spot any Heavenly Foxes. He forced himself to calm down and put on the ring without showing any reaction.

Whether the ring was bait or not, he had already picked it up. Deliberately throwing it away now would only make him more suspicious.

Before dawn came, while Nightwalker was still effective, he had to return to the dormitory immediately.

Having made his decision, Zhang Ping swiftly turned around and vanished into the night.

At the corner of the wall outside the field, a Heavenly Fox was slightly distracted and could not help yawning.

Suddenly, it sensed that something was wrong. It focused on the field, rubbed its eyes, and only then realized 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 scents on the field were mixed and chaotic, but it could distinguish when they had been left behind. Yet after searching for a while, it unconsciously "ignored" one particular scent and found nothing.

"No one came?"

"How is that possible?!"

The Heavenly Fox was dumbfounded.

It had obeyed "Luo Shiyu" and watched the field all night.

Even when it had been distracted, it had kept an eye on the field's movements. How had the ring vanished into thin air?

"No, someone definitely came. Anyone who could deceive me must be an Intermediate Awakened or above!"

The Heavenly Fox calmed down, its narrow fox eyes gradually narrowing. It looked around and found no suspicious traces, then turned toward the girls' dormitory.

The boys' dormitory.

From the balcony, Zhang Ping watched the Heavenly Fox leave the field and quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

Fortunately, it was still just after four and not yet dawn, so his presence was extremely faint. After putting on the Assassination Ring, his presence had been 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 wasn't the only one who discovered that there are Mutated Beasts in the city."

Zhang Ping returned indoors, lowered his head to look at the Assassination Ring, and pondered silently.

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 did the man in white have an organization behind him?

"There still isn't enough information."

Zhang Ping lightly rubbed the ring with his fingers. Thinking about the things he could not figure out, he simply lay down on the bed and stopped dwelling on them.

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 kind of equipment. Thus, he had almost no memories in this regard.

What the original owner did not know, he, who had merely inherited the original owner's memories, naturally could not know either.

"I'll go out and investigate tonight to see how much this kind of equipment costs."

Zhang Ping set his goal in his mind, then glanced at the alarm clock. It was already past five in the morning, so he could still nap for an hour.

He closed his eyes and ordered himself to sleep. In the blink of an eye, he fell sound asleep.

"Zhang Ping, you're in danger. Get up!"

In his haze, Zhang Ping saw Su Jingyao.

Her body was blurry and indistinct, with only her eyes as clear as water. Those beautiful almond-shaped eyes were looking at him anxiously.

A dream?

No!

Wake up!

On the bed, Zhang Ping abruptly opened his eyes.

The next second, he unconsciously removed the Assassination Ring, stuffed it into his mouth, swallowed it, and then 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 before Zhang Ping, lowered its head, and looked him straight in the eye.