An undeserved disaster, the first signs of the uncanny (bonus update for recommendations)

Qiu Antai stood with his head held high, surveying everyone with an arrogant gaze.

But when he spotted Yun Shang, his eyes lit up, and his arrogance vanished. Ignoring everyone else's enthusiastic greetings, he headed straight toward her.

Watching Qiu Antai approach, Yun Shang knitted her delicate brows, her expression cooling. Clearly, she wanted nothing to do with him.

"Shang!"

Qiu Antai seemed oblivious. He addressed her affectionately and even extended his hand, hoping to shake hers.

"Qiu Antai, please use my full name, or just call me your classmate."

Yun Shang's face was frosty, her voice cold. She showed no intention of shaking his hand.

Clearly, though, that was not enough to stop Qiu Antai.

Without the slightest embarrassment, he pulled out a chair and sat right beside her.

"Of course, Shang!"

Seeing Qiu Antai's shameless behavior, class representative Xu Changsheng could no longer contain himself. He was about to slap the table, get up, and curse him out.

"Pfft. Ugly people really do love making a scene!"

Before Xu Changsheng could rise, however, Qu Bo Ming, who sat beside him, gave a low sneer loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Pfft!"

Someone let out a quiet snicker.

"Hahaha..."

Xu Changsheng was even less restrained. He rocked back and forth with laughter, sparing Qiu Antai no dignity whatsoever.

Even Yun Shang, the campus beauty, could not help smiling despite her previously cold expression.

Qiu Antai's face instantly darkened.

"Qu Bo Ming!"

"Hey, hey, hey, why are you shouting? I can hear you!"

Facing the furious Qiu Antai, Qu Bo Ming picked at his ear and replied casually.

"Hmm..."

Then Qu Bo Ming turned to Yun Shang.

"Say, Miss Campus Beauty, it's been ages since I last saw our ugly classmate, and we have plenty to talk about. How about switching seats with me?"

The moment Qu Bo Ming finished speaking, Yun Shang stood up.

"Of course! Since you've asked, how could I refuse to help you two catch up?"

Watching Qu Bo Ming and Yun Shang switch seats, Qiu Antai's eyes began to redden.

"Qu! Bo! Ming!

"Are you determined to make an enemy of me?"

Qiu Antai forced Qu Bo Ming's name out through clenched teeth, one syllable at a time.

"Heh, of course not. We both work for the Federation's supernatural departments. Surely that makes us colleagues of a sort..."

Qu Bo Ming paid his anger no mind.

"Hmph! Enjoy your arrogance while you can. Sooner or later, you'll pay for it!"

A trace of wariness flashed in Qiu Antai's eyes. He reluctantly delivered that threat, then smiled at Yun Shang, who now sat beside Li Feng.

As his gaze swept over Li Feng, envy and jealousy flashed in his eyes, along with deep resentment and hostility.

Breathing in the campus beauty's delicate fragrance, Li Feng could only think of protesting his innocence. This really was trouble he had done nothing to deserve.

Was Qiu Antai sick in the head? Was he holding a grudge against me just because I was sitting beside the campus beauty?

That made no sense.

Was Qiu Antai blind?

Couldn't he see that Xu Changsheng was the one who actually had something going on with her?

Or did he think I was an easy target and wanted to put me in my place first?

Still...

He did not want trouble, but he was not afraid of it either.

Besides, he and Qu Bo Ming were roommates. While he could not exactly call Qiu Antai and his companions enemies, they certainly did not get along.

Previously, Qiu Antai simply had not considered him worth noticing and had never specifically targeted him.

Now, though, it seemed he intended to vent his anger on Li Feng because he could do nothing to Qu Bo Ming.

"Heh!"

Li Feng gave a cold chuckle and glanced at Qiu Antai.

"Yun Shang, it's been a while. How have you been?"

As he spoke, Li Feng extended his hand.

Yun Shang visibly paused at his gesture.

Back at school, they had never been particularly close. Usually, they merely exchanged a smile when they met. What had gotten into him?

But she quickly caught on and extended her hand with a radiant smile.

"Li Feng..."

They shook hands lightly, then let go.

"Li... Feng!"

Seeing Yun Shang shake Li Feng's hand after refusing his own, Qiu Antai ground out those two words through his teeth, his eyes filled with jealousy.

Great. Now he really hated me!

Looking at Qiu Antai's contorted face, Li Feng shrugged indifferently.

He had assumed that, after joining the Response Department, Qiu Antai would at least have reached low danger level by now.

In fact, he was still a step short of even the weakest low danger level.

In other words, he was still at ordinary rank, roughly equivalent to an ordinary person.

Well, he was probably at the peak of what a normal human could achieve, on the verge of breaking through to low danger level.

To be fair, reaching that point after just over a month in the Response Department was already quite impressive.

But comparisons made all the difference.

Qu Bo Ming, who had joined the Night Patrol Bureau at the same time, was already approaching intermediate danger level.

Meanwhile, Xu Changsheng might even have reached intermediate danger level already.

Compared with those two, Qiu Antai was far behind.

Li Feng truly could not find any reason to fear someone like him.

If he cowered before someone like that, what had been the point of cultivating?

After a while, Qiu Antai finally suppressed his anger and shot Li Feng a disdainful glance.

"You only joined the Investigation Department. What have you got to be so smug about?

"In the end, Investigators are just the rejects who couldn't get into the Response Department..."

At his words, the conversations around them instantly stopped. Their classmates looked at him, then at Li Feng.

No one tried to smooth things over, but no one backed him up either.

They might fawn over Qiu Antai, but that did not mean they would oppose Li Feng.

Whatever else he was, Li Feng belonged to one of the Federation's supernatural departments. He was a supernatural practitioner, not someone they could afford to provoke.

Qiu Antai could disregard Li Feng's status. They could not.

Qu Bo Ming, seated beside him, and Tao Yulin and Yang Chunshu, seated beside Li Feng, all darkened and glared at Qiu Antai.

"Ahem!"

Li Feng cleared his throat and said to Tao Yulin and Yang Chunshu:

"Have I been acting smug? Isn't someone else the smug one here?"

"Heh. Ugly people love making a scene, that's all!"

Qu Bo Ming shot Qiu Antai a sidelong glance.

"You..."

"What about me?"

"All right, all right. We're here for a class reunion today..."

"Exactly! Mr. Class Representative, hurry up and have the food served. I'm getting hungry..."

"Yeah..."

Seeing sparks fly between them and the confrontation threaten to escalate, some of their classmates finally stepped in to ease the tension.

If this continued, the reunion would probably fall apart.

"Heh..."

After giving Qiu Antai a cold look, Xu Changsheng called over a server and asked them to start bringing out the dishes.

Qiu Antai merely gave the hostile Xu Changsheng a disdainful glance, but did not provoke him again.

He held Xu Changsheng in deep contempt.

Though a legitimate son of a major family organization, Xu Changsheng was thoroughly out of favor and apparently received few resources. He probably had not even gotten his hands on a supernatural cultivation method yet.

Still, Qiu Antai did not dare offend him.

After all, he remained a legitimate son of a powerful family. Who knew whether his family would retaliate simply to save face?

"Tsk!"

Watching Qiu Antai behave like that, Li Feng could not help reflecting.

He had thought such blatantly status-conscious, narrow-minded people, who held grudges over the smallest things, existed mostly in novels and stories.

He had never expected to encounter one in real life.

Give him a little success, and he runs wild!

Could he make it any more obvious?

After that, things remained reasonably peaceful.

By around three or four in the afternoon, their class reunion was drawing to a close.

Just as everyone prepared to leave, however, Li Feng suddenly frowned.

A faint chill had appeared in the previously cozy room.

"Be careful. Something's wrong!"

Li Feng lowered his voice and spoke to Yun Shang beside him, signaling for her to warn Xu Changsheng and Qu Bo Ming as well.

Hearing him, Yun Shang knitted her brows and gave him a surprised look.

Although she had only just crossed the supernatural threshold, she was still a genuine supernatural practitioner.

Surely, if something really was wrong, she would have noticed?

But remembering Li Feng's position, Yun Shang grew wary.

Perhaps he possessed some special means of sensing things?

"Did you notice something?"

"Yes. A faint uncanny force just appeared here. An uncanny incident might break out..."

Feeling the uncanny force around them gradually intensify, Li Feng nodded slightly, his expression grave.

"That..."

Yun Shang's expression grew solemn as well.

She was currently only a supernatural practitioner at the very bottom of low danger level. If an uncanny incident broke out, she could die right here.

As for their ordinary classmates, practically all of them would perish here.

"Hmph!"

While Li Feng and Yun Shang spoke quietly, an angry snort suddenly reached their ears.

Both of them paused.

What was going on?

They looked toward the sound and saw Qiu Antai glaring furiously at them.

Seriously, was there something wrong with this guy?

Questions filled Li Feng's mind.

But he soon caught on and gave Yun Shang an odd look.

Had he seen us talking quietly and gotten jealous and angry?

Seriously, even Xu Changsheng, the one she actually had something going on with, hadn't reacted. What right did a complete outsider like you have to get jealous?

"What a lunatic!"

"Phew!"

Yun Shang had also begun to understand. She glared at Qiu Antai, quietly took a deep breath, then turned and leaned close to Xu Changsheng's ear to tell him what Li Feng had discovered.

"Oh?"

Xu Changsheng gave Li Feng a long look, then passed the warning on to Qu Bo Ming.

They exchanged glances and discreetly nodded.

Whatever was happening, they needed to leave first.