"Teacher Du, you know that Ghost Face, so you must have been a soldier in the western demon-slaying war zone too, right? But how come you retired and joined the Divine Mark Association afterward?"
"To be precise, I joined the Divine Mark Association first, then the Demon Suppression Army." Du Qinggang lit another cigarette. Even he had lost count of how many he had smoked tonight. "A few years ago, the Divine Mark Association suffered heavy casualties defending the Holy City. They were short on people, so they called me back."
When they reached the electric fence, Du Qinggang showed his badge to the guards. Once the gate opened, he started the car again and drove on. "Actually, whether it's the Demon Suppression Army or the Divine Mark Association, both exist to protect the human race. The difference is that the Demon Suppression Army deals with demons beyond our borders, while the Divine Mark Association deals with demons within them and maintains public order throughout the country."
"Which one is more dangerous?"
"You can't really compare them. When it comes to demons, never mind how strong or weak the ones the Demon Suppression Army faces are. Their numbers alone are several times greater, packed so densely that sometimes you can't see the end of them. You probably haven't seen what mountains of corpses and seas of blood look like. After every major battle, the stench of blood takes months to disperse."
"As for the Divine Mark Association, the demons they encounter might not be as terrifying as the ones the Demon Suppression Army faces, but they often have plenty of opponents who are also Divine Power Masters waiting for them."
"Like that Ghost Face?"
"That's right. There are actually plenty of people like him. There's no such thing as justice in their hearts. They only care about their own interests. There's no crime in looking after your own interests, but they often commit all kinds of acts that offend heaven and violate reason for the sake of profit. That's why we have to bring them to justice!"
"With the potential you've shown, as long as you don't die before you reach it, you'll definitely be able to join the Divine Mark Association. If you don't want to join the Divine Mark Association, you can choose to join the Demon Suppression Army instead."
"Of course, the choice is yours. Whether you join the Divine Mark Association or the Demon Suppression Army, or stay in Jiang City and join the City Protection Bureau to defend your hometown, it's all up to you. Even if you don't want to join any of them and want to live a normal life after graduation, that's your business too."
"Divine Power School is only responsible for training qualified Divine Power Masters. Where they go from there is entirely up to the students themselves."
Duan Ming fell silent.
Honestly, he had never thought about any of this.
He had never considered joining the Divine Mark Association, nor had he considered joining the Demon Suppression Army.
All he had wanted before was to grow stronger and protect his family.
But after hearing Du Qinggang, he suddenly felt that his family wasn't limited to Third Uncle alone.
In these troubled times, every member of the human race was family.
If everyone were as selfish as he was, wouldn't the human race have been wiped out long ago?
Back at the school, Du Qinggang dropped him off.
"Go get some rest. I'll hand these two over to the City Protection Bureau. Once the bureau verifies their identities, they'll bury the dead Ghost Face and hand the living one over to the Divine Mark Association. As for the bounty, it'll arrive within ten days. I'll give it to you then."
"Forget it. I don't want the eighty-thousand-yuan bounty. Like you said, these two are scum of the human race. Catching them was our duty!"
"Good lad!" Du Qinggang saw Duan Ming in a new light and gave him a thumbs-up. "I admire you more and more."
"What about you, Teacher Du? Do you want the bounty on Ghost Face?"
"Of course. Why turn down money?" Du Qinggang took a drag on his cigarette.
Duan Ming blinked. He had thought Du Qinggang wouldn't take it. "Didn't you say those two were scum of the human race? Catching them was only right."
"That's true, but without money, I can't even afford cigarettes or get enough to eat. How am I supposed to work for the human race then?" Du Qinggang said with a perfectly straight face.
"Uh... then I want it too."
"Didn't you just say you didn't?"
"It's free money. Why turn it down?"
"So Divine Power Master really is a lucrative profession."
Duan Ming murmured to himself as he watched the jeep drive away.
Du Qinggang's Power of God was [Slaughter Space].
He wondered what Power of God he would awaken in the future.
When he returned to the dorm, Fang Cheng and the other two were still awake.
The moment Duan Ming came back, the three hurried over to ask what had happened.
Duan Ming kept nothing from them and told them what had just happened.
The three sighed with emotion as they listened.
"What are your plans after graduation?" Duan Ming wanted to hear what the three of them had to say.
"Isn't it a little early to be talking about what we'll do after graduation?" Xu Dazhuang said, sitting on the first bed to the left of the door.
"Haven't you thought about it?" Duan Ming looked at Fang Cheng and Dong Kai.
Dong Kai said, "I have. If nothing unexpected happens, I'll join the City Protection Bureau after graduation. Of course, if I can join the Divine Mark Association, that would be even better."
Duan Ming looked at Fang Cheng.
"As for me, I'm going to join the Demon Suppression Army." Fang Cheng folded his arms and said solemnly, "Even if I, Fang Cheng, have to die in this life, I'll die on the front lines!"
The three slowly turned to look at Xu Dazhuang.
"I haven't made up my mind yet. With my aptitude, I definitely don't stand a chance of joining the Divine Mark Association. If I can't get in when the time comes, I'll join the Demon Suppression Army."
"What about you, Duan Ming? With your current strength, you should be able to take your pick between the Demon Suppression Army and the Divine Mark Association in four years, right?"
"Actually, I haven't made up my mind either. At first, I thought about joining the City Protection Bureau after graduation."
"The City Protection Bureau?" The three were a little surprised by his answer.
"With your current strength, joining the City Protection Bureau in four years would be a bit of a waste of your talent, wouldn't it?"
"I don't think you'll need four years. In three years at most, you could become a specially recruited member of the Divine Mark Association. You could join without waiting to graduate."
"Let me think about it some more."
Duan Ming's outlook had changed.
It had been changed by Du Qinggang's words about the greater cause of the human race.
He glanced at Fang Cheng beside him.
Joining the Demon Suppression Army meant a narrow escape from death!
Even though glory and riches were waiting for him to enjoy, he still wanted to join the Demon Suppression Army without looking back.
If he joined the Demon Suppression Army, he might not even survive three days, yet his choice remained firm.
Duan Ming had always thought this rich second-generation heir was rather arrogant and looked down on everyone.
But now, he felt he fell a little short of him.
On the matter of the human race's greater cause alone, Fang Cheng saw things more clearly than he did.
Time passed.
The four weeks of devilish training greatly improved the overall strength of the first-years.
At the same time, it kept adding +1 to the new students' hatred for Du Qinggang!
Even the fourth-years, who had been at the school for more than three years, had never seen such inhuman training.
Men and women alike were truly treated equally.
Every night, they went back exhausted as dogs.
Even in the middle of the night, Du Qinggang would often call them out to train.
Going a day without food or training in the rain was just a small dish.
That evening, after Du Qinggang had led them on a long run around the city, the first-years sat on the field to rest.
"He said he'd teach each class one day a week, but now he's been teaching us for a whole month straight. He might not be tired, but I sure am."
"Save your breath. It's not just our class. He's been putting the whole year through the wringer for a month."
"All right, go back and rest. You've trained for a whole month, and I imagine you're all tired. You'll have the next two days off. Come back to class on Monday." With that, Du Qinggang left in his flip-flops.
"All right!"
"That guy's finally shown a little humanity. He actually knows to give us a break."
Perhaps because there was no training the next day,
everyone slept soundly that night.
The next day, Dong Kai and Xu Dazhuang went home.
Fang Cheng didn't go home, for reasons that went without saying.
Duan Ming had wanted to go home, but when he learned that Third Uncle had gone out of town on a business trip, he chose to stay at school too.
He called it a business trip, but he was probably off to hook up.
At noon, the two ordered takeout. After eating cafeteria food for a whole month, they had really lost their appetite for it.
"I just went out for a look. Pretty much all the first-years have left." Fang Cheng stuffed a piece of meat into his mouth. "There aren't many second-, third-, or fourth-years around either."
"Yeah. After all, nobody's been home during the four weeks of training." Duan Ming also stuffed a piece of meat into his mouth. "As for the second-, third-, and fourth-years, hardly any of them stay at school on weekends anyway."
The campus, usually filled with cries for parents during training, was exceptionally quiet today.
After eating, the two wandered aimlessly around the school.
The enormous school seemed very quiet now. They couldn't even see a single teacher.
After all, the teachers had families too, and most of the teachers at Divine Power School were locals.
Of course they all went home to be with their families on weekends.
Beside the school's teaching building, Fang Cheng gazed intently at a statue.
The old man was imposing without anger, a long spear in his hand as he looked up at the sky. It seemed as though an enemy were invading from above.
"Gu Chen, one of the five strongest experts in Dragon Nation today, and the only Divine Power Master at our school with seven Divine Marks!"
The way Fang Cheng looked at the statue was as though he were gazing at an idol.
"He's a symbol of the human race's strength, the strongest pass barring demons from invading humanity's homeland. As long as he doesn't fall, the human race will never perish!"
Fang Cheng's eyes seemed to shine as he said those words.
At nine that night,
the dormitory building was as quiet as if it were haunted.
Duan Ming sat at his computer looking up information about the Power of God.
Suddenly, the internet went out.
"Hm? What's going on?"
Duan Ming took out his phone and checked.
Even his phone had no signal.
"Duan Ming, my phone has no signal." Fang Cheng sat up in bed.
"Mine neither." Duan Ming stood up and searched the dorm room for a signal. "That's strange. Why would the signal suddenly disappear?"
At the same time, click!
The power went out.
The dorm room plunged into darkness.
?
A question mark popped up in Duan Ming's head.
Suddenly, a voice in his mind gave him a huge fright.
"Duan Ming, can you hear me? It's Zhang Hongji!"
"Huh? Zhang Hongji? How did you get into my head?" Duan Ming was utterly astonished.
"This is my Power of God, [Insight and Communication]. It can detect everything within five hundred meters of me, and I can communicate with living beings."
"What's wrong? What happened?"
"I just discovered a group of uninvited guests at the school. They're on the field right now. There are eight of them in total, six men and two women. Their purpose is unknown."
"What are you going to do?"
"All the teachers are away from school right now. I heard they went to the City Protection Bureau for some important meeting. The school's signal has been jammed, so we can't contact anyone outside for the time being."
"How strong are those eight?"
"I don't know, but none of them are weak. I suspect they're behind both the power outage and the signal jamming. I've already sent someone along a safe route out of the school to call the principal, but I reckon it'll take at least ten minutes for them to get back. Until then, be careful."