Oracle-Wrath

Soon, night fell.

Su Bai returned to the dorm, jolted Shen Fei awake from a sound sleep with a kick, then tossed Lin Xue's letter onto his bedding.

Shen Fei rubbed his bleary eyes. "Fourth, what the hell's gotten into you?"

Su Bai shot Shen Fei a sidelong glance and sneered. "I'm ridding the people of a menace. You bastard, how many good girls have you ruined? You got off lightly with just one kick!"

Just then, Lu Ping returned with water. Hearing that, he broke into a broad smile and gave Su Bai a thumbs-up. "Nicely done!"

Shen Fei picked up the envelope, utterly bewildered. "What's this? Is it for me?"

"Lin Xue asked me to give it to you," Su Bai replied indifferently.

"Hiss-"

Shen Fei sucked in a cold breath, his hands suddenly pausing as he opened the envelope. "Is this girl missing a screw? Doesn't she know you like her?"

Su Bai shook his head and rolled his eyes.

Like?

At this age, "liking" someone was cheaper than the cabbages by the roadside. Even a dog would shake its head and roll its eyes at it.

Lu Ping climbed onto his bunk and rolled over, picking up the conversation just in time. "If she knew, then she'd really be missing a screw," he teased.

Su Bai sat in a chair and crossed his legs. "Lin Xue's a good girl. Don't let her down... Pah, pah, pah! How could a male lead like me say something a supporting character would say? Fuck!"

Shen Fei put down the envelope, got up, and walked over to Su Bai. He said helplessly:

"Fourth, you know me. I'm a wanderer. I really can't give up an entire forest for one tree. Asking me not to let a girl down is worse than killing me. Besides, Lin Xue isn't my type in the first place. I'll find her tomorrow and make things clear."

Su Bai suddenly turned to look out the window.

Shen Fei thought Su Bai was still angry and was about to continue comforting him. "Fourth, you..."

Suddenly.

Su Bai sprang to his feet and roared, "Get down!!"

Shen Fei froze.

In the space of a lightning flash, scarlet light flared in Su Bai's eyes, and a faint golden glow enveloped his body.

The next moment, Su Bai overturned the table and chairs and threw himself at Shen Fei, knocking him to the floor.

Whoosh!!

A streak of black light came through the window with an ear-piercing whistle. It narrowly grazed Su Bai's neck, drawing a string of bright blood droplets, and slammed into the floor.

Boom!

Tiles exploded, sending rubble flying.

At that moment, the minute hand on the clock ticked gently to the top.

It was ten o'clock sharp, exactly lights-out time.

The lights throughout the dormitory building went out in an instant.

In the darkness, where he couldn't see his hand in front of his face, Su Bai slowly stood up.

A faint bloody light swirled in his eyes, tinged with hints of gold, casting the already small room in scarlet.

Shen Fei swallowed and said in a trembling voice, "Holy shit?"

Lu Ping, lying on the top bunk, had witnessed everything that had just happened. He cried out in shock, "Holy shit!"

All right, these two really weren't very cultured. Assessment complete.

Su Bai offered no further explanation. He casually brushed the dust off his clothes, walked over to the windowsill, and narrowed his eyes as he looked into the distance.

A man and a woman stood side by side on the sports field several dozen meters away.

The man was naturally Gu Jiuge. He still had long hair and a trench coat, a tall, slender figure, and a long, unsheathed saber at his waist.

His carefree bearing made him look just like a heroic swordsman from a storybook.

The woman standing beside Gu Jiuge looked sixteen or seventeen, with short hair and a yellow dress. She held a bow in one hand and wore a reserved expression.

She was the one who had fired that arrow.

"Brother Gu, isn't what we're doing a little... underhanded?"

Gu Jiuge looked at Su Bai standing behind the windowsill in the distance and said casually:

"Qingxue, remember this: from now on, when dealing with underhanded people like these, you have to use underhanded methods like these."

Qingxue pointed ahead, looking uneasy. "But... he seems angry?"

Gu Jiuge grinned. "Is that so?"

In the seventh-floor dorm.

Expressionless, Su Bai reached down and pulled the arrow from the floor with a scrape. He hefted it in his hand. It was icy cold and quite heavy, probably made of pig iron.

Shen Fei swallowed and said shakily, "Fourth, your eyes... why are they glowing red?"

Su Bai closed his eyes and opened them again. The light in them immediately faded, and his expression returned to normal. He said nonchalantly:

"Oh, that... All right, since you've found out, I won't hide it anymore.

"That's right. My true identity is actually Ultraman Tiga from Nebula M78. I've been hiding on campus all this time, but I'm actually investigating an Alien Sartan hidden on Earth in secret.

"See this arrow in my hand? That was an assassination attempt by the Alien Sartan! Oh, right, I need to go out for a bit. Don't go telling anyone this secret. Wait for me to come back."

Shen Fei was utterly dumbfounded, his head buzzing.

He stared blankly as Su Bai pushed the door open and left. Only half a minute later did he turn to look at Lu Ping on the top bunk and quietly ask, "Boss, do you believe in light?"

Lu Ping looked thoroughly disgusted. "I believe in your uncle."

What Su Bai had just said was so ridiculous that he couldn't be bothered to comment.

Shen Fei shot to his feet, his gaze resolute. "I believe!" he declared.

Lu Ping sighed faintly and said pityingly, "Silly child, the Heisei Three Heroes were all born and raised right here on Earth. What the hell do they have to do with M78?"

Cold, lonely moonlight spilled freely across the empty sports field.

The night breeze carried the moonlight as it brushed gently over the turf, bringing waves of cool air.

Su Bai walked onto the field and faced Gu Jiuge from more than ten meters away. He raised the iron arrow clenched in his hand and asked calmly, "What's the meaning of this?"

Gu Jiuge took his time lighting a cheap cigarette, drew deeply on it, then slowly exhaled.

The thin smoke scattered in the wind, curling upward like smoke from a cooking fire.

"A Grave Keeper's duty isn't limited to eliminating monsters. It also includes eliminating uncontrollable Transcendents. By eliminate, I mean killing all monsters and keeping track of every Transcendent's abilities and whereabouts.

"We can tolerate a Transcendent hiding on campus. That's naturally your freedom, and we won't interfere. But we absolutely cannot tolerate a Transcendent hiding on campus while concealing his abilities.

"We've seen too many tragedies where Transcendents lost control and slaughtered civilians, so we have to eliminate every potential danger first.

"Kid, I told you yesterday that you had one day to consider whether to join us. In fact, I don't care whether you join us or not. What I care about is whether you're sufficiently honest with us.

"Unfortunately, a day has passed, and you still haven't chosen to lay your true 'Oracle' out on the table. Since you're unwilling to talk, you'll have to bear the consequences... An adult must take responsibility for everything he does!"

Su Bai frowned deeply.

From his own point of view, Gu Jiuge's actions were overbearing and unreasonable. But from Gu Jiuge's point of view, he really was an unstable factor.

That story about an Oracle that let him "remember anything at a glance" could probably only fool an idiot.

Still, Gu Jiuge could clearly have tested Su Bai's abilities with a gentler method, yet he insisted on using such a simple and brutal one. That was somewhat...

Su Bai slammed the iron arrow to the ground, touched the faint bloody mark on his neck, and said in a low voice:

"That arrow of yours nearly killed me!"

Gu Jiuge finished his cigarette, tossed the butt to the ground, and gently crushed it underfoot. He glanced sideways at Su Bai. "You think too highly of yourself."

The meaning hidden in those words was-if I wanted to kill you, you wouldn't have made it outside.

Another meaning was-that arrow wasn't aimed at you. If it had been, you wouldn't have been able to dodge it at all.

It seemed it really had just been a test.

According to Great Xia's classification of Transcendent bloodline ranks, Su Bai was only a ninth-rank Transcendent, while Gu Jiuge had already reached the fourth rank half a year ago. He really did have the confidence to say that.

If a disagreement really led to a fight, even the short-haired girl standing beside Gu Jiuge could probably cut Su Bai down from his horse.

Su Bai frowned. "If I don't tell you, what do you intend to do with me?"

Gu Jiuge touched the Tang saber at his waist. "The Grave Keepers' rules say we can't casually attack ordinary people, but you probably... don't count as ordinary."

The saber had no sheath, and its cold gleam was dazzling.

The moonlight was cold, but the saber's light was colder still.

Su Bai was at a loss for words.

His earlier lie, feigning ignorance, had been easily exposed. It seemed the two people before him possessed some way of identifying Oracles. Even if he tried to deceive them with another lie, it probably wouldn't hold up.

It seemed... he could only tell the truth.

After collecting his thoughts, Su Bai cleared his throat. "Actually, my Oracle is 'Wrath.'"

Wrath?

Qingxue froze in place, covering her mouth, her face full of disbelief and deep astonishment hidden in her eyes.

Gu Jiuge's pupils abruptly contracted. He stared fixedly at Su Bai as a raging storm rose in his heart.

Only ten years had passed since the arrival of the Transcendent.

The system of Transcendent knowledge had been established a mere three years ago.

Through one long day and night after another, the Tomb Sweepers had continuously studied the bloodlines of various Transcendent creatures, attempting to glimpse the truth behind the descent of the blood moon and the arrival of the Transcendent era.

They had ultimately reached a startling conclusion-the descent of the blood moon might be some way for the gods to scatter their authority across the mortal world.

If this conjecture was true.

Then all Transcendent creatures, including Transcendents, were favored by the gods.

Across the entire world, only ninety-six kinds of Oracles had appeared so far.

But by studying the bloodlines of Transcendent creatures, the Tomb Sweepers had deduced that there were one hundred and fifty-four Oracles in total. They had also learned the names of every Oracle in advance through a certain high-level alchemical device.

They had ranked these Oracles from strongest to weakest, compiled them into a handbook, and distributed it to every Grave Keeper. Among those one hundred and fifty-four Oracles, there was no such thing as "remembering anything at a glance," so Su Bai's lie had quickly been exposed.

Gu Jiuge's Oracle was "Karmic Fire," ranked seventy-ninth in the sequence. Even across Great Xia, he was considered outstanding.

Su Bai's Oracle was called "Wrath."

Judging by the name alone, there might be nothing remarkable about this Oracle.

In fact, "Wrath" was ranked in the handbook as-sequence five.

If every Transcendent who had awakened an Oracle had once been looked upon by the gods.

Then Gu Jiuge had probably only received a fleeting glance, while Su Bai had been gazed upon for a long time.

This world really had gone mad.