Students: The Last Student

"Yes, yes!"

The boys and girls grew excited.

The surrounded girl's pupils contracted. Her straight back made her look fearless, but her hands clenched tightly at her sides, trembling slightly. She knew she would struggle to win against their sheer numbers, yet she could not fail here. She had to go to the trial ground. She had to become a powerful ability user. She had to join the Ability Control Bureau. She had to kill every last Polluted...

To avenge her older sister.

Why did they have to get in my way? I clearly have more important things to do and no time for them!

A trace of resentment rose in the girl's heart.

She glared hatefully at the people opposite her.

The tension between the two sides was at breaking point.

Click.

A faint sound came from the alley entrance. The girl and the freckled boy noticed it first and looked over, spotting a figure approaching against the light. The others noticed one after another and shouted at the newcomer, "Who are you?"

Ye Jiang walked into the alley.

The freckled boy recognized her. They had had, uh, some unpleasant encounters at the little restaurant.

Remembering those greasy things on Young Master Jin's forehead... Stop. Any more would be rude!

The others recognized her too. "It's you!"

They looked from Ye Jiang to the girl, acting as though everything had clicked, and smugly declared, "So that's it! I was wondering why a woman like you treated Young Master Jin that way back then. Now I get it! You were standing up for Ming Xia! You're that beggar Ming Xia's beggar sister who works outside!"

Having suddenly acquired a younger sister, Ye Jiang walked silently into the alley and quietly watched the students baring their teeth and waving their arms at her in a show of intimidation.

"Beat up the older one first! Take pictures afterward and send them to Young Master Jin!" someone shouted, charging at her first.

Halfway there, he suddenly stopped, a flicker of confusion crossing his face. The next second, he swayed, his eyelids drooped, and he dropped to the ground like a dead pig.

One person fell, and as though someone had toppled a line of dominoes, the students crumpled unconscious to the ground one after another without knowing why. The freckled boy, Gao Peng, froze. Before he could react, his own body went limp, and he involuntarily collapsed unconscious too.

It happened so abruptly that when the girl, Ming Xia, registered it, she immediately stared warily at Ye Jiang as she walked into the alley. Gao Peng and the others seemed to have misunderstood something. She did not know this person at all...

It felt as though something had violently churned through her consciousness. Dizziness struck without warning, forcing Ming Xia to brace a hand against the wall. Even then, she kept a wary gaze on the only person still standing unharmed in the alley, but she held on for only a moment before her eyelids drooped and she slowly slid down the wall.

In the last second before her eyes closed, she saw...

Why had all the students fallen over?

Ye Jiang felt a brief flicker of confusion.

It had nothing to do with her.

Too lazy to meddle, Ye Jiang walked over to a wall on her own... She reached out and grasped a tiny, concealed flower on the wall that looked like a patch of mildew. With a gentle tug, she had the flower in hand.

The ordinary wall suddenly came alive, trembling and rustling. Bones like withered branches peeled away from it, with little mildew-like flowers growing along each joint. The flowers blinked in unison like eyes, scattering gray pollen through the air.

Ye Jiang covered her mouth and nose with one hand and plucked flowers rapidly with the other, taking one with every pull. She disliked how much pollen they shed, but at least they were free.

Yesterday, she had happened to run into the patient next door out for a stroll, and he had told her he would no longer be staying at the hospital tomorrow. Ye Jiang automatically translated that as the patient having recovered and being discharged. She remembered the flowers her friend had given her when she left the hospital. She had not intended to give the patient flowers, but... well, here were some free ones.

She had taken a liking to the pretty little flowers blooming in the alley at first sight.

Ye Jiang quickly plucked the little flowers completely bare.

She left, satisfied.

Behind her, the student Ming Xia watched her go through drooping, unfocused eyes, her face filled with bewilderment.

She finally knew what had happened to Gao Peng, the others, and herself.

Bone Joint Flower—a fugitive B-Rank Polluted the Ability Control Bureau had issued a notice about only yesterday. It was adept at mimicry, and its pollen could render people unconscious.

Bone Joint Flower loved torturing unconscious humans to death most of all.

But now it seemed to have been abused by someone.

Ming Xia looked at the half-dead B-Rank Polluted lying nearby just like them, then at the person leaving. Unable to hold on any longer, she sank into darkness.

Having picked some flowers, Ye Jiang stopped by the hospital to deliver them before going home. When the patient next door received them, he was so moved that his hands shook and his mouth fell wide open. Going through the motions, Ye Jiang asked whether he liked them. Only after being moved for a long time did he say he did. Ye Jiang said she would not come tomorrow because she was going to do a part-time job.

"You found a job?" The patient was immediately distracted.

Ye Jiang nodded and said jobs outside were easy to find, so there was no need to worry.

The patient fell silent.

It was Polluted, but it had recovered its memories from when it was human. It had seen plenty of humans, and the one before it was the strangest it had ever met.

Sometimes she seemed even less human than he was.

Was it because she had lost her memory?

Invisible Man wondered, deciding not to probe further.

Because a human who was not strange probably would not accept his existence.

Invisible Man tried hard to ignore the unknown liquid dripping from the flowers in his hands, as well as their contamination-bearing pollen, and told the human, "I found a new place to live."

"Where?"

"Next door to you." Invisible Man spoke cautiously, afraid of being considered a stalker. In fact, that was indeed what he amounted to.

But-

"Oh." Ye Jiang did not care and thought nothing more of it.

Invisible Man was overjoyed. He wanted to follow Ye Jiang. There was no reason; he simply wanted to follow her.

After visiting the patient, Ye Jiang left the hospital. No sooner had she gone than Zhao Yi from the Ability Control Bureau entered. He headed straight for the inpatient ward to look for someone-the person with potential he had discovered.

He did not find her.

Zhao Yi walked out of the hospital with a sigh.

"Not here."

"Not here."

"Nowhere."

Finding one person in a sea of people was too difficult. Zhao Yi had deliberately kept an eye on his surroundings while on duty, hoping to look for her along the way. Today, passing the hospital after work, he had felt a sudden impulse to turn in and take a look.

As it turned out, he had been overthinking it.

Zhao Yi glanced at the calendar. Tomorrow was the day the trial ground opened.

"Looks like there's no chance."

He sighed, finally giving up and turning his attention to the trial ground.

"Blood Moon Day comes once every three years. How many geniuses will emerge from the trial ground this time?" He looked up at the sky.

The next day.

Ye Jiang opened her eyes early in the morning. Her friend was not home, leaving her alone in the little apartment. She found a sheet of paper and left a note: Doing a part-time job. Back in half a month.

She stuck the paper on the refrigerator door.

She packed a couple of changes of clothes and went out.

Chapter 13: Students: The Last Student.

At a station on the outskirts of the city, dawn had only just broken when the long-abandoned station suddenly came alive. Students carrying luggage entered, some excited, others hesitant. There were many of them, and the teacher leading the group stood at the entrance, loudly directing them.

"Trial room A, board the first bus! Trial room B, the second! Trial room C, the third! Trial room D, the fourth! Don't linger, and don't block the way!"

Four buses were parked at the station. The boys and girls entering were all strictly disciplined, taking their assigned seats as instructed.

This convoy was bound for Trial Ground No. 165. There were currently 107 students participating in the trial and one teacher leading them, a B-Rank ability user named Yan Pei.

Three assistants followed beside the teacher, helping him manage the students. Once the busiest period passed, the arrivals thinned out, giving them time to chat.

"How many students aren't here yet?" asked Yan Pei, the teacher leading the group.

An assistant beside him checked the roll sheet and answered, "Three."

At that, Yan Pei's brows drew tightly together, displeasure written all over his face.

Seeing this, one assistant gave Yan Pei a light nudge

on the shoulder. "Don't be so serious. They're all teenagers. It's perfectly normal to sleep in. We were that age once too. We should know how precious those extra moments of sleep in the morning are at that age. Besides, it isn't time yet!"

Being touched on the shoulder made Yan Pei's expression sour further. He slapped away the hand still resting there. "No manners at all. Don't touch me!"

"Huh?"

Manners?

The assistant failed to react, forgetting to lower his raised hand.

The three assistants and the teacher were all members of a branch of the Ability Control Bureau. Although they were not in the same Operations Team, they belonged to the same bureau and had faced life and death together, so the people in the Operations Team generally made little distinction based on rank or ability.

The three assistants were all D-Rank ability users from Operations Group One, while the teacher belonged to Operations Group Two. This was their first time working together. The assistant whose hand had been slapped away had not encountered a colleague who lectured people about rules over trifles in a long time. Only after a long pause did he lower his hand and shrug, not taking it to heart.

Being easygoing was a hallmark of the Ability Control Bureau's Operations Team members.

"Someone's here."

The arrival was a freckled boy dragging his luggage, his face a little pale.

In a foul mood, Yan Pei barked at the arriving student, "Do you have any sense of time at all? Look around! Who else came as late as you?"

The freckled boy-Gao Peng-turned even paler than he already was, his lips trembling.

He had rushed straight from the hospital. Last night, he and his classmates had only been discovered and taken to the hospital very late. After waking, he had been told he had been exposed to Bone Joint Flower's sleep-inducing pollen. The contaminated pollen had not only nearly prevented him from waking, but had also introduced contamination into his body. Only after being made to take a great deal of medicine had he barely managed to stand.

His head was still spinning, and every cell in his body clamored with exhaustion, but he forced himself to hold on. He could not possibly give up this opportunity to take the trial. His potential was not particularly good, which was why he had received his notice so late. If he lost this chance, he might never be able to awaken an ability. How could he accept that?!

Afraid he would not be allowed into the station, Gao Peng hurriedly apologized. "I'm sorry, sir. I-I got held up by something. It won't happen again."