Yu Meiren

Monday. Outside the gates of Superpower Academy. Many students stood carrying their backpacks along the perimeter wall to one side of the entrance. Vast numbers of ordinary students had heard of Superpower Academy's fame since childhood, and many had even fantasized when they were younger about attending it one day. Yet now that the moment had arrived, everyone felt a knot of apprehension. They were just ordinary people, while the students inside Superpower Academy were all Transcendents. The gulf between them was simply too vast. Without specialized training, an ordinary person couldn't even break a single brick, whereas a Transcendent could easily demolish a wall with a punch. The most formidable among them could even level a building by crashing into it. If any of them were lightly bumped by such people, they would end up with fractured bones at best, or blasted straight to the heavens at worst. Just thinking about it was terrifying. "Salty Fish, over here!" Zhang Shou spotted Yu Xian arriving with his backpack and immediately called out with a smile. Yu Xian strolled over at a leisurely pace and asked, "I was wondering why I didn't run into you on the way. Did you spend the night at the branch office?" "Yeah. Dr. Chen said that although my body can't grow through physical exercise, I seem to have a digitized status panel. The numbers on this panel can be raised through training, which in turn boosts all my abilities." Zhang Shou glanced around before explaining to Yu Xian in an undertone. Yu Xian nodded, letting the topic drop. He glanced around and asked, "Why isn't anyone heading in?" "This is Superpower Academy! Aren't you nervous?" Chen Ling appeared out of nowhere, popping her head up behind the two of them and resting her hands on their shoulders as she asked curiously. Yu Xian shook his head. "It's still just a school. Besides, we're not in the same classes as the Superpower Academy students anyway. Let's go." He took the lead toward the main gates. Just then, a sedan bearing a bat emblem pulled up in front of the entrance. Nora stepped out, and the whispering students fell completely dumbfounded, lapsing into total silence. The charm of a gorgeous blonde girl was overwhelming; ordinary students stood no chance. The students from Third High School had at least seen Nora before, but those from other schools never had, and their souls were instantly captivated by the picture-perfect scene. Then, a voice pulled everyone's soul right back. "Morning, silly goose." Seeing Nora, Yu Xian offered a friendly greeting with a smile. Nora had looked pleased upon spotting Yu Xian and the others, but hearing his greeting, her expression instantly darkened. She marched forward, stepped firmly on Yu Xian's shoe, and huffed indignantly, "You're the silly goose!" *Crack.* Seeing this picture-perfect pair, the hearts of countless boys shattered on the spot. "Nora, are you going back to your old class, or are you joining ours?" Chen Ling chimed in. Nora brushed back a strand of hair, realized she was standing a bit too close to Yu Xian, and took a small step back. "I already transferred. Of course I'm in the same class as you guys." "Then what are we waiting for? Let's go." Yu Xian didn't mind the footprint on his shoe and smiled. Yu Xian walked in front, and the others followed. Seeing them head inside, the rest of the student crowd began following along as well. They had not walked far past the gates when the trees on either side suddenly sprouted with furious speed. Dense blossoms burst into bloom in an instant. A dozen students hovered in midair, unleashing vibrant flames from their hands that formed dazzling fireworks across the sky, with lines of text floating in their wake: *Welcome, new students!* *Superpower Academy welcomes you!* *Adversity is the greatest academy for forging character.* *No matter how long the night, dawn will surely come.* *Every fall is meant to help you stand taller the next time.* Students from Superpower Academy stepped out from the dense grove of trees one after another, some presenting the newcomers with fresh flowers, while others handed out small trinkets. Soon, the Superpower Academy students parted, and a tall, beautiful girl with long silver hair walked forward. She said with a smile, "I am Yu Meiren, President of the Student Council. Welcome to Superpower Academy, everyone. If you run into any difficulties in the future, please feel free to come to the student council to find me." Standing right at the front of the ordinary students, Yu Xian had no choice but to politely thank her on everyone's behalf. Yet as he looked into Yu Meiren's eyes, he felt a strange sensation: her gaze held no reflection of ordinary students like them. *Putting on a show?* Yu Xian's thoughts stirred, but he maintained a smile on his face. Led by Yu Meiren, the group continued toward the academic building. Teachers were already waiting at the entrance, and everyone was guided to their new classrooms. At the classroom door, Yu Meiren emphasized once more that if they needed anything, they could come to her or the student council, and any difficulty would be resolved for them. Finally, Yu Meiren departed with all the Transcendent students, leaving Yu Xian and the others to begin sorting their classes. The ordinary cohort at Superpower Academy was divided into two senior classes: Senior Class 1 and Senior Class 2. For the most part, students from the same previous schools were grouped together. Because Yu Xian had saved many peers in time, Class 1 consisted almost entirely of students from Third High School, even if they hadn't shared a homeroom before. Having bonded through the aberrant worm incident, everyone quickly broke the ice once seated. Quite a few students had even brought gifts and stepped forward to thank Yu Xian and his companions for saving their lives. A dozen or so who had been cured by Zhang Shou treated them with profound respect. Yu Xian, Zhang Shou, Nora, and Chen Ling sat on the left side of the classroom, occupying the first and second seats of the third and fourth rows. "I didn't expect the students from Superpower Academy to be so warm and friendly. I thought they'd look down on us," Chen Ling said with a smile, sitting to Nora's right. Nora replied as if stating the obvious, "They're not idiots. Why would they do that?" If any student dared to discriminate against the newly admitted ordinary students today, it would happen in the morning, hit the national headlines by afternoon, trigger a nationwide cyber-backlash by evening, and likely draw covert intervention from the authorities to remind such fools who truly ran this country. After all, they had been transferred to Superpower Academy because of the Silver City aberrant worm incident—a catastrophic crisis that had shocked the entire nation. Anything tied to it was guaranteed massive public scrutiny. Organizing the entire Transcendent student body to give the surviving ordinary students a warm welcome not only garnered immense goodwill from the public across the nation, but also brought great prestige to the student council. Even if certain students harbored differing thoughts, Yu Meiren's methods would thoroughly suppress them. "By the way, here." Sitting in front of Yu Xian, Nora turned around and, wearing gloves, placed a massive silver ingot onto his desk. She had previously promised him twenty jin of silver. After being taken back to the manor by Luo Qi, she hadn't had the chance to deliver it, but now she was finally making good on her word. "Whoa, that's a huge block of silver!" Zhang Shou's eyes went wide. Silver was currently priced nearly on par with gold. Not only was the Blood Clan purchasing silver, but national governments were hoarding it as well, along with professions like wizards and Daoists, who all required it. It was said that wizards could use alchemy to refine silver alongside several other metals and substances into mithril. Owing to all these factors, the price of silver on the international market climbed higher every year. "Thanks." Yu Xian picked up the silver and took a bite. Confirming its high purity, he smiled. "Sugar mommy, I'm hungry, feed me!" Zhang Shou piped up, gazing at Nora with an ingratiating look. Nora placed a single bullet onto Zhang Shou's desk and said with distaste, "I'm a vampire; I don't eat food. No rice for you, but you can have your fill of bullets. Want one?" "Nicely done," Chen Ling immediately laughed. Zhang Shou hastily surrendered with an awkward grimace, but quietly pocketed the bullet right after. This was an extraordinarily expensive explosive bullet. After the four bantered for a while, Yu Xian's and Zhang Shou's phones chimed simultaneously with an incoming message. They both retrieved their devices at once, and Chen Ling noticed that the two phones were identical—looking remarkably like official-issue hardware! After reading the text sent by Jin Sheng, Yu Xian and Zhang Shou exchanged a glance and gave each other a slight nod.