"Report! Numbers 7 and 56 have been taken away for the freshman entrance exam! Ever since they entered the examination room, all signals have been blocked!"
"Report! Numbers 4, 5, 93, and another were cornered in the bathroom by delinquent students skipping morning exercises! They're trapped inside and can't get out!"
"Report..."
Report after report from the monitoring staff echoed ceaselessly throughout the command vehicle.
The situation was clearly dire, an endless stream of bad news pouring in.
Every projected feed that abruptly cut out signified the loss of contact with an Extraordinary—and marked the quiet extinction of another life.
In less than half an hour, the feeds projected on the wall had plummeted from over a hundred to a mere thirty or forty!
When all was said and done, these "wild" Extraordinaries lacked experience exploring perilous zones. Their abilities were overwhelmingly specialized and lopsided, leaving them relatively helpless inside the treacherous Yuanmeng Middle School.
At the same time, however, the tactical advisors' pens flew across their notepads, and the school model projected in the center of the command vehicle was rapidly being fleshed out.
Sporting an unkempt mop of mushroom-cut hair, the scrawny man stared fixedly at the displays, his gaze burning.
His mind raced at breakneck speed as he murmured under his breath, swiftly cataloging and synthesizing all incoming intelligence:
"Suspected: The grey fog blocks sounds from the school's faculty and students, but is ineffective against gunfire and artillery."
"Confirmed: Clear hierarchy among students. Different types of students exhibit vast disparities in attack patterns and combat prowess."
"Uncertain: The monstrosities appear to have some method of detecting the scent of the living within the grey fog?"
"Confirmed: ..."
No one knew how much information he was processing and analyzing simultaneously. They could only see his dead-fish eyes bulging and bloodshot, as if on the verge of exploding.
Yet this was likely the very reason he occupied such a high position, standing here to orchestrate the entire operation.
"Sir..."
Having delivered the latest intel, the secretary hesitated, seeing that the scrawny man had temporarily concluded his mental storm.
Noticing his secretary's hesitation, the scrawny man took a sip of strong tea from his thermos, rolling his dead-fish eyes toward him.
"What is it? Speak!"
Hesitating for a moment, the secretary weighed his words carefully.
"I still don't quite understand..."
"You don't understand why I recruited these people to beat the grass and startle the snakes instead of deploying our more efficient internal personnel, right?"
The scrawny man understood at once. He turned and gestured for the secretary to follow him to a dim corner of the command vehicle, as if instantly cutting themselves off from the noisy hustle and bustle.
"Wild Extraordinaries are always like this. Compared to official operatives, almost all of them are thoroughly brittle."
Blowing on his hot tea and taking a few sips, the exhausted, scrawny man bowed his head and remarked,
"Aside from a few eccentrics of unknown origin, like that mysterious 'Gem Witch,' normal wild Extraordinaries have very limited ceilings. They barely even have value for recruitment."
At the mention of the Gem Witch, the secretary's eyes flickered, and he spoke up:
"I heard the Special Control Bureau headquarters has already extended an olive branch to the Gem Witch, intending to place her under evaluation for recruitment so they can fill their quota of training camp candidates due to higher-ups by the end of the year."
"A training camp..."
The scrawny man's expression grew complicated, tinged with a hint of melancholy, but he soon shook his head, unwilling to linger on the subject.
"I understand your thinking. Rather than wasting time watching these wild Extraordinaries dash around aimlessly inside the school, it would seem better to organize our own people for a direct assault."
"Squandering these resources and time could easily end in drawing water with a sieve—returns far below what we put in."
"However..."
The scrawny man's voice paused.
"In fact, as early as the night before last, before broadcasting the recruitment notice, the FZDC had already beaten the grass and startled the snakes."
"High command dispatched three of our elite tactical squads to infiltrate the school immediately. Every single team leader was a Level 4 Extraordinary meticulously cultivated by our organization!"
Led by Level 4 Extraordinaries! Three elite tactical squads!
The secretary's eyes widened in shock. Clearly, he had known nothing about what had transpired before their arrival.
"Yet in the end, they were wiped out completely. Not a single signal remained."
The scrawny man's gaze turned dark and menacing.
"We don't even know what they encountered in the end."
"What we do know for certain is that the interior of the school is blanketed by intangible rules. Anyone who fails to follow them meets with inexplicable misfortune—"
"Such as being seized by a suddenly appearing dean, dragged off to an office or an exam hall, never to be heard from again."
"Under these circumstances, when confronting the school's intricate, shifting rules, standardized tactical units become clumsy and inefficient. We need people to help us map out what these invisible rules actually are."
"...That is why high command sent me."
Cloaked in his trench coat, the hunched, scrawny man clutched his teacup and turned back toward the hard-working personnel in the command vehicle.
"Those lads have already given so much for the Federation. Cultivating such talent is no easy feat."
"At times like this... we need cheap labor."
With that, the scrawny man's gaze fell once more upon the projection screens.
"Of course, they understand their position well enough. It's mutually beneficial. I have no intention of harming anyone, and all promises will be honored after the fact."
"Furthermore... the agency truly does need to grant these Extraordinaries an opportunity."
The man paused.
"Haven't you noticed? Various disasters are growing increasingly frequent. That bodes ill. The agency needs more hands, and the government needs more talent!"
"If even the Special Control Bureau can cast aside reservations to recruit the Gem Witch, we... the FZDC cannot afford to remain complacent and stagnant!"
For reasons unknown, the man let out a faint sigh. His eyes drifted across the projected feeds, hoping a hidden gem might emerge to catch his eye.
"I see..."
The secretary had an epiphany, muttering in a hushed tone,
"It serves to scout talent among wild Extraordinaries, minimizes casualties among our core personnel, and gathers vital intelligence on the school all at once..."
"Three birds with one stone. Sir, you truly live up to your renowned title within the FZDC as the 'Fox of Investigation'!"
"...What?"
The scrawny man snapped out of his thoughts, faintly hearing someone utter that embarrassing nickname.
Then he saw the secretary straighten his posture, bowing slightly with utter reverence as he replied,
"I said, a brilliant deduction, sir!"
*Beep... beep... beep...*
Amid the bustling hum of the command vehicle, the blinking equipment chirped softly, seemingly quickening in tempo.
Like someone's uneasy heartbeat.
***
Inside the grey fog, the "invaders" were cautiously feeling their way forward.
*Creak, creak...*
Accompanied by an ear-grating screech reverberating through the fog, an iron door covered in crimson rust that looked like bloody handprints shook, but refused to budge no matter how hard they pushed.
There was no handle on the outside, nor even a visible keyhole. Forcing it open and creating noise was out of the question.
"Looks like this door can't be opened from this side."
"What lunatic designed a door like this?"
Cursing under their breath, the trio of Extraordinaries photographed the iron door with their body cameras before moving on to explore another area.
The three consisted of two men and one woman, officially designated by the agency as Numbers 9, 31, and 42.
Number 9 looked like an athletic college girl in her early twenties with a single ponytail. She wore a baseball cap, a sports jacket tied around her waist, stood tall, and possessed a bright smile, serving as the backbone of the group.
Number 31 was a 1.9-meter-tall burly man in cargo pants, sporting a square jaw and a flat crew cut. He followed dutifully behind Number 9, carrying a massive backpack stuffed to the brim with various clattering tools.
Number 42 was a chubby young man with messy hair and thick spectacles. He gasped for air after every few paces, nervously glancing left and right at every moment.
"Well, it's fine this way too."
Listening to her companion's complaint, Number 9 shook her head, the black ponytail protruding from the back of her baseball cap swaying through the air.
"I had a bad feeling about that iron door anyway. Who knows where it leads?"
"Let's look elsewhere!"
With that, Number 9 crept carefully into the depths of the grey fog.
The other two nodded in agreement, following the sound of her footsteps.
...In truth, despite their unremarkable appearance, they were already considered one of the more cautious, capable, and coordinated teams among this batch of "invaders."
Unlike other makeshift squads, they were childhood friends. During a mountaineering expedition, a bizarre stroke of luck had led them into the extraordinary world, setting them all upon the defective pathway known as the [Explorer].
In the introductory chapter of the ancient [Explorer] legacy scroll, the pathway's origins were recorded as a clumsy imitation of the [Adventurer] Pathway created by an Extraordinary of the [Chen] attribute.
Yet across years of stumbling through the occult world, they had never once heard of what the [Adventurer] Pathway actually was, nor had they even encountered the term.
Could this [Adventurer] thing... simply be a hallucination induced by some filth invading an ancestor's mind, mistaking myths or fantasy novels for reality?
Although the defective [Explorer] Pathway was unimpressive—far weaker and more prone to losing control than standard official pathways—it was still fairly decent among wild Extraordinaries. Combined with their mutual coordination, they were a force not to be underestimated.
*Boom!*
Another explosion sounded from the distant fog, followed by human screams.
Then everything cut short, and the grey fog returned to its eerie silence.
"We can't go that way anymore!"
Number 9's face fell. She froze in her tracks, her muscles tensing up.
"Big Sis..."
Number 31 shrank his head back. Despite being a 1.9-meter wall of muscle, he wore a terrified expression and retreated behind the other two.
"Do we really have to keep exploring?"
Number 9 nodded grimly, turning toward another direction. "We don't have a choice!"
"Our pathway is unstable, and exploring the Reflected Ruin Realm has tainted us with so much corruption..."
"If we don't obtain official purifying draughts, we'll teeter on the brink of losing control even if they don't come to purge us!"
"This mission is our only chance at survival!"
Being an Extraordinary wasn't nearly as glamorous or exciting as they had initially imagined.
Official oversight loomed over their heads at every turn, forbidding them from revealing supernatural powers in public. They had to tread on eggshells while constantly dreading the risk of madness and loss of control...
In Number 9's eyes, an Extraordinary resembled a terminal cancer patient fighting for survival, waking up every day to mourn the countdown of their own life.
*If only we could secure official enrollment—*
Clinging to that hope, the three of them had immediately signed up for this perilous disaster-relief recruitment.
"What's this...?"
Suddenly, Number 42 pushed up his thick glasses, the fat on his cheeks jiggling twice.
As they ventured deeper into the grey fog, an iron-framed display board appeared before them.
The glass was yellowed and murky, the iron frame heavily rusted. Behind the pane hung faded student portraits, beneath which were lines of fine text.
"Failing Student Execution Wall?"
Number 42 read the header aloud, blinking in confusion.
"I've heard of honor roll displays, but an execution wall for poor students is a first..."
Halfway through his jab, Number 42 choked on his words.
Because this appeared to be an actual *execution* wall.
Judging by their collars, the students in the portraits wore black-and-white prison garb, but every single one of them was, as expected, a chilling, faceless freak.
The text beneath each photo listed the student's name, their most recent exam score, their confession, and their punishment.
[Total Score on Last Mock Exam: 450 points.
Confession: I was wrong, I was wrong, I was wrong. I let down my parents, I let down my teachers, I let down my classmates, I'm sorry...
Punishment: Clean public restrooms for one month.]
[Total Score on Last Mock Exam: 401 points.
Confession: From this day forward, I will study through the night until death takes me!
Punishment: Deprived of the right to rest and sleep for one month.]
[Total Score on Last Mock Exam: 371 points.
Confession: What the two above said is correct.
Punishment: Hung from the top of the streetlamp at the school gate for one week.]
"...So in this school, anyone with bad grades gets publicly executed?"
Reading them one by one, Number 42 couldn't help but shiver all over, recalling his own slacking days in school when he hid in the back row during evening self-study to brew tea, eat hot pot, and read manga.
Beside him, Number 31 couldn't resist chiming in. He wrapped his arms around his bulging biceps, as if finding the chill overwhelming.
"Seems like this school's college acceptance rate must be pretty solid."
"...Something's wrong!"
Suddenly, Number 9 barked out a sharp warning.
Frantically tearing her gaze away from the display board, she lowered her voice to alert the others:
"Stop looking! There's something wrong with this wall!"
*Step, step!*
Without asking questions, the two reflexively snapped their eyes away and hurriedly retreated two steps.
Only after Number 9 pointed it out did they realize... the student portraits on the execution wall had begun undergoing a terrifying transformation at some point!
Three portraits that had originally been blank, faceless figures were slowly sprouting facial features, their likenesses gradually conforming to the three of them outside the wall!
Fortunately, as they looked away and widened the distance, the growing features abruptly halted, even beginning to recede and vanish.
"That was close... I have a hunch that if those faces finished forming, we'd be the ones getting executed!"
Number 9 let out a slow breath, pulling down the brim of her baseball cap.
She had no desire to be strung up on a lamppost!
Yet in a sense, this could be considered a blessing in disguise.
"An impassable iron door, a trap-like execution wall—I've recorded them all on the camera. These anomalies are precisely the intel the FZDC needs most!"
Danger naturally translated into merit!
"Still..."
Number 9 hesitated.
Ever since plunging into the fog, they had encountered two suspicious, hazardous objects within just a few paces... wasn't this frequency astonishingly high?
Just how many things like this were there in this school? Could the FZDC truly conquer this place?
*Tap...*
While Number 9 was pondering, several footsteps echoed through the grey fog.
"Someone's coming!" Number 31's muscles bulged. He whipped out a chainsaw from his backpack, ready to rev it at a moment's notice.
Number 9 and Number 42 went on full alert, locking their eyes in the direction of the footsteps.
*Tap...*
The figures gradually materialized.
They weren't the faceless students searching for intruders, but rather five burly students walking side by side with wide-open mouths.
Compared to normal humans, they lacked noses and ears, bearing only a gaping maw and a pair of uncanny black eyes—a sight even more grotesque than being entirely faceless.
"Are you new students?"
The student leading the pack was the most robust, sporting a brutish, blocky head. Its lips squirmed and peeled back, revealing a cavernous, bloody maw lined with razor-sharp fangs.
Sizing up the trio, it drawled slowly,
"Why didn't you greet your upperclassman upon seeing him?"
As soon as its words fell, the four students behind it stepped forward like loyal lackeys, roaring at the trio:
"How can this batch of freshmen have so little manners?"
"Is this how you treat your second-year upperclassman? Do you have any idea that Senior Wu is a high-ranking executive in the Student Council's Physical Education Department, Equipment Division, specifically in charge of all the school's hula hoops?!"
"—Introduce yourselves at once!"
The roaring voices rippled through the suspended grey fog.
The five students closed in, surrounding the trio with an overwhelming aura of intimidation.
"I get it..."
Number 42 had a sudden realization. The all-too-familiar scene dredged up unpleasant memories from his school days.
He spat onto the ground and cursed aloud,
"Goddammit... isn't this just school bullying?!"
He had never imagined that at twenty-three or twenty-four, having already graduated from college... he would get to relive this crap all over again!
"You just cursed, didn't you?"
The burly lead student rolled its pupil-less, pitch-black eyes, fixing an unblinking stare on Number 42 that sent a chill straight down the young man's spine.
"Refusing to greet an upperclassman, speaking rudely to a Student Council cadre... You're good. You're very good."
Eyeing the three who stood back-to-back in rigid tension, this Senior Wu slowly stretched the corners of his mouth until they reached where his ears should have been, exposing a ghastly, bloody maw.
"—It seems you truly need to be taught a proper lesson."
*Kzzzzt...*
A burst of static hissed from the radio as the monitor's warning came through:
"Careful! Camera readings show that every single one of those five monstrosities has spiritual fluctuations bordering on Level 3!"
"The leader is a major monstrosity equivalent to a Level 3 Extraordinary... Please be extremely careful and look for a chance to flee!"
"—Save your useless breath!"
Number 42 cursed through gritted teeth.
When it came to being hopelessly outmatched, who knew better than the ones actually standing there?
Level 2 Extraordinaries nearing the Level 3 threshold were rare enough in Tinghai under normal circumstances—at least within their social circle.
Any single one of them would demand their absolute all, forcing them to treat it like a mortal crisis!
Yet in this godforsaken Yuanmeng Middle School, these things were mass-produced like wholesale cabbages—and five had popped up out of nowhere!
Five!
There was even a behemoth equivalent to a Level 3 Extraordinary!
They couldn't win. They stood no chance whatsoever!
The trio huddled back-to-back, pushed into a corner by the advancing five.
The stench of school bullying was unmistakable... yet they had no option to run and tell a teacher. The skies above Yuanmeng Middle School were darker than a lump of coal!
*Vroom! Vroooom!*
The chainsaw sputtered to life. Number 31 summoned every ounce of courage, two plumes of hot breath puffing from his nose, his eyes faintly tinged with red.
"We have to fight!"
Under the gaze of everyone in the command vehicle watching via camera feed, a wildly uneven battle was about to erupt in this forgotten corner of the fog-shrouded campus.
"They're probably done for. A pity..."
Making a cold, objective assessment, the scrawny man looked away from that particular projection screen with a touch of regret.
The [Explorer] Pathway... In a place like Yuanmeng Middle School, smothered in grey fog, he had originally held some expectations for it...
A shame!
"Wait!"
"What is that?!"
Suddenly.
The monitor's cry dragged the scrawny man's attention back.
*Tap, tap...*
On the screen, footsteps in the fog drew nearer, approaching the scene from afar.
"...Who is it now?"
The trio looked over.
The bullying quintet also turned their heads in annoyance.
The monitors and the scrawny man inside the command vehicle snapped to attention.
And then—
The silhouette piercing the grey fog grew clear. They saw a youth clad in a school uniform, strolling leisurely forward.
His eyes were clear and lively, starkly different from the stiff, numb students of Yuanmeng Middle School. What was more... his face was masked by a piece of black cloth?
"His facial features!"
Number 9 was the first to gasp, the ponytail behind her head practically jumping in fright.
Most of the students were faceless, and even the Level 3 "Senior Wu" had only developed a foul, grotesque maw.
Yet this peculiar masked student, despite wearing a similar uniform, clearly possessed eyes and ears identical to a living human's. Through the black cloth, one could even vaguely discern the raised bridge of a nose...
He looked entirely like a living person! Vivid and lifelike!
Just what level was this monstrosity?!
The trio felt as though the sky were collapsing.
"An anomalous entity!"
Number 42 sucked in a sharp breath, the fat on his cheeks quivering.
In the Reflected Ruin Realm, and indeed across the entire extraordinary world, anomalies and peculiarities were almost universally tied to another concept—
Power!
"We've... we've hit the cursed jackpot..."
The chubby Number 42 wore an expression uglier than weeping.
Yet for some reason, as this "anomalous entity" drew closer, a bizarre palpitation simultaneously welled up within the trio's hearts.
It felt like awe, like familiarity, and like an inexplicable... filial devotion?!
Filial devotion toward a monstrosity wearing a student's skin inside the Reflected Ruin Realm?!
This resonance seemed to originate from deeper than their souls, as if stemming directly from their Fate Principle, from the very pathway they walked.
Incomprehensible! Indescribable!
Shaken to the core, the trio exchanged glances, only to find that all of them felt the same sensation. In each other's eyes, they saw their own contorted, terrified faces.
—Just what unfathomable caliber of monstrosity was this?!
"Say something! Can't you say something right now to assess this for me?!"
Number 31 tried speaking into his radio, but only static hissed back in silence.
Clearly, the command vehicle was just as frantic, scrambling to analyze and document this masked uninvited guest.
Just then, the hulking leader of the bullying quintet snapped to attention upon seeing the newcomer's uniform, stammering nervously:
"S-Senior!"
"I'm Xiao Wu from the Student Council's Physical Education Department, Equipment Division. I'm very close with Senior Liu from Equipment. May I ask who you are...?"
*Senior?*
*As expected!*
The trembling trio blacked out in despair.
Out of the frying pan and into the fire.
When caught in a desperate crisis, there was no need to rush into despair, because a mighty champion might descend from the heavens—
Only for you to discover that this champion was actually the dark lord standing behind the arch-demon. You never knew how many deeper pits lay beneath rock bottom.
"Ahem!"
The "anomalous entity" cleared his throat twice and smoothed the wrinkles on his uniform.
Rolling his eyes, the youth surveyed his surroundings and quickly pieced together the current situation.
Then, his gaze bypassed the shivering trio entirely, settling squarely on the student who called himself "Xiao Wu."
"Junior Wu, was it? You may call me... Senior Zhou."
"So, what are you all gathered here doing?"
Bai Zhou's eyes narrowed slightly, his voice calm and inscrutable, which only made "Junior Wu" stiffen his neck in mounting anxiety:
"—Could it be that you're bullying the freshmen?"
Chapter 116