The onlookers were clearly divided into two groups, leaving a large enough gap between them for to see what was happening inside without any effort.
The first thing that caught my eye was a young man with an irritated expression. From his attire, he at least belonged to a family who could afford to buy a house within the Third Ring with cash. Behind him stood two students who seed to be around his age. Judging by their expressions, I concluded that this was a rich kid leading his two lackeys. In front of these three stood a boy with a nervous look in his eyes; I vaguely rembered he was a junior from our school.
I couldn't help but turn my face away. What a cliché scenario of bullying, and I didn't expect to run into it myself.
Although City Second Middle School and Canglan High School were so close to each other, such incidents were actually quite rare. Despite being a renowned elite school, Canglan High School was known for its strict discipline. Moreover, these wealthy students weren't as arrogant as commonly thought. For most of these noble kids, good manners were an essential part of their upbringing, which ans the vast majority of them wouldn't be rude or bully others like many imagined—rather, they might be even more polite and kind than one would expect. However, we must separate a particular group from these wealthy kids: the nouveau riche and the brainless.
It was hard to tell if the person in front of was a nouveau riche or brainless. Nonetheless, it was my first ti witnessing such a lodramatic scene of bullying. Regardless of whether this rich kid would be punished by his school later, it was clear that the boy in front of him was in for a bad day. After all, he was outnumbered.
The crowd around them chattered, but no one stepped forward.
Most of our students didn't dare provoke the other side, while so people from Canglan High School disdained the rich kid's behavior also seed reluctant to cause trouble.
Who would have thought I'd encounter sothing so infuriating early in the morning.
"Ah Jun," Qianqian gently tugged at my clothes and whispered, "Let's go, don't get involved."
I gritted my teeth and looked down to find a brick—but Qianqian pulled at again. I knew finding a brick wouldn't help, so I could only sigh and turn to leave.
What would happen next was easily predictable—any flimsy excuse could escalate into a three-on-one beating or humiliation. The irritated young man would enjoy his perverse pleasure during this process, while the unlucky boy from our school would just have to accept his fate. I didn't know the origin of their conflict, but it would undoubtedly end this way.
To be honest, it's not that I lacked sympathy or a sense of justice. But as an ordinary student, I was powerless in this situation. Perhaps if I swung a brick unexpectedly, I might manage to land a blow, but the trouble it would cause afterward would be imnse. Moreover, it might even implicate my sister. Life wasn't easy for a commoner...
But the frustration in my heart was still hard to shake off. Would it be more discreet to find a secluded place and throw a brick at him?
Before leaving the crowd, I turned back to glare at that rich kid once more.
"Tch," I muttered under my breath, "I really want to beat him up."
I didn't an it seriously, but after I spoke, I seed to hear a "click" deep in my mind. I shook my head in confusion, confirming I didn't hear an actual sound, but that "click" seed to flash through my consciousness clearly and distinctly.
Suddenly, I felt dizzy. The desolate tal World I always dreamt of at night flashed through my mind. Then, a voice echoed in my consciousness.
"Accepting external command set...permission confird...fuzzy command analyzed...executing...target confird, initiating Zenith remote space strike system, preparing for probing attack...fire!"
As the voice in my mind ended, I caught a glimpse of a translucent, arm-thick pillar, looking like flowing water, descending from the sky and silently disappearing beneath the feet of the suspected nouveau riche in the center of the crowd.
No one seed to notice the light pillar. Everyone's attention was focused on the people in the center, so the nearly transparent "pillar" was ignored. Normally, I wouldn't have noticed such a hidden thing, but for so reason, I saw the trajectory of this "water flow" clearly.
Then, I noticed that where the "water flow" disappeared, there was a small dark red hole on the originally pebble-decorated ground. Around the hole, the molten ground slowly flowed into the vaporized cavity.
What was this? Supernatural phenonon? Paranormal event? Close encounter of the third kind? Alien refueling tank leakage? Jade Emperor's random urination?
A series of chaotic explanations flooded my mind instantly. I had the habit of constantly thinking wild thoughts since childhood. These bizarre explanations didn't even convince myself, leading to believe that what happened before was probably an illusion. But what happened next confird that the scene in front of was indeed real.
The arrogant young man suddenly took a step forward, seemingly intending to take action himself. But as he lifted his foot, he stepped right onto the magma-covered ground.
A few seconds later, a piercing scream like a pig being slaughtered suddenly echoed: "Oh oww oww oww!!"
Fabric is inherently flammable, and the ground, lted by the mysterious energy, far exceeded the burning point of fabric. In no ti, the young man's pants caught fire, and the blaze quickly spread up his leg. Chaos erupted instantly; nearby people rushed to help, while many students further away quickly pulled out their phones to snap pictures and post online, writing, "I'm at the school gate and saw spontaneous human combustion!"
But at that mont, I couldn't focus on the chaotic scene in front of .
The next voice in my mind caused utter panic.
"Probing attack complete...recalculating paraters...calculation complete, switching to formal strike mode...primary weapon array charging...secondary weapon array charging...ready, all combat units free to fire in ten seconds...ten, nine, eight, seven..."
Whatever was happening, one thing was clear: we were in serious trouble!
A single probing attack could burn a hole in the ground; if it fired formally, the best case scenario would be our school making headlines on Central TV—as either a fire site or an explosion report.
"Damn it, stop!" I scread internally, but no matter how hard I tried, that mysterious state didn't reappear, and the countdown continued unhurriedly. I was sweating cold bullets, "Where's the power-off button for this thing?!"
"Ah Jun, what's wrong? Why is your face so pale?" Qianqian noticed my abnormality and asked nervously, but I had no ti to respond.
Damn it! Damn it! What on earth was this thing? Why wouldn't it listen to now?!
"Six, five..."
Cold sweat started trickling down my face.
"Four, three..."
"Qianqian!" I suddenly shouted, pulling her and running toward the outer edge—though I estimated our running speed wouldn't be enough to escape the imminent overwhelming attack or whatever it was.
But no matter what, I couldn't let Qianqian get hurt because of !
"Ah Jun, what..." Qianqian was shocked by my sudden action and scread.
"Two, one..."
A wave of dizziness hit again, and my vision went black.
Qianqian's panicked voice blurred in my ears.
"Severe system error, external command set anomaly, highest permission lost...Zenith remote space strike system halting operation..."
Damn, what was this thing—so painful!
That was my last thought before I completely passed out.
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