Chapter 34: Dragoncry Middle School (Complete) Part 1

Yun Xueqing’s expression remained indifferent. “What if I don’t?”

The man in the trench coat paused, but before he could speak, Su Bai cut in. “Vice Director, let me try talking to this friend again.”

He hurriedly pulled Yun Xueqing aside. “Bro, don’t be stubborn and go against our Vice Director. He’s an S-Rank Oracle—even ten of you couldn’t take him!”

Yun Xueqing was slightly taken aback. Along the way, he had encountered countless Oracles, but this was the first time he had seen the legendary S-Rank Oracle in person.

He couldn’t help but size up the man in the trench coat a couple more times.

The man wore a long black trench coat that was both loose and fitted. The black collar folded neatly against the ground, hugging the back of his fair neck. He didn’t look very old—around twenty-five—and had a handsome face with an exceptionally stern demeanor, like a biting cold wind or the chill moonlight over a mountain stream, making him unapproachable.

Yun Xueqing withdrew his gaze. “Are you going to torture him too?”

His question was too direct, and Su Bai looked awkward, unsure how to respond. He subconsciously glanced at the man in the trench coat beside him.

Ye Xuechun mustered his courage. “Of course not. The Spiritual Energy Special Control Bureau isn’t some unreasonable place like the Divine Temple. Bureau Chief Tu He isn’t unreasonable either, right?”

He tried to remind Tu Hexiangchu with a moral appeal, but it was his first time speaking to someone of such stature. In his nervousness, he bit his tongue.

But no one had time to pay attention to his words anymore. They heard a sudden intensification of crashing sounds from the Orphanage gates behind them.

Ye Xuechun’s eyes widened in horror. “It’s the Rat Spawn! We need to go—now!”

No sooner had he spoken than the gates were forcibly burst open. Swarms of Rat Spawn poured out from inside, charging straight at them!

At a glance, they were packed densely together, flowing like black water. No matter which way they went, there was no escaping.

This was a premeditated Rat Tide, one that could trap even A-Rank Ability Users. They had nowhere to run!

Yun Xueqing gripped the Calamity Blade tightly and shielded Fu Wuxuan behind him. The others were equally on high alert, tense as they racked their brains for countermeasures.

Standing at the back—his presence too commanding to ignore—Tu Hexiangchu remained unflappable. In a steady tone, he said, “Oracle: Deconstruction.”

A white array of light spread out from him as its center. The swarming Rat Tide froze instantly upon touching the white light, ten meters away, petrified like statues before crumbling to dust in the wind moments later.

A massive crisis was effortlessly resolved with a mere raise of his hand.

Tu Hexiangchu glanced at Ye Xuechun, then coolly withdrew his gaze. “He won’t be going to the Spiritual Energy Special Control Bureau.”

Ye Xuechun was still reeling from the shock of the Rat Tide’s arrival and sudden disappearance. Reacting on instinct, he blurted, “Huh?”

Was Bureau Chief Tu responding to his earlier question?

“Not taking him to the Spiritual Energy Special Control Bureau,” Yun Xueqing said decisively after witnessing the man’s formidable Spirit Energy. He sheathed the Calamity Blade, his expression turning somewhat icy. “Then where are you taking him?”

Tu Hexiangchu’s tone stayed steady. “The Degeneration Abstinence Institute.”

Yun Xueqing fell silent for a moment, then suddenly said, “I’ll go too.”

Tu Hexiangchu gave him a look and instructed Su Bai, “Handle this.”

Before his words even finished, he had already left.

Su Bai sneakily glanced at his retreating figure. “Always in such a rush. Who knows if he values Dong Jun that much or just doesn’t care.”

He scratched his chin, a bit melancholic. “So I’m supposed to escort Dong Jun to the Degeneration Abstinence Institute?”

Fu Wuxuan’s face was contorted in pain. His eyes were now fully overtaken by watery blue, and it was unclear when he would completely lose his reason and turn into a Weird.

A former Oracle powerhouse becoming a Weird—what kind of power would that Weird Power hold? He couldn’t handle it.

Ye Xuechun suddenly spoke up. “Bureau Chief Tu He just… walked out of Anle Town like that?” Just left the Weird Domain?

Su Bai corrected him. “Vice Bureau Chief.”

The real Bureau Chief was Li An—he didn’t dare overstep.

If that old man Li An heard that, he’d blow a fuse.

Su Bai cleared his throat lightly and answered the question. “Yeah, this Weird Domain’s already broken.”

Ye Xuechun: “But we only killed the Rat Mother.”

Su Bai waved it off nonchalantly. “Dragoncry Middle School’s principal and Peaceful Hospital’s director? Our Vice Bureau Chief took care of them. Just some small bosses from a B-Rank Weird Domain. With him around, it’s a piece of cake—no need to worry.”

Ye Xuechun suddenly remembered. “That homeroom teacher from Dragoncry Middle School…”

“Dragoncry Middle School’s homeroom teacher?” It was such a minor role that Su Bai had to think for a second. “Oh, the balding one? It was too noisy, so our Vice Bureau Chief took care of it too.”

Ye Xuechun: “…”

What a ruthless man who let his actions speak louder than words.

Su Bai asked, “Any more questions?”

Ye Xuechun hesitated. “That Weird called Yin Shixing…”

This time, Su Bai didn’t need to recall. He shook his head with a hint of regret. “It got killed by Leng Yin.”

Leng Yin had beaten them to it, killing Yin Shixing first and then disguising himself as the Man in the Painting to lure them to the Orphanage.

Ye Xuechun’s face showed a trace of regret.

Su Bai: “Should be no more questions then. If not, I’m taking Dong Jun—”

Before he finished, Yun Xueqing interjected. “I want to go to the Degeneration Abstinence Institute.”

Su Bai: “What?”

He suspected his ears were failing. Who would actually want to go to a place like that?

Yun Xueqing repeated firmly. “I want to go to the Degeneration Abstinence Institute too.”

Hearing such reckless words, Su Bai felt exhausted and wanted to light a cigarette. “Friend, the Degeneration Abstinence Institute isn’t some nice place. Go in, and you might not come out.”

Of the infected Oracles sent there, if a hundred went in and ten came out, that was considered good.

Yun Xueqing’s tone remained flat. “I want to go to the Degeneration Abstinence Institute.”

Su Bai sighed and explained, “We’re old acquaintances now, so I’ll be straight with you. The Degeneration Abstinence Institute isn’t under the Spiritual Energy Special Control Bureau—it’s run by that freak. Whether you can get in or not, I don’t know, but looking at you, I doubt it. You don’t seem mentally polluted.”

The Degeneration Abstinence Institute only took in those whose minds were polluted or showing signs of mutation. Yun Xueqing looked rough on the outside, but he didn’t seem mentally affected.

Yun Xueqing looked up. “If my mental value gets polluted, can I go in with Fu Wuxuan?”

Su Bai nodded perfunctorily, trying to figure out how to brush it off. Then he saw Yun Xueqing walk to the Orphanage entrance and grab one of the few surviving Rat Spawn that had slipped through.

Su Bai: “!”

He shouted in shock. “No way you’re going that far! Mental pollution is hard to reverse—think it through!”

Before he finished, Yun Xueqing’s slender hand fully gripped the Rat Spawn’s nape.

Su Bai: “…”

Great, now he had another one to deal with.

His expression turned vigilant as he picked up his rifle, eyes locked on the soon-to-mutate Yun Xueqing, ready for battle.

Five minutes passed. Su Bai: “…Why do you look fine?”

Yun Xueqing toyed with the struggling Rat Spawn in his hand like a plush toy, squeezing it. “I don’t know.”

Perhaps it had to do with his Sword Pavilion cultivation technique.

Sword Pavilion disciples cultivated their Dao Heart.

He didn’t know what his Dao was, but he had always followed his master’s teachings in tempering his divine sense.

His Spiritual Power was nearly depleted, but his divine sense remained strong. He wasn’t easily affected by Weirds on the mental front.

Su Bai scratched his chin. “You’re some kind of mental prowess talent, huh? But no signs of mutation, so you still can’t get in.”

“Is that so?” Yun Xueqing lifted the Rat Spawn and pressed it hard against his neck. “What about this?”

The Rat Spawn, in pain from the pressure, opened its mouth and bit into Yun Xueqing’s fair neck. Blood sprayed out in an instant.

Not only Su Bai was stunned—Ye Xuechun cried out in alarm. “Bro, you’re crazy! Let go—you’ll die!”

Yun Xueqing felt the pain and curved his lips into a faint smile. He pressed down even harder, crushing the Rat Spawn to death.

He casually dropped the dead Rat Spawn. In a flat tone, he asked, “Now? Can I get in?”

Ten thousand curses raced through Su Bai’s mind. His hand trembled slightly as he pulled a cigarette from his pocket and lit it. The nicotine barely steadied him.

He sincerely suggested, “Before the Degeneration Abstinence Institute, maybe see a psychiatrist first?”

Yun Xueqing and Fu Wuxuan were both sent to the Degeneration Abstinence Institute by Su Bai.

The institute sounded modest, but it was larger than expected, divided into four zones.

Zone One was the mild degeneration zone, holding lightly infected ordinary people or Oracles.

Zone Two was the moderate degeneration zone, for Oracles whose bodies were mostly mutated and who were gradually losing their sanity.

Zone Three was the severe degeneration zone, for those one step away from fully becoming Weirds.

As for Zone Four, the termination zone—also called the Weird extermination zone—it held fully Weirdified Oracles who were no longer human. The institute director executed them all at once.

The gate guard knew Su Bai well. “Bro, how many this time?”

“Two.” Su Bai handed him a cigarette and even lit it for him. “One’s a bit special—brain’s not right. Take good care of him.”

The guard scanned the two, lingering on Yun Xueqing’s long hair and ancient attire. He nodded knowingly. “Bro, I get it. I’ll do what I can, but if they end up with that one, there’s nothing I can do.”