Chapter 34: Campus Rumors (Part 2)

Pang Sen still looked worried about them, and did not know that in the future these people would all be heinous criminals. Chen Yi also could not open his mouth and prophesy to that extent.

After hesitating for a moment, he asked, “Do they have weapons?”

“Weapons? Aberrant tools? We only know Brother Long has one. Fan Jie might have one too by now. Otherwise they wouldn’t have been so crazed lately.”

“Only aberrant tools?”

Pang Sen raised his brows. “You’re asking about firearms? It wouldn’t be that easy for them to get those. Besides, hot weapons have no effect against aberrations.”

“Definitely not?”

“…Definitely.” Pang Sen thought of something and said, “The tactical vest you’re wearing is bulletproof.”

Chen Yi let out a breath of relief. Before getting out of the vehicle, he put on his helmet and said, “I’ll go catch them.”

These madmen could not be allowed to keep acting recklessly. Catch them earlier, regulate them earlier—who knew how many people could be saved?

Looking at Chen Yi, who was fully armed, Pang Sen smiled wryly. “This isn’t a special forces operation. You’ll stand out too much like that.”

Chen Yi said, “You only get one life. There’s no medicine for regret in this world.”

Pang Sen thought about it and agreed.

Human life outweighed everything. Arrogance was not personality. It was King Yama’s death warrant. Besides, the name of this sect, though most people could not say it directly aloud, would always be reminded again and again by the sect’s name that nothing mattered except death.

The enemies they would need to face in the future would be even stronger. How could they be lost so easily here?

The Lurker Sect was a joke.

Yet the Lurker Sect was also a tightening headband, binding every reckless person fast.

…

C University was an old school with over fifty years of history. As a national key university, every student here was excellent in both character and academics, a future pillar of the nation.

But wherever people gathered, conflict and comparison were always unavoidable. In an atmosphere of competition, some actions that were neither honorable nor upright would also be born.

Even in a corner of such an active and upward-looking campus, bullying inevitably appeared.

Recently, a post had been pinned in red on C University’s campus forum.

The post described a suicide caused by campus bullying six years ago.

A rich and privileged fair-skinned beauty from a superior family and a girl who had come from the countryside developed a conflict because of a scumbag man. In the end, the rural girl not only failed to be protected by her childhood sweetheart, but was instead targeted by that rich beauty and her bootlickers. Finally, amid suffocating campus bullying, she ended her bleak life.

It was a detailed and convincing story. It also involved a handsome, dashing senior whose photo had been hanging for six years on the campus’s outstanding students board.

The post stayed high on the campus forum. Every time its popularity dropped even a little, a new topic would appear.

For example, that senior now worked at a major tech company, earned a million a year, and lived like a proper successful person. But back then, he had been a bumpkin who came out of the mountains.

Just because he was favored by a rich beauty, he decisively abandoned his childhood sweetheart. Even if he did not love her and only wanted to climb upward, as long as he was human, he should still have considered the basic affection of growing up together. Yet he allowed the girl from next door to be bullied by the rich beauty. He was such a scumbag that heaven and man alike would be outraged. He simply was not human.

Young university students loved this kind of gossip, especially when it happened right beside them. They wanted to talk about it every day, every night, and online too.

Especially today, when the teacher had taken that scumbag’s photo down from the outstanding students board during the day, it had been deeply satisfying.

Tonight’s pillow talk in the girls’ dormitory was still about this matter.

“They only took the photo down. That’s too easy on him.”

“Exactly. A scumbag like that deserves to die. I really want the people at his big company to know what kind of person he is. He ruined an innocent life, so why does he get to live so well?”

“Right. That senior sister even apologized today. She was also deceived by the scumbag and forced to become the other woman. After the incident happened back then, her family even arranged for her to personally bring compensation money and apologize to the victim’s family. What did that scumbag do? Keep rising smoothly?”

“Someone like that shouldn’t be spared even as a ghost. Even if I died, I’d still have to claw him once. He’s too hateful!”

Similar pillow talks appeared in many dormitories. Even some people online were joining the discussion.

Zero tolerance for campus bullying!

After brewing for some time, it even made it onto the nationwide trending searches. Tens of millions of people were discussing the matter.

However, no one knew that what was merely a righteous denunciation campaign had been exploited by someone with ulterior motives.

When a person was willing to use even himself, then there was no longer anything in this world that could stop him from doing whatever it took.

Deep within C University, there was an old dormitory building. It was currently sealed off, waiting for renovation, and few people came here.

Tonight, however, five people were keeping watch here.

Among them were an old man, a woman, two middle school students who looked underage, and a man around thirty years old who looked handsome and refined and wore glasses.

They followed the dilapidated staircase upward. The dormitory building had long fallen into disrepair. The stairs were narrow, and the walls were mottled.

Dark spiderweb traces, beneath the faint light of their flashlights, looked like winding streams of blood.

Everywhere one looked, the place was steeped in a sinister atmosphere.

All of them were expressionless as they went up from downstairs. They seemed already familiar with the route.

But if one looked at how they unconsciously held their breath, and at the way they deliberately lightened their footsteps, one could still see the fear they could not hide.

In the end, it was the middle-aged woman who could not help asking, “We’ve already come here five days in a row. Will there really be an aberration here?”

The handsome man walking in front turned his head to look at her. The flashlight illuminated his face, revealing skin that was far too pale.

It was an abnormal white, tinged blue like a dead person. If a Night Watcher at the entry level of Qi Refining approached him at this time, they would smell an obvious stench from his body, like a rotting corpse.

This kind of stench had also been present when Chen Yi first met Captain Ye.

It was precisely the foul aberrant odor naturally emitted after an Awakener absorbed an aberration’s death.

Now that Captain Ye had an orthodox cultivation method, that nauseating smell was naturally gone. But not only did this man have it, the smell was even stronger than Captain Ye’s had been back then.

He had inhaled too much aberrant spiritual energy, which made his whole person seem like a dead man. When he lowered his eyes to look at someone, the edges of his pupils were gray and hazy, and his eyeballs were a full circle smaller than normal people’s. It made his face look extremely eerie.

Just being stared at by those eyes made one’s breath catch, and made one no longer dare to look directly at him.

Walking behind them, one of the rebellious middle school students forced himself to endure the chill on his back and said, “Why do you talk so damn much? If Brother Fan says there’s an aberration here, then there’s an aberration. We brought you here to open your eyes, and you’re still whining. If you don’t trust Brother Fan’s abilities, go home then. When your house is haunted again, see whether we save you or not!”

The middle-aged woman did not dare speak again. Beside her, the old man in his sixties gave her a deep look. He wanted to give Fan Jie a fawning smile, but being watched by those eyes that were unlike a human’s made his heart thump. He lowered his brows and flattered, “Brother Fan is still the impressive one. If there’s no aberration, we create one. If this succeeds, Brother Fan will be able to obtain a second aberrant tool. Becoming the strongest is only a matter of time.”

Fan Jie was pleased by the praise and gave a soft laugh. “Without your financial support, I couldn’t have stirred up that online public opinion. After this aberration is destroyed, I only want the aberrant tool. The energy goes to you.”

The old man’s eyes lit up. “Thank you, Brother Fan. There’s no need for you to say more. Joining the Salvation Society is the only way to save myself. Who told that old woman of mine to try to harm me even after she died? If Brother Fan hadn’t saved me, I would have been in the grave long ago. What does my little bit of money count for? Brother Fan, you only need to say the word. However much it is, it’s yours.”

“Tch!”

The two rebellious youths did not have sweet enough mouths, nor did they have financial strength. Their eyes were red with jealousy.

“Brother Fan, when will it be our turn?”

“You have to remember us too.”

Fan Jie smiled and nodded. “Of course. The Salvation Society’s goal is to save every person harmed by aberrations. If the state does nothing, there is still our Salvation Society. We will develop together, grow strong together, and save this country in the future!”

The rebellious youths and the old man revealed fanatical gazes. Only the middle-aged woman knew that all of this was wrong.

What kind of people arranged for minors to do dangerous things like this, forcibly requisitioned members’ property, and even did not hesitate to drag out their own filthy affairs just to stir up public opinion and create an aberration?

One thing after another made the middle-aged woman know that she had boarded a pirate ship. But the ship had already left port. Even if she wanted to get off, she could not. For the safety of her family, she could only continue down this dark path.

Just like that, around ten o’clock, as usual, they arrived on the third floor and waited.

The middle-aged woman bit her nails and watched the dormitory buildings not far away go dark one room after another. On one hand, she hoped this matter would be resolved so she would never have to come to such a terrifying place again. On the other, she was also afraid that if an aberration really appeared, she herself would become the bait, the cannon fodder.

After all, among all the people here, she was the last to join.

Her unease continued until nearly eleven, when Fan Jie took a phone call. Delight appeared on his face as he said, “Brother Long succeeded in destroying that water ghost. Although he didn’t obtain an aberrant tool, his strength surged. He should have advanced.”

The rebellious youth was both surprised and worshipful. “Brother Long advanced again? He’s already advanced twice this month. His strength is so great he can lift a small car. He’ll become the strongest person in the world, right?”

Fan Jie’s lips moved as he hid the mockery in his eyes and smiled. “The stronger Brother Long is, the better he can protect us.”

“Right!” The rebellious youth believed him completely.

But Brother Long growing stronger again made Fan Jie lose some of his patience.

After thinking for a moment, he said, “Waiting like this isn’t a solution. We should take the initiative. Maybe we can provoke and awaken that aberration.”

At those words, the group who had just been quite happy immediately looked miserable.

“Let’s go.”

Fan Jie smiled and took his phone from behind his waist. It was a completely different phone from the one he had just used to take the call. It was a very old-fashioned blue-screen button phone, with a vermilion casing that carried a certain ill omen beneath the moonlight.

The moment this phone appeared, everyone’s expressions changed drastically.

In the end, just as the middle-aged woman had guessed, she was pushed to the very front.

Although these people politely let her walk in front, they did not give her any room to refuse. She was forced to walk ahead and came to the toilet that, in her eyes, was like a dragon’s pool and a tiger’s den.

Trembling, she leaned forward and looked inside.

Even after so many years had passed, and even though it had been out of use for a long time, the place was still filled with the stench of the sewer.

In the pitch-black space, only a narrow window let in faint, cold white light. As the flashlight beam swept over, there were traces on the floor that looked as if the toilet had once clogged, then dried out again.

Yellow and red—so disgusting it made it hard to step inside.

The middle-aged woman was pushed forward, but once she reached the doorway, no matter what, she could not take another step.

She clutched her chest and gasped heavily, wanting to say something, but before she could speak, her tears collapsed first.

She was terrified. If she had a choice, she would not want to awaken at all, and wanted even less to have dealings with these people from the so-called Salvation Society.

Aberrations.

These were aberrations.

She recalled the first time she had run into an aberration. That horrifying scene was unforgettable for life, and now they wanted her to approach one voluntarily.

No!

No…

Finally, the terror reached its peak. Her vision went black, and she fell backward.

She had fainted.

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