Chapter 54: Fu Qingyue’s Fury
A Quiet Return
Fu Qingyue returned to her classroom, unfazed by the earlier incident. Helping Ye Sheng didn’t feel strange to her. Even if her feelings for him weren’t romantic, he remained important—like family, the older brother who had cared for her since childhood. She would never hesitate to stand by his side.
As if nothing had happened, or perhaps because it was trivial to her, she sat expressionlessly at her desk, waiting for class to begin. Before that, she wanted to message Yu Li.
Her butler had once advised her that if she didn’t know what to say to a friend, she could share the events of her day, no matter how small or significant. The idea of helping Ye Sheng in the duel stirred less emotion in her than the prospect of using it as a topic to chat with Yu Li.
Fiddling with her phone, Fu Qingyue stared at the black fox avatar, a faint smile tugging at her lips.
“Hey, what’s wrong with you? Hey? Hey?!”
Noisy voices erupted from the back of the classroom, arguing about something. But it had nothing to do with Fu Qingyue. Focused on crafting her message to Yu Li, she ignored the commotion.
A Sudden Assault
Suddenly, a clawed hand, brimming with murderous intent, lunged toward Fu Qingyue.
Though the safe environment had lulled her guard, she wasn’t so careless as to fall to a surprise attack. Instinctively, she blocked with the nearest object, and in the brief moment the attacker paused, she conjured a wind blade, blasting them away.
Classmates swarmed forward, pinning the assailant down. Only then did Fu Qingyue look over. The attacker was a beast-transformation ability user—and one of her classmates, no less.
“Hey, Chen Tian! What’s wrong with you?!”
The boy, Chen Tian, ignored the questioning classmate. His eyes, bloodshot, fixed on Fu Qingyue with unrelenting hostility. Grinning maniacally, he seemed indifferent to being restrained.
Fu Qingyue remained unaffected, calmly raising her hand. The object she’d used to block was her phone, now shattered.
She didn’t care why Chen Tian attacked her, nor did she want to know. All that mattered was that her broken phone meant she couldn’t share her day with her Li Bao.
In an instant, a fierce wind swirled through the classroom, scattering desks and chairs. Weaker students were blown against the walls, some tumbling with their desks.
Yet Chen Tian continued his crazed laughter, heedless of Fu Qingyue’s fury, even though her wind blades could easily end his life.
“Wait, wait, Fu! Chen Tian didn’t mean it! Please, stop!”
A boy pinning Chen Tian down pleaded frantically, seemingly Chen Tian’s friend and the first to notice his abnormal behavior.
But Fu Qingyue ignored his words. Several wind blades hovered, ready to tear into Chen Tian.
Snap—
The wind blades dissipated abruptly. A middle-aged man had arrived, intervening for the second time that day to stop Fu Qingyue’s attack.
“What a day… you again, little Fu?”
He shook his head helplessly. He distinctly remembered Fu Qingyue wasn’t the type to cause trouble.
“Ugh! Argh! Teacher, Fu, get away!”
As Fu Qingyue’s ability faded, Chen Tian, fueled by unknown strength, broke free from his restraints. Laughing wildly, he charged at her, still intent on killing her.
But for a teacher capable of nullifying Fu Qingyue’s ability with ease, this was child’s play. With a single hand, he blocked Chen Tian’s attack and subdued him effortlessly.
“Hm?”
The teacher’s brow furrowed, his expression turning grave. Though unfamiliar with this student, he could tell Chen Tian’s state was highly abnormal.
It was as if the boy felt no pain—or rather, didn’t care about it. Even restrained, he radiated murderous intent and kept laughing maniacally. The teacher had only seen such behavior on battlefields facing those creatures.
With a slight exertion, he knocked Chen Tian out, hoisting him up before addressing the other students seriously: “Did anyone see how he got like this?”
Chen Tian’s friend spoke up immediately. “Just a moment ago, Chen Tian was fine. But… after Fu came back, he suddenly started acting strange. He wouldn’t respond, just grinned at me in a way he never does. Then, out of nowhere, he attacked Fu. It scared me to death.”
The teacher frowned but quickly relaxed. No one else was affected, and the killing intent was directed solely at Fu Qingyue. While the possibility of an assassination attempt on a Fu family heir was serious, it wasn’t the worst-case scenario.
“Little Fu, are you hurt?”
Fu Qingyue shook her head silently, holding up her shattered phone.
“Uh, a phone casualty, huh? Don’t worry, I’ll authorize a new one for you. Anything else?”
Seeing this, Fu Qingyue’s anger subsided. At least she could still contact Yu Li.
“Alright, I’ll take this student to the infirmary.”
Fu Qingyue didn’t react, not even glancing at the teacher. She began straightening the desks and chairs, as class would resume soon. Her classmates followed suit, helping to tidy up.
A Dire Report
“You’re saying the northern border was breached by a calamity beast a week ago… and we’re only hearing about it now in the central district?”
In a meeting room, an elderly man, his face etched with age, rubbed his temples.
“Yes.”
“Yes? I’m funding you people to sit around and do nothing?!” The old man slammed the table in fury, coffee spilling everywhere, though no one dared glance at it. The reporting officer stood unmoved.
“Anything else to report?!”
“According to our sources, the whale-like calamity beast that breached the border wall vanished without a trace. Despite the northern district deploying extensive forces, its location remains unknown.”
“Heh… unknown location? So you wait until it’s unsolvable before bothering to inform me? All for the sake of saving face? It’s time to replace the northern district’s leadership.” The old man berated the northern district’s head, and no one dared argue. His authority seemed to surpass even theirs.
“Please calm down… The beast was detected this morning.”
“That whale calamity beast… it crossed the entire northern district. It’s now dangerously close to the central district. It appears capable of concealing itself, and its destination… is the central district.”