Chapter 40: Teacher, I Want to Take the Test Early

On the square, Su Yi gritted his teeth, glancing sideways as he thought with deep displeasure, his eyes filled with annoyance.

Mu Xiaowei was never seen without her bag. Now that it had inexplicably ended up in a teacher's hands, something must have gone wrong. No wonder she agreed to let him buy her breakfast yesterday, only to be late today and fail to show up altogether.

Furthermore.

The two individuals had just uttered the word "Ability," which meant his initial deduction was correct.

To be branded with the word "strongest," the ability surely could not be simple. If this was the case, everything happening around him suddenly made sense.

Why a medicine bottle had miraculously appeared beside him; why Mu Xiaowei had asked what would happen if she changed one day; and it also logically explained why the invisible Lorix had caught the soy milk mid-air and asked him to keep it a secret.

She probably mistook this phenomenon for her own ability.

Yet what kind of ability had Mu Xiaowei awakened? It was actually enough to elude even his perception...

Recalling the things he had said to Mu Xiaowei, treating her as an otherworldly powerhouse, Su Yi felt his toes curl in embarrassment. It practically felt like he had been flirting with a young girl.

"Dammit... If only I had realized sooner... Wouldn't Mu Xiaowei be in danger if she was abducted by these people?"

Su Yi sensed the gravity of the situation.

With these people conducting such a massive manhunt for ability users, what kind of fate awaited them?

Live experimentation, dismemberment, being sliced into specimens, turned into ruthless breeding machines to propagate new ability users, or perhaps molded into human weapons even deadlier than Lorix.

All these horrors had actually occurred in the Wasteland; they were not mere products of his imagination.

If he truly let this matter rest, leaving others aside, Ms. Xu would undoubtedly be heartbroken. She had cherished Mu Xiaowei dearly ever since the girl was very young.

Even if she were already dead, he would have to retrieve her ashes.

Su Yi's fingers nervously rubbed against the hem of his shirt. He reached out to pull up the zipper of his school uniform, raised his gaze toward the fake teachers maintaining order ahead, and raised his hand.

Now that they were screening for ability users during the physical examination, any organization with a shred of intelligence would segregate the discovered individuals to minimize the risk of exposure.

In other words, the destination where these ability users were being taken was precisely where Mu Xiaowei was held.

If he did not conceal his physical condition, he would likely be classified as having a physical enhancement ability.

Su Yi knew this was a terrible move. Once played, it would bring forth numerous troubles, requiring time and painstaking effort to cover his tracks.

Fairly speaking, though a decade had passed and many things had faded into memory, Su Yi did not want anything to happen to Mu Xiaowei.

Being taken away under the guise of an ability user was the fastest way to locate Mu Xiaowei. If she had indeed been dragged to some dangerous place, being even a few seconds late could alter the outcome entirely.

As it happened, too many unknown events had occurred recently.

Last night, he had instructed Lorix to carry his weapons into the school.

It was these teachers who, time and time again, had forced his hand, even directly endangering the people around him.

Even with insufficient intelligence, Su Yi had to give it a try.

"Teacher, I want to be tested in advance too!"

...

As evening approached.

The starlight was dim, the moonlight murky, and the roads pitch-black, obscuring the scenery outside as if foreshadowing ominous events.

Unsurprisingly, Su Yi was locked inside a black SUV transporting ability users.

What he hadn't expected, however, was having a familiar face by his side this time.

"Wuuu, Brother Yi, are we done for this time? We're definitely done for, right?"

"I haven't even been in a relationship yet!"

"I still have one hundred bucks of allowance left unspent."

"I only drank half a bottle of the cola I bought last night."

"I didn't even say goodbye to my mom when I walked out the door today..."

He Cheng sat inside the black commercial vehicle with a face full of despair, weeping incessantly until Su Yi felt deeply irritated.

Out of three thousand students in the entire school, only eight had tested positive for abilities. Their class alone accounted for three, which was already quite fortunate. Becoming an ability user meant immunity to easy radiation damage, granting a resistance at least on par with Wasteland inhabitants.

All in all, it could be considered a form of evolution.

However, He Cheng was simply too noisy.

So noisy that it vexed Su Yi, making it nearly impossible for him to concentrate. He was forced to speak up and comfort him:

"Stop crying. You're a man, what are you afraid of? At worst, they'll slice you up for research. Just grit your teeth and it'll be over."

"What does sliced up mean?" He Cheng asked, wiping away his tears.

"Didn't you take biology?" Su Yi turned to look at him, doubt flashing in his eyes.

"Uh—forgot."

"Then I'll tell you."

Drawing upon descriptions from the unscrupulous laboratories he had witnessed in the Wasteland, Su Yi explained:

"Slicing means what they do in experiments to observe things under a microscope—cutting body tissue into thin slices just like death by a thousand cuts, all for the sake of research."

He Cheng's eyes widened instantly: "Brother Yi, don't scare me..."

"Why would I scare you?" Su Yi gave a bitter smile: "Being sliced is actually considered a comfortable way to die. To keep the samples pristine, they usually anesthetize you beforehand, so it doesn't hurt too much."

Compared to the other gruesome deaths Su Yi knew of, this gentle method of administering anesthesia spared one from a vast amount of agony and torment.

"I want to leave, I want to survive, I'm calling the police!"

Comforted thusly, He Cheng threw an even bigger tantrum, frantically searching for a way out of the vehicle.

The commercial vehicle was tightly sealed and partitioned from the driver's cab. He Cheng began hammering at the door, exerting every ounce of his strength, using both hands and feet until his face turned crimson, but the door remained as immovable as if it had been welded shut.

Thus, he raised his fists and began pounding wildly against the side window, attempting to break his way out.

Yet the glass was made of bulletproof, thickened material comparable to an alloy wall, completely impervious to his blows.

Up front in the passenger seat, Cheng Sanli sat with one leg crossed over the other, watching the commotion in the back via the monitor.

He was in a great mood today. Any mission that allowed him to go outside was a good mission. Although escorting these students to the research facility was tedious, as long as he wasn't at headquarters, he could slack off however he pleased.

Watching He Cheng pound frantically on the glass, he used a mocking, irritating tone over the microphone to taunt:

"That window costs three hundred thousand. Remember to pay for it if you break it."

"Kidneys are dropping in price on the black market nowadays, only one hundred thousand each. You'll have to throw in a pair of corneas as well."

Such terrifying words instantly subdued He Cheng, who clutched his head and shrank back miserably into his seat, not daring to utter another syllable.

Finally, the noise in his ears subsided.

Su Yi glanced sidelong at Lorix, who remained invisible, her eyes flashing with a continuous green light.

He rested his finger on the palm of the girl's hand, tracing characters to ask: "Can you map out the exact route?"

Lorix nodded slightly: "Yes."

By recording the vehicle's speed and turning trajectory via her internal chip, it was effortless to track every place they had passed since departing from the school.

Once they wiped out the enemy's lair, Su Yi would also be able to retreat swiftly.

"I'll have to trouble you this time. We might be killing people later."

Su Yi slowly wrote on the girl's palm.

"Commander, Lorix will protect you." Determination surfaced in Lorix's light blue eyes, without a single trace of hesitation.

Compared to peaceful coexistence, combat, executing orders, and annihilating enemies brought her a greater sense of tranquility. After all, that was precisely the purpose for which Granny had manufactured her.

A faint smile touched the corner of Su Yi's lips as he gently wrote on Lorix's hand: "Just focus on keeping yourself safe. Your commander here is quite strong."

The commercial vehicle swayed, jolting continuously along the road, and the temperature dropped noticeably, suggesting they had entered the wilderness.

Inside the car, every student wore a grave expression. Fear and a suffocating atmosphere blanketed the cramped space.

Su Yi regained his expressionless composure, utilizing all his senses to observe his surroundings. The vehicle's soundproofing was exceptional.

Even so, he could faintly discern the sound of iron gates opening and closing, and the jolting diminished significantly. They must have arrived at their destination.