After slamming the main entrance shut and seeing the Clown Gang member she had knocked out lying unconscious on the ground, Yu Yuwei suddenly realized something.
She’d just locked a dozen people inside. If they weren’t significantly stronger than the enemy, wasn’t this basically turning the place into a gladiator pit?
But orders were orders, and what Xu Chuyao said had to be followed. She couldn’t just reopen the door now. All she could do was press her ear to the cold iron door and try to listen.
“Ahhhh!”
“Help! Somebody help me!”
There was pounding on the door, urgent and frantic. They wanted to escape, but bare fists weren’t nearly enough to break through, and they had no time to find tools. The iron door was now a chasm between life and death.
Yu Yuwei quietly stepped away from the door, thinking: Seems to be going well, since the ones screaming all sounded like Clown Gang members.
“You’ll understand once you reach Level Two,” said Instructor Hu during theory class.
“The power difference between a Level One and a Level Two Spirit User is massive.”
He’d said it to motivate the students to train hard and level up. Most just took it as typical teacher pep talk. After all, bodies had to grow first, and even then talent mattered. No amount of effort could overcome a lack of talent—just look at the Clown Gang members, many already in their twenties or thirties and still stuck at Level One.
But today, Shen Ning deeply understood that sentence.
She didn’t need to dodge or plan any clever tricks, didn’t need to aim for vital spots with lethal weapons, or rely on environmental advantages. All she did was raise a finger, select a random unlucky clown, charge it slightly, and fire.
A fragile life ended instantly.
“How is she Level Two? That’s impossible! Did those three survivors give us fake intel?”
“Charge her! Fight up close!”
After a few executions from Shen Ning, one clown, overwhelmed with fear and nerves, lost his mind. Assuming that someone who excelled at ranged attacks must be weak in close combat, he roared and charged at her.
And then she broke his kneecap with a single kick.
He collapsed, howling in pain. As he lifted his head, he saw her delicate finger pointed right at his forehead—
Bang!
Other clowns who had been ready to follow his lead froze, watching their teammate drop dead with a gaping hole through his skull.
Right… she’s not just a Level Two. She ascended from the peak of Level One. Her melee is stronger than ours, and she’s got ranged too.
“Tsk. You really had to go for a headshot?” Xu Chuyao covered her eyes in mock dismay. “Good thing I reacted fast and didn’t look!”
Too brutal. Xu Chuyao wasn’t about to watch someone’s head get blown open.
Shen Ning’s expression darkened. “Don’t—”
She tried to warn her not to talk, but it was too late.
The remaining clowns noticed her. They also noticed that Shen Ning seemed to care about her. A weakness?
According to the survivor’s report, the red-eyed, white-haired girl had shown no emotion while watching her classmates get slaughtered—completely detached, like a ghost in the shadows. But now, in this desperate situation, they picked up on a subtle cue.
A possible weakness.
“Grab her!”
If they could capture the busty girl, they’d have a hostage!
They weren’t far apart. A clown wearing a fox mask broke off from the group and lunged toward Xu Chuyao with alarming speed.
He reached out to grab her—
But instead, he watched as the cute girl reeled back her little pink fist and smashed it forward. His clawed hand collided with it.
CRACK!
“AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!”
The fox clown collapsed, clutching his shattered hand, howling in agony. The others skidded to a halt.
“What are you doing?” Xu Chuyao leaned forward slightly, hands behind her back, her curvy frame tilting just enough to emphasize her figure. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Her tone was sweet and curious, like a child’s.
“You didn’t actually think you could beat her, but somehow beat me, right?”
Because the fight had stayed near the front entrance and the lights were still on, a few hiding students dared to peek out. Seeing the situation seemed safe, they called out the others. Soon, about a dozen students were all watching the remaining clowns with wide, fascinated eyes.
For a moment, those clowns truly felt like circus clowns.
Shen Ning raised her hand again.
Xu Chuyao rushed over and pushed it back down. “No, no, no—leave a few alive. We need someone for the school to interrogate.”
Then she turned to the other students. “Anyone wanna help? Bring some rope over and tie these guys up.”
Rope wasn’t hard to find; soon the floor was littered with it. But no one dared to step forward to do the tying, even though the clowns were standing perfectly still—having clearly given up resisting.
Xu Chuyao understood. The clowns wanted to live. So did her classmates.
So she turned toward the door and shouted:
“Yu Yuwei, you can come in now. Help us tie them up.”
Their “one-hour free activity” wasn’t even over yet when the special team’s mission was already done. But after witnessing such a dramatic scene, none of the other students were in the mood to keep shopping. They followed the others back to the bus.
The special group boarded first, along with three clowns whose hands were bound. They sat in the back. Other students sat up front, sneaking peeks every now and then.
“Those are real Clown Gang members—caught alive.”
“That ended way quicker than I thought. I figured the teachers would have to step in.”
“So that’s Shen Ning, huh? The rumors weren’t exaggerating—she’s scary.”
“Who’s the busty girl?”
“That’s Xu Chuyao, the school beauty,” one boy answered. “She’s kind of famous.”
Famous in… various ways.
The bus started moving. The road had been repaired, but it was still a little bumpy. Yu Yuwei’s emotions, like the tires, were all over the place.
She had thought her near-peak Level One strength meant she had some value. Turns out she was the weakest of the three. Not only that—this wasn’t some shady, sketchy suicide mission she’d boarded, but a straight-up carry. She’d knocked out the weakest clown in the building, did nothing else, and somehow earned a Level One battle achievement.
“Don’t just sit there,” Xu Chuyao told her. “When we get to the academy gate, you’ll walk these guys down.”
See? She did have a job.
Shen Ning still sat by the window, uninterested in the conversation, paying no mind to the captives either. The battle had been too easy—just another minor task checked off. Her focus was on the bags next to her. Each one held carefully selected outfits.
The person responsible for helping her pick them out—the future version of herself in the reflection—was still around, idle and floating nearby. So Shen Ning figured, might as well ask for tactical advice.
“It’s easy,” said her future self, with total confidence.
“Just pin her down and ask if she loves you. If she doesn’t answer, keep going until she says yes.”
“…”
She should’ve known better than to ask a repressed pervert for romance advice.
Shen Ning dismissed her future self with a wave and turned to look out the window. They were almost back at the academy.
The bus was slowing. At the school gates, several figures were standing in wait—just like last time, but somehow it felt completely different.
There was Yu Jing with her lips pressed together in an effort to stay calm, a stern-faced male teacher, and four fifth-year students who looked both anxious and excited. All eyes were on the bus as it pulled up.
When it finally stopped, the first one off was Yu Yuwei.
Yu Jing and the others saw her, and also saw the ropes in her hands—and the three clowns tied up behind her. Their masks were still on, perched like hats. Beneath them were the exhausted, fearful faces of three men in their twenties or thirties.
“You captured three prisoners?” Yu Jing quickly grasped the situation. “Excellent. Now we can get more intel.”
She was quick to affirm the success of the mission.
Not that she needed to—everyone could tell it had gone smoothly. Capturing this many alive meant the fight had been totally one-sided.
A girl named You Jia voiced her discontent. “But didn’t some of them get away? If they escaped, our intel could be leaked.”
Why would our intel be leaked just because they escaped? Yu Jing was just about to question her logic—
But before she could, Yu Yuwei blurted out, “Don’t worry! No one got away. Everyone who’s still alive is right here!”
That was the one thing she had done all mission—guard the door. No way was she letting anyone question the results of her contribution.
The three captive men looked like they were about to pass out. Only You Jia still seemed unconvinced.
“There were only three of you. Even if you defeated them, you must not have had enough manpower to protect the others. How many casualties?”
At that moment, Xu Chuyao just happened to step off the bus. She cleared her throat and chirped sweetly:
“None of ours were hurt—everyone’s safe and sound!”
Shen Ning’s future self is a major perv holy…