Chapter 164: As Promised

In the later stages of Triple Defense, taking on a whole bunch of mid-stage Single Defense at once was a bit excessive.

But they really did rush up on their own.

The war ended without suspense, the stubborn military leaders all eliminated, and the Neutral Party of the nation didn’t stay long either—soon, they were trampled into the ground and turned to dust, and the Spirit Ruins returned to their side.

This time, most of the Spirit Calamity triggered by Shi Yu came from buildings; the mutated forms were basically unorganized and were dealt with effortlessly by Shen Ning alone, not even a drop of blood shed. Everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief—everyone except the Headmaster of Freden Academy, who looked at the collapsed buildings in the plaza and the school’s once lush maple trees now lying hidden in the ruins, on the verge of tears.

“Swina, you damn troublemaker!”

The new building, funded by Liu Xiu, had been bright, clean, and imposing. Even the old building still had its uses thanks to its solid construction.

But now, it was all gone. New or old, nearly everything had been wiped out by that last strike.

“Headmaster, we did a check. Yesterday and today, about five or six people sneaked in with the visiting families. They quietly planted things in the buildings and later ran wild in the confusion, according to what we’ve gathered.”

It’s not that Freiden Academy’s teachers were negligent—this time, the infiltrators seemed few, but their strength was formidable. Each of them was nearly on par with Swina; even Xu Chuyao couldn’t hold her own.

All that could be said was that the Supreme Society really had deep connections. Just to help Swina realize his dream for the country, and for his simple ideals, they sent so many people in one go. Not to mention, faking identities to slip past the authorities must have involved many insiders.

“But there’s some good news. The mayor knows about our situation now and admits there was indeed a loophole in identity checks. He’s willing to step in personally and designate a temporary area for us to settle all the teachers and students.”

That really was good news. The buildings were gone, the school was in ruins, but the teachers were still here, the students were still here—life could go on.

But the Headmaster of Freden Academy just couldn’t bring himself to smile.

He’d smiled too much these past few days; now, even if he forced a professional smile, it couldn’t hide the sorrow inside.

Xu Chuyao, seeing how downcast he was, came up and gently patted his shoulder.

“It’s alright, Headmaster of Freden Academy. We’ll definitely take care of Swina and his gang!”

The grieving Headmaster finally managed a thin smile. “Thank you, Xu. But next time, don’t hold back—deal with them on the spot. Otherwise, those rats will keep running away, and the Judicial Department’s people are just a bunch of leeches…”

Having vented his anger, he finally found an outlet, and his mood improved. He started organizing the teachers to lead the post-crisis efforts.

With the ceremony over, vacation was naturally canceled. Xu Chuyao and Shen Ning boarded a flight in the early afternoon.

“I heard a lot of Supreme Society people slipped into the school.”

“Not that many, just a few. But I did run into one.”

“You’re okay, right?”

“I’m fine—” Xu Chuyao replied lightly, “He was a bit stronger than me, but I managed to pull off a quick, improvised escape skill, broke through a wall, and ran for it. It’s the move I used when I came looking for you.”

But that was the only strategic retreat—next time, after I train up a few more skills, I’ll take down that weirdo for sure.

“That move, though…”

Shen Ning still remembered that lightning-fast figure dashing past. It was indeed the first time seeing his girlfriend’s true genius in action—a prodigious beauty who somehow always managed to break through in the clutch, quickly mastering new skills.

Unlike himself, who relied entirely on the system’s rewards…

“Shen Ning, you…” Xu Chuyao squinted at him, “How was it where you went? Was it dangerous?”

“Not bad, nobody paid any attention to me.”

An airplane isn’t the place to talk. After a few casual exchanges, they rested. They’d talk in detail after returning home.

Freden Academy had once again weathered a major crisis. Fortunately, this time, only the school was affected—the city was safe.

In the central city along the transport line, under the night sky, the two girls got off the plane and immediately saw their homeroom teacher waiting for them outside the airport.

“Good to have you back. I’ll call the headmaster—he was really worried when he heard something happened at Freiden Academy.”

Yu Jing checked in with their headmaster, then herded the two girls into the car to take them home.

“It was Swina!”

As soon as Xu Chuyao fastened her seatbelt, she couldn’t wait to blurt out, “We never should have sent anyone to Ying Ba Si City. Look what happened! He’s from the Ross Nation, and for all we know, he’s part of the Supreme Society. Maybe he did this on purpose!”

Yu Jing listened to her student vent, thought for a moment, and said, “There’s no use telling me—why not collect evidence and report it to higher-ups?”

“Forget it.”

If that really pushed Xu Chuyao to the brink, who knows what might happen. Xu Chuyao was only early-stage Tier 3 right now; she couldn’t handle that risk.

Yu Jing didn’t press for details about what happened at Freiden Academy. She drove the two girls back, told them to get a good rest, and said there’d be no classes tomorrow—not that either of them would have gone anyway.

Xu Chuyao clapped her hands in agreement, promising to rest well, but immediately turned and went to her girlfriend’s dorm room.

There was nothing else—she had serious business to discuss.

“I thought over what you said, and suddenly had an idea. So I tried it in my dreams, and to my surprise, it worked,” Shen Ning said, sitting by the bed and hugging a pillow as she recalled last night’s adventure. “A place of endless whiteness, and sometimes, it connects to a city of simple structures.”

Xu Chuyao listened intently to her girlfriend’s story.

The Spirit Sovereign Nation sealed by the Four Forbidden, worshipped as a True God.

“In the city, thousands of people are gathered, all waiting for the main gate to open. They seem to get a little advance notice about when it will open—or maybe, when a spirit stone eruption is about to happen outside, there are signs inside first.”

Now that she thought about it, Liu Quan had always shown up a little ahead of time, too.

“Thousands? But only a few hundred ever appear in our school. Not even ten, really—the slots must be limited.”

“Right, and the gate chooses who gets to come out. It might have something to do with the people at the scene,” Shen Ning looked at her girlfriend. “The place I came back from was very close to you.”

And it wasn’t the first time. After so many coincidences, it couldn’t just be random chance.

“So, if that’s the case, if I always carry a spirit stone with me, maybe you can be summoned back anytime?”

“In theory, yes…”

It was correct, but it still sounded a bit silly.

Xu Chuyao rummaged through her girlfriend’s desk and found a few pieces of snowy candy. She hadn’t eaten the airplane meal, so it was just the right time for a snack.

“Crunch, crunch. So, did you find it? Did you figure out how to claim the King’s Throne?”

Shen Ning was taken aback for a moment.

A grand adventure was a grand adventure, but as for actually achieving anything, she really didn’t have a clue.

According to Liu Quan, after opening the door, the next step was to find the King’s Throne and ascend it.

So, the next part of the process was to find the King’s Throne’s location.

From Shen Ning’s own adventure experience, finding things in that world wasn’t easy. It wasn’t just a matter of skills—she’d need some timing, and some fateful opportunities.

That was all there was to say about the Spirit Power World. A few sentences, and it was done. Next should be matters of the human world.

“Not much to say. Today’s incident had nothing to do with us—we helped out a bit, but the real headache should be for the person in charge from Ross Nation.” Xu Chuyao stretched, “As for me, I need to go back and get some proper training in. Next time I run into that family heir, I’ll make sure he pays.”

Simply put, Xu Chuyao planned to go back and figure out how to boost her points against the antagonists. For example, she’d order a few colorful mood packs, ruthlessly cash in thousands or tens of thousands of points, and then mercilessly draw for a gold-tier reward or two, just so that weirdo with the rich kid complex could taste what it meant to lose by numbers.

But just as Xu Chuyao was about to leave, her girlfriend suddenly reached out and grabbed her.

“Shen Ning, what is it?”

The girl said nothing, just moved quietly to shut the door against the night breeze, locked the window, and drew the curtains tight.

Xu Chuyao blinked in surprise, her eyes wide. “What are you doing?”

“As we agreed a few days ago on the plane,” Shen Ning said seriously. “Once we’re back, I’ll take care of you.”

Her tone was calm, as if stating a simple fact.

Maybe she wasn’t angry now, but she had been back then—and there was no problem bringing it up now.