“Victory, a grand victory, a magnificent triumph!”
This was what Xu Chuyao kept emphasizing after bringing back the captives to the Academy.
As expected, with the girl’s bold proclamation, the Academy leadership didn’t pay much attention to Li Xueli standing off to the side, or how she had inexplicably become an informant for the Special Team.
In any case, a great achievement had been made, and everyone had contributed to the big win.
Still, Yaoyao wasn’t just boasting—this time’s results were truly significant. Although it wasn’t as terrifying as the 108/0 casualty ratio of the Commerce Plaza battle, it still made things even worse for the already struggling remnants of the Clown Gang.
And there were even unexpected gains.
“I really just took a wrong turn, leader, you have to believe me.”
“I’ve already graduated, why are you all still managing me?”
“People from the county love the arts, I usually enjoy listening to music, so it’s perfectly normal for me to walk into the concert hall, right? I just didn’t expect someone else to be using it.”
Unfortunately, no matter how well these people tried to explain themselves, the Academy treated everyone the same—drag them back for interrogation first, then talk. This led to a rather interesting outcome.
Since they were all First Rank Spirit Power Users, and all from the city population, registered and assigned jobs, most of these dozen or so people actually belonged to the city security department. It’s just that their jobs were rather unremarkable—either doing sanitation or guarding gates, commonly known as security guards.
But regardless, they were all under the city security department’s staff. Some had even graduated from Shengling Academy.
“Years after graduation, still accomplishing nothing, wanting to go astray, and yet caught all at once by your junior schoolmate—how does it feel?”
Their former teacher sneered as they spoke, making those few wish they could disappear.
The main focus of the interrogation was on Lone Wolf, and the Academy specially brought in experts, determined to find a breakthrough with him.
“Actually, they should’ve asked you to go.” Back in the classroom, Shen Ning said to Xiao Si Nuo in the back row, “Psychology teachers are useless.”
“Hm? What?” Xiao Si Nuo, engrossed in reading the newspaper, looked up.
It was already the second day after the operation. After returning to the dorm, Shen Ning had first pulled out the entry handbook and hid it, tucking it under the bed board where she used to hide her chopsticks. Then she lay on her bed, her heart pounding the whole time, not noticing Xu Chuyao’s message in the QQ group calling everyone to the Meeting Room for a reward ceremony.
It was only when she checked her phone the next morning that she learned about all this, and also found out that the Academy was currently detaining important witnesses. For a moment, she was filled with emotion.
“This matter—”
Shen Ning pointed at the newspaper in Xiao Si Nuo’s hand, the front page headline:
[Thunderous Strike! Shengling Academy Student Team Launches Surprise Raid Across a Thousand Miles, Rounding Up Terrorists Gathering in the New District!]
“Oh, that? So it was you guys who did it, that’s awesome.”
It was obvious he didn’t feel any pride at the thought of being an interrogation expert.
Shen Ning didn’t stay in the classroom long, because Xu Chuyao was calling her to the Meeting Room again in the QQ group.
“Really, that guy used some kind of stance technique. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t land a punch—it always got deflected to the side.”
“Four ounces deflect a thousand pounds.”
“Right, right, that’s exactly the feeling! Of course, it wasn’t as exaggerated as four ounces against a thousand pounds. Anyway, when none of us could do anything, Team Leader Xu just swung her fist over.”
Cheng Li showed everyone his fist, as big as a sandbag, but in his eyes, there seemed to be another shadow: “Such a small, soft, pink little fist, but it broke through the stance directly and landed a clean hit on that guy. You guys didn’t see it—their teeth went flying!”
Everyone gasped in admiration. Shi Lei was especially amazed, “Leader, when did you master that skill?”
After Xu Chuyao arrived, she just stood against the wall with her arms crossed, saying nothing, playing the expert. Only when someone asked did she reluctantly speak up:
“It’s nothing much, really. Just a few days ago, after hearing you all say how important skills are, I took it to heart and went to practice a bit. I was just messing around, but it worked out right away.”
“Too strong, Commander Xu!”
“Seriously awesome!”
“This is what a genius is!”
Whether she was boasting or not, since Xu Chuyao said so, everyone took it as truth.
Who wouldn’t want to flatter a beautiful, cute, and well-endowed young boss?
Only Shen Ning stood quietly on the other side—not because she was being standoffish, but because she simply hadn’t heard a thing.
The girl was lost in her own world, head down, gazing at her hands. Her slender fingers kept making gestures in the air.
The book said to do it like this, then like that, and then this way. Especially important was not to go straight—trajectory could curve left or right, just not straight ahead. After all, she herself wasn’t exactly straight either…
“Shen Ning, what are you doing?”
A big cutie suddenly appeared in her field of vision: “Practicing fancy hand tricks? Are you going to start a livestream?”
“Yeah,” the suppressed shadow inside her shouted, “Livestream, love you forever!”
Shen Ning guiltily put her hands down, “It’s nothing, just stretching a bit, that’s all.”
Xu Chuyao looked her up and down, “It’s the middle of winter, and you wear nothing but black stockings all day. Aren’t you cold?”
Of course, Yaoyao herself was only wearing white stockings, but those were prize-drawn thermal white stockings—high-tech stuff. So what if you’re the protagonist? Even the protagonist can’t wear them, you can only watch Yaoyao wear them.
Returning to the others, Xu Chuyao clapped her hands: “Alright, now for business. As everyone knows, among the people we captured yesterday, quite a few were from the Center City security department. The leadership is furious and is about to launch an internal purge. This is a good thing for us—since the security department will soon be short-staffed, the leadership plans to grant us official titles.”
In simple terms, we are now officially on the roster.
At first, everyone didn’t quite get it. After a few seconds, the three fifth-year boys all looked dazed, as if they’d just drunk some fine aged wine.
“Commander Xu, are you serious?”
“Why would I lie to you?”
“This is amazing!”
Their first choice for job applications had always been this, but they never expected to achieve it before even graduating, and not even at New Year’s wish time yet. Overjoyed, a few of them hugged each other, crying tears of happiness.
Yu Yuwei, a fourth-year, couldn’t quite share their excitement, but seeing everyone so happy, she joined in as well.
Shen Ning was indifferent as always—she’d always been calm.
Only You Jia, also a fifth-year, didn’t join the celebration, but instead quietly sighed.
“What’s wrong?” Xu Chuyao whispered to her, “Have other aspirations?”
“No, it’s just a bit regretful.” You Jia hesitated for a moment, then slowly said, “After this capture, I finally understand why such a weak organization like the Clown Gang could grow so large, and why it’s so difficult to deal with, why the security department can’t solve it, and the Academy is unwilling to step in personally.”
There are hundreds of thousands of Spirit Power Users in the world, and First and Second Rank make up ninety percent. As Spirit Power Users, they are the pride of humanity, but among Spirit Power Users, they are merely the weakest supporting cast.
Stuck in the middle, unable to rise or fall, after being stuck long enough, some are bound to develop ideas.
But Xu Chuyao just shook her head: “It’s not like all of them want to cause trouble—they’re just a small part of the First and Second Ranks, that’s all.”