ACIFITFDB – Chapter 26

Chapter 26: Preparing to Be a School Bully or a Campus Heartthrob?

Qin Xian opened his eyes, but his vision remained blurry, sharp pain making him believe he had gone blind. This was the price for prolonged use of his [Insight] ability; it hadn’t fully recovered even by the next day.

However, it was merely overexertion of his eyes, and a bit of rest would fix it.

His sensitive eyes couldn’t tolerate bright light, so he found a pair of sunglasses and put them on. After breakfast, he poured a bag of milk and an egg for Tangyuan, along with some dog food.

Tangyuan seemed completely unaware of Qin Xian’s threat from yesterday and lowered its head to eat. Qin Xian smirked, grabbed the dog’s tail, and stroked it from root to tip.

Then, ignoring the dog, whose ears perked up as it looked at him, he headed out to the meeting.

The meeting place was a private room in a Hunan cuisine restaurant. When Qin Xian pushed the door open, he saw two strangers sitting inside. Huang Dehui was not there.

One was a man and the other a woman. The woman was around forty, wearing a tracksuit, her short hair neatly falling by her ears, her features full of heroic spirit. The man was much older, his hair graying, appearing close to retirement age.

The older man was the first to stand and extend his hand to Qin Xian. “Hello, Mr. Qin. I am Kang Ming, the Commander-in-Chief of the National Abnormal Incident Handling Center, and also a General.”

His expression was gentle, his tone amiable yet authoritative, the aura of a soldier radiating from him. He looked like a family elder but also possessed deep wisdom.

He hadn’t expected the country to take him so seriously.

Qin Xian also became serious and extended his hand to shake Kang Ming’s. “Hello, Commander Kang.”

Kang Ming smiled warmly and turned to introduce the other woman. “This is the leader of our center’s first team, Yuan Fengying. She is a very powerful ability user.”

Qin Xian asked, “An ability user? Not a player? Could it be that killing grotesque beings in this world also has a chance of granting special abilities and items?”

Kang Ming nodded. “Yes, although the probability is very low, likely lower than in the Infinite Stream worlds. However, some ordinary people have gained special powers, and Yuan Fengying is one of them.”

If ordinary people with a sense of justice could also master abilities and obtain items, the situation would be much better.

Qin Xian asked, “However, can those ‘players’ also use this to improve themselves by grinding grotesque beings?”

Kang Ming shook his head. “We don’t have definitive evidence for that, but we have conducted some experiments.”

Qin Xian raised an eyebrow and asked, “Did you capture ‘players’ for experiments, or did you lead teams to grind grotesque beings?”

Kang Ming smiled. “More than that. If you’re interested, I can take you to visit our laboratory if you join us.”

Heh, while he was a bit interested, he wouldn’t join just for a tour.

“You won’t conduct any human experiments, will you?”

“How could we? We would never experiment on humans. There have been cases abroad, and they almost caused major trouble. But for the future of humanity, we will do everything we can to understand grotesque beings and enhance our strength.”

That was only natural. Perhaps soon, the country’s understanding of grotesque beings would surpass his as a cleared player. No, maybe it already had…

How were grotesque beings born? What was pollution? Besides rules, what common weaknesses did they have? Was there a way to utterly destroy the Main God? How were those items and abilities generated?

Qin Xian’s hand on the dining table gradually clenched, his expression unclear in the shadows.

No, these questions might be difficult to answer. If they had truly researched them, they would have launched a large-scale counterattack long ago.

“If Mr. Qin does not wish to join our center, we will consider cooperating with you. We have a rather urgent matter we’d like to ask Mr. Qin to help with. The reward will be fifty thousand afterward. In addition, we will give you some of our current research findings.”

“Oh?” Qin Xian’s interest was piqued. “What is it?”

The smile disappeared from Kang Ming’s face, and he said in a deep voice, “Municipal No. 1 High School. All the third-year students and teachers preparing for the college entrance examination disappeared overnight.”

“Disappeared?!”

“Yes, they’ve been gone for three days. We organized people to go on the first day, but we couldn’t get in. We haven’t caused public panic yet, but if it’s another two days, parents might start noticing something is wrong.”

Kang Ming’s expression turned stern. “Furthermore, Municipal No. 1 High School is the largest high school in the city. Over a thousand children who are about to take their college entrance exams have disappeared. They are the hope of over a thousand families.”

“I promise you, I will go.”

Qin Xian continued gravely, “I suspect this matter was intentional. If they succeed in causing the deaths of the third-year students, it could cause nationwide turmoil.”

Kang Ming firmly grasped Qin Xian’s hand. “Thank you. If all the children can be saved, the reward will be an additional twenty thousand.”

Qin Xian nodded.

Even without a reward, he would have gone upon hearing this. Of course, having a reward was even better.

Leaving the restaurant, Qin Xian slowly strolled home. He took a small glass bottle from his pocket, a gift from Kang Ming before he left.

He said it was a small gift from their newly developed research, as thanks for accepting the commission.

The glass bottle contained a half-filled black, viscous liquid that slowly sloshed as it moved. If one looked closely, it could be quite horrifying, because this black liquid was actually made up of countless tiny black insects, wriggling densely within the bottle.

Qin Xian knew what this was; it was a type of “creature” commonly found in grotesque domains. They were incredibly weak, surviving by absorbing negative energy within the domain.

However, when they gathered in large numbers and encountered a human who had lost consciousness, they could become terrifying.

It was like snails and worms at the bottom of the water encountering immobile food; they would swarm and slowly devour it.

If a living person fainted near these small black worms and remained there for half a day, they might never wake up. After a day, they would be gnawed down to a skeleton.

However, these little things were very timid. They would hide at the slightest disturbance. A gentle squeeze could crush them into dust. In a domain, they would also avoid grotesque beings stronger than themselves.

He wondered how Kang Ming’s people managed to bring these little things out, cultivate them, and put them into special containers. This way, their characteristics could be well utilized to detect the presence of grotesque beings.

When there was a grotesque being nearby, these little things would vibrate intensely, trying to escape in the opposite direction. But now, the small black worms in the bottle were listless, swaying along with Qin Xian’s movements.

The surroundings seemed very safe.

However, this item could only be used in the Real World. In a domain, where danger lurked everywhere, these little things would explode into fireworks inside the bottle.

Qin Xian thought this and put away the quiet little bottle.

When he reached the entrance of his apartment building, Qin Xian took out the small bottle again and held it high, pointing it at his own window. The small black worms in the bottle still showed no reaction.

He walked upstairs slowly with the bottle, then looked down again at the doorway. The small worms were still very quiet.

Qin Xian unlocked the door with his key, pushed it open, and saw Tangyuan in the same spot. It was still standing behind the sofa, sticking its head out. Seeing Qin Xian, it wagged its tail a couple of times.

However, this time was different. It actively approached and suddenly lifted its front paws, trying to climb onto Qin Xian’s leg.

Qin Xian immediately took a step back, causing the dog to miss its jump.

“Mmm?”

Tangyuan’s front paws landed, and it tilted its head to look at Qin Xian.

“You haven’t showered yet, don’t paw at me.”

After saying that, Qin Xian coolly walked around it and sat down on the sofa.

The bottle in his hand still showed no reaction.

Heh, it seemed to be just a rudimentary product.

The next day, Qin Xian woke up early and packed items suitable for taking to school: a large thermos of water, a set of quick-drying clothes to change into, dry rations, first-aid supplies, a folding knife, a small hammer, and a durable flashlight.

After preparing everything, he added more dog food and water to Tangyuan’s bowl.

Tangyuan walked over, looked at the mountain of food, and then looked up at Qin Xian.

Qin Xian said to the dog, “I’m going out again. You stay put obediently.”

If Tangyuan were a normal dog, he would definitely give it away for adoption. After all, his current situation was really not suitable for keeping pets. He would stay in domains for days without coming out, and could even die at any moment. A pet left at home would most likely meet the same fate.

“Woof…”

Tangyuan let out a bark and took two steps forward.

Qin Xian reached out and firmly stroked its head, giving it a final pat before standing up and opening the door.

This time, Tangyuan didn’t bark, but walked to the entrance and stared outside until the door closed, disappearing from Qin Xian’s sight.

Qin Xian quickly drove to Municipal No. 1 High School. The taxi stopped outside the school gate. Pedestrians occasionally passed by, but there were few. A cordon had been set up nearby, and the concrete road was broken open, with shattered stones piled up beside it.

It looked like construction was underway, but it wasn’t necessarily construction; it was highly likely done intentionally to prevent passersby from approaching the dangerous area.

Qin Xian wore a black mask and a baseball cap, looking up at the campus within the walls.

The weather was a bit overcast. There was no sound or people on campus, making it appear normal from the outside. However, those with sensitive senses would feel a sense of oppressive discomfort staying near this area.

“Hello, Mr. Qin.”

A woman’s voice interrupted Qin Xian’s thoughts. He turned his head and saw the team leader he had met at the dinner yesterday standing beside him, wearing plain gray clothes, looking heroic and spirited.

However, what was her name again? It seemed to be Yuan Fengying.

Qin Xian extended his hand. “Hello, Captain Yuan.”

Yuan Fengying shook his hand briefly and let go, then turned to look at the school gate with a solemn expression. “Many of our team members can’t get into the school.”

Qin Xian asked, “Domains can’t be entered casually. Only by triggering specific conditions or by being ‘food’ that the domain owner likes can one enter. Can those who entered be contacted?”

Yuan Fengying shook her head. “No, communication equipment has failed. Because of this, we don’t know what conditions to trigger to enter. Do you have any suggestions?”

Qin Xian thought for a moment and replied, “According to normal logic, schools generally refuse entry to outsiders.”

Yuan Fengying’s eyes lit up. “Understood. So, I need to create an identity that allows me to enter the school, right?”

Qin Xian nodded. “Yes, you should be more suitable as a teacher… As for me, I’ll try being a student.”

Yuan Fengying looked at his long legs, his exquisite eyebrows partially hidden under the brim of his hat, and his shoulder-length hair. After a moment of thought, she asked, “Are you preparing to be a school bully or a campus heartthrob?”