“What’s there to be scared of? If his injuries were really that serious, he wouldn’t have been able to talk so much.”
Someone said that, though no one was sure who, and the other students caught on quickly. A few of them stepped forward, lifted him up, and hurried off toward the infirmary.
“His public humiliation is way worse than mine.”
Sun Qiang watched Lei Fei being carried away, his eyes filled with a mix of complicated feelings and a hint of delight. With Lei Fei around, he figured no student would bother paying attention to him anymore.
Lei Fei—what a good guy!
“Is that really the point? More importantly, shouldn’t we get out of here?”
“Run? Someone’s gotta take the lead first. If nobody steps up, who’s gonna have the nerve to run off on their own?”
“My instincts won’t let me flee. You know what I mean? It’s that thing deep in every Chinese person’s DNA.”
“Oh, you mean rubbernecking. No need to dress it up all mysterious-like.”
“…”
Listening to their chatter, Bai Xuan was at a loss for words. Faced with danger, their first thoughts were about watching the excitement and not wanting to be the one who leads the retreat—worried about losing face.
That kind of thinking is just so… student-like.
But okay, students being like that is one thing. Why were the school administrators and teachers not making a single move?
And what about the security guards over by the sports field? Just lounging around, watching with big smiles on their faces—wasn’t that a bit inappropriate? Shouldn’t they be trying to solve this problem?
If Bai Xuan hadn’t known that this flaming bird was coming specifically for him, he would’ve thought the school had arranged this as some kind of training exercise.
Everyone was acting like they already knew what was going on.
Fine, fine. If no one else is going to step up, then I will.
Bai Xuan shook his head, and a flash of blue light flickered in his eyes.
BOOM!
A sudden roar echoed between heaven and earth. The unexpected thunderclap made everyone instinctively glance up at the sky.
They saw a blue-white bolt of lightning howl down from above—like a thunder dragon roaring, tearing through the heavens and striking the flaming bird directly.
The lightning blazed brilliantly.
Blue-white arcs of electricity danced wildly through the air.
When the glare finally faded, the entire sports field was thick with the acrid smell of scorched flesh.
And the creature once covered in blazing crimson feathers now lay on the ground as nothing more than a charred, lifeless corpse.
“Whoa!”
“Divine retribution from the heavens?!”
One after another, they stared in utter disbelief at this incredible scene, their shock expressed in the most civilized language they could muster.
They had imagined plenty of ways the firebird might meet its end: police firearms, being swarmed by a crowd, or maybe some genius esper stepping in. But never in their wildest dreams did they think it would be… “divine retribution from the heavens.”
What kind of sin did that thing commit to deserve being struck down in broad daylight?!
It wasn’t just the students who were stunned. Even the teachers and the security guards by the field were completely baffled. This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. It didn’t match what they’d planned.
They subconsciously touched the bulges at their waists, their faces showing confusion and uncertainty.
Weren’t they supposed to be the ones to show off in front of the students? To make them understand that even with awakened abilities, they still had to follow the law and behave themselves—that the power of technology was beyond their imagination?
They looked at each other, then shrugged helplessly.
Better leave this for the higher-ups to handle.
At the same time, a woman in military uniform seemed to sense something, and a look of surprise crossed her face.
“Huo Yu, what’s wrong?” the man beside her asked, noticing her strange expression.
“My Blazing Flame Bird is dead,” Huo Yu replied, her tone a bit odd.
“But didn’t we already arrange for—”
The Blazing Flame Bird was always meant to die. Whether it served as a warning to students or demonstrated the power of modern weaponry, its death was pretty much inevitable.
That kind of creature—only capable of shooting flames and possessing decent defensive strength—wasn’t important at all.
With Huo Yu’s ability, summoning a hundred Blazing Flame Birds wasn’t a big deal. So neither she nor the nation considered those birds to be particularly valuable assets.
“No, no, it didn’t die from gunfire. It was thunder. Thunder from nature itself.”
“???”
“Are you sure it was natural thunder? Not a lightning-type esper?”
If it was the latter, then the country could celebrate discovering a new genius. But if it was the former… are you sure there’s no mistake?
“I’m certain it was natural thunder,” Huo Yu nodded, but then shook her head. “Though we can’t completely rule out the possibility of an esper’s involvement.”
“But if it was an esper, then their power is definitely on par with mine.”
Her awakened ability was [Summoning (Fire)], which allowed her to call forth fire-based lifeforms and non-living entities from another world.
Her potential was extremely high. Others in the military had awakened summoning abilities too, but none could casually summon a hundred Flame Feather Birds as easily as she could.
Of course, there were other unparalleled geniuses in different domains as well.
There was Qin Tian, who possessed the ability [Divine Dragon] and could already withstand gunfire in the early days of the Spirit Energy Revival, wielding control over wind, rain, and thunder.
There was Ye Feng, with [Light of Life], able to banish disease, heal injuries, and even bring people back from the brink of death with ease.
There was Chen Bing, whose [Extreme Cold Power] had frozen the entire military camp upon awakening, creating ice shields that bullets couldn’t penetrate.
And there was Wang Ming, who awakened [Mechanical Affinity]; Ning Guang, who awakened [Mist]; Chen Changsheng, who awakened [Longevity]…
Their abilities were the truly terrifying ones!
Even Huo Yu didn’t consider herself stronger than them—though she certainly didn’t think she was any weaker, either.
Just like Lei Fei had said, the Spirit Energy Revival gave everyone the chance to change their destiny, but that didn’t mean it would make everyone equal. Instead, it would likely widen the class divide even further.
Talent was something no one could afford to ignore.
In academics, you could at least try to close the gap with geniuses through hard work and reaching your own upper limits. But with superpowers, the distance between individuals was truly vast.
Take Huo Yu, for example. Even a single Blazing Flame Bird she summoned was enough to instantly take down someone like Lei Fei, who had more talent than most of his peers. And she could summon a hundred of those birds without breaking a sweat.
Could that kind of gap ever be bridged through effort alone?
And even if it could, how long would it take? A month? Two months? Six months? Maybe even a year?
And in that same year, wouldn’t those geniuses have made progress of their own?
No—their progress would surely be far greater.
“Send me a copy of the ability registry for Hangzhou First High School once it’s complete,” Huo Yu said coolly. “And have the Weather Bureau analyze why there was thunder in Hangzhou today.”
“Got it.”
After finishing his registration, Bai Xuan thought he’d be able to head home—especially after all the chaos.
But to his surprise, he was made to sit through an hour-long meeting.
The gist of it was the usual reminders for students to keep their abilities under control, not to misuse them, and definitely not to harm others.
Once the familiar, repetitive stuff was glossed over, there were actually a few things that piqued Bai Xuan’s interest.
