Volume Two: The Youth of a Thousand Faces, Truth in Illusion Chapter Twenty-One: Encirclement

Jiang Feng returned to the academy, feeling the need for a drink to calm his nerves. He was not one of those prodigies with overwhelming strength, racking up extra points—just thinking about it was enough. Over there, they were still facing an S-class disaster, a situation as deadly as it gets. He suspected their group’s bonus scores would end up noticeably low. After all, battlefields with ultimate forms were not places one could simply waltz into; entering haphazardly could easily result in death.

At the next table sat two girls, clearly freshmen judging by their uniforms. Even at university, it was only during the first month of the first semester that anyone wore their uniforms obediently. The academy had not yet sent the first-years into combat. Ordinary exams were one thing, but in a real disaster invasion, these new students would likely make irreparable mistakes from sheer nerves.

Jiang Feng had a habit of listening in on his surroundings—a professional reflex. Now he caught the whisperings of the two girls.

“Wow, he’s so handsome!”

“Let me see, let me see—he really is! Is there a front view?”

“Just be grateful there’s a live drone stream of an event like this. You want a close-up too?”

“That’s true. Do you know which famous senior he is?”

“He’s from the Dark Division, I bet it’s that renowned Senior Tan Xiao.”

“No way, I’ve seen Tan Xiao’s photos. That guy is in a whole different league.”

As they spoke, they failed to notice someone quietly approaching behind them. A gentle cough made them turn. They found a boy with a warm smile addressing them, “Are you two new students?”

“Yes, and you are?” one girl asked.

Jiang Feng pulled out two business cards, handing them over. “My name is Jiang Feng. Here’s my card. I’m an information broker. If you need to buy or sell any intel, just leave a message on the contact info below.”

“An information broker?”

“That’s right. Tell you what, as a freshmen perk, you each get one piece of information for free. Ask anything you like.”

The two girls were delighted. Who cared if he was an information broker—free gossip was always welcome.

One girl went first, “Okay, I want to know who this senior is.” She held out her crystal-brain device.

Jiang Feng glanced at the screen and involuntarily drew a sharp breath.

The footage showed the battle outside the walls, broadcast live by a drone. Goodness, the warriors of the Hunter Corps and the students fighting below probably had no idea their desperate struggle was being shown live. Some might lose their appetite if they saw themselves.

After all, the fighting beyond the wall was nothing like the passive defense earlier. There, it was a matter of life and death, battling disasters head-on. In less than three hours since the war began, the Hunter Corps had already sustained significant casualties. The disasters left no trace of themselves when slain, so the battlefield was littered with the bodies of human warriors.

Jiang Feng followed the girl’s pointing finger and felt a chill on his scalp. So, this was the “handsome” one they were talking about.

Who was it? Huo Ye.

There, Huo Ye maneuvered through the battlefield with astonishing driving skills, his movements ghostly and unpredictable. Some disasters tried to intercept him, but without exception, every attempt failed.

He didn’t pause to fight any of them, but shot straight like an arrow toward the open battlefield where Eddie and Bobby faced off.

Witnessing this, Jiang Feng could only marvel. What courage and boldness! The son was as impressive as the father—truly, a tiger’s son is no dog.

Despite his amazement, Jiang Feng maintained a calm demeanor. “Him? He’s a second-year transfer student named Huo Ye, the adopted son of Captain Eddie Halls. Around here, he’s known as the ‘Little Reaper.’”

“Wow, the son of Captain Halls? Isn’t he the most eligible young master in the Sola Colony?”

Jiang Feng blinked. Wasn’t their focus a bit off? Shouldn’t they be marveling at his skills, not his family?

In the chaos of war, disasters left no trace after death—only the bodies of human fighters remained, many devoured and left incomplete by the disaster creatures. Several drones hovered, some filming Hunter Corps battles, some focusing solely on Captain Halls and the ultimate form, and others tracking the students fighting outside the city.

“Seems like only four people exited from the southern gate with Senior Huo,” one girl murmured. These four were, of course, Huo Ye and his trio. The southern city was the main battlefield of Eddie and Bobby; even Hunter Corps soldiers dared not approach lightly, and for ordinary students, it was virtually suicide.

Led by Huo Ye, the four charged straight from the city gate toward the ultimate form. At this point, Eddie had the ultimate form locked in close combat; escape was impossible. The creature had tried burrowing, but before its head could touch the ground, Eddie had launched it skyward with a single kick—yes, just a kick.

Now, knowing escape was hopeless, Bobby gathered himself for a final, desperate stand, reforming his body into human shape to better match Eddie in battle.

The new world’s radiation affected the entire globe. Not only humans but animals underwent some mutations, though none as profoundly as humans, who developed the strongest awakened abilities. This meant that among all Earth’s creatures, humanity was the most compatible with the new world’s energy.

Thus, powerful disasters, upon seeing life on Earth, set their ultimate goal as mimicking humans. But as it turned out, assuming human form did enhance their abilities, but required at least S-level strength.

A paradox: human form meant more power, but only the powerful could achieve human form.

Now, as Bobby took human shape, he realized how formidable Eddie truly was. The Reaper’s scythe, “Lucifer’s Wing,” whirled with deadly force. Lucifer was the fallen angel of Western religion. When Chief Shangguan Qing, the Bronze-armed Ghost, had named the weapon, he’d said taking that name meant Eddie would be the black death god bringing hope to humanity.

Who else could single-handedly slay a high-ranking member of the Twelve Disasters? Certainly not a mere ultimate form not yet at the Disaster-class level.

If Bobby hadn’t noticed that Eddie, wary of the chaotic battlefield and the risk of harming his own side, kept driving him toward areas crowded with humans, he would have long since been sliced down by the edge of Lucifer’s Wing.

Eddie feinted with the scythe, seemingly missing Bobby, but then spun it around and struck Bobby in the abdomen with the shaft. Bobby was sent flying, tracing a parabolic arc through the air.

Before he could land, a blade flashed.

Huo Ye struck. Second form: Reverse Slash at Dusk. The blade swept up in a slant from below, slicing into Bobby’s lower back and out through his abdomen—cutting him in half at the waist.

But an ultimate form is no ordinary foe. Bobby mustered his regenerative power, fusing muscle front and back without caring about his bones, twisting his torso hard to deliver a flying kick to Huo Ye’s raised arms.

Huo Ye skidded back, both arms fractured, but they healed almost instantly.

Sub-level stem cells, rapid regeneration—this was Huo Ye’s greatest advantage against disasters. If they could heal, so could he. He was willing to trade injury for injury. Besides, disasters had a true body with a fatal point—Huo Ye did not. Unless his energy was exhausted, he was invincible.

Seeing Huo Ye, Bobby’s face twisted with an expression that was hard to read—mockery or anger. He pointed, shouting, “You! The human brat who forced open my jaws!”

“Oh? You remember me? I remember you too. I have a score to settle with you over that leg,” Huo Ye replied coldly, both blades gleaming.

Eddie seemed to have known Huo Ye would come. He glanced at Bobby, now depleted and barely able to recover or fight. It was time to leave Bobby to Huo Ye. Eddie tapped a few commands into his crystal-brain, and his hover bike came to him. As he mounted, he said, “Finish quickly. I’ll join the others.”

“Yes, Captain!” Huo Ye replied. In the ranks, there was no father and son.

Bobby, who had been plotting escape, was now furious. “Just any human brat thinks he can kill me? If you’re so confident, leaving him here alone to fight me, then I’ll kill him first before escaping!”

But as he charged at Huo Ye, a gunshot rang out. Bobby took a bullet to the shoulder—half a second later, holy white light exploded from the wound, obliterating half his body.

Huo Ye curled his lip, resting his left blade on his shoulder with a sneer. “Did you really think I’d naively fight you one-on-one? Why go solo when you can gang up?”

Alice, thirty meters away, lowered her sniper rifle, deftly disassembling it into its Gatling sidearm form.

Shangguan Yudie and Xiao Liu rode their hover bikes in from behind, completing a triangular encirclement around Bobby. It seemed there was no escape from his fate.