After expansion, Ziyang High School's school building stood behind the teacher's building. This five-story structure housed four-person dormitories, with each floor containing a communal bathroom and ten dorm rooms, accommodating up to four hundred students.
Zunhao led the Phoenix Ridge Squad at the front.
The Spirit Gathering Banner of the teaching building has been destroyed? So what! The Spirit Gathering Formation in this building is newly constructed! I won't let those Phoenix Ridge idiots humiliate me like this again...
As Zunhao stepped through the automatic doors, he secretly began circulating his Spirit Power.
A moment later, he exhaled in relief.
Abundant spiritual energy was dissipating from his body surface, indicating the Formation was functioning normally. Excellent, no problems here... He inwardly rejoiced, waving excitedly to signal the team forward.
Just then, Ling Xian, who had been trailing behind, suddenly stepped through the doorway...
Immediately afterward, a muffled explosion shook the entire campus.
The Formation... f**king exploded again!
"..."
Zunhao was so furious he wanted to curse aloud!
...
Zunhao returned to the Chairman's office, his head hanging low in defeat.
He clasped his hands together and muttered, "Chairman..." Few in the room had ever seen Zunhao in such a furious rage.
A similar incident had indeed occurred at Scarlet High School No. 72 just a week prior. Teachers and students had been helpless against Zunhao's schemes.
Yet this school remained completely unaffected!
Zunhao slammed his fist on the desk, startling Xie Zhenyu, Yi Xuan, and the Chen Brothers, who jumped back in fright. "The manager who set up the Formation said it would last for two years! How could it have exploded after only a few days?!"
"..." Yi Xuan and the others sensed something truly bizarre was at play.
"I don't understand it either... The people of Phoenix Ridge have always acted strangely. Maybe... we should just give up?"
"Give up?!" Zunhao sneered. How could he possibly give up now?! He had been humiliated three times today! Such humiliation would never let him rest!
Zunhao felt more disgraced than ever before in his life. From childhood until now, he had always been the one whose plans struck true with a single blow. As Chairman of the Board and former Student Council President, he would never allow these Phoenix Ridge fools to humiliate him like this.
He reassured himself with these thoughts.
...
Although newly constructed, the dormitory building wasn't officially open yet; residents were scheduled to move in next week. Currently, only Ling Xian and his group were temporarily staying there.
The three girls—Lianhua, Xu Yutong, and Su Xinyi—were assigned to the room at the end of the corridor. Ling Xian and the other two boys, one of whom had an owl, occupied the adjacent room.
Ling Xian felt deeply uneasy about having to share a room with others. This was the first time in his life he'd had to experience living in close quarters with people; he had always managed to avoid such situations completely in the past.
"Speaking of which, today's events were truly bizarre, right?" Zhao Ming asked, bouncing back and forth on an egg chair in the spacious room, which was furnished with multiple bunk beds for the members to rest.
"Yeah, it was completely absurd. What does Teacher Xuan think about all this?"
Elder Gossip sighed and shook his head. "It's truly inexplicable..."
Even in an age of scientific advancement, some phenomena remained beyond explanation.
Take today's incident, for example. Who could have predicted that a campus renovated just two weeks ago would suffer such extensive damage? Elder Gossip believed the Formation wasn't poorly crafted, especially since Tianxu had recently enacted strict laws against counterfeit and substandard goods.
Consider the globally renowned "Puma" company. Their recently released limited-edition Flying Swords, exclusively available in Feilong City's Muyuan district, were reported for safety hazards due to the promised protective shields not being included!
As a result, the National Anti-Counterfeiting Headquarters immediately fined them six million yuan as a warning.
Who would dare defy the government on the issue of "fake goods"?
"Student Ling, what's your take on this?" The old man asked. Reclining on his bed and facing the group while flipping through a comic book, Ling Xian was stunned for a second.
"..." He hadn't expected the question to be directed at him.
Truthfully, he didn't care about the existence of inexplicable phenomena. But if he remained silent, wouldn't he be labeled a socially awkward weirdo?
After a moment's hesitation, Ling Xian uttered the longest sentence of his life: "Hmm... maybe it's interference from elsewhere."
"..." The group fell into another eerie silence.
...
...
Tuesday afternoon of the third week of the semester, 12:15 PM.
Su Xinyi gently knocked on the door of the room next to the boys' dormitory. There was a student exchange event scheduled for 1:50 PM, and she had come early to remind everyone.
As the class advisor, the old teacher mainly handled administrative matters such as Spirit Sword exchanges. All other affairs were coordinated by Su Xinyi, the class monitor.
It had to be said, her execution was flawless, and her timing was impeccable.
She entered the room, closed the door, and softly asked, "Good afternoon. Are the boys still asleep?"
Unlike his usual laid-back demeanor, the old teacher was sitting at his desk, typing away on his computer, when Su Xinyi suddenly entered.
"Oh? Good afternoon. Yes, they're still asleep. What's up?"
"Just wanted to remind you about the Student Council meeting at 1:50 PM!"
"Ah. Thanks for the reminder. I'll wake them up shortly."
"Got it!" Su Xinyi blinked and curiously glanced around the dormitory. The first thing she saw was the bunk bed shared by Ling Xian and Hao Zhen. Hao Zhen slept on the top bunk, while Ling Xian occupied the bottom bunk.
At that moment, Ling Xian was lying on his back, one hand resting lightly on his slightly exposed abdomen where his shirt had ridden up a bit, his other arm pillowed behind his head. Long eyelashes, steady breathing, and a faint upward curve of his lips... he seemed to be having a sweet dream.
This was the first time Su Xinyi had seen Ling Xian asleep, and his expression was completely different from his usual natural demeanor.
She walked to the bedside and gently brushed a stray strand of hair from his forehead. His hair felt so soft...
"Ling Xian is so cute!" Her heart overflowed with sweetness.
...