Chapter 10: Not in the Same Dimension (Revised)

Li Ya glared at the other teachers around her; the students had a conflict here, and these guys didn't know to stop it.

The other teachers simply turned their gazes elsewhere.

Anyway, with them watching, things couldn't blow up, and they were also curious to see the two come to blows.

Ying Duo's agile figure as he fled just moments ago is still vivid in their minds, yet the two they had high hopes for—Shen Zexi and Qi Hengyu—actually couldn't match his speed.

It's good for young people to have some fire; feelings aren't all forged through fighting, are they?

But unfortunately, Teacher Li Ya personally stepped in to stop it; this fight probably won't happen.

Seeing a teacher intervene, Qi Hengyu could only glare fiercely at Ying Duo and had to release his grip on his collar.

He obviously had no intention of letting it go; he would wait for Teacher Li Ya to leave, then turn around to cause trouble for Ying Duo again.

Li Ya's gaze swept over Qi Hengyu and Shen Zexi; they both bore some wounds, all of which had been incurred during their recent escape.

She sighed, merely telling the two to follow her away first.

"Come with me to tend to your wounds first."

Qi Hengyu seemed inclined to refuse outright, but Shen Zexi spoke up and accepted before him.

"All right, then please, teacher."

Li Ya first took the two aside to bandage their wounds, while Ying Duo watched expressionlessly as these two NPCs were led away, feeling a bit regretful.

He had thought he'd triggered a plot battle, but as soon as the opponent's blood bar appeared, it was instantly snuffed out.

Is it because this area counts as a safe zone where combat isn't allowed?

Speaking of which, do you get experience for winning such plot battles?

After the forced plot CG ended, Yang Yixie noticed that the NPCs ahead of him had dispersed due to the recent commotion, and now no one dared to step forward first.

Thus, under Yang Yixie's control, Ying Duo walked straight up to the teacher in charge and handed over the white weapon in his hand.

Fortunately, the officials hadn't set up any procedure that forced players to just wait stupidly.

After all, not every game has an anti-refund mechanism.

Most people's weapons showed some wear, but Ying Duo's—severely deformed and smeared head to toe with various suspicious liquids—was truly one of a kind.

Knowing he'd have to turn it in soon, Ying Duo didn't bother repairing the gun, leaving its durability at a pitiful 1, truly on the brink of being scrapped.

The teacher in charge of recycling looked at the energy gun that was nearly scrap metal, then at Ying Duo's green hair and blank face, and ultimately said nothing.

He merely tossed the pistol into an isolation bag with clear disdain, throwing it off to the side.

Later it'll be sent straight for scrapping; this gun is obviously unusable...

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Teacher Li Ya took Qi Hengyu and Shen Zexi to the makeshift medical point, where a few folding tables had been set up and basic medical supplies laid out on them.

She gestured for them to find a seat, then took out disinfectant and bandages from the medical kit, skillfully beginning to treat their wounds.

While enduring the pain of the antiseptic on his wounds, Qi Hengyu's eyes still stared resentfully at the fluorescent green figure far off who had already turned in his weapon and stood blankly in the plaza corner, muttering nonstop.

"That brat...... I hope I never run into him......"

Shen Zexi was relatively quiet, merely furrowing his brows as he watched Li Ya finish bandaging his arm.

Although his gaze rested on the wound, his mind was elsewhere, replaying everything that had happened in the recent chaos, trying to make sense of the inexplicable oddness about that fluorescent green figure.

Li Ya looked at the two of them, especially Qi Hengyu's obvious lack of calm, and could only sigh helplessly.

"Alright, you two, stop bullying him."

"We're bullying him?!"

Upon hearing that, Qi Hengyu could no longer contain his temper, his voice shooting up.

"Teacher, look at our injuries! It's all because of him—we almost got eaten as a snack by that spider!"

"If he hadn't lured that venomous spider over and tried to make us his scapegoats, could we have ended up in such a sorry state?"

The more he spoke, the more worked up he got, as if he'd lunge over and punch Ying Duo any second.

Beside him, Shen Zexi didn't speak, but his furrowed brows and pressed lips likewise showed his equal dissatisfaction and confusion about the matter.

In his view, regardless of the reason, dragging innocents into danger is an extremely irresponsible act.

Teacher Li Ya's hands didn't stop moving; she merely sighed again, her tone unusually complex.

"I know you feel wronged, but...... is it really necessary to quarrel with him?"

Qi Hengyu's eyes flashed as he was about to retort, but Shen Zexi reached out and pressed a hand on his shoulder to stop him from speaking.

Qi Hengyu turned his glare to Shen Zexi, but seeing Shen Zexi shake his head and then face Li Ya, his tone full of inquiry.

"Teacher Li Ya, I recall that Mitra Academy has always prided itself on independence and fairness, never giving special treatment based on any student's background."

He put it tactfully, but the meaning was clear.

Shen Zexi was suggesting that Teacher Li Ya was hinting that they should swallow their anger because Ying Duo had some noble backing.

"But what noble backing could Ying Duo possibly have?"

After Li Ya finished wrapping the final layer of bandage and lifted her head, her gaze swept over the two youths' faces, young and full of indignation.

When faced with oppressive power, youths are always that ignorant of heaven and earth, vowing to break such injustice.

But how could this be an easy thing?

Fortunately, however, the actual situation has nothing to do with their two guesses.

She also glanced far off at that figure in the crowd who stood out starkly from the surrounding people—Ying Duo.

According to the simple, almost pallid file she had received, the child named Ying Duo is an orphan.

His parents had passed away not long ago; by rights, as a minor he should have been sent to an orphanage, but he stubbornly refused, choosing to live alone on his parents' inheritance.

Perhaps precisely because no one looked after him, when problems arose during his awakening to Aberrant Arts, no one brought him to seek help right away.

She hesitated a moment, feeling these two children deserved to know, and so lowered her voice to speak.

"That child...... might not have been deliberately causing trouble, or perhaps he simply wasn't aware that he'd caused any."

She carefully chose her words, her gaze indicating Ying Duo's direction, but she wanted to speak and then stopped.

"You haven't noticed? His behavior, demeanor, and expression from beginning to end......"

Qi Hengyu and Shen Zexi followed her gaze, once again looking toward Ying Duo in the corner.

Ying Duo stood there motionless, his stance somewhat stiff, his eyes vacant and fixed on a point ahead, unfocused.

Everyone else in the square was loudly chatting, still buzzing from having survived, excitedly discussing their test results, occasionally glancing toward the especially noticeable person in the corner.

But whether it was those curious or hostile gazes, or just now's heart-pounding life-and-death pursuit......

All of this could not enter his world.

That almost inhuman sluggishness and sense of detachment, in this moment's especially noisy environment, were magnified to be especially clear and...... eerie.

After noticing this, Qi Hengyu's fury was like being doused with ice water; he forced himself to calm down, and the words he had wanted to say were swallowed back.

Before, he had only been thinking about anger and escape; although his intuition sensed that this kid was bizarre to an extreme, in a life-and-death moment there was no room to think it over.

Now, after Li Ya deliberately pointed it out, and after calming down to look closely......

That eerie feeling came over him.

Ying Duo seemed to live only in his own world, completely out of phase with the people around him.

Shen Zexi's brows furrowed tighter as he recalled the scene of first seeing Ying Duo on the train, and then Ying Duo's expressionless face when confronted just now.

An absurd yet seemingly only reasonable guess surfaced in his mind.