Chapter 303: Uppercut and Fruit

The days filled with resentment bore a certain resemblance to today's scene.

The same evening, the same gloomy old classroom building.

Frank walked ahead, wildly excited, while Amber followed behind, hugging her right elbow with her left hand to ward off the cold seeping from within her body.

"Frank, let's go home."

Frank entered each classroom one by one, showing no intention of leaving.

"Just a little longer—just let me see the legendary rooftop of the old campus, confirm that the faceless ghost isn't real, and I'll go home right away."

Amber couldn't understand Frank's obsession, and she asked in confusion:

"Is that thing worth risking your life to check?"

Frank turned around and pleaded:

"Just let me take one look. Once I've seen a real haunted place, I won't be obsessed with those fakes anymore."

Unease flickered across Amber's face, but she couldn't refuse Frank; in her heart, she had already come to see Frank as her own younger brother.

She cherished Frank and didn't want to disappoint him.

"Just one look."

Hearing Amber relent, Frank sprinted toward the second-floor classroom building.

"Hey, slow down!"

Frank ran fast—so fast that Amber's warnings couldn't catch up to him.

He excitedly yanked open the first classroom door, but before he could make out the interior, dozens of vines surged toward him, piercing his skin and burrowing into his flesh.

The resentment didn't end there; Frank wasn't dead yet—he had merely become a puppet of the vines.

He stood dazed at the classroom door, staring blankly at the vines filling the room.

"Didn't I tell you not to run so fast?" Amber panted as she caught up.

Frank turned his head toward Amber and said in a disappointed tone: "This place doesn't seem that interesting after all."

Amber looked helplessly at Frank. "I told you this place had nothing. Are we going home now?"

Frank said: "I still want to go up to the roof."

This time, Frank didn't enter each classroom—he took the stairs straight to the top floor.

Inside the old classroom building, it didn't seem as dangerous as the teachers had claimed; the two reached the highest level without incident, and the door to the rooftop wasn't even locked.

When they opened the door, the first thing that greeted them was a brilliant sunset.

Amber couldn't help saying: "So beautiful."

The two stared at the sunset when Frank suddenly asked: "Amber, will you always remember today?"

Amber remained lost in the orange-red glow of the evening clouds. "Of course. I'll remember seeing the most beautiful sunset with you."

Frank climbed onto the scaffolding used to repair the old classroom building's roof, swaying unsteadily to the edge, half his body leaning out over the building's rooftop.

He asked again: "Amber, will you always remember today?"

This time, his tone grew heavy, making Amber feel something was wrong.

The instant she turned her head, she saw Frank give her a look of panic, then lean backward and fall off the rooftop.

"No!"

Amber rushed to the edge of the old classroom building, staring at the twisted, crumpled body below, her heart feeling as if torn apart.

The next moment, Wu Chang saw a vine pierce Amber's body, draining something from within her.

He could only see part of it—the emotion Amber had just expressed, the desire to preserve this moment.

The recording of the resentment ended here.

Wu Chang frowned, pondering the information revealed in Frank's resentment.

One thing was clear: the vines in the old classroom building, or the rumored faceless ghost, were targeting Amber, just like the mirror killer in the new classroom building.

If their goal were simply to kill, the vines had no need to first control Frank, then make him appear to accidentally fall to his death right before Amber's eyes.

More noteworthy was that after their scheme succeeded, the vines didn't try to kill Amber outright like the mirror killer—they only drained from her the emotions and memories tied to this event.

He remembered the system's task prompt when he first earned Amber's approval.

"You successfully protected Amber, causing her to no longer completely reject herself."

The mirror killer, who sought to kill Amber, stemmed from her self-rejection.

Then what psychological flaw was this vine monster targeting, the one that stole her beauty?

Was it that she subconsciously believed she didn't deserve these beautiful emotions and memories?

Hss~

This kid can't possibly be that twisted in life.

Wu Chang's attitude toward gaining a good life from fate has always been: "If you won't give it to me, I'll take it." How could someone receive something beautiful and push it away?

Troubled teens are truly the teacher's nemesis.

He tore his attention away from Frank's resentment and chased after Amber and the others.

To avoid being noticed by Amber, he deliberately fell behind by over ten meters; Grace walked quickly, and while he was examining the resentment, Grace and the others had already reached the third floor.

When he reached the third floor, his expression turned solemn.

One of the three was missing—Mark, who had been following Grace and Amber, was gone.

The two girls had also noticed the boy's disappearance and were nervously searching everywhere.

"Hey, come out! This isn't funny!"

They rummaged through the classrooms they had just entered; Amber opened the storage cabinet, bent down to check beneath the teacher's desk, and inspected each curtain one by one for possible hiding spots.

Grace crouched down to check the students' desk compartments, unsure whether she was slacking off—or whether in her mind, Mark had already progressed to being chopped into pieces.

Just as Wu Chang was about to tell Grace that searching like this wouldn't find Mark, two thick vines shot out from a desk compartment, grabbed Grace before she could scream, and yanked her into the compartment.

Wu Chang: ……

No way, kid, you're good at hiding—actually hid inside the desk compartment.

They really missed out by not inviting you to the Hardcore Hide-and-Seek Championship.

Grace's disappearance happened in the blink of an eye; by the time Amber turned around and said, "Mark doesn't seem to be in the classroom," she was the only one left inside.

"Mark! Grace!"

Amber grew panicked, frantically scanning her surroundings—some terrible memory was rising from deep within her mind, making her wildly agitated.

Seeing this, Wu Chang felt a pang of pity—it was clearly his turn to step in.

He was just thinking of how to reveal himself when he noticed seven or eight vines slithering along the ground toward him, as if lying in ambush.

He was startled for a moment—he hadn't expected to be targeted too.

The old campus monster's got some guts; he's currently suffering from social anxiety, yet still got spotted.

Since the other side is so eager to find him, he ought to give them a chance.

Wu Chang made no resistance, letting the vines drag him away; before leaving, he transformed the drone he'd created with Condense Illusion into Reality into a layer of armor encasing Amber.

The power of anything created by Condense Illusion into Reality depends on his energy, inspiration, and will.

A purely defensive armor crafted with his current attributes could withstand even a monster's lethal strike for a while.

That time is enough for him to deal with Amber's inner demon.

With immense force pulling him, Wu Chang's surroundings blurred rapidly—when he finally stopped, he was on the roof of the old classroom building.

The roof of the old classroom building was now entirely covered in thick vines; Mark and Grace, who had vanished earlier, also appeared here.

The thick vines around them writhed like coiled venomous snakes, watching for an opening.

Grace held up her silver cross, keeping the vines from approaching too closely.

Mark stood beside her, gripping a steel pipe, ready to fight to the death.

His posture was impressive, but his real function was more like mood-setting—they'd survived this long without being parasitized and killed like Frank.

Half due to Grace's cross, half because the vines didn't want to launch a full assault.

At the very center of the roof's vines grew a red fruit, one person's height tall.

The fruit pulsed like a heart; inside, a curled human silhouette could be faintly seen, resembling a fetus in its mother's womb.

Through the fruit's skin, Wu Chang could only see the shadow within—but his intuition told him the thing inside was Amber.

Not Amber from his own world, but some monster resembling Amber in appearance.

It was gestating, needing nourishment.

The source of that nourishment was the three people on the rooftop.

But it seemed to be waiting for something, and wasn't in a hurry to act.

Seeing Grace and Mark weren't in immediate danger, Wu Chang held back, using Elite Concealment to hide nearby.

This time, Amber's inner demon was different from the previous two.

The first time, Amber needed others' affirmation; the second time, she was entangled by the fluorescent fungal cluster and needed to destroy it.

But this time, the problem lay within, not without.

His inspiration told him that simply destroying the monster on the roof wouldn't help Amber overcome her inner demon at its root.

This inner demon was her own—she had to walk out of it herself.

About five minutes passed when a sound like a ripe fruit being crushed echoed from below the roof.

The sound drew closer, culminating in a powerful front kick that shattered the door leading to the roof.

Seeing Grace and Mark unharmed, Amber's tense expression eased slightly. "Are you two okay?"

Grace and Mark stared blankly at Amber. "We're fine—but Amber, you're glowing."

In the old classroom building, the higher the floor, the more vines clung to it—and the thicker they became.

Amber had smashed through the vines not just from the strength of "extreme rage," but also from the armor of Condense Illusion into Reality Wu Chang had placed around her.

Amber stared at the golden light surrounding her, unsure how to respond, only saying:

"I don't even know what's happening—now's not the time to talk about this—come with me!"

The red fruit on the roof pulsed faster and faster—even the blunt Grace sensed something was wrong and hurried toward Amber.

But the old classroom building's monster had been waiting for this exact moment—and wouldn't let Amber leave so easily.

Pop.

A sharp cracking sound rang out—the red fruit shattered, spurting crimson juice.

As the juice drained away, a pair of pale, soft hands tore through the fruit's rind, revealing a full, voluptuous body.

The body was lush and mature, ripe with curves—undoubtedly an adult's form—but atop it rested the face of a matured Amber.

!

Aside from Mark, who had his eyes stabbed out immediately by Wu Chang and was now howling on the ground clutching his face, the other three all witnessed this.

Grace's already meager mental capacity took another hit—she pointed at the rooftop monster, then turned and pointed at Amber. "Is she your cousin?"

Amber bit her lower lip, forcing words through her teeth: "No—she's a monster."

"You saying that really hurts," the rooftop monster spoke slowly, its voice layered like a chorus of dozens.

"Didn't you abandon me, turning me into this? Everything turned out exactly as you wished—so why call me a monster?"

The rooftop monster's body dissolved; the vines beneath Amber's feet surged upward, instantly reforming into the monster, pressing against her back.

She reached out effortlessly, piercing through the Condense Illusion into Reality armor, then seized Amber's throat.

"Are you going to drag more people down with you as nourishment for your success?"

Wu Chang stared in surprise at the rooftop monster—he could feel the Condense Illusion into Reality armor hadn't been shattered by force; it had simply offered no resistance at all.

Wu Chang stared at the rooftop monster in astonishment. He could sense that the armor forged from solidified void had not been pierced by force — the rooftop monster had not been impeded at all.

Because in the judgment of the Condense Void into Substance armor, the monster on the roof was part of Amber.

"Let me go!" Amber struggled fiercely, trying to break free from the monster's grasp, but she was only a child's size, utterly powerless against her adult self.

The monster on the roof let Amber struggle; she snapped her fingers, and the thick vines, once fearful of the cross, began pushing through the resistance toward Grace and Mark.

"This time, to live more freely, you want to use their deaths to discard something superfluous."

"What else is left for you to throw away? If you're just an empty shell, that would be too boring."

"Let me see… ah, you've encountered a lot lately. Xiao En, Ailin—they're annoying, you must have hated them too. So I got rid of them for you."

At the mention of Xiao En and Ailin, Amber's emotions surged; she gripped the monster's hand tightly and actually snapped its wrist.

Amber seized the chance to break free from the monster's hold, like a startled kitten, shouting:

"Don't you dare mention them!"

The monster stared at its dangling wrist, a mocking expression creeping onto its face.

"I don't want to. What can you do to me? Even though you don't remember anything now, your subconscious should tell you what'll happen if you hurt me."

"Dare you face those memories?"

Amber was struck where it hurt; her aura collapsed, and she wilted.

The monster on the roof stepped closer, smugly, "I knew you still…"

Before the monster could finish, Amber suddenly lunged and threw a rising uppercut.

Wu Chang recognized this punch well.

When Amber was at Grace's house, before sneaking off to watch bare-knuckle fights, they watched footage of Xiao En's past battles.

This uppercut was Xiao En's signature technique—each time used, it precisely slipped through the gaps in guards and struck the opponent's jaw.

Now, Amber used it—and it looked convincing. Her punch landed squarely on the monster's chin, snapping its head back.

"Monster! I promised Xiao En I'd be home before dark. Nothing matters more than our promise!"

The monster's head snapped back to normal; it abandoned its earlier calm, now furious.

"You dare hit me?"

"Do you think I'm something you can use up and then discard like trash? You want to keep everything for yourself? Don't even think about it!"

"I've decided—you're all dying today!"

The monster's face twisted, shifting from Amber's face into a blank, featureless mask.

This was her true form—the faceless ghost of the old school building.

The faceless ghost lunged at Amber; Amber froze, unsure how to respond—until someone grabbed her hand from behind.

She turned and saw Xiao En standing behind her.

Wu Chang whispered in Amber's ear: "Don't distract yourself. This is your fight. In combat, never turn your back on your enemy."

Amber listened, then turned to face the faceless ghost.

She expected the ghost to be right before her—but instead, it moved as if slowed down, drifting through the air with unnatural slowness.

"Skill name: Spatial Folding."

"Skill description: You've touched the truth of spatial transformation. You can freely alter an object's position by stretching and folding space. Range: one hundred meters; maximum folded space: ten meters; cooldown: varies by usage, minimum 15 seconds."

"Note: When used in the Inner World, Spatial Folding benefits from the Enhanced Spatial Efficiency boost."

The bizarre space generated by Amber's inner demon was considered an Inner World. Though not created by Wu Chang, the warped spatial rules still triggered his Enhanced Spatial Efficiency boost on Spatial Folding.

Wu Chang inserted a stretched space between the faceless ghost and Amber—a hundred-meter-long stretch that turned an instant strike into a slow crawl.

This stretched space was a special construct by Wu Chang; the faceless ghost had no spatial ability and could not escape it.

Meaning: before it flew out of the stretched space, it was helplessly suspended in midair.

Wu Chang didn't explain what had happened; he simply continued:

"I saw that punch. Good form, but your technique's off. You only used arm strength—you didn't engage your whole body."

Standing behind Amber, he gave live instruction.

"Now follow my command: step forward, push off the ground, twist your waist, extend your shoulder—yes, perfect."

Under Wu Chang's direct guidance, Amber threw another uppercut. At the instant her fist launched, Wu Chang released the stretched space—the charging faceless ghost slammed directly into her punch.

Amber's punch carried little force—but outside her fist, it was wrapped in Wu Chang's fist.

Wu Chang's fist glowed with blinding heavenly lightning.

If you can't smash endless mushroom men with your fist, can't you smash a vine demon?

The flashing lightning melted the faceless ghost's head; the remaining surge of heavenly lightning shot straight into the sky.

After flying over ten meters, it exploded with a thunderous boom.

Amber slowly retracted her fist, staring at the faceless ghost crumbling into ash, disbelief in her voice:

"That punch… was mine?"

Wu Chang nodded. "It was yours."

Amber gasped, then reached out and pinched Wu Chang's cheek hard.

Wu Chang winced, swatting her hand away. "What are you doing?"

Amber blinked. "Xiao En… are you real? I thought you were just a hallucination!"

Wu Chang rubbed his cheek, disgruntled. "If you thought you were seeing a hallucination, why didn't you pinch your own face?"

Amber: "It hurts."

Wu Chang: "..."

Hmph. My daughter's clever.

Amber whispered: "You appeared so suddenly, and that monster just froze midair… I thought it was all just a fleeting hallucination in my mind."

Here, Amber seemed to remember something, whispering: "Xiao En… how did you get here?"

Wu Chang curled his lips and said, "I came to call you for dinner—it's almost dark, and you still hadn't come back, so of course I had to go out looking for you."

Amber asked curiously, "Then how did you find me here?"

Wu Chang replied seriously, "Intuition."

Amber: "Huh?"

Wu Chang: "My intuition told me you were calling out to me, so I followed it—and found you."

Amber clenched her fists, her voice timid: "Xiao En, will you really help me with anything?"

Wu Chang nodded. "Of course."

Amber lowered her head and said, "If I made a mistake—a great mistake—and I sincerely repent, can you forgive me?"

Wu Chang said calmly, "I cannot promise you in advance whether I will forgive you."

Seeing Amber grow despondent, he continued:

"I haven't finished speaking. I can't be certain whether I'll forgive you, but we are family. When problems arise, what matters isn't who forgives whom—it's finding a way to solve them, and facing them together."

Hearing Wu Chang's reply, Amber seemed to regain her confidence; her gaze hardened as she said:

"Xiao En, before I leave, there is one thing I must do. If I don't, that monster from just now will surely revive."

Amber sifted through the ashes of the withered vines and found a small, bright red fruit, the size of a cherry tomato—its shape identical to the fruit that had hatched the faceless ghost just now.

She seemed to make up her mind, closed her eyes, and swallowed the fruit.

(End of Chapter)