“If you have already seen through the truth behind equality and justice, seen how Awakeners exploit ordinary people.
“If you are sliding toward the abyss of death, your longing for freedom strangled out of you.
“You know full well that those steeped in sin still roam free, while your desperate struggle earns only the suppression of those in power.
“You are kind, tolerant, gentle, humble—and in the end, every one of those virtues becomes a blade turned against you.
“Have you not noticed that high-ranking Awakeners stand above the rules, laughing at and scorning what you believe in?
“Have you not noticed their lofty ideals and sinful morality?
“Know this: what turns the mortal world into hell is precisely the longing for heaven.
“You should have awakened long ago.
“Perhaps you still have one chance to seize control of your fate, without begging for the charity of the rich and powerful.
“Offer up one precious thing, and I will guarantee the rights that should have been yours.”
—Manifesto of the Black Lantern Society
–
[REQUEST FOR ASSISTANCE]
Applicant: Mother
Perpetrator: Ediv, Dean of Student Discipline at Xingzhou University
Crime: Maliciously fabricating sexual rumors and driving a female student to her death
Requested sentence: Death
Payment: One pink butterfly hair tie
Riiip!
A copy of Capital City Daily carrying the request on its front page was mercilessly torn to pieces and tossed into a pitch-black trash can crawling with fruit flies.
The staff member from the Student Care Office glanced at the scraps mixed with fruit peels and soggy tea leaves, then turned back to the impeccably dressed, furious middle-aged man in front of him. “There have been some absurd rumors lately claiming that you were jealous of students with S-rank talent, so you deliberately drove them to death and took their glands for your own use.”
Ediv sneered. “Utter nonsense! That Omega named Deng Zhi was plainly depraved. After she was exposed for being someone’s mistress, she was too ashamed to face the school or her parents, so she chose to end her life.”
The staff member wrote this down and said sympathetically, “People these days just love conspiracy theories. They complain everywhere at the slightest thing and take no responsibility for themselves. You should deal with whoever is spreading the rumors as soon as possible. Don’t let such ridiculous claims damage your reputation.”
Ediv’s gaze darkened. “You’re right.”
He thought of that hunched, disabled woman. Deaf and mute, yet she had still come to the university dragging a banner behind her, kneeling and kowtowing, wailing to the heavens as she demanded justice for her daughter and attracting a swarm of irritating reporters like flies.
Her accusations had never amounted to much. Netizens treated her like a joke, and the media reported on her every day only because the traffic numbers were outrageous.
1st floor: This crazy psycho woman gives us fresh comedy every day.
2nd floor: Hahahahaha, new meme just dropped: your_mom_roaring.jpg.
3rd floor: Sorry not sorry, but a slut like her daughter who seduced people everywhere deserved to jump.
4th floor: She actually accused Teacher Ediv? That crazy woman is as ugly inside as she is outside.
5th floor: Does anyone else get this weird enjoyment from watching that mute woman kowtow and sob at the camera? I’m not a bad person, right?
6th floor: You’re not. Actions matter, not thoughts. It’s not like we harmed her daughter.
……
Up to that point, Ediv could have ignored it all. But that madwoman had committed the one unforgivable act: she had submitted a request to the illegal organization known as the Black Lantern Society.
His colleague put away his pen and paper. “This year’s freshmen should all have arrived at the lecture hall by now. We’ll have to trouble you, Director, to give them their first lesson of the school year.”
Ediv stood. “It’s my duty.”
He straightened his suit and carefully combed his hair in the mirror. Only after confirming that his expression was properly composed did he tuck the file folder under his arm and head toward Teaching Building Six.
Black clouds pressed down over the city. The last trace of light on the horizon vanished behind them. A notice advocating energy conservation fluttered a few times in the wind before disappearing completely into darkness.
Fresh welcome banners still hung at the university gates. A mascot tirelessly performed its welcome dance, but the crazy woman who had once cried out for justice there was gone.
Entering the classroom, Ediv swept his gaze around. Five hundred young, fresh faces looked back at him, their eyes full of yearning and expectation for this prestigious federal university.
Ediv picked up the attendance register and began calling names.
Calling all five hundred names took time, but he completed the task meticulously. Then he set down the register, let his gaze roam through the lecture hall, and smiled in a way no one could quite read.
“Among you…… someone is late.”
He was the dean responsible for this year’s freshmen as well as chairman of the university staff bonus evaluation committee. Perhaps from years of overwork, his eyes were veined with red and his skin had an unhealthy bluish pallor.
The students in the front rows felt chills crawl up their backs at that smile. They hurriedly looked around, searching for the two people who had never arrived.
“What do you think I should do to punish them?”
Ediv braced both hands on the lectern, chin lowered, eyes fixed on the door. The muscles in his bluish cheeks twitched.
As he spoke, the temperature in the classroom climbed steadily until it shot past sixty degrees Celsius. Both ends of the ceiling’s incandescent lamps burned a scorched red; loose filaments crackled and spat sparks.
The freshmen suffered miserably and had no choice but to activate their ability pheromones to resist the burns caused by the heat.
Perhaps those two had run into an unexpected emergency and been delayed. Or perhaps…… something had happened to them.
Capital City was a long journey away. Any kind of accident was possible.
Knock, knock, knock.
At that moment, someone knocked on the classroom door.
They’re here!
Almost everyone let out a breath of relief at once.
A pale, slender hand appeared beyond the half-closed iron door. The door swung open, and a tall, lean young man stepped in from the shadows.
The moment his face came into view, the entire class fell silent.
It was a face so exquisite it seemed the Creator had made it purely to show off. His eyes were an uncommon amber, the inner corners sharp and the outer corners slightly lifted. The bridge of his nose and the structure of his brow were perfectly balanced—neither aggressively sharp nor softly gentle—giving him an impression of distance mixed strangely with obedience.
He turned his head toward the crowd. Auburn hair brushed the corner of his lips. His loose, comfortable T-shirt bore no visible brand, simple and clean over a neat pair of jeans.
Ignoring the unnatural silence around him, he quietly made his way to an inconspicuous empty seat and was just about to sit.
“Stop.” Ediv picked up his teaching whip.
The whip was made from the spine of some unknown creature. It was as thick as an adult fist, its vertebrae locked together segment by segment.
The young man paused and looked up at Ediv, clearly puzzled.
“Name.”
“Lance.”
“Place of origin.”
“Gangtan City.”
“Sex.”
“Omega.”
Lance’s voice was soft but polite.
Ediv lifted his chin. “Come here.”
Lance’s beautiful brows drew together.
Someone beside him lowered their voice to remind him, “They test your talent rank on freshman registration day.”
Only then did Lance notice the glass sphere beside Ediv. Understanding dawned on his face. He smiled, quickly set down his backpack, and walked toward the lectern.
When he reached the testing device, he expertly rolled up his sleeve and slid his arm inside the sphere.
Arcs of blue light immediately flashed like lightning. A crystal ore extracted from a dungeon continuously pumped radiation into the chamber.
The gland at the back of his neck flushed faintly red. Pheromones spilled from his body, and the refreshing fragrance of star magnolia spread through the air.
Several Alphas could not help lifting their noses and inhaling deeply, greed showing on their faces. Only when they noticed their bodies beginning to react did they hurriedly calm themselves, lowering their heads in shame.
Ediv stared at Lance’s arm, so pale the tracery of blood vessels beneath the skin was visible. Under the intense radiation it tightened more and more, his pheromones doing their utmost to resist the external harm.
This sickly boy’s pheromone was star magnolia.
Normally, a rare pheromone meant a high talent rank. Could it be……
He studied Lance’s profile, repeatedly savoring the similarities between this young man and Deng Zhi. Both were strikingly beautiful. Both possessed unusual pheromones. Both looked introverted and unsociable. If Lance’s talent was high, jealousy would inevitably isolate him from his classmates, and then— But Ediv was destined for disappointment.
The radiation had been released for only five seconds when the safety switch cut it off. A huge letter F appeared on the screen.
F-rank?
Regret crossed Ediv’s face.
Xingzhou University worshipped the law of the jungle. Those with high-ranking talent enjoyed absolute privilege, while F-ranks occupied the lowest rung, where dignity did not exist.
If Lance had been lucky enough to test as an A-rank, Ediv would certainly have magnanimously forgiven his lateness. Unfortunately, he was an F-rank—someone who could be trampled at will.
Lance seemed to sense the change in the atmosphere around him. Unease entered his expression. He withdrew his arm and prepared to return to his seat.
But the instant he turned, Ediv raised the whip and barred his way.
Waves of heat rolled off it. If Lance carelessly brushed it with his skin, he would probably be burned raw on the spot.
Lance stood there in confusion.
“Don’t be in such a hurry. We haven’t discussed your punishment yet,” Ediv said heavily.
Hearing that, Lance murmured, “Punishment?”
“According to the Xingzhou University Student Handbook, teachers have the right to impose any punishment on a student who arrives late.” Ediv stressed the word any.
“I was… cough… sick.”
Lance’s eyes were hidden beneath the shadow of his long, thick lashes. Ediv could not see his expression.
“Being sick is no excuse.” Ediv pressed the whip against Lance’s chest. “As punishment, I’m going to extract your gland.”
Someone in the classroom failed to cover their mouth in time, and a horrified gasp escaped.
The gland was the most sensitive and fragile organ in the human body. Since the appearance of dungeons, it had borne the crucial functions of synthesizing pheromones and resisting radiation.
Once a gland was damaged, a person would no longer be qualified to enter a dungeon and would be crippled for life.
Yet even knowing this was cruel torture, no one dared challenge Ediv. He was not only a rare elemental A-rank Awakener but also a federal hero who had taken part in the Capital City Pacification War. Whatever he did, there would be no consequences.
“My gland…” Lance lowered his head. Several loose strands of hair hid the innocent yet sinister smile spreading across his face.
Just moments earlier, when he had brushed past Ediv, a tiny lump of black liquid like sludge had silently slipped to Ediv’s feet and merged with his shadow.
Ediv still looked down at Lance from above, savoring the pleasure of tormenting him. Like those who enjoyed watching people kowtow and sob before a camera, he considered observing the weak struggle a refined form of entertainment.
“You’d better know what’s good for you.”
He trusted Lance understood that if he used his ability, scalding magma could reduce him to ash in an instant.
The boy in the front row no longer had any trace of excitement or hope for university life in his eyes. Stiffly, he turned toward the two students who had tested as A-rank earlier and looked at them pleadingly.
If anyone here had even a chance of resisting Ediv’s ability, it could only be an A-rank Awakener.
But when the two students noticed his gaze, they panicked and immediately looked away, shrinking down like quail.
They might possess A-rank talent, but neither had even learned a first-stage ability yet.
The boy closed his eyes in despair. When the lips were gone, the teeth would feel the cold. And he himself was only E-rank.
At last Lance raised a hand. His fingers were unusually elegant, his neatly trimmed nails slowly parting the hair that covered his gland and exposing that small patch of vulnerable skin completely.
An Omega’s gland was especially delicate. Because he had just used pheromones, the skin there was taut and naturally flushed pink.
“Turn around. Put your back to me,” Ediv ordered.
Lance did not move.
“Did you not hear me?”
Lance remained perfectly still.
Ediv’s narrow eyes locked onto him. The bone whip creaked beneath the force of his grip.
One lash could leave the Omega before him drenched in blood. An insignificant F-rank Awakener—if Ediv beat him to death, the worst consequence would be submitting a written self-criticism to the university president. Who would care?
Ediv decided to teach this stubborn freshman a lesson.
But one second before he struck, the classroom door was suddenly kicked open!
The heavy iron door smashed into the wall as if it were made of cardboard, then sprang back with a metallic boom. The sound reverberated through the enclosed room, hurting everyone’s eardrums and abruptly freezing Ediv’s movement.
“Sorry. I’m a little late.” A lazy, magnetic voice cut through the fading echoes and reached every ear with perfect clarity.
Everyone whipped their heads toward the door, their expressions colorful and indescribable.
They remembered both late freshmen quite well. Lance’s name had been the first called during attendance, while this one’s had been the very last—which meant he had gloriously entered Xingzhou University with the lowest admission score in the entire school.
Apparently, there really was something lacking in the intelligence department.
Lance looked over as well and discovered that the newcomer was dressed like a textbook delinquent. He wore a retro non-mainstream workwear set covered from head to toe in studs and metal chains, with a color scheme reminiscent of a peacock about to spread its tail.
His hair was naturally black, yet several blue streaks had been dyed into it with no discernible pattern. Apparently deciding that still was not rebellious enough, he had punched a whole row of piercings into his left ear and hung two Tibetan turquoise pendants from them. At the same time, several suspicious red marks marred the left side of his face.
To be fair, though, the face itself was exceptional: deep-set eyes, sharp lines, and a tall, powerfully built body, like a keen and dangerous predator of the desert.
One could say he had traded the intelligence of ten lifetimes for one good face.
Perhaps sensing what Lance was staring at, he helpfully explained, “A bamboo sleeping mat pressed into my face. Don’t worry, it didn’t ruin my looks.”
Lance: “.” Who cares?
As if he could read the speechlessness at the corner of Lance’s mouth, the delinquent curled his lips.
Like Lance, he ignored everyone around him and scanned the classroom for a seat. Unlike Lance, he somehow took a liking to a place in the very front row. He walked straight past Ediv, dropped into the chair, and casually crossed his right leg.
Everyone had the same thought at once: What breed of idiot is this?
Ediv, having been ignored, predictably exploded with rage. His eyes turned the red of heated iron; his fingernails began to melt, dripping scalding magma.
He drew a deep breath and was just about to erupt—
“Wait!” The delinquent suddenly straightened up. Ediv was so startled that he accidentally swallowed the breath he had drawn and nearly scorched his own windpipe.
By pure coincidence, the delinquent had chosen a seat that put Lance’s gland directly in his line of sight when he looked up.
The gland rose and fell with Lance’s breathing beneath his very eyes, like a magnolia bud just before bloom, while the soft pad of Lance’s finger unconsciously rubbed around its center.
For any healthy Alpha, it was an extreme test. Fortunately, he was an upright Alpha whose morals, intellect, physique, aesthetics, and work ethic were all comprehensively developed.
A struggle crossed his face. At last he forced himself to look away and added with great solemnity, “Classmate, I only just turned eighteen. I’m still too young to be seeing something like that.”
Lance: “?”
Everyone: “……” Are you actually a delinquent or not?!