The Price of Freedom and a Stolen Key

Having finally completed the grueling training regimen set by Mu Yan, Liu Yu bolted from the facility like a fierce hound unleashed from its cage, sprinting to a distant street. She ravenously gulped down lungfuls of the outside air, feeling an immediate, profound invigoration wash over her. She pulled out her phone and checked the time. [It was three o’clock in the afternoon, with a fair while to go before school let out; if she were to rush back now, she might still catch the tail end of her last class.] Instead, she resolved to dedicate the remaining hours to gaming, a well-deserved reward to soothe the exhaustion Mu Yan’s rigorous training had imposed upon her. As for going back to class? Oh, please, why bother returning after already skipping out? Whether they docked one point or three, the outcome was largely the same; her personal score had already been utterly decimated from all the deliveries she’d made for the Bloodthirsters recently. With her reputation already in tatters, she might as well continue to embrace her indolence. What’s more, Roza seemed to have been exceptionally busy these past few days, nowhere to be found, completely alleviating any concern about her sudden appearance to apprehend Liu Yu. ‘Hmm… this meant she was finally free!’ ‘Heheheh, just one more month, she thought, and once she had successfully swindled the money from Mu Yan, she wouldn’t need to bother with school at all; she would simply luxuriate in endless sleep at home.’ “Heeheeheeheehee…”

****

Clinging to a fantasy of utter idleness, Liu Yu reluctantly, almost resentfully, stepped through the school gates. This was not, however, a sudden change of heart, a newfound resolve to diligently pursue her studies and escape Villy’s mocking taunts about her abysmal academic record. No, it was because, upon reaching her doorstep and patting herself down from head to toe, she discovered her keys were nowhere on her person! Frowning deeply, Liu Yu stood at the door, contemplating for a considerable time before finally identifying the most likely culprit, a certain scoundrel: ‘Miss Villy is the key thief!!’ Incandescent with rage, she immediately dialed a number, unleashing a torrent of curses at the person on the other end of the line: [You stole my keys!] [Villy: I didn’t steal them; I merely took them for safekeeping. Furthermore, I was the last one to leave the room this morning.] [Liu Yu: What does that mean?] [Villy: It means that if I hadn’t taken the keys with me, you wouldn’t have been able to get back into your home today.] So that’s how it was. Liu Yu recalled something, realizing it truly was her own oversight, yet she refused to concede defeat so readily: [Thief, return my keys at once!] [Villy: Then wait for me in the small park on campus; I’ll arrive shortly.] [Hurry, hurry, hurry.] Having swiftly reached the small park, Liu Yu found a bench and restlessly shifted about, when suddenly, a familiar murmur of voices and approaching footsteps reached her ears. ‘Who!?’ Her senses sharpened, and she meticulously checked her disguise. Her mask and sunglasses were in place. But her hat—where was her hat? Who had stolen it? How could she possibly conceal this mass of hair without it? As Liu Yu fumbled frantically, the approaching footsteps grew louder, and a glimpse of a familiar figure in her peripheral vision startled her so profoundly that the [Shadow] immediately surged throughout her entire body. ‘Why was it Old Wu again? He was like a persistent specter, never truly gone. But… who was that alongside him? The face seemed vaguely familiar… Crap, it was Old Pan! What kind of cursed day was this, for those two fools to be together? No, I absolutely needed to find a place to hide.’ The black shadow coalesced into a cloak, obscuring Liu Yu’s face entirely. The girl then stealthily crept into a nearby patch of tall grass, lying prone on the ground, ceaselessly murmuring to herself: ‘They can’t see me, they can’t see me.’ “This is the school’s park area,” Pan Jun explained to Wu Liyun, “Being quite a distance from the main academic buildings, it sees less foot traffic, making it the preferred spot for students’ clandestine meetings. The combat department students, in particular, engage in brawls here every other day. Just look…” He gestured towards a massive tree, its trunk snapped halfway, situated behind and to the left of a park bench, and continued: “This venerable tree, which has stood here since the school’s very inception, was snapped in half during a particularly violent altercation between two combat department students. The principal, absolutely furious, summoned Little Chen and subjected him to a blistering reprimand.” “Ah, these students never know when to hold back their strength. I truly hope Teacher Wu can manage them better in the future.” “Certainly, certainly,” Wu Liyun responded awkwardly, a faint blush on his cheeks. Based on the intelligence he had recently gathered, the combat department’s reputation wasn’t merely ‘a mess’; it was utterly notorious. After all, they were a group of adolescents brimming with hormones; to possess such power and not stir up trouble would be a disservice to their very age. The problem was, every instance of their destructive tendencies invariably cost the school a substantial, unneeded sum. Inevitably, over time, their reputation had become thoroughly tarnished. However, as he was merely present to fill a quota, it was best not to meddle in matters of student discipline. ‘These two imbeciles, why haven’t they left yet?! If they’re so fond of chatting, they should take it to a coffee shop!’ Liu Yu grumbled, twisting a clump of weeds she had pulled from the earth into a tight ball. Though the [Shadow] protected her from snakes, insects, rodents, and other pests, remaining prone like this indefinitely was clearly not a viable solution. ‘She had to devise a way to get rid of these two…’ “By the way, Teacher Pan,” Wu Liyun began, “since you’re an Inner Realm native, could you perhaps share your thoughts on the Van—… on the heroes?” Wu Liyun had initially intended to directly probe for information regarding Vanguard. However, a moment’s reflection reminded him that popular heroes like Vanguard, while boasting numerous fans, also naturally attracted a multitude of detractors. Among that motley crew of eccentrics, there were certainly individuals even more unhinged than the notoriously persistent Brother 79. What if Teacher Pan was also a hater? Online interactions were one thing, offline quite another; to avoid any potential conflict, he decided it would be prudent to gauge the waters first. “My thoughts on the heroes…” Pan Jun fell silent for a moment before speaking. “In my view,” he began, “their greatest strength isn’t their power to move mountains and overturn seas, but rather an innate charisma that compels people to believe in them, almost against their will.” “Charisma?” Hearing such an unexpected answer, Wu Liyun momentarily froze. “Yes, precisely, charisma. Can you truly grasp its essence? It is a charisma potent enough to unite all of humanity.” Pan Jun spoke with a hint of fervent passion. “To this very day, I can still vividly recall that grand migration, led by the heroes, where everyone—regardless of nationality or social class—united as one. This was a monumental feat, one that could never have been achieved through mere strength alone.” ‘Could he have been brainwashed?’ Wu Liyun harbored a healthy skepticism. It wasn’t that he disbelieved the sentiment entirely, but rather that humanity, even in the throes of an apocalypse, was prone to internal strife. Hoping for them to unite as one was, in his estimation, less plausible than expecting a ‘Crazy Thursday deal tomorrow where someone would Venmo him fifty.’ “Of course, no one is perfect, and heroes are no exception. Let me share a little secret with you.” Pan Jun glanced around, ensuring no one else was within earshot, before continuing: “During the Great Migration, I once spent some time alongside Vanguard. One particular night, unable to sleep, I suddenly heard a faint crying sound emanating from the camp. I crept out to take a peek, and guess who it was?” “It couldn’t be…” “That’s right, it was Vanguard.” Pan Jun slapped his thigh with a resounding thud. “You see,” he declared, “even the strongest among us has moments when they can no longer bear the burden. A hero, seemingly omnipotent in the eyes of others, harbors vulnerabilities behind their stoic facade… Hmm, why does the sky suddenly seem so much darker?” ‘I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you! I’ll absolutely slaughter you!’ Liu Yu frantically clawed at the mud, the [Shadow] around her ravenously consuming everything in its path, fueled by her boiling murderous intent. The conversation between Pan Jun and Wu Liyun had not been intentionally hushed, and their words drifted naturally into Liu Yu’s ears. The forbidden word ‘cry,’ in particular, instantly grated on her nerves. Because a certain flat-chested idiot incessantly teased her by calling her a crybaby, the word ‘cry’ had long since become a strictly forbidden term in the girl’s lexicon. And these two scoundrels, they dared… they dared to brazenly insult Vanguard, labeling her a crybaby. ‘Insulting her was tantamount to insulting me, wasn’t it!?’ ‘Evidently, they had grown weary of life itself…’ Gritting her teeth, she silently pronounced a death sentence upon the two men. Then, pulling another blade of grass from the muddy ground, Liu Yu aimed it, tracing an imaginary line up and down Wu Liyun’s body, before finally locking her sights on his backside. “Heheheh… today, you’ll find no comfort in sitting or lying down. Face your punishment, you scoundrel who dared to slander me!” “Honestly, leave you alone for just a moment, and what new scheme are you concocting now?” “Hey, hey, hey…”