Eclipse Hunter V1C3: The Morning’s Brand New Beginning

Eclipse Hunter Volume 1: Brothers

Original novel in Chinese by: 御我(Yu Wo)

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Chapter Three: The Morning’s Brand New Beginning—translated by Trespasserby (proofread by Arcedemius and Minthe; C/E edited by lucathia)

“Now, Dìdi. You have to remember, don’t ever show how strong you are in front of your classmates.”

Ri Xiang Yan straightened his little brother’s necktie, took a step back, and carefully scrutinized his little brother.

Ri Xiang Ye was currently wearing a dark blue high school uniform. By his side was a new book bag. His hair had been neatly combed by Ri Xiang Yan. On top of that, he was wearing a pair of large black frame glasses. Ri Xiang Ye looked just like an ordinary high school student.

… A very dorky-looking high school student.

In the background, An Te Qi wisely decided to continue drinking his coffee instead of commenting, although he felt Ri Xiang Yan’s impression of a high school student had probably stagnated in the past century.

Ri Xiang Yan nodded his head with satisfaction and once again nagged, “Remember not to let your classmates find out how strong you are… But if there’s any danger, you still have to protect yourself, understand?” After Ri Xiang Yan thought a bit more, he worriedly added on that sentence.

Ri Xiang Ye once again obediently nodded.

The twenty-eighth reminder this morning. An Te Qi silently used ketchup to draw another line on his breakfast plate. The breakfast plate already had five sets of tally marks and one more set that was only two lines short of completion.

“Also, your current identity is that you’re Doctor An Te Qi’s son, called An Xiang Ye. Can you remember that?”

“I remember.” Ri Xiang Ye nodded. As a matter of fact, he had spent the entire morning nodding.

“If he doesn’t get going, he’s going to be late.”

An Te Qi blandly reminded him and then drained his entire cup of coffee in one gulp. If he continued to listen, he feared that he really would fall apart.

“Really? Then, Ah Ye, go with the doctor. He’ll take you to school.”

After saying this, Ri Xiang Yan became crestfallen. He had wanted so much to be able to lead his little brother by the hand to school! It was a pity that if he really were to do such a thing, Ri Xiang Ye’s identity would immediately be exposed, and he would have no way of living as an ordinary high school student. He could only reluctantly let An Te Qi have this honor.

An Te Qi had just opened the newspaper to read when he heard that he would actually have to take Dark Sun to school! An Te Qi frowned. Without thinking things through, he said, “He can go by himself.”

“No way! What if he gets lost?” Ri Xiang Yan loudly protested.

“The microchip in his brain has a GPS.”

“What if some bad kids try to extort him on the way?”

“Half of one his fingernails could send a dozen bad kids flying.”

“What if a weird uncle lures him away?”

“Relax! You, his master, have ordered him to go to school. Even if the apocalypse were to come, he would definitely arrive at school on time.”

An Te Qi remained buried in his newspaper. It looked like he didn’t have the slightest intention of getting up and taking someone to school. Meanwhile, Ri Xiang Yan ground his teeth, his expression dark and ruthless.

Bang!

The newspaper gained a hole.

An Te Qi jumped right up.

Ri Xiang Yan narrowed his blood red eyes dangerously.

The silver derringer gleamed beautifully.

“Ah! Why must an unmarried man like me have to take a kid to school?” An Te Qi had an expression of repulsion as he pulled Ri Xiang Ye along by the hand. As though he were trying to vent his fury, he sped forward with large strides.

“If someone sees me, how can I still get a girlfriend?!”

An Te Qi complained endlessly. He had originally been a bachelor still in his prime. But who could have guessed that in order to hide Ah Ye’s identity, Ri Xiang Yan would stubbornly register Ah Ye as his child… It was the worst!

He had originally vigorously protested and said to register Ah Ye as his little brother. However, the sound of a gunshot from the derringer dispersed all notions of courting death.

Then again, he admitted that he was a huge idiot. He had actually told a bro-con to register his dìdi as his own little brother. What could this be but courting death?

An Te Qi unconsciously quickened his footsteps again, fearing that he’d just so happen to be spotted by a random beauty in the vicinity, and then miss out on a perfect romance.

Only, during this time, the person he was dragging along by the hand suddenly stopped. Unfortunately, this person had enough strength to haul a truck, and under the threat of the derringer, An Te Qi was not allowed to let go of this person’s hand before reaching the school. With one person stopping and one person moving, An Te Qi’s feet slipped, and the back of his head kissed the ground.

“Ah… Ah Ye, what’s the matter?” An Te Qi asked, lying on the ground with his face pale.

Ri Xiang Ye didn’t seem to have heard An Te Qi’s question. He only had his head raised, gazing at the blue sky and white clouds, then watching the street and looking at the trees… He couldn’t stop looking around. His roving eyes shone with all sorts of emotions—curiosity, excitement, happiness… Like a child who was on his very first trip.

Is this what it’s like for a caged bird to see the sky for the first time?

An Te Qi sat up. He quietly watched for a while before he said, “Ah Ye… If we don’t get going, you’ll be late for school.”

“Yes, Doctor.”

Hearing that, Ri Xiang Ye tightly gripped the doctor’s hand and assumed a runner’s stance. This stance made the half-sitting An Te Qi feel anything but reassured. Quivering, he asked, “W-Wait a moment. Just what are you… WAAAAAAAAAAH!!!”

The doctor with long streams of tears flowing was dragged behind the human tow truck. The blur running past left the air filled with dust. This unusual trail of dust led all the way to a place near Yelan Academy until a screech of emergency brakes sounded.

As soon as the human tow truck stopped, An Te Qi couldn’t wait to shake off Ri Xiang Ye’s hand. He sat on the ground, gasping huge gulps of air.

After gasping for a good amount of time, the sound of the school bell roused him. When he lifted his head, he discovered that Ri Xiang Ye was unexpectedly still standing there, unmoving. He hastily reminded, “Ah Ye, hurry in. The bell’s already rung.”

Ri Xiang Ye nodded, raised his foot to go… And hesitated for a moment. He turned around again. He asked, somewhat timidly, “Doctor, Gēge said that when emotions and orders conflict, I should follow my emotions, right?”

An Te Qi couldn’t disagree and nodded his head.

“Gēge ordered me to go to school, but… I just want to go home and be with Gēge. Can I go back home?”

An Te Qi was stunned. He stood up and after rubbing Ri Xiang Ye’s head, explained, “Your brother didn’t order you. Ah Ye, he only wants the best for you. So he hopes you can go to school, hopes you can be like an ordinary kid, and hopes you’ll be happy… Ah Ye, if you tell your brother that you don’t want to go to school and want to stay by his side, I believe that he won’t refuse you. But Ah Ye, he will be very worried about you.”

Ri Xiang Ye tilted his head, not entirely comprehending.

“So, Ah Ye. For your brother and for yourself, why don’t you go to school and give it a try?” An Te Qi gently asked.

Ri Xiang Ye nodded. An Te Qi encouragingly rubbed Ah Ye’s head again. Before he turned to leave, he even instructed him, “Your brother put a cell phone in your book bag. After school’s over, call home. I’ll come to pick you up. If you want to go out to play with your classmates, use the cell phone to tell him about it! He’ll be very happy you made some new friends.”

Ri Xiang Ye nodded once more. Only then did An Te Qi turn to leave. He watched An Te Qi’s departing figure until it went around the corner, and he couldn’t see it anymore.

Watching An Te Qi’s departing figure made Ri Xiang Ye unable to put a finger on how scared he was. He didn’t like seeing people he trusted turn their back to him, and leave him. It brought to mind the time he had been separated from his brother… But he also didn’t want to make his brother worry.

So suppressing the unease in his heart with great difficulty, Ri Xiang Ye tightly grasped the book bag by his side and walked toward the school.

“O.K., O.K. Settle down, class. The teacher has something to tell everyone.”

A shinai flew across the room.

“Stop fooling around. The bell for the start of class rang a long time ago.”

A broom flew back the other way.

“Today our class has a new student…”

The teacher was halfway through speaking before he hastily ducked beneath the podium. The next second, two extremely solid wooden desks collided in midair. Sawdust and bulky desk legs flew all over, and people dodged them one after another.

The teacher crawled out from under the podium, wiped away his sweat, and continued speaking, “This new transfer student is An Xiang Ye. Everyone, please welcome him.”

After finishing, the teacher forcefully clapped his hands. At the same time, he dodged toilet paper wads, pencil cases, textbooks, and other such flying objects.

Ri Xiang Ye stood on the podium with wide eyes. He felt a bit astonished. It felt like school was a lot different from what he had imagined.

“Student An Xiang Ye, introduce yourself to everyone.” The teacher lowered his body, evading a lunchbox while also talking to Ri Xiang Ye.

“Mhm! Hello, everyone. I’m An Xiang Ye.” Ri Xiang Ye blinked. He looked at the classroom filled with flying things, unable to describe what he was feeling.

A girl’s shrill laughter was followed by cutting remarks. “Wow! He’s such a dork. Where did this nerd come from? Hahaha!”

“… I’m the new student who transferred today. I hope I’ll get along with everyone.” As Ri Xiang Ye spoke, his head drooped. As for whether or not they’d get along… He already wasn’t so sure anymore.

The teacher looked at the entire classroom, and the look on his face immediately became pained. He muttered, “What will we do? There aren’t any seats anywhere.”

Ri Xiang Ye looked at the teacher with some confusion. Then, he glanced at the middle of the very back of the classroom. There, a student sat sleeping with his head on the desk. There was clearly no one sitting around him, and the empty space around him was really eye-catching… so why would the teacher say there weren’t any seats left?

Ri Xiang Ye, not understanding the situation, could only point next to where the sleeping student was and say, “Teacher, there are seats there. Could I sit over there?”

After he said that, the entire class descended into silence. Even the person who was about to hurl another desk held the desk up high without moving, eyes following the direction of Ri Xiang Ye’s finger.

Everyone looked at the seat Ri Xiang Ye was pointing at, the empty seat to the right of the sleeping student. It was only an empty desk and chair, but the look in everyone’s eyes was as though it was the executioner’s electric chair. Quite a few people nervously gulped.

“Student An, I’m afraid th-that seat isn’t ideal…” The teacher’s sleeve wasn’t enough to wipe away his sweat, and he even had to pull out a towel to wipe it away. His expression clearly showed that he didn’t want to let Ri Xiang Ye sit in that spot, but there was no other place he could sit. He appeared troubled and extremely nervous.

“It’s fine as long as I have a place to sit.” Ri Xiang Ye said this out of consideration.

He didn’t want to trouble the teacher. But he clearly had the wrong idea. After he said this, the teacher’s face turned green, and the students in the audience all showed expressions of fear.

Ri Xiang Ye felt this was growing stranger and stranger. No matter how he searched through the microchip in his brain, he was unable to figure out what he was supposed to do. But the teacher wasn’t responding. Standing at the podium and letting everyone stare intently at him was unbearable…

He simply lowered his head and slowly took a step, walking toward the seat he had just pointed at.

With each step he took, a student would gasp. The closer he drew to the seat, the more restless the others became.

“Hey! Hurry and tell him not to walk to his death!”

Although the student whispered this, everything said was picked up by the special listening system in Ri Xiang Ye’s ears.

“What a tragedy. Transferring schools only to lose his life right away!”

Ri Xiang Ye was puzzled by that. He was about to lose his life? After hearing these words, Ri Xiang Ye’s self-preservation command was activated. He rapidly gathered information about his surroundings, attempting to find any fatally dangerous elements. But no matter how he analyzed it, Ri Xiang Ye was unable to detect any dangerous elements capable of taking his life.

So he continued walking until he was next to the desk. He pulled out the chair.

The dozens of people in class gasped collectively.

Ri Xiang Ye was stunned for a moment. He warily observed his surroundings. There was still no change, so he cautiously placed the book bag on his shoulder down and sat down…

The female classmates began screaming. The male classmates had their mouths agape. The entire class exploded.

Bewildered, Ri Xiang Ye sat there without a twitch.

“Oh my god! Murder! There’s going to be a murder!”

People ran about in all directions, screaming and randomly throwing things. To put it briefly, it was utter chaos, although the classroom had been very chaotic in the first place.

They caused quite a ruckus for a while. Ri Xiang Ye was also at a loss for the same amount of time. In the end, nothing happened. When the bell for class to let out rang, everyone fled the classroom as if their lives depended on it, surveying the scene from far away. Only a few students with a little more courage dared to scoot closer to the windows, stealthily peeking inside.

Ri Xiang Ye was still sitting at his seat, puzzled. Only when he looked at his watch did he realize it was lunchtime. His brother had previously instructed him to eat well, so he stood up, planning to go to the cafeteria to have a proper meal.

After he stood up, he glanced beside him and found that the sleeping student was still leaning on the desk, unmoving. He thought a bit. His brother had also told him to form good relations with his classmates, and that it would be best if he could make some friends!

“Classmate… Classmate. It’s already lunch. Do you want to go together with me and eat?”

Ri Xiang Ye lightly shook the sleeping student’s shoulder but did not notice that this action of his had made the few dozen people outside drop their jaws to the point that they were about to fall off.

“Who is it?!”

A sound indicating a slam that splintered the desk, and a roar that even shook dust from the ceiling…

The sleeping student slowly raised his head. A head of red-orange, eye-catching, hedgehog-like hair, his entire body of bronzed skin, and even the soft blue color of his eyes was unable to temper the cruel expression in his gaze. A dragon was tattooed on his left cheek from his forehead down to his jaw. His appearance was enough to frighten anyone!

Actually, the students outside the window had already begun to recite some prayers. Although the nerd hadn’t left a particularly good impression, in any case, he had still been their classmate for ten or so minutes, so praying to Buddha to give him an early reincarnation was only proper.

“It’s time to eat. Are you going to eat?” Ri Xiang Ye blinked and continued to ask without the slightest inkling of how the person in front of him was different from his other classmates.

“Duh!” The orange hedgehog-head roared. It was only after he had finished his roar that he finally turned his head to see Ri Xiang Ye. He looked him up and down and realized he didn’t recognize him. The hedgehog-head impatiently asked, “Who are you?”

A classmate is finally talking to me! Inside, Ri Xiang Ye was delighted. With a smile across his entire face, he replied, “I’m a student who transferred over today. My name is An Xiang Ye. Nice to meet you.”

The hedgehog-head froze. He was clearly shocked by Ri Xiang Ye’s response. But after he frowned, he sneered, “What? The new student wants to find someone to lean on? Get lost and quit bothering me!”

Ri Xiang Ye’s expression became puzzled. He asked, “Excuse me, I don’t quite understand what you mean. What is ‘find someone to lean on?’”

“Finding someone to lean on is finding someone to depend on… Damn! Why the hell am I explaining this to you!”

The hedgehog-head jumped up from his chair and kicked the desk next to him. The desk crashed into the ceiling and exploded into pieces smaller than the size of a hand, flying everywhere.

Strength is 300 kilograms. Using this attack as a reference, it has been determined that this person can attain a maximum strength of 1500 kilograms. Belongs to the explosive-strength category! Ri Xiang Ye rapidly determined the hedgehog-head’s strength.

The hedgehog-head saw Ri Xiang Ye staring at the splinters of the desk and assumed he had been scared witless. Faced with this sort of wimp, the hedgehog-head wasn’t even interested in lifting a hand to bully him. He stuck his hands into his pockets and lazily strolled out of the classroom.

“W-Wait a moment. You still haven’t told me your name!” Ri Xiang Ye was a bit surprised. Usually, after announcing one’s own name, shouldn’t the other person also reply with theirs? This was the information he had found on his microchip about human relations.

The hedgehog-head stopped. He turned his head back slightly to glance at Ri Xiang Ye and coldly said, “Ezart. Remember the name! Don’t cross me!”

“Eh? O.K….”

Ri Xiang Ye nodded his head, seeming to understand but not really. Just as Ezart turned back around and was about to start walking again…

“Then, are you willing to eat together with me after all?” Ri Xiang Ye asked, completely puzzled.

Ezart slipped, and narrowly avoided falling flat on his face in front of a crowd of onlookers. With a lot of effort, he managed to regain his balance. He snapped his head back to glare ferociously at Ri Xiang Ye, suspecting he was deliberately trying to provoke him.

But Ri Xiang Ye’s entire face had a blank expression. Coupled with his dorky attire, his entire person was radiating the message, “I’m a dork. What can you do about it?”

Dork! This single word reverberated through Ezart’s mind. He couldn’t bring himself to raise his fists against such a foolish person. He could only scowl and roar, “Are you an idiot? I am not willing! No! Do you get it yet? If you get it, scram! Say another word and I’ll send you to the hospital for the rest of the semester!”

Ri Xiang Ye stared blankly. With some disappointment, he nodded. “I understand.”

Ezart snorted and left the classroom.

In the entire classroom, only Ri Xiang Ye was left. His head drooped. After spending some time lost in thought, he remembered his brother’s instruction to eat well. He looked at his watch. Lunch break was already more than half over. As a result, Ri Xiang Ye hastily pulled out his wallet and hurriedly walked to the cafeteria.

Ri Xiang Ye’s brother had instructed him to eat his fill. In addition, Ri Xiang Ye’s food intake was astonishing. A shocking amount of energy had to be consumed to support his ninety-plus kilogram mass. These various factors caused him to completely fill two plates with a pile of food. One plate was full of meat and rice and the other plate was full of vegetables.

Gēge says: Have a balanced diet.

Finished getting his food, Ri Xiang Ye looked left and right, but the cafeteria’s seats were all full. It left him at a loss as to where to sit for a while. He could only hold his two plates of food and blankly stand there, waiting to see if anyone would leave.

It was just that even when someone finished eating, they were not in any hurry to leave, instead watching “some person” hold two piles of food foolishly. None of them had any intention to give up their seat.

Ri Xiang Ye balanced his plates. With no other option, he could only walk over to the eye-catching orange hedgehog-hair. He first apologized, “Excuse me. I know you are unwilling to eat with me, but there are no other seats available. May I sit here?”

Ezart’s food was very simple, just some bread. He abruptly raised his head to look at Ri Xiang Ye and menacingly replied, “Are you an idiot? Can’t you see there’s no one near me because they don’t dare to come close? Are you just tired of living or what?”

“No. I’m not tired of living. It is because there are no seats left but there just happen to be seats here, so I came over,” Ri Xiang Ye earnestly explained.

“You!”

Everyone in the vicinity became nervous. It looked like Ezart would definitely be furious this time. Ezart covered his face with his large hand in irritation. The entire cafeteria fell into a deathly stillness, and there were already people who wondered if they should quickly scram…

“HAHAHAHAHA!!!”

He suddenly burst into laughter. Ezart laughed until he was even clutching his stomach with both hands. He would even occasionally forcefully pound on the table with both fists out of laughter. After laughing for a while, he raised his head and saw Ri Xiang Ye had his “I’m a dork” expression again, foolishly standing to the side, not knowing what to do at all.

Unable to hold it in, Ezart began laughing loudly for a while again.

“Y-You r-really do have a few brain cells missing! Haha!”

“Ah? I’m missing brain cells?” Ri Xiang Ye immediately had the microchip in his brain begin a scan of his body’s condition to see if he really was short on brain cells.

“Sit down!”

Ezart slapped the empty seat next to him, indicating that Ri Xiang Ye should sit down. Ri Xiang Ye obediently sat and then turned his head to say, “I am not missing any brain cells! I believe you are mistaken.”

Ezart froze and then let out a “Pfft.” He clutched his stomach and tried to hold back his laughter. “Y-You really are a gem… Damn! My stomach hurts so much from laughing.”

“Stomach ache?” Ri Xiang Ye was biting into a chicken drumstick at that moment and immediately set it down out of worry. Concerned, he asked, “Are you all right? Do you want me to take you to the infirmary?”

Yet another bout of loud laughter.

After laughing so much, his stomach really was in pain. Ezart said with some annoyance, “No! Just hurry and eat your food already. Stop using that dorky expression to say things and I’ll be fine.”

Ri Xiang Ye blinked. He was originally going to say that he did not have a dorky expression… But since Ezart had told him to eat his food, then he should quickly eat. Lunch break is almost over!

Thinking this, Ri Xiang Ye picked up the drumstick again. He began to rapidly eat his food. He repeated the same motions again and again: pick up his food, put it in his mouth, and use a chewing speed of ten bites per second. His two mountains of food decreased at high speeds.

Gēge says: Chew more while eating to avoid indigestion.

This method of eating almost made Ezart freeze in shock. He had never seen anyone eat at that speed before. It was as if he had been put on fast forward. Also, where was this skinny guy putting all that food?

As the two towering mountains of food grew smaller and smaller, the corner of Ezart’s mouth was constantly twitching. He even lost his appetite from watching.

“I’m full.” Ri Xiang Ye finished the final mouthful of food. He pulled out a handkerchief and wiped his mouth. Then, he glanced at his watch.

Great! I still have time to take a nap. He immediately put his head down and said, “I’m going to take a nap.”

Gēge says: Taking a nap in the afternoon is a must.

“Class is going to start in three minutes.”

Ezart idly reminded him, although he didn’t care much about the matter. He pulled out a wuxia novel and began reading it. He’d only read a few pages before the person next to him suddenly raised his head and cried out, “There’s thirty seconds until class starts!”

After he finished speaking, he grabbed Ezart’s hand and then dragged him toward the classroom. At the very beginning, Ezart was unable to react immediately, so he was dragged along. But when he snapped out of it and wanted to shake off Ri Xiang Ye’s hand, he wasn’t able to break free… This guy is really strong! A flash of alarm shot through Ezart.

“Hurry up! There’s only five seconds until we’re late. We absolutely can’t be late to class.”

Ri Xiang Ye shouted. Then, as he finished speaking, the tow truck and the person being towed both accelerated in an instant with a “swish.” Appearing in the classroom doorway, they accelerated one more time and then both of them were suddenly sitting in their seats.

Ri Xiang Ye exhaled. Luckily, they hadn’t been late. He then happily pulled out his textbook and stationery. All was well as long as he didn’t go against his brother’s order to properly attend class.

J-Just now, wasn’t that speed a little too fast… Ezart froze, and he looked at his seat a bit sluggishly. How was it that he had just been pulled into the classroom and then was already sitting in his seat?

Ezart suspiciously turned his head to look at Ri Xiang Ye. Ri Xiang Ye also realized Ezart was looking at him. He immediately lifted his head, breaking out into a brilliant smile, only to find that his glasses had become crooked during the “intense exercise” just a moment ago. He smiled while adjusting his glasses, only to discover that the lenses were a little dirty. He quickly removed his glasses and earnestly gave them a rub before he put them back on and smiled brilliantly at the classmate next to him once more.

He’s such a dork that I’m speechless! Ezart turned back around.

Whatever! This kind of nerd… It’s impossible.

“The history of the origins of combat runs very far… Starting from the centuries when countries still existed… There is the ancient Chinese wushu, Japan’s bushido, Western fencing, et cetera, all the way until recent times when the economic alliances rose up and the world fell into unceasing disputes. Everyone considers protection to be the most important… Combat began being widely defined as: no matter the place, no matter the weapons, whoever was the last one standing was the victor. This is now the cruel face of combat…”

Ri Xiang Ye speedily wrote down what the teacher was saying, also underlining the important parts in the textbook, even though underlining was actually pointless. This was because when it came to his microchip, he only had to see something once and it would be impossible for him to forget. Therefore, there was of course no need to underline the main points to review later.

However, the microchip had turned up the result that this was what should be done during class, so he did it.

Although he was writing down the main points, Ri Xiang Ye didn’t need to fix his eyes on his paper to write. He turned his head and looked at Ezart, only to find that Ezart was sleeping again… He called out softly, “Ezart. Ezart?”

Ezart was originally an exceptional sleeper. The whole classroom could be as noisy as hell and he’d still be sleeping just as before. But people are always going to reflexively want to respond to their own names. After several failed attempts to ignore it, Ezart finally became fed up. All at once, he flung away his desk and roared, “Ezart, Ezart, Ezart! What are you going on about? Just what the hell do you think you’re doing!”

The classroom fell silent once more. Ri Xiang Ye blinked and explained, “You can’t sleep during class. You have to take studying seriously!”

Two veins popped out of Ezart’s forehead. This guy is really missing a few… He jabbed Ri Xiang Ye’s forehead with his finger and growled, “I’m warning you! I haven’t pummeled you yet because you’re a bit interesting, but if you bother me again, I’m going to make it so that you’re lying unconscious in the hospital for all of tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, and the day after that!”

Facing this threat, Ri Xiang Ye had a perplexed expression. He opened his mouth to protest, “I’m not bothering you. I’m just telling you that you shouldn’t be sleeping during class.”

“You!”

Ezart sat down weakly. Just who raised this invincible airhead? He’s so stupid he deserves a beating, but he’s so stupid people can’t even bear to beat him…

(Ri Xiang Yan and An Te Qi, in their respective locations, each let out a very similar enormous sneeze.)

“Here! While you were asleep just now, I took a lot of notes!”

Overjoyed, Ri Xiang Ye pushed over the notes he had taken, generously sharing them with his friend.

Regardless of what Ezart thought, Ri Xiang Ye had decided to treat this person he had eaten together with and attended class together with as a friend. And now, he could even add to that list that they had “shared notes together.”

Looking down at the notes, Ezart was full of helplessness. He rubbed both hands over his face hard and said, “Please! No one listens to combat history classes, O.K.?”

“Huh?” Ri Xiang Ye blinked uncomprehendingly.

“Only practical classes can really be called combat classes. Anything else is just for napping. Do you get it now?”

After Ezart impatiently finished his explanation, he looked at Ri Xiang Ye. Ri Xiang Ye still had a blank expression on his face. It was clear that he absolutely didn’t understand at all!

Ezart flew into a fury and roared, “Basically, listen all you want but don’t come bothering me. Just wait until practicals, and I’ll take class seriously!”

“Oh.” Ri Xiang Ye nodded, causing Ezart to believe that he was finally free. He was going back to sleeping with his head down when Ri Xiang Ye shook him again and asked in confusion, “So do you want to copy my notes or not?”

…

“Practicals are…”

Ezart slammed his massive fists together, his manner completely the opposite of his lazy, befuddled one from earlier. His whole body was energized, as though he were a leopard about to go hunting.

“Classes where you can violently send your fist into someone’s face!”

After he finished speaking, Ezart strode into the vast gymnasium.

Ri Xiang Ye was still pondering over what the last sentence meant when he saw Ezart had left. He hurried to catch up, but suddenly heard a classmate off to the side say Ezart’s name.

He slowed down out of curiosity, broadening the range of his listening system to its maximum. It was then that he discovered that most of the classmates around him were actually talking about Ezart.

“Last time, Ezart sent three students from Class A to the hospital!”

“Seriously? Class A?! Don’t they have the reputation of a single person being able to take out our entire class of underachievers? As expected of Ezart!”

“Don’t you know? If he didn’t have close to zero in all his other subjects, how else would Ezart have ended up in our class?”

Ri Xiang Ye carefully analyzed these data. If that’s so, Ezart is really strong? The microchip in Ri Xiang Ye’s brain instinctively wanted to analyze strong people. This was because becoming stronger meant that he would be better able to protect his brother, which was his most fundamental mode of behavior.

Follow Ezart! Then, there will be more data to analyze! Ri Xiang Ye walked into the gymnasium without the slightest hesitation. The classmates behind him were too late to stop him, and his figure vanished into the gymnasium just like that.

“Dear heavens! He just walked straight in. Does he know what’s inside the gymnasium?”

“This gymnasium is a colossal battle simulator…”