After Guan Tong's identity was exposed, his photos were everywhere, and the headshot from his student ID had long since spread across the internet.
But not many people had actually seen his face.
This was related to the fact that most of the time, whenever Guan Tong appeared, he would wrap his entire body in shadows.
Most people, when they saw him, saw a "flowing shadow figure."
This image, reminiscent of something from a horror movie, was also one of the reasons many people harbored fear toward him.
Therefore, when he appeared, the Suroma modified-body squad that had come to arrest Moon Key immediately fell into panic.
"It's Shadow!"
"Damn it, why is he here?!"
The Commander, in his terror, ran backward while shouting orders: "Stop him! Stop him!"
After swapping over with Body Swap, Guan Tong swept his gaze across the scene in an instant. The thick, pungent smell of blood was emanating from the tribe members' corpses piled up in the vehicles.
His heart sank. Countless shadow spikes suddenly burst from the ground, and in an instant, the Thorn Shadow Kill Array inflicted heavy casualties on most of the modified Ascendants.
This move, first used on Holy Grail Island back then, had grown even more powerful as Guan Tong's Mind Power increased and his shadows strengthened.
Even with their mechanical bodies, the modified bodies were pierced through and died horribly on the spot.
The few Ascendants with high-grade Defensive Items escaped death, shrieking as they scattered in all directions, unable to muster even a shred of courage to fight Guan Tong.
But whether they fled or fought, there was no path to survival.
No matter how fast these people ran, they couldn't outrun shadows. They were quickly caught up and wrapped by the shadows, and a few shadow lines twisted with force, snapping several necks.
Within just a few seconds, the entire modified Ascendant squad was eliminated by Guan Tong. He left only one alive, and that was the Commander.
Guan Tong manipulated his shadows to bind the man's hands and feet, dragging him over like a wild boar.
"Judging by how you were giving orders just now, you're the head of this group, right?"
"So what if I am!" The Commander seemed to know there was no escape, yet displayed a bit of stubbornness, glaring at Guan Tong.
"Shadow, you can't kill me! I've already backed up and uploaded my memories. His Majesty King Bruce will resurrect me, hahahaha!"
...
Guan Tong didn't know what to say. Not to mention whether Bruce would waste resources on this guy, even if he actually did, what kind of resurrection would that be?
After one's death, if someone with the same memories appeared, it wasn't so much a resurrection as it was a replacement.
Moreover, this kind of memory backup wasn't a real-time cloud backup. Memories occurring after the backup couldn't be recorded.
Guan Tong turned to look at Moon Key, who was standing stunned not far away, unsure of what to say to her at this moment.
He really couldn't bring himself to say "I told you so." That would do nothing but add fuel to the fire.
When he had come to find Moon Key that day, he had indeed had a premonition that Bruce would eventually come after her.
He didn't have prophetic abilities, but he understood Bruce. He knew the latter would stop at nothing and that none of his promises or guarantees could be trusted.
What he hadn't expected was that this day would come so soon, that Bruce would find Moon Key this quickly.
Moon Key looked at the corpses strewn across the ground and walked over.
Guan Tong saw she was holding a pair of scissors in her hand.
"You don't have to force yourself," he said.
His hands were already stained with too much blood; one more or one less made no difference to him.
Moon Key, however, carried no killing intent. Guan Tong could sense that she had probably never killed anyone before.
She didn't answer. She walked over to the Commander, who was tied up by the shadows, and the latter was still laughing wildly.
"I've already backed up my memories! You can't kill me! Hahaha, you can't kill me!"
His laughter failed to hide the fear and doubt within him, all of it spilling out through his eyes.
Moon Key was silent for a moment, then threw away the scissors and walked toward the corpses of her tribe members.
Guan Tong manipulated his shadows to snap the Commander's neck.
Ten minutes later.
Except for Moon Key, the corpses of all members of the Children of Argan Tribe were laid out neatly on the ground.
Looking at several familiar faces among them, Guan Tong remained silent.
These people had chosen to leave modern society and live in a primitive way; they could be called aloof from worldly strife.
But even so, they couldn't escape the malice of others in this world. Perhaps minding one's own business was sometimes nothing more than a naive fantasy.
Guan Tong pessimistically believed that even if these people hadn't died because of Moon Key, they would have died for other reasons.
Because their ability to withstand risk was simply too weak in this cruel world.
Moon Key tidied up the appearances of the deceased, then asked Guan Tong to help her bury them one by one, at the edge of the desert, facing the direction of the rising sun.
After all this was done, the sun was already about to set.
"...All of this could have been avoided." Moon Key looked at the row of graves and said to Guan Tong.
Guan Tong shook his head: "There's no need to say such things."
"Not from when you came last time, but after that," Moon Key said. "After you came to find me, if I had done prophecies for the tribe members, maybe I would have seen this future coming. But I didn't do it."
Guan Tong's heart stirred. That was true, wasn't it?
The previous few times, Moon Key's prophecies had spanned wide time ranges, not just predicting tomorrow or the day after.
If she had used her item to prophesy for a tribe member, no matter which one, she might have seen today's tragedy.
But she...
"I didn't prophesy because of self-deception and fear," Moon Key said, looking at her own slightly trembling hands. "I was afraid of seeing scenes of death, just like with Adam."
...
Guan Tong's expression showed sudden understanding, followed by a pang of pity.
He finally understood that Adam's death had dealt Moon Key a much heavier blow than he had imagined.
Even though she had appeared relatively calm at the time, that was only how she appeared on the surface.
When a prophet prophesies a friend's death, and it becomes reality, asking that prophet to do prophecies for other friends is undoubtedly not so simple.
A prophet isn't a machine. They're human too, and naturally, they would fear prophesying the death of another friend again.
"I never should have joined them from the start," she said.
"If you hadn't joined them, they still would have died. And they would have died even sooner."
Without Moon Key, setting aside other Doomsday Rules, this tribe would most likely have been wiped out on the grasslands during the Green Hell rule period.
Guan Tong glanced at the setting sun: "I don't have time to stay any longer. I still need to prepare for the next rule... If you want to avenge them, come with me to the Sakura Prayer Country. If we combine our strength, we'll have a better chance against Bruce."
He paused: "Of course, you can also refuse. Stay here alone, leave, or do something by yourself. The choice is yours."
Moon Key looked over upon hearing this: "Aren't you afraid that one day I'll see a death prophecy about you, or someone important to you?"
Guan Tong said in a deep voice: "If that day comes, I'll make sure that death prophecy stays only in your Crystal Ball, and never comes true in the real world."
...
Evening, at the Mind Power Development Academy.
Dean Zhou Qinfeng announced the convening of an emergency faculty meeting, and all the academy's teachers gathered in the meeting room.
After Duanmu Feng entered the meeting room, the other teachers looked at him with strange expressions.
Because a few days ago, the academy had announced his suspension from teaching, and the Practical Combat Class had also been halted.
The teachers all thought Duanmu Feng had already left the academy, but unexpectedly, he had come to the meeting today.
"Why is Teacher Duanmu here?"
"Look at his expression, he seems really unhappy..."
"He's the first academy teacher to be forcibly suspended, right? You'd be unhappy too if it were you."
"I would never screw over my students, so why would I be forcibly suspended..."
Several teachers whispered among themselves while Duanmu Feng sat with a grim face, saying nothing.
Before long, Zhou Qinfeng arrived. As soon as he entered, he said, "Everyone, this emergency meeting today—"
He stopped mid-sentence, suddenly spotting Duanmu Feng in the room, and froze for a moment.
"Teacher Duanmu, why are you here?"
"'All teachers must attend the meeting.' Isn't that what the group notification said?" Duanmu Feng retorted.
...
Zhou Qinfeng's face turned ugly. When he had sent the group message, he had forgotten that although Duanmu Feng was suspended, he was still in the faculty group.
Even more awkward was the fact that today's emergency meeting was about Duanmu Feng himself.
Zhou Qinfeng had no choice. He couldn't very well ask Duanmu Feng to leave now, so he could only steel himself and say, "Teacher Duanmu, don't misunderstand. The academy isn't targeting you... but the decision has already been made. You need to leave the academy."
"What did you say?!"
Duanmu Feng shot up from his seat, staring at Zhou Qinfeng with hostile eyes.
"Wasn't it just a temporary suspension? Why are you making me leave?!"
"I already said, this isn't deliberately targeting you. It's a unanimous decision by the academy's management and the Countermeasures Research Office."
"A unanimous decision to fire me? Why? Just because of my teaching methods? If these little brats at the academy don't learn my way, they'll only end up dead when they meet real tough guys out there!"
Duanmu Feng clearly couldn't accept this. His tone was sharp and pressing, and combined with the imposing aura around him, it scared many teachers into not daring to breathe loudly.
Zhou Qinfeng frowned deeply: "Teacher Duanmu, are you forcing me to say it outright? The Countermeasures Research Office has already notified us that after investigation, they've determined you're suffering from combat stress disorder.
Rather than being a teacher, you should seek treatment first. That would be better for you. As for the students who died or were injured under your teaching these past few months, the higher-ups probably won't hold you responsible..."
Crash!
Duanmu Feng flew into a rage. With one palm strike, the conference table instantly shattered and collapsed to the ground, scaring many teachers into jumping up and backing away.
"Teacher Duanmu, calm down!"
"Don't be impulsive, let's talk this through..."
Most of the teachers weren't skilled in combat, and facing an enraged Duanmu Feng, they already felt their lives were in danger.
Especially since he was right by the door, no one else could even leave the meeting room.
Zhou Qinfeng hadn't expected Duanmu Feng to lose his temper in the meeting room either. A flash of anger appeared in his eyes, but fearing the latter might do something even more extreme, he dared not speak out in anger.
At that moment, a steady voice slowly rang out.
"Duanmu Feng, this is a meeting room, a place for meetings, not a training ground for you to vent your anger."
Everyone turned to look, and saw Shi Jingyi still sitting steadily in the corner, her expression calm.
The moment they saw her, everyone remembered that they still had her on their side. They immediately felt they had a pillar of support and moved to stand behind Shi Jingyi.
That's right. When it came to who in the meeting room was unafraid of Duanmu Feng in terms of combat ability, the teachers all agreed it was only Shi Jingyi.
Duanmu Feng looked at Shi Jingyi upon hearing this and said coldly, "What, are you hoping I leave so you can take over as the Practical Combat Class teacher?"
Shi Jingyi said indifferently, "I have my own classes. I don't have time to teach anything else. As for whether you leave or not, I don't care."
Her indifferent attitude momentarily enraged Duanmu Feng. He snorted coldly and actually raised both arms, assuming a combat stance.
"Hah! Shi Jingyi, the students all think you're the academy's strongest teacher, but I don't see it that way.
If it weren't for the fact that you're a woman, I would have wanted to spar with you long ago. If you can't beat me, then it proves I'm the academy's strongest teacher, and the Practical Combat Class should be taught by me alone!"
The teachers were alarmed at the sight. Zhou Qinfeng shouted, "Stop! Teacher Duanmu, if you dare lay a hand on Lecturer Shi, it won't just be a matter of violating school rules!"
"Shut up!"
Duanmu Feng bellowed like he had lost his mind, and threw a punch at Zhou Qinfeng.
Gray spiritual energy instantly radiated from his fist. Zhou Qinfeng's legs went weak, and he collapsed to the ground, staring blankly as the gray energy closed in.
Bang.
At that moment, a pale yellow Energy Shield unfolded in front of him, blocking Duanmu Feng's spiritual energy. It was Shi Jingyi making her move.
Duanmu Feng curled his lip in disdain: "Needing a woman to save you. What a useless old man."
Zhou Qinfeng, sitting on the ground, looked utterly terrible at these words, his body trembling uncontrollably with rage.
Shi Jingyi's patience with Duanmu Feng was also completely exhausted. She warned, "Duanmu Feng, if you make another move, I'll break one of your arms."
"Then come and try it!"
Duanmu Feng threw both fists out simultaneously. The gray spiritual energy instantly expanded, carving several cracks into the surrounding floor and walls.
The teachers, afraid of being caught in the blast, all huddled into the corners.
Seeing that Duanmu Feng was about to harm everyone, Shi Jingyi no longer held back.
She lightly stepped off the ground, and her body transformed into a white blur, vanishing without a trace.
Duanmu Feng froze for a moment. The next instant, Shi Jingyi appeared at his side, unleashing a Vessel-Bursting Tremor Fist.
The gray spiritual energy was completely shattered in an instant. Duanmu Feng only felt an incredibly violent surge of Mind Power impact his body, and an excruciating pain shot through his left arm!
"Gah!"
He gritted his teeth and endured the pain of his broken arm, twisting around to swing his right fist with all his might, trying to trade injury for injury with Shi Jingyi.
But his fist was blocked by an Energy Shield still dozens of centimeters away from Shi Jingyi, unable to advance another inch.
"How... is this possible?"
Duanmu Feng couldn't believe the gap between himself and Shi Jingyi was this enormous. With a single move, she had broken through his spiritual energy and shattered his left arm, and his fist couldn't even touch a corner of her clothing.
Their eyes met. Shi Jingyi's cold, indifferent gaze suddenly reminded Duanmu Feng of the horrific scene on the battlefield that night under Scarlet Terra.
The sounds of parasitized forms slaughtering, the screams of the Joint Force soldiers, and the terrifying star radiating a scarlet glow overhead... The deep sense of helplessness and dread buried in his heart was now all stirred up by a single look from Shi Jingyi.
"AHHH!!!"
He didn't dare look into Shi Jingyi's eyes any longer. With a startled cry, he clutched his left arm and fled through the door, leaving behind only the mess and the teachers heaving sighs of relief.
"That Duanmu Feng is an absolute madman! He was about to kill someone!"
"Thank goodness Lecturer Shi was here, or the consequences would have been unthinkable..."
"Yeah, that guy was so arrogant, yet he couldn't even withstand a single move from Lecturer Shi!"
The teachers looked at Shi Jingyi with both gratitude and reverence. Although everyone knew she was strong, they hadn't expected her to be strong enough to casually crush Duanmu Feng.
Shi Jingyi herself didn't feel particularly proud. For her, someone of Duanmu Feng's level didn't even count as an opponent.
"I'm heading back first." After saying this, she added to Dean Zhou Qinfeng, "Dean, during the next rule period, I might need to take a short leave of absence for secluded meditation."