Way of the Devil

Xia Cheng was very familiar with Jorin. The scene which she saw in the room opposite hers made her feel slightly surprised.

The young man who was speaking to Shajay at ease was completely unlike the reserved, serious, and gloomy Jorin.

“Perhaps it’s just a coincidence that they look alike,” she guessed. However, she could tell from her first glance that the person was Jorin.

Just when she wanted to continue peeking at the situation inside the opposite room, Shajay seemed to have noticed something all of a sudden. He walked over and closed the curtains, blocking her sight.

…

In the cafeteria.

Iron Tower ate his food in big mouthfuls in a swift yet elegant manner. At the same time, he kept an eye on the friendly expression before himself with the edge of his eyesight.

“You seem to be out of it. Are you still fretting about what happened before? Don’t worry, Ishtan, I’m keeping my eye on Quan Shihui. I won’t give her any chance to do anything reckless.”

The man who sat before him wore silver-framed spectacles. He had an oval face and sharp eyes.

“I’m just feeling suspicious. We can’t be sure that Quan Shihui is related to the Iron Screen,” he spoke softly with helplessness in his voice.

“Isn’t suspicion proof enough? The nature of such a case is so wicked that anyone who deserves suspicion won’t be completely innocent,” said Iron Tower indifferently.

Ishtan shook his head slightly. His father was the scapegoat of the explosion back then. He was a high-ranking officer, but was sent to the gallows in the end.

He was also investigating the case for revenge. After preparing for many years, he finally found some clues.

“This is the Platinum Academy. Without concrete proof, we can’t do anything to her. We can only hold it in for now.”

“Yes, yes, yes.” Iron Tower nodded, indifferent. He knew that the two of them were too weak in the face of the Iron Screen.

Even with his uncle’s help in secret, the one who would lose would not necessarily be Quan Shihui even if they brought this out into the open.

“The murder on the rooftop. I have some idea about who’s the real culprit. However, we have to look for more evidence,” Iron Tower said with a straight face.

“Really?” Ishtan was immediately invigorated.

“Of course. However, the deeper I dig, the weaker I feel that we are. I’m afraid that the Iron Screen isn’t the organization we’ll be facing…” said Iron Tower helplessly.

“It’s alright. We’re still young. We still have a chance.” Ishtan patted his shoulder.

Iron Tower remembered the neighbor opposite him whom he had misunderstood. Then, he added another statement. “Besides, about the young man who had attracted the Iron Screen’s attention because of you, what do you plan to do with him?”

“I’ve sent him a letter. If he’s still not taking care, it won’t be my problem anymore,” Ishtan said helplessly.

….

“Follow you?” Shajay pulled the curtains close. He had his back toward Lu Sheng. His tone was peculiar. “Jorin, if you don’t have any evidence, I can easily file a lawsuit against you for defamation and spreading rumors.”

He turned around; his expression was calm.

“Defamation? Sue me, then.” Lu Sheng sat on the couch. “Alright, enough of the small talk. Tell me about the inside story of the explosion back then. Tell me everything you know.”

Shajay’s brows were tightly knitted together.

“Jorin, do you have some misunderstanding about me?”

Lu Sheng shook his head, and said, “I just want to find out who the culprit is as quickly as possible. I’ll count to three. If you’re still not telling, don’t blame me for making a move.”

Shajay’s expression remained unchanged.

“What gave you such boldness? In the close-range combat course, I was ranked the fifth in class, while you’re not even in the top 10. In terms of Authenticated Armors, my armor’s overall rating is three times greater than the academy’s armor. Don’t tell me that you’re thinking that you can suppress me just because you’ve just gotten the academy’s armor?”

Lu Sheng found this boring. With his actual strength, it was graceful enough for him to talk to such a weak person like this. Unfortunately, nobody understood his kindness.

“I’ll start now. One.”

He actually started counting.

“Jorin, don’t look for your own death.” Shajay was slightly angered. His gaze grew fiercer.

“Two.”

Shajay’s expression grew cold. The door of his bedroom opened slowly. A big and tall armor with a pair of silver wings on its back walked out.

“Three.”

Shajay quickly donned his armor. He made a hand gesture toward the Iron Screen man who was hiding in the shadows. The two of them pincered Lu Sheng at the same time.

“Do it!”

There was a deep shout. It was unsure whose voice it was.

Shajay and the man made their move at the same time. One of them attempted to knock Lu Sheng out cold. The other one aimed his blade hilt at a certain spot on Lu Sheng’s uniform. On that spot was the hidden alert positioning the academy put in place to protect the students.

The two of them had to take care of Lu Sheng as quickly as possible. They made no sound.

“Bam!”

A peculiar thing happened. Shajay’s short blade collided heavily with a formless force field.

The Iron Screen man’s dagger was also blocked while it was still more than half a meter from Lu Sheng.

“What’s this?! A force field?!” The Iron Screen man was stunned. Even after increasing his force, one of his rings on his fingers cracked with a crisp sound.

“Soft Tune Style. Smoke Killing Art!” The man trained diligently in the Iron Screen. In this instant, he made a reflexive reaction. He precisely stabbed his dagger toward the thinnest part of the force field.

Facing such a thin and weak force field, even though it could block his first attack, it would not be able to block his attack the second time.

In addition to that, he had the support of his mechanical system’s short-term explosive surge of force.

The mechanical system on his ring could morph his Harmonizing Power into a spike for a short amount of time. He would be able to pierce through any protective force field.

“Is this the Smoke Killing Art inherited from the Iron Screen’s chief general? What a terrifying skill this is!” Shajay took a step back. He did not plan on joining the combined attack. He was of the opinion that this man was enough to deal with Jorin.

“Are you from the Iron Screen?” Lu Sheng recognized the unique mark on the man’s body with one glance. His interest was piqued.

“The Iron Screen’s Smoke Killing Art is a powerful murder technique that perfectly incorporates poisonous smoke. While dealing with the protective force field, it could also deal with the user’s opponent in the quickest and safest way.” Shajay widened his eyes and wanted to observe his skill. He wanted to see if he could learn a thing or two.

This killing art was not even well-known inside the Iron Screen.

The man flicked his index finger. A peculiar cold radiance shone at his fingertip. It was as if it was wrapped in some unique force field that resembled metal.

“My quickest killing art is this, Skimming Fingers.”

His body was slightly arced as he made a peculiar stance. It was as if the energy of his entire body was focused on his fingertip.

“Be careful. I can’t hold back on this move. If you can’t withstand this… you’ll die!” The man’s killing intent boiled over. Although he had no intention of killing Lu Sheng right here, at this stage, he had no choice but to give it his all.

“I have a move as well, and it’s a finger skill as well. Its specialty is in its nimbleness. It’s complementary to your finger skill.” Lu Sheng stood up and raised his right arm until it was parallel to the floor. He joined his index and middle fingers together. Wisps of Harmonizing Power wrapped around them, making his fingers unbelievably tough.

“As expected, he’s prepared for this.” A chill ran down Shajay’s spine. He was starting to question if Lu Sheng was an impostor of sorts.

The air in the room tensed up as the two individuals in the room faced each other.

“Watch out!” The man suddenly widened his eyes. “Skimming Finger!”

He moved swiftly toward Lu Sheng. His finger drew peculiar and sharp curves in the air and struck precisely at the dent on Lu Sheng’s chin.

“Plum Plucking Willy-nilly!” Lu Sheng struck out with his fingers as well. He appeared to be breaking the branch of a plum gently.

“Crack!”

An experimental fridge four meters tall suddenly broke with the wall. The two chunks of the fridge weighed several tons each. They flew outward and collided precisely with the tip of the man’s index finger.

“Bam!”

“Ahhhh!” the man shrieked.

Blood splattered on the floor. As he rolled in the air, he was being pressed by the fridge. He reeled and crashed heavily onto the wall behind him. Then, man and fridge rolled onto the floor at the same time. He pressed an arm over his abdomen which was now drenched with his blood. It did not seem that he would survive this.

Shajay’s jaw dropped. He had never thought that this would be the outcome.

He had customized the heavy-duty experimental fridge himself. With it, he could make fine-tune adjustments to the temperature. It was built into the wall when this room was constructed.

However, Lu Sheng had easily broken it with his fingers. He even killed the man from the Iron Screen without any trouble.

“Wuuu… Wuuu… Wuuu…”

The deafening siren resounded across the dormitory. It was clear that the huge impact just now had triggered the alarm.

“It’s time to leave.” Lu Sheng grabbed Shajay. He turned around, and quickly left the room.

“Where are you taking me?” After witnessing this mysterious Jorin’s strength, Shajay decided to submit. At the same time, he understood that there was no way a survivor of the Iron Screen’s hunt could have his strength easily measured with data.

“Just come with me.” Lu Sheng walked ahead of him. The corridor was filled with flustered ordinary students. They were all frightened by the alarm.

“Your family,” Lu Sheng suddenly started. “They say that your family’s rich?”

“Uhh… We’re doing okay, we get by…” Shajay glanced at the Iron Screen’s man who was rolling on the floor.

“Follow me.” Lu Sheng led Shajay out of the dormitory. They took the elevator down and quickly went out of the building.

Shajay dared not retaliate. He could only follow closely behind him. The two of them had just walked out of the dormitory area when they saw the academy’s security team charging toward the dormitory in full gear.

Lu Sheng strolled casually in the other direction. Like the other flustered students, he did not show any intention to get close to the security forces.

“Who are you?!” Shajay felt that things were not progressing in a direction which he would like. This person was heading out of the academy. If they actually went off campus grounds, it would be impossible for him to ask for help.

Currently, there was a constant traffic of students running past them. If he was quick enough, he might even be able to break free from him.

“I’m Jorin.” Lu Sheng smiled. He turned back to stare at Shajay. “What’s wrong? Why are you stopping?”

“No… You’re not Jorin.” Shajay retreated slowly. His expression grew stern. “That sharp killing intent is definitely not something that Jorin can unleash!”

“Is that so?” Lu Sheng immediately guessed his thoughts. He knew that Shajay intended to flee while there was a huge crowd around them.

“I think we’d better look for a teacher. Let’s tell the teacher what happened,” Shajay continued slowly in a deep voice.

“Teacher?” Lu Sheng suddenly smiled at him.

With a sudden stab of his finger, a sharp wind with wisps of force field precisely tore Shajay’s force field, and the finger connected with his forehead.

“Bam!”

Shajay’s eyes rolled back into his head. He fainted on the spot. Lu Sheng caught his falling body.

Even if he had his armor on, Shajay would have still fainted on the spot when his forehead was hit by Lu Sheng’s amplified force field.

“You’re still thinking of running away from me?”