Chapter 155

Time actually passed very quickly.

By the time Ji Qing finally had the chance to stop and rest properly, he had already completed the school’s Final Assessment and officially entered the Summer Vacation of the second semester of his first year of high school.

Outside the window, the lake shimmered with rippling light, and Willow Catkin drifted with the wind.

Ji Qing sat before the desk by the window and typed the final line of his Final Assessment Report on the laptop screen. After checking the contents of the report several times, Ji Qing saved the document and sent it to their Homeroom Teacher.

Li Xuehua immediately received the report.

Along with her acceptance of it, Li Xuehua specially sent him a summer-vacation blessing: 【The school has no arrangements at all during Summer Vacation. Student Ji Qing, please make sure to rest properly. (Smile)】

【Got it.】

Ji Qing’s fingertips replied swiftly.

He leaned back against the chair, finally feeling as though things had come to an end for the time being. With a tired expression, Ji Qing murmured, “I’m finally more or less done being busy… I can finally sleep properly…”

After You Xingluo’s rescue operation, Ji Qing had fully thrown himself into executing the Dawn Society’s missions.

To use an inappropriate comparison, Ji Qing felt as though the entire process was like being dragged into a dangerous, dark dive beneath the sea. The people and matters he encountered were all darkness. Occasionally, he would also run into unexpected difficulties and witness filthy, despicable transactions…

Ji Qing’s empathy toward humans continued to decline.

However, there would occasionally be new activity in the Class Group Chat, and Ji Qing himself could also see Xie Chang’an’s recent situation from the manga. In particular, Ji Qing could still hold some simple conversations with the System… These ordinary, peaceful daily actions prevented his reason from falling too sharply.

Ji Qing felt that these processes were like allowing him to surface above the sea from time to time.

“But if this continues, I’ll go insane,” Ji Qing murmured as he opened his Terminal.

He neatly opened the Terminal, clicked into the Hidden App inside it, familiarly found White Night’s account, and solemnly sent White Night a message: 【Don’t send me any missions for the next half month. I’m going to rest. Go find Red Heart.】

After sending this sentence, Ji Qing directly shut off the Terminal.

If Li Xuehua’s blessing just now had successfully restored a little of Ji Qing’s HP, then Ji Qing’s current action had restored an entire large tube of HP for himself. As he stretched, Ji Qing sighed. “Now my time is finally my own.”

Sleep today, sleep tomorrow, go out the day after tomorrow to find something good to eat, then think about where to go have fun the day after that.

Ji Qing’s mind swiftly sorted out his plans for the near future.

But before the plan could even begin, Ji Qing forcefully restrained the urge to lie back down on the bed and sleep. He had not finished reading the manga. Recently, he had not gone to see how Xie Chang’an was doing for a long time.

Volume 10 of 《Ability Hunter Academy》 had already begun.

Compared to Ji Qing, who had been so busy he was almost about to drop dead on the spot, Xie Chang’an’s life was much more comfortable. Ji Qing paid special attention to the flow of time in every chapter of Volume 10. After Xie Chang’an finished the rescue operation involving his classmate, he happened to encounter a Polar Scientific Expedition Team.

Because most of the expedition team’s core members were scientists with no combat strength, they needed someone to escort them on this trip.

The reason the expedition team had encountered Xie Chang’an by chance was precisely that they had been on their way to the Hunter’s Guild to post a commission. However, the expedition team’s members did not understand concepts such as Hunters, Hunter ranks, and Commission Ranks very well, so Xie Chang’an simply stayed behind to help.

There was naturally no need to say much about what happened afterward.

Little Xie Chang’an, who was warm-hearted as ever, boarded the expedition team’s pirate ship just like that. He directly took a nominal position within the expedition team and smoothly followed the expedition team, along with the Hunter squad the team had commissioned and that Xie Chang’an had worked with before, all the way to the Arctic.

By the time Gu Lingxue sensed something wrong from Xie Chang’an’s words, Xie Chang’an had already left the Federation’s northernmost town and was advancing all the way toward the Arctic. After hearing Gu Lingxue’s worries, Xie Chang’an himself was still somewhat confused. “Ah… but I feel like everyone is a good person…”

“Right, Lingxue—” Xie Chang’an suddenly said seriously, “The network on my side will be cut off in a few days. I probably won’t be back until one or two months later. When the time comes, I’ll definitely contact you first thing. During this period, remember to protect yourself, communicate and report your situation to our classmates more often, and try not to take risks.”

Gu Lingxue: “…”

After listening, Gu Lingxue was completely speechless. “You should protect yourself first.”

Ji Qing had laughed while reading it at the time.

Xie Chang’an’s ability to get tricked was a little too strong. But also because Xie Chang’an had suddenly gone offline, Gu Lingxue was able to temporarily live together with Feng Youyou and the others. After their team was promoted to A-rank Hunters, the relationship between the three girls in Class S had clearly become much closer.

After the manga readers saw this scene, they all shouted things like “godly,” “I didn’t expect this kind of development,” and “I love girls being close to each other the most.”

After Ji Qing learned about this, he could not help marveling at how reasonable the opportunity was.

During the first semester of their first year, Gu Lingxue’s relationship with the two girls could only barely count as friendship. Feng Youyou and Ling You’er had become especially close after the Individual Competition, but at the time, Gu Lingxue likely did not talk much because she felt inferior and had no excuse to start a conversation.

Feng Youyou had a personality that allowed her to chat with anyone, while Ling You’er was relatively withdrawn.

Under that premise, Gu Lingxue, who had been trapped by her family at the time, found it very difficult to locate a corresponding breakthrough point. But after sweeping away the gloom brought by her family and tempering herself through multiple Hunter commissions, Gu Lingxue, who had regained her confidence, was quickly accepted by the others.

Because of this, Ji Qing was able to see the daily scene of those three dragging Song Xiaoran along to play Mahjong.

Perhaps before long, Song Xiaoran would also be pulled into the circle where Xie Chang’an was. When that time came, perhaps those two would cast aside their previous unpleasantness and become friends again.

Ji Qing smiled helplessly.

However… Ji Qing’s thoughts inexplicably returned to what the System had told him at the very beginning.

In the original manga main plot, the final confirmed members of Class S numbered six. And now—excluding himself, who had originally dropped out, excluding Shao Huayu and the other four, and excluding You Xingluo, who had failed to enroll, the ones finally left behind were exactly six people.

Perhaps everything had shown signs from the beginning, Ji Qing thought.

Ji Qing continued reading Volume 10.

Xie Chang’an’s Arctic Scientific Expedition went unexpectedly smoothly. As the only minor in the team, Xie Chang’an was fed many snacks by the uncles and aunties. In addition, because Xie Chang’an was a Class S student from Third Ability Academy, many adults’ affection toward him directly doubled.

Xie Chang’an smoothly learned a great deal of information about the wasteland.

Most of this information was either something he had never come into contact with, or something he had failed to listen to carefully in class. Xie Chang’an had spent the first semester in an extremely repressed state. At the time, he had constantly been thinking about growing stronger and proving himself, so naturally, he had no time to research these things.

But during this Arctic Scientific Expedition, Xie Chang’an learned some special information. For example: the Federation was not the entirety of the wasteland. Beyond the Federation, there was another world.

When Xie Chang’an heard this, he was troubled. “So, are there other humans living on other continents?”

“Why must they be humans?” a scientist whose hair, tied in a bun, had begun to gray. “Beyond the Federation is the world of Aberrants. There are also Aberrants living on other continents, and they may have long since developed a complete social system.”

Xie Chang’an said, “That sounds terrifying.”

“Yes, but only from the perspective of humans,” the scientist sighed. “But I think the most important point is this: maintain reverence toward nature. Although we have occupied the top of this planet’s pyramid for tens of thousands of years, do not forget that we are also a species within nature.”

“Everything taken from the planet must eventually be returned to the planet.”

“Dinosaurs were once the overlords of this planet, but a meteorite ended their rule. We were once the overlords of this planet as well, but another meteorite likewise ended our rule.” The scientist compassionately rubbed Xie Chang’an’s head. “You are still young. You still have many material desires, so you do not understand.”

“But when you reach my age, perhaps you will realize: everything is cause and effect.”

Xie Chang’an fell silent at this. “…”

In the end, Xie Chang’an truly did not understand right now. That was because within his field of vision, there was only the Federation, and only the people he knew and had come into contact with. He could not quite understand the ideals of the expedition team’s members, nor the Arctic Observation Station that they were willing to reach even if they had to die.

Although during this trip, Xie Chang’an had indeed gained a great deal.

He encountered new species, learned new combat techniques, and witnessed the scenery of the Arctic. The Arctic was actually very close to the Federation’s northernmost Aurora City. Or rather, Aurora City had originally been named because someone had once personally witnessed an aurora from the Arctic on this land.

When Ji Qing browsed to this point, he had more or less guessed Yuexia Cao’s purpose in drawing Volume 10.

Yuexia Cao probably wanted to use this to expand the Worldbuilding of 《Ability Hunter Academy》. Although Xie Chang’an had not even been to Central City yet, it was indeed time to talk a little about the world beyond the Federation. After all, the primary danger this world faced remained the Aberrants.

“Is he using the expedition team’s words to plant foreshadowing for Intelligent Aberrants?” The corner of Ji Qing’s lips curved into a meaningful smile, and he murmured, “Now this is going to be fun. Let’s hold a Prize Guessing Game—”

“Which one will be exposed first: the Dual Personality, or the Aberrant Identity?”

Although Ji Qing did not want either one to be exposed, the current manga main plot was indeed advancing in this direction. After who knew how many volumes since the Team Competition, Yuexia Cao had finally planted a powerful plot foreshadowing for his Aberrant line.

This also made it possible for “Xie Chang’an to encounter Intelligent Aberrants in the future.”

Ji Qing continued flipping through the manga.

After finishing the half-month Arctic Scientific Expedition, the group finally decided to return to the Federation. Their journey there had been very smooth, but on the way back, they encountered a rare blizzard. While avoiding the blizzard, Xie Chang’an discovered something strange.

Even when stimulated by the smell of blood, Aberrants did not choose to approach the area where they were currently taking shelter.

When Xie Chang’an told the others about this discovery, the expressions of everyone in the group became solemn. Xie Chang’an was still confused, but an auntie from the expedition team was already explaining it to him. “How do you think Danger Zones are formed? The earliest Danger Zones began when a powerful Aberrant chose to inhabit a certain place. Afterward, the other Aberrants that followed it also came one after another.”

“Some Danger Zones are not Lordless. It is simply that the original Lord died. Although the remaining Aberrants continued living in that Danger Zone, they gradually forgot the reason their Ancestors chose to inhabit that place.”

Xie Chang’an was stunned. “…But the Infection Index in the Arctic hasn’t reached the standard of a Danger Zone, has it?”

Yet the moment Xie Chang’an said those words, he suddenly realized something. The judgment of a Danger Zone was based on the Infection Index, and the Infection Index was judged based on the density at which Aberrants gathered… These things were certainly correct, but Aberrants themselves possessed a sharper radar than humans.

They judged strength based on the aura of their own kind, thereby avoiding danger.

In other words… Xie Chang’an could not help looking toward the blizzard outside the door. In this rarely visited snowy wilderness, there was a powerful Aberrant capable of establishing a new Danger Zone. It had chosen to inhabit the Arctic.

“Eh…” Ji Qing exclaimed in surprise after reading this.

This development was rather unexpected, but Ji Qing did not understand what Yuexia was trying to say. Was he explaining the principle behind how Danger Zones were determined? Introducing the diversity of Aberrants? Or paving the way for this unseen fellow Aberrant?

Ji Qing thoughtfully continued reading downward.

The remaining events were very simple. After the blizzard ended, the expedition team quickly left the Arctic. At the same time, the scientists from the expedition team reported the matter and marked the area they had previously passed through as a Dangerous Area.

Thus, Xie Chang’an ended his Arctic Scientific Expedition while filled with endless confusion toward Aberrants.

Volume 10 of 《Ability Hunter Academy》 ended here.

Ji Qing stared speechlessly at the pitch-black screen before him and cursed inwardly, “Isn’t that basically saying nothing? Yuexia, isn’t the cake you painted way too big?”

He finally experienced the readers’ feelings for himself.

So this was what it felt like to be dangled by Yuexia with a carrot? This inexplicable feeling was like watching a movie with neither a beginning nor an end, and by the time the Production Credits were sent out, the whole person was left bewildered.

…Could this really be the ending?

Ji Qing specially went to look at the forum feedback again, and the feedback was actually fairly good. The manga readers who had followed the story until now knew Yuexia’s nature inside and out, and they could already smoothly understand the plot Yuexia wanted to serve them.

“So the main goal was to expand the Worldbuilding and refine the concepts?” Ji Qing leaned back against the chair again and said helplessly, “Fine. He did indeed achieve his goal. I just don’t know whether there will be Arctic-related plot later…”

Ji Qing had still enjoyed reading this volume quite a bit.

He had always been someone who liked adventure, so naturally, he liked a plot like “following an expedition team to the Arctic for a scientific expedition.” Ji Qing murmured thoughtfully, “But speaking of habitats… personally, I would lean toward a warmer region.”

“What is special about the Arctic besides the fact that very few living creatures set foot there?”