Dragon Clan: Avoid the College Entrance Examination to Slay the Dragon

Chapter 27 Invasion?

Guderian clapped his hands. "Alright, alright, the basics are all arranged. You two can enter the school now."

Gu Yi nodded. He glanced at Chu Zihang who was putting "Dragon Genealogy" back into the bookshelf. The gold-embossed words on the spine of the book flashed between the other's pale knuckles.

"Aren't you two professors coming into the school?" Gu Yi suddenly stopped. The overhead lights reflected diamond-shaped spots of light on the Guderian lens, and the old professor's hands, which were sorting brown paper bags, froze in mid-air.

"Ah, I still have some work to do in the car." Guderian tugged at his khaki tie, a drop of cold sweat sliding down his nasolabial folds into his stubble.

"I won't go into the school for now." Masashi Toyama immediately nodded in agreement.

Gu Yi turned to Su Yuqing, who was leaning against the bar. The girl's slender fingers were unconsciously stroking the silver coffee spoon. "Senior sister, aren't you going in?"

"I still have some things to check, so I'll come in at night." Su Yuqing raised a formal smile. As she spoke, she kept looking at the darkening sky outside the window. A few maple leaves were blown by the air flow and hit the bulletproof glass, making a slight rustling sound.

As the two stepped onto the platform, dusk was trickling down from the Gothic spires. The main gate of Kassel College resembled the gaping jaws of a giant beast. The thorny roses entwined in the black iron fence had long since withered, their crimson petals swirling in the evening breeze. Chu Zihang's sneakers rolled over a fallen leaf, the crisp crunch echoing through the empty square.

"Shouldn't freshman registration day be bustling with activity?" Gu Yi frowned, gazing at the deadly silence of the campus. The arched windows of the Baroque teaching building were pitch black, the stained glass windows that should have been vibrant were now covered with explosion-proof film.

Chu Zihang's black hair was lifted by the sudden airflow, and he felt a domain enveloping him. A gilded undercurrent surged deep in his pupils, then suddenly extinguished.

"I can't use the Word Spirit anymore."

Gu Yi's pupils were suddenly covered by golden light, and the surroundings instantly became quiet. Chu Zihang's raised hair was frozen into a pitch-black crow feather, and a maple leaf was frozen in its falling trajectory in a posture that violated the laws of physics.
When the hand passed an invisible mark, the still world suddenly collapsed. The maple leaves continued to fall.

"I can still use Time Zero." Gu Yi said.

"What is that?" Chu Zihang suddenly walked towards the bushes. When he bent down and pushed aside the bushes, seven bodies in crimson combat uniforms were scattered among them.

Chu Zihang knelt in the mud, his index finger pressed on the nearest man's carotid artery. "Still alive!"

"So the academy is so quiet because it has been invaded?" Gu Yi looked around vigilantly.

The first aid Chu Zihang was about to perform was suddenly torn apart by the metal storm. Thirty meters away, fierce gunfire burst out from the shadows of broad-leaved trees.

The realm of time zero unfolded in a split second. Gu Yi dragged Chu Zihang behind the oak tree. Bullets grazed them, gouging honeycomb-like holes in the trunk. The smell of pine resin mixed with gunpowder exploded in Chu Zihang's nostrils, and he could smell the unique sweetness of metal mixed in.

"Damn it, these crappy secret party and Tianji, even their own base camp can be invaded?" Gu Yi cursed.

The clinking of bolts echoed in his ears. Chu Zihang lifted a scattered gun beside him with the tip of his boot. The metal parts clashed with pebbles, making a crisp sound. He knelt on one knee, unloaded the magazine, and examined it. The brass bullets shone like beeswax in the sunlight.

"Full of bullets." He threw the assault rifle to Gu Yi.

"That's awesome, where did you learn that, senior brother?" Gu Yi hurriedly caught the weapon.

"'Dad' taught me this in Hawaii." Gu Yi heard the sound of tactical boots crushing dead branches coming from the three o'clock direction. Three dark shadows were approaching in a skirmish line.

"How can we be sure that they are not from the academy?" Gu Yi asked, tilting his head.

Chu Zihang crouched down and stalked towards the other body. He ripped open the collar of the other's crimson combat uniform and saw the Half-Decadent World Tree emblem. "There's a school emblem. The enemy is wearing black clothes."

Gu Yi nodded, watching the figure appear and disappear in the dappled shadows of the maple forest, then raised his gun and fired. Three bullets flew past the black-clad man's head in a triangular pattern, exploding into three showers of sawdust on the oak tree trunk.

"It seems that your shooting skills are really bad." Chu Zihang said expressionlessly.

Gu Yi's face flushed crimson instantly, and the butt of his assault rifle nearly hit a tree as he thrust it forward. "Brother, you should do it."

"You can still use your words now." Chu Zihang's index finger brushed across the carved patterns on the receiver, his eyes fixed on the black shadows changing their formation twenty meters away. "I'll suppress them, and you take them out in close combat."

"Okay, I'll count to three—" Gu Yi had barely finished his words when a roar like a broken gong suddenly erupted from the other side. A man in black was hiding behind an ornamental rock, his gas mask making his voice sound like it was coming from inside a tin can.

"You bastards of the Lionheart Society! Your headquarters has already been taken down by Caesar, so why are you still pretending to be tough?"

Gu Yi was about to charge forward when he suddenly stopped. As he turned, the golden light in his eyes flickered. "Lionheart Society? The code name for the Cassel Security Department? Is that Caesar the leader of the invasion?"

Chu Zihang held his shoulder and said, "Leave him alive. I think the situation is more complicated than we thought."

Three men in black were closing in from the three o'clock position. The leader's tactical boots crushed fallen leaves, and a voice muffled like thunder from behind his gas mask: "You two, go around! They only have two—"

Chu Zihang's bullets cut off the shouts. A 7.62mm bullet accurately ripped off the leader's night vision goggles, and a second bullet grazed the second assaulter's crotch and burrowed into the dirt. The men in black tumbled in panic, their bullets sending blue sparks flying on the granite pavement.

"Now." Chu Zihang said.

Gu Yi took a deep breath, and a golden light like flowing lava lit up deep in his pupils. The world suddenly faded from color.

In the realm of absolute silence, Gu Yi vanished into a gray afterimage. The first man in black had barely raised his gun when a precise knife struck the back of his neck. The second man, attempting to roll to avoid the blow, discovered his tactical harness had been tethered to a roadside tree. The moment time began to flow again, both men collapsed to the ground, like bones stripped from their skin.

The last man in black was about to pull the trigger when he suddenly realized the target in the scope had disappeared. A metallic chill ran down his sweat-soaked back, the barrel of the Colt M1911 pressing against his lumbar spine.

"Now we can chat. What is Lionheart? Who is Caesar?" Gu Yi's breath was filled with hot white air, and the afterglow of Time Zero had not yet completely faded the gold in his pupils.

The man in black who was clamped by him suddenly trembled violently. Chu Zihang's figure was reflected in the eyepiece of the gas mask. The black-haired boy was stepping on another unconscious companion with his shoes, and the stolen dagger was against his Adam's apple.

The captive suddenly shouted at the top of his lungs, "You're not from the Lionheart Society! Then why are you shooting at us?"

Chu Zihang lifted the prisoner's collar. Inside the dark combat uniform, the silver-embroidered image of a half-decayed world tree was identical to the Kassel school emblem.

(End of this chapter)