Volume 1: Bo'an Awakening & The Calamity Storm
Chapter 88
Exposing the Mole and Thunderous Retribution
Torrential rain battered the fractured glass dome of Feng Lan High School’s multi-purpose hall, the deafening onslaught drumming against the panes like relentless war drums in the pitch-black night.
Beneath the expansive dome, in the subterranean emergency shelter, refugees were crammed together shoulder to shoulder. The shrill wails of terrified children mingled with choked, ragged gasps. The stench of foul mud fused with the coppery tang of fresh blood rising from hasty, unbandaged wounds. Over a thousand survivors who had narrowly escaped the ravenous jaws of magical beasts roaming the city streets were huddled into tight clusters, shivering uncontrollably as they peered through the observation slits of the heavy steel blast doors toward the flooded campus courtyard.
In a shadowy, sequestered alcove beside the energy conduit pillar of the secondary defensive barrier, a figure clad in an ash-gray border defense military uniform crouched behind a row of metal lockers housing magitech equipment.
It was Lu Yuan.
His officer’s cap was nowhere to be seen, his sodden hair plastered against a forehead beaded with cold sweat. Trembling hands reached into the inner breast pocket beneath his combat vest, withdrawing a small, narrow-necked ceramic flask etched with tangled runes that glowed a sickly, withered grayish-green. From within the vessel emanated an eerie, phosphorescent gleam, radiating subtle, insidious pulses of corrosive mana.
As a covert agent of the Nether Church planted deep within the city garrison, his mission was nearing its final, bloody fruition. With just a single dose of this Black Decay Powder poured into the barrier pillar’s quartz conduction core, the protective shield encasing the shelter would disintegrate from within in fewer than thirty seconds. The ravenous Magic Wolves circling outside the school perimeter would surge in like an apocalyptic tidal wave, transforming this haven into a mass grave.
Lu Yuan licked his chapped, cracked lips, the corners of his mouth twitching into a warped, fanatical grin. He brought his thumb up, lightly easing the cork stopper loose from the flask’s mouth.
“Planning to spice up the barrier’s energy conduit, Lieutenant Lu?”
A low, chilling voice resonated inches behind his neck.
The voice was not loud, yet through the roaring gale and rain, it sliced cleanly through the air like the scraping of bare steel, piercing straight into Lu Yuan’s eardrums.
Lu Yuan violently jerked upright as if shocked by a live wire. His pupils shrank to pinpricks, an icy dread cascading down his spine. Relying on the honed reflexes of a military-trained battle-mage, his arm whipped behind his back to conceal the ceramic flask while he pivoted, retreating two swift, heavy paces to put distance between them.
Standing before him was a tall, slender silhouette leaning against the edge of a granite pillar, arms loosely folded across his chest.
It was Lin Feng.
The youth still wore his tattered black shirt, its shoulders and sleeves stained with the acrid, scorched black blood of the Warrior-class Black-Winged Frenzy Wolf he had slaughtered merely minutes before. Rainwater dripped steadily from the tips of his jet-black bangs onto the stone floor, yet his eyes were preternaturally calm—a stillness so absolute it sent a shudder down the spine. The frosty depth within those dark pupils locked onto Lu Yuan’s movements like an unyielding iron shackle.
Lu Yuan recognized him immediately. This was that destitute student from the elite Fire class whom he had crossed paths with a few times at the Cang Lei Ridge military outpost. A nobody with neither family background nor wealth—the sort of peasant an officer like him would never deign to acknowledge.
His initial panic was swiftly trampled beneath his customary arrogance. Tilting his chin, Lu Yuan contorted his facial muscles to muster the commanding authority of a frontline officer. Slapping his leather-gloved hand against the holster at his hip, he barked fiercely:
“Insolent brat! Where did you crawl out from? How dare you show disrespect to a military officer carrying out a classified mission? Scram into the shelter this instant! Loiter here any longer, and I will execute you under martial law for obstruction of military duty during wartime!”
Lu Yuan’s shrill, domineering bellow reverberated through the hall, tearing right through the suffocating stillness.
Not far off, the elite class students gathered around Teacher Kang Mu—who had just received emergency first aid—jerked their heads up in alarm. Xiao Min hastily wiped the rain from her cheeks, Zhang Hu gritted his teeth and scrambled to his feet, while Ling Bai and Li Peng exchanged bewildered glances. Nearby, Principal Xiao Minzhi, who had been coordinating defense assignments with the senior faculty, turned toward the pillar with a sharp, furrowed brow. Near the shelter entrance, two city sentries armed with magitech firearms and an officer in charge of perimeter security hurried over toward the alcove.
“What’s going on here? Why the commotion near the barrier conduit?” the security officer demanded with a frown. His gaze swept past Lin Feng before settling on Lu Yuan. “Lieutenant Lu, has your squad outside completed their withdrawal?”
Seeing reinforcements arrive, Lu Yuan’s confidence surged back. Pointing an accusing finger directly at Lin Feng’s face, he snapped sharply:
“This student has been behaving suspiciously, sneaking around the shelter’s primary barrier energy pillar! I suspect he’s lost his mind from panic and intends to sabotage our defensive system! Detain him immediately and lock him in the isolation cell below!”
Hearing this, the two sentries exchanged glances. Their hands moved toward the magic-suppressing cuffs at their belts as they stepped cautiously toward Lin Feng:
“You, student, step back immediately! This area is under direct military jurisdiction; unauthorized personnel are strictly forbidden from approaching!”
The refugees huddled nearby stirred with unrest, anxious and wary eyes fixing upon the youth in black. In the midst of overwhelming catastrophe, the word of a commissioned military lieutenant naturally carried vastly more weight than that of a high school student.
Yet, confronted by drawn weapons and the crowd’s mounting suspicion, Lin Feng remained motionless as a stone monument.
The corner of his mouth curved into a razor-thin, cold sneer.
“’Insolent’? Do you even possess the right to use that word with me?”
Lin Feng slowly lowered his arms and began walking toward Lu Yuan, step by measured step. His footfalls were soundless against the stone, yet each pace brought forth a crushing aura that weighed down upon the chests of everyone present like a boulder.
“A traitor who sold out his city, who poured tainted blood to shatter the West Gate barrier, and who now seeks to slaughter every civilian sheltering in this school... Do you dare call yourself an officer?”
The instant those words fell, the entire corner of the hall plunged into an absolute, suffocating vacuum of silence.
The security officer froze, his eyes widening in shock. “What... what did you just say? Destroyed the West Gate barrier?”
“Listen closely!” Lin Feng didn’t break his stride, his ironclad voice ringing clear and resonant through every corner of the shelter. “Three hours ago, the barrier at the West Gate outpost collapsed, throwing the city gates wide open for the wolf packs to slaughter our civilians. Everyone believed the magical beasts breached it through sheer force, but the truth is that someone doused the quartz conduction pillars along the outer ramparts with Wolf Pup Blood mixed with Berserk Blood Powder!”
Lin Feng raised his hand, pointing a single finger directly at Lu Yuan’s chest.
“The West Gate night watch consisted of twelve soldiers. Eleven perished at their posts; only Lieutenant Lu Yuan here fled back to this school completely unscathed! The rancid stench of Berserk Blood Powder clinging to your combat vest cannot be washed clean even by this torrential rain. Tell us—why would the bloodthirsty wolves outside spare you, and only you?”
The blistering indictment struck like a thunderbolt, causing Principal Xiao Minzhi, Teacher Kang Mu, the sentries, and the surrounding refugees to stare in petrified disbelief.
Ling Bai stared blankly at his classmate, his trembling hand clutching the rim of a nearby bench. The crowd of refugees scrambled backward, clearing a wide berth around Lu Yuan as their confusion warped into sickening horror and incandescent fury.
The security officer instantly raised his magitech firearm, shouting fiercely: “Lu Yuan! Bring your hands out from behind your back right now!”
Seeing his disguise torn completely to shreds, Lu Yuan’s righteous facade crumbled.
His face contorted violently, blue veins bulging across his forehead like coiled ropes. Bloodshot veins webbed his sclera, his gaze burning with the feral madness of a cornered beast.
“You worthless insects... even if you know, it’s too late!”
Lu Yuan roared with maniacal frenzy.
He had no intention of surrendering. On the contrary, the dark mana inside his body erupted with unbridled violence as a murky, ash-gray Star Orbit manifested beneath his feet!
His left arm lashed forward, unleashing a ribbon of virulent, ash-gray Dark Decay mist that reeked of stagnant death. Coiling like a gargantuan venomous viper, it lunged straight toward Lin Feng and the cluster of sentries! He intended to silence his accusers in an instant, simultaneously triggering the detonator on the poison flask in his hand to dissolve the barrier conduit and drag the entire shelter into the grave with him!
“Die for me!!” Lu Yuan shrieked at the top of his lungs.
The toxic gale ripped through the air, carrying a horrific aura of life-corroding ruin!
Yet how could his speed ever hope to rival Lin Feng’s?
Within Lin Feng’s sea of consciousness, the seven Lightning Stars—tempered through countless life-or-death battles—snapped into alignment in the fraction of a heartbeat. His mental intent moved faster than the flow of mana through his opponent’s veins!
“Lightning Strike: Wrath!!”
CRACKLE —— BOOM!!
A bolt of deep violet-black thunder whipped down from above like a divine lash!
The blinding flash ignited the cavernous, murky hall in brilliant incandescence, tearing the toxic serpent into wisps of harmless vapor before descending with pinpoint accuracy upon Lu Yuan’s right arm—the hand clutching the vial of poison!
SNAP ——!!
The sickening, crisp sound of splintering bone echoed through the chamber!
The savage burst of thunder sheared straight through Lu Yuan’s forearm, charring flesh and muscle into scorched, smoking cinders! The bone-deep agony choked his screams into a strangled rasp. The ceramic vial flew from his ruined grip, splashing harmlessly into a pool of rainwater on the floor before the seal could ever be breached.
Clutching his charred, mangled stump, Lu Yuan staggered backward in agony.
Yet Lin Feng gave him not a fraction of a second to recover!
Lin Feng blurred forward like a gale, his silhouette ghosting across the spray of rainwater on the tiles. He whipped his leg in an explosive roundhouse kick laden with concussive force, slamming squarely into Lu Yuan’s chest!
THUD!!
A dull, concussive impact rattled the eardrums. The kick, heavy as a falling meteorite, caved in Lu Yuan’s sternum and hammered him violently down against the granite floor!
Spiderweb fractures rippled outward through the stone tiles. Lin Feng loomed above him, his combat boot pinned mercilessly upon the traitor’s chest, completely suppressing whatever residual mana remained in his body.
The entire hall held its breath.
Not a single soul dared speak. Principal Xiao Minzhi, Kang Mu, the sentries, and the thousands of refugees looked on in stunned silence. They stared at the eighteen-year-old youth with his cold, austere countenance, and then down at the military lieutenant pinned beneath his heel like a battered stray dog. Waves of unadulterated awe, profound relief, and cold shock crashed through their minds.
Pinned to the earth, Lu Yuan coughed up a mouthful of clotted black blood laced with fragments of ruptured organs. Yet even with a shattered arm and crushed ribs, the grin on his contorted face grew increasingly grotesque and unhinged.
“Cough... hack... Ha ha ha...”
A raspy, shrill cackle rose from the spreading pool of gore:
“Ha ha ha... Little bastard... You think defeating me saves this place? Too late! It’s all far too late!”
Lu Yuan threw his head back, rolling his blood-veined eyes up toward the cracked glass dome as he shrieked with the last vestige of his strength:
“Lord Blue-Robed Deacon is standing atop the Central Bell Tower! The divine blood sacrificial array has been activated through the subterranean ley lines! This entire city has become an offering to the gods... You will all die!! Not a single one of you will escape... Ha ha ha!!”
DONG... DONG... DONG...
As his mad curse echoed into the hall, from the direction of downtown Bo’an City, the Central Bell Tower began to toll—somber, dissonant, and bone-chilling chimes tearing through the stormy night.
Simultaneously, a colossal crimson beam of blood-red light shot straight from the spire of the bell tower into the churning black storm clouds. The nocturnal sky split open like a gaping, hemorrhaging wound, revealing a sinister, grotesque totem enveloping the entire city.
A terrifying, apocalyptic dread—vastly more suffocating than anything seen before—began descending upon Bo’an City.
Lin Feng clenched his fists, staring into the distance toward the blood-soaked spire, his eyes gleaming with the sharp, unyielding edge of a honed blade.