Nightmare’s Call

The school bus arrived at school, and Lin Sheng got off along with the other students.

At the cafeteria outside his school, he bought two meat buns and a pack of soy milk, and he ate them as he walked into school.

He entered through the school gate, walked across the playground, and entered the teaching building.

While he made his way up the stairs, Lin Sheng saw several famous students from Class Four come down. They all wore glasses, looking nerdy.

Lin Sheng glanced at them and found that two of them had completely different eyes when compared with the other high school students around them. Those were the eyes of individuals who were more self-disciplined, more matured, and sober, unlike the students around them who muddled along without any aim.

Such students knew what their goals were and kept moving toward them.

“You can tell that they’ll have a bright future…” Lin Sheng thought to himself.

He soon reached his classroom. The classroom was much quieter than usual, not as lively as before. Most of the students were sitting in their seats and reading. Only a few students, who had given up on the exam, were playing and joking around.

He went to his place, put his bag down, and took a seat.

Shen Yan was sitting in front of him with a pen in hand and a foreign language book in front of her. From Lin Sheng’s angle, he could see a black earbud in her ear, and a little sound kept coming out of the earbud.

Seeing Lin Sheng, Shen Yan took off the earbud and asked him in a low voice whether he had finished the Math paper. Lin Sheng laughed and took out his Math paper for her to copy the answers.

They then chatted for a while. Not long after, the bell rang and the teacher strode into the classroom with a stack of thick test papers under his arm.

“This is the score for the last test. The final exam is coming. Next semester, you’ll face the national college entrance examination. That’s the biggest turning point in every student’s life,” the teacher said loudly, looking serious. “So, according to the schedule, we have to finish the rest of the course as soon as possible, then leave a semester for revision.”

Lin Sheng listened on and felt sleepy again. He had used the powers he obtained from the ritual, and his body had yet to recover.

He called that power the Sacred Blood, but he did not really know what it meant. It was simply named after the homophonic sound of the Initiator. But the power was too draining, and he was determined not to use it until he had to.

The world was far less safe than he once thought it to be. The unsolved murders were still happening, and the atmosphere in Huaisha had recently been growing radical.

Lin Sheng had a bad feeling. It was just like a calm before the storm.

The teacher soon handed out the scores for their previous exam.

To Lin Sheng’s surprise, he still passed the exam although he was clearly in a trance-like state.

Then, the class began.

Suddenly, several policemen in black uniforms passed by the classroom, escorting a gentle-looking middle-aged man.

In the corridor, many students were whispering, and it seemed that many people knew who the middle-aged man was.

“Isn’t that Mr. Sung? Mr. Sung Yushi, who teaches geography!” Shen Yan suddenly whispered.

The other students were also whispering about it.

“Why is he being arrested by the police?”

“Mr. Sung taught me before. He’s very gentle, isn’t he?”

“I’ve been secretly asking around. I heard that Mr. Sung openly taught the students to turn against Redwin in class, and someone reported it…”

“He’s being arrested just for that?”

“Who knows what else he did?”

Soon enough, Lin Sheng learned part of the story through everyone’s whispers.

Lin Sheng noticed that when Shen Yan heard about Mr. Sung being arrested for his anti-Redwinian views, a slight panic flashed across her face.

Shortly after, the teacher silenced their discussion, closed the classroom door, and went on with the lecture.

The whole morning, all of the students in the class discussed Mr. Sung.

Lin Sheng also realized that Shen Yan seemed absent-minded and unhappy all day.

When they walked out of school together, Lin Sheng tapped her on the shoulder. “Don’t keep it all to yourself. If you tell me, maybe I can help you.”

Shen Yan smiled reluctantly. “It’s alright. Perhaps I didn’t sleep well last night. I’m a little tired now.”

Lin Sheng could see that she was not telling the truth. He did not know what she was hiding, but since she did not want to talk about it, so be it.

As usual, after school, Lin Sheng would go home first, change his clothes, and proceed to the club.

However, when he got home, there was no one around.

His parents were still working, so it was normal for them to not be at home. But, where was Wang Yue?

Something seemed off to Lin Sheng. He quickly changed his clothes, carried his sword case, and went out.

He searched around and asked the owner of the department store nearby. Yet, there was no information on Wang Yue.

Wang Yue had seemingly disappeared. She left no note, and all her clothes were still in the room.

Lin Sheng hurried to the club by taxi. His strength alone was not enough to find Wang Yue in the huge Huaisha. At such a time, he needed the help of his friends.

The relationship between Russell, Shayeen, and Lin Sheng was no longer that of instructor and students. They were more like friends of the same age.

…

Ironfist Club.

“You’re searching for someone? Do you know the name of the money-lending company?” Shayeen asked.

“Du Feng Finance,” Lin Sheng replied quickly. He had heard Wang Yue mention it before.

Shayeen wrote down the name of the money-lending company. Her family was well connected in Huaisha because of business contacts, so she could help.

“I’ll call and ask. There are only a dozen money-lending companies in Huaisha, and I’m familiar with all of them.”

“Thank you very much, Shayeen.”

“Don’t mention it.” Shayeen smiled.

“Actually, you can go to Madillan. His family deals a lot with finance,” Russell said while he rubbed his swollen arm with ointment. He had gotten through another rough session with Sarroux in the morning, which ended in a complete defeat and left him with a swollen arm.

“It’s okay. I want to solve it myself. I just haven’t been able to find the company.” Lin Sheng smiled.

“Don’t worry. Except for the White Tarots, the rest of the small companies aren’t a big deal for her,” Russell said in a low voice while Shayeen was on the phone.

Lin Sheng raised an eyebrow and said nothing.