Chapter 171 – Strange Happenings

In the silent night, the thunderous collision sounded abrupt and loud, startling countless birds and beasts, causing a stir in the surroundings.

In front of the Academy Commissary, two figures stood one after the other—one on the ground, the other leaping through the air—their fists fiercely colliding, creating the deafening explosive sound.

Su Ming exchanged a punch with the mysterious Attacker, sending out a shockwave of Qi.

The force behind the punch seemed evenly matched, causing Su Ming to step back a few paces, while the Attacker, who had leaped into the air, was sent flying backward, stumbling upon landing after a moment.

Su Ming shook his hand and finally got a clear look at the other’s appearance.

It was a man with an ordinary, unremarkable face, dressed in messy and shabby clothes, resembling a vagrant.

“Who are you?”

Su Ming posed the question but didn’t expect an answer.

Not only because, in such a situation, anyone with a sound mind wouldn’t reveal their identity, but also because the other’s condition seemed off.

“Ah… Aah… Aaah…!”

The Attacker let out a low roar, less of pain and more of delirium, his face twisted and eyes fierce, like a beast that had lost its sanity, snarling at Su Ming.

“Intruder…! Intruder…!?”

The Attacker roared as he charged at Su Ming.

Su Ming frowned but stood his ground, refusing to retreat.

Only when the Attacker closed in and threw another punch did Su Ming abruptly swing his fist in response.

“Boom—!”

In a collision louder than before, Su Ming and the Attacker’s fists met resolutely, unleashing an even more intense shockwave of Qi.

This time, Su Ming was prepared, not caught off guard. His stance remained firm, not a single step taken back.

The Attacker, now grounded instead of leaping through the air, also held his ground.

One calm and composed, the other frenzied and wild—the two engaged in a fierce exchange of blows.

“Boom, boom, boom, boom—!”

Fist shadows swept like the wind, the collisions sounding like continuous firecrackers.

Neither Su Ming nor the Attacker gave an inch, relentlessly throwing punches at each other, creating an unbroken stream of fist shadows and constant impacts.

The shockwaves gradually escalated into a tempest.

The dull, thunderous clashes shook the ground, causing scattered stones to bounce.

The intensity of their unwavering confrontation steadily grew, eventually stirring up dust and sending countless fallen leaves flying.

“Aaah, aah, aah…!”

Perhaps frustrated by his inability to overpower Su Ming, the Attacker grew increasingly deranged, finally letting out a mindless roar.

“Kill! Kill! Kill! Protect the Family Head and Young Miss!”

The other actually roared such words.

“What the hell?”

Su Ming’s frown deepened, his gaze toward the Attacker turning wary and uncertain.

This shift in mindset affected the speed of Su Ming’s punches.

Within seconds, under the Attacker’s increasingly frenzied assault, Su Ming began to struggle.

“If this continues, I’ll probably be bitten badly by this mad dog, won’t I?”Su Ming felt the pain and numbness spreading through his punching arm, finally making a decision.

“It seems I can no longer hold back.”

With that, Su Ming abruptly retracted his left fist that had been fiercely colliding with the opponent.

Yes.

From the very beginning, Su Ming had been using only his left hand.

“Die!”

The Attacker, seizing the advantage, showed no mercy. Amidst their roar, their fist ruthlessly slammed toward Su Ming’s vital heart area.

In such a state, they lacked the rationality to notice that Su Ming, having withdrawn his left fist, had already clenched his right hand tightly.

“Buzz…”

This was the sound of an eerie blue flame-like radiance flickering from his hand.

On Su Ming’s tightly clenched right hand, within the fingerless gloves, strange glows emerged, tracing the faint cracks on his hand.

From the bandages wrapped around his arm, a subtle blue sheen also faintly shone through.

Su Ming, gripping his right hand that possessed ten times the strength of his left, suddenly threw a punch toward the frenzied Attacker.

“Boom——!”

This was the truly thunderous sound of collision.

Amid the deafening thud, Su Ming’s right fist, shimmering with a blue glow, slammed heavily into the Attacker’s fist, unleashing astonishing power.

“Crack!”

The Attacker’s hand was instantly torn apart by the overwhelming force, accompanied by the sound of shattering bones.

In the next moment, the opponent was sent flying by a blast of Qi, their body tumbling like a kite with a severed string, crashing straight into the Commissary and shattering its outer wall.

“Hah…”

Su Ming let out a soft exhale, retracting his immensely powerful right hand and allowing the blue glow to fade.

“Crash…”Simultaneously, the Commissary’s outer wall completely collapsed, sending countless fragments and rubble tumbling down and burying the Attacker beneath.”

The surrounding commotion gradually grew louder.

Su Ming knew this was due to people noticing the disturbance and reacting accordingly.

“This is no place to linger.”

Despite having done nothing wrong, Su Ming made a statement as if he had committed a misdeed upon hearing the noise.

But before that…

“First, let’s see who you really are.”

Su Ming stepped forward, approaching the pile of rubble, reached out, and dragged the buried Attacker out.

The rubble rolled off their body, revealing their pitiful state to Su Ming.

The opponent was in tatters, one hand hanging limply like a ragged cloth, resembling a mere ornament attached to their body—a truly miserable sight.

Su Ming felt no pity.

Since the opponent had struck first and repeatedly vowed to kill him, why should he show any mercy?

“Speak, who are you?”

This was Su Ming’s only question.

Unfortunately, this question was destined to go unanswered.

“Young Miss… Young Miss…”

The Attacker, as if having lost their Soul, offered no resistance as Su Ming dragged them, merely muttering incessantly.

Su Ming listened carefully and managed to catch these words.

“Run away…”

These were the final words left by the opponent.

After uttering this phrase, something bizarre occurred.

The Attacker lost all strength, their head drooping, their entire body following suit, as their breath gradually faded away.Under Su Ming’s astonished gaze, the attacker’s entire body began to crumble, turning into a cloud of sand that scattered with the wind and vanished without a trace.

Thud!

A small object fell to the ground along with the attacker’s clothing.

“This…”

Su Ming was dumbfounded.

“Miling!”

Even Little Hai’er, who had been hiding in the shadows watching Su Ming fight, seemed startled and let out a small exclamation.

This exclamation, however, snapped Su Ming out of his daze.

“What just happened?”

Su Ming stared in utter bewilderment at the tattered clothes on the ground, his mind in disarray.

Such a bizarre occurrence was a first for Su Ming—it was impossible not to feel completely thrown off.

A living person had turned into sand and disappeared.

Was this a supernatural phenomenon? Or was there some reason behind it?

Had they taken some illicit drug? Or used an alchemical item with severe side effects?

“What’s this?”

Speechless, Su Ming stared at the tattered clothes on the ground before noticing the small object that had fallen alongside them.

Su Ming picked it up.

“An identity card?”

The object appeared to be an identity card.

The material of the card was unknown, but just by touch, Su Ming could tell it was exquisitely crafted and undoubtedly expensive.

Su Ming examined it briefly, then flipped it over.

On the back, he saw a single character:

————「King」.

“King?”

Su Ming’s heart stirred.

“Could this person be…?”

Just as Su Ming began to form a hypothesis, footsteps finally echoed from the surroundings.

“Someone’s coming?”

Su Ming stopped pondering, pocketed the identity card, and turned to leave.

Shortly after, figures—whether students or Academy staff—appeared on the scene, taking in the wrecked Commissary and the tattered clothes atop the rubble.

……

Demon Hunter Academy, Male Dormitory.

When Su Ming returned to the Dormitory, he found himself alone.

Neither Lei Hao nor Ye Bai were there.

Su Ming wasn’t surprised.

The two had already informed him that they likely wouldn’t be at the Academy recently, leaving Su Ming to “guard the empty room” by himself.

Lei Hao had received a call from his family, saying they had something to give him, so he had taken temporary leave to return home.

Ye Bai, on the other hand, had gone on a mission with seniors from the Sorcerer Department to practice Offensive Spirit Art and wouldn’t be back for some time.

Knowing he’d be alone in the Dormitory, Su Ming had headed straight back.

“Miling! Miling miling!”

Little Hai’er, seemingly aware that no one else was around, dispersed the mist from the Mirage Pearl and appeared, her small hands clutching Su Ming’s shoulder as if she had been severely frightened.

Clearly, the sight of a living person turning into sand and vanishing had terrified the inexperienced young girl.

“Hey, hey, you’re a Phantom Demon—what are you afraid of?Su Ming couldn’t help but complain.

If a Phantom Demon caught a human to suck their blood, they’d drain them into a dried corpse—wasn’t that just as terrifying as turning into sand and disappearing?

For a Phantom Demon to be scared by such a “minor scene” was somewhat embarrassing for her kind.

“Miling! Miling miling miling!”

Little Hai’er, however, waved her arms exaggeratedly, as if describing how frightening it was or protesting Su Ming’s remarks, chirping incessantly.

“Alright, go play by yourself for a while.”Su Ming pushed Little Hai’er away with a look of disgust.

“Mirin!”

But Little Hai’er didn’t dare to leave Su Ming’s side, clinging to him again with her small hands tightly gripping his shoulder clothes, hanging behind him like a spirit attached to his back, unwilling to take even a single step away.

Su Ming couldn’t be bothered to deal with the timid mermaid, taking out his phone to make a call.

The phone rang for a long time before it was finally answered.

“What is it?”

A cool voice sounded from the other end of the line.

It was Xu Qianqian.

“What’s wrong with you?” Su Ming was slightly taken aback, asking in surprise, “Why do you sound so tired?”

Though Xu Qianqian’s voice remained as cool as ever, Su Ming could detect a trace of exhaustion in it.

“Nothing, I just finished a mission,” Xu Qianqian seemed unwilling to elaborate, asking again, “What do you need?”

Normally, hearing Xu Qianqian ask like this, Su Ming might have responded with something like “Can’t I just chat with you for fun… I mean, just talk” to tease her a bit.

But now, Su Ming was in no mood for that.

“I encountered someone at the Academy commissary,” Su Ming briefly explained what happened, saying, “I defeated him, but he turned into sand and disappeared, leaving only a plaque with the character ‘King’ written on it.”

Hearing this, Xu Qianqian clearly froze.

Just when Su Ming expected Xu Qianqian to be shocked, she instead said:

“You encountered one too?”

Hearing this, Su Ming was stunned.

“From what you’re saying, have you encountered the same situation?”

Su Ming found this surprising.

What surprised him even more was Xu Qianqian’s following explanation.

“Not me, but close enough,” Xu Qianqian said, “You might not know this, but recently, similar situations have been occurring in various areas of Longyao City.”

Xu Qianqian didn’t disappoint Su Ming, sharing this little-known information.

According to Xu Qianqian, recently many strange people had been wandering around Longyao City, moving like the living dead—some only appearing at night, others breaking into places searching for food. Once spotted, they would immediately become frenzied attackers, harming all witnesses around them.

Because of this phenomenon, many civilians had been harmed, with numerous casualties.

Of course, there were also Professionals like Su Ming who happened to have the strength to repel these frenzied attackers and defeat them.

When these attackers were defeated, they would all turn into sand and disappear.

This bizarre phenomenon quickly caught the attention of Longyao City’s overwhelmed higher-ups.

After investigation, Longyao City’s authorities confirmed these people’s identities.

“They’re from the Wang Family.”

Xu Qianqian’s words confirmed Su Ming’s earlier speculation.

The Wang Family—Longyao City’s oldest family, whose ancestors founded the city and were the greatest contributors to building this Base City.

Xu Qianqian had mentioned the Wang Family to Su Ming recently, claiming they had suffered a terrorist attack, their family bloodied, with the current Family Head who served as mayor and the Wang Family’s young lady both missing.However, at this very moment, Xu Qianqian told Su Ming that those maniacal attackers were actually members of the Wang Family.

Su Ming wasn’t surprised.

When he saw the identity plate engraved with the character “King,” he had already begun to suspect this.

But still…

“What exactly is going on?” Su Ming asked in confusion. “Why would members of the Wang Family turn into such bizarre attackers, appearing in every corner of Longyao City?”

Xu Qianqian didn’t provide a clear answer to this question.

After remaining silent for a while, she finally spoke.

“How about this—come to my villa, and we’ll talk face to face.”

Hearing this, Su Ming glanced at the pitch-black night sky.

“Now?”

“Exactly.”

“In the middle of the night?”

“Is that a problem?”

“It’s not really appropriate, is it?”

“…Are you coming or not?”

“I’m coming!”

(End of Chapter)