Chapitre 15: Chapter 15: My Rank Dropped, My Account Got Banned, How Could I Not Kick Your Ass?
As Sophia spoke, everyone realized the gravity of the situation.
"This is way too sudden and strange. Normally, there would have been some signs."
"But how could they possibly have evaded our search?"
Sophia forced herself to calm down, looking at the group of people who were all talking at once, and asked:
"Have the students been protected?"
The female psychic from earlier shook her head and replied:
"Not yet. We've just started assigning people to manage it, but we're really short on manpower."
"Given what's happened, a considerable number of people still need to maintain the stability of the virtual secret realm inside the arena. As for the students, it's late, so most of them haven't come out."
Sophia rubbed her temples and shook her head helplessly.
This time they were caught too off guard, and after all, she was just a young person with strength but lacking experience in organizing something like this.
The seasoned powerhouses hadn't arrived yet!
By the time they got here, it might be too late!
"What do we do? Should we keep searching?"
The female psychic's voice carried a bit of panic, clearly looking to the young Sophia as a pillar of support.
"If we still haven't found them by now, they must have set up a barrier... Just keep looking! Everyone extend your abilities, see if there's any energy fluctuation when you pass through certain areas."
Everyone nodded, understanding the seriousness of the situation, and instantly disappeared.
Sophia frowned. Using this method to find the barrier would work eventually, but it was too slow!
Those two kids...
But right now, they didn't have anyone with barrier-related abilities.
Suddenly, a figure came to her mind—Liam.
Earlier, under the alias "Yogurt Stick," she had warned Liam online not to run around, then hurried out.
But Liam had mentioned before that his latest "mutation" ability seemed to have some sensory capabilities.
Could his sensory ability help in this situation?
Could he sense a barrier like he sensed changes in wind direction?
But he hadn't formally entered the world of psychics yet, and certain confidential matters hadn't been explained to him.
And... it might be too early and too dangerous for him to fight those people now.
...
Liam kept walking forward with his eyes closed, not knowing how long it had been. He was now walking unsteadily, clearly exhausted.
His mental energy was almost at its limit.
Finally, he stopped walking.
He had already put some distance between himself and the Black Horse Stadium. From here, he could only see the faint glow from the dormitory building.
In front of him was just a small square, like one of those areas where old folks exercise.
There seemed to be nothing unusual about it.
But the voice of all things told Liam this was where he needed to be.
Still not opening his eyes, Liam wandered around for a while before stepping toward a horizontal bar.
He picked up a stone from the ground and lightly tapped it on the bar's post twice.
Then he moved to the next piece of exercise equipment and did the same thing. The strange notes sounded like a tune being played, echoing from one piece of equipment to the next.
Finally, after the last tap, the whole world started moving!
The space twisted and deformed as if placed inside a giant spinning washing machine, as though an invisible hand was furiously kneading it.
But the distortion was just an illusion. Liam, with his eyes still tightly shut, stood rooted to the ground, unwavering.
Finally, everything returned to normal, but the scene before him had changed.
In the center of the square, a watermelon-sized tumor floated quietly in the air, supported by blood vessel-like tendrils.
Next to the tumor stood a person in a red robe, surrounded by several figures cloaked entirely in black, all chanting under their breath.
On the ground lay two pale-faced children, a boy and a girl.
As the barrier was broken, all the black-robed figures reacted simultaneously, turning to look at one spot.
Liam stood there.
Without a word, all the black-robed figures simultaneously unleashed blood-red arrows that enveloped Liam's vital points.
Liam, who had just entered this space and still hadn't opened his eyes, tilted his head at just the right moment, contorting his body into an odd angle. All the arrows whizzed past him, not causing a single scratch.
Boom!
With a loud bang, the blood-red arrows exploded on the ground behind him, creating a large pit.
The edges of the pit still sizzled, the blood-red glow slowly corroding the ground.
Slowly opening his eyes, Liam pressed hard on his temples, suppressing the roaring voice of all things in his ears.
He glanced up, and besides those strangely dressed people, his eyes immediately fell on the two children lying on the ground.
The boy and girl had all ten fingernails removed, each connected to a thin blood vessel leading to the pulsating tumor.
Their tender faces still showed traces of fear and pain, but they were now unconscious, their faces ashen.
"Damn it, you guys made me search all this time! What's this? Some kind of cult ritual?"
Liam's expression turned slightly feral. The constant bombardment of the voice of all things had put him under immense mental strain, making him very irritable, with an urge to hit someone.
Combined with the scene in front of him, there was no time for fear, only the adrenaline rush before a fight, and he wanted to beat up these people.
Now, the group of black-robed figures, who had been on high alert, relaxed a bit when they saw Liam was alone.
One of them, with eyes glowing red—his ability seemed related to vision—scanned Liam up and down.
Then he noticed the psychic card on Liam's combat suit and was stunned.
"Kid, are you serious? No psychic level, E-rank ability?"
After saying that, he laughed wickedly, as if he had seen something ridiculous.
Hearing this, all the black-robed figures relaxed further, breaking into that eerie, villainous laughter.
"Is the Psychic Academy really so short on people? They sent out a rookie like you?"
"Do you know what happens when you play hero?"
For a moment, all the black-robed figures chose to forget how Liam had just effortlessly dodged their deadly attack, attributing it to mere luck.
Some even stepped forward, seriously saying to Liam:
"An E-rank like you? Why risk your life? Why not join us instead? Let's work together!"
"Join? Join what? Who are you people?"
Liam asked as he exhaled deeply, the cold air condensing into frost, which then formed an ice staff in front of him.
The black-robed man raised his hands reverently, gazing fanatically at the tumor behind him.
"Join us, serve the Lord. As long as you kneel and pledge your loyalty to Him, He will grant you..."
But before he could finish, he was interrupted by a tremendous force. The ice staff Liam threw struck his chest with a thunderous impact.
His chest caved in instantly, blood spurted out, and he flew back more than ten meters, crashing into a treadmill.
Liam roared:
"Kneel, my ass! Because of you bastards, my game went idle, my rank dropped, my account got banned, and I had to come out in the middle of the night with all this noise in my ears! All of you, just die!"
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone