C2 Chapter 2

“Hey, Shidian, you okay?” Chen Rui asked, jogging alongside his roommate, who was bent over and gasping for air.

“I... I think... I’m fine,” Shidian wheezed, barely able to get the words out.

“Fine? You don’t look fine. Ever since we got back from that museum trip, you’ve looked off. What’s going on?” Chen Rui said, confused.

“Yeah? I don’t know. But a two-mile run has always been my weak spot,” Shidian muttered, glancing at the track—still nearly halfway to go—and honestly felt like he might cry.

At long last, the two miles were over. Shidian collapsed onto a stone bench, gulping air so hard he couldn’t even speak. That was when a group of guys suddenly walked up.

“Look at this guy—Class 1’s little bookworm. His stamina’s trash. What’s the point of being smart if you can’t even fight? Bet he couldn’t even beat a girl,” the one in front said, pointing at Shidian.

“Ha! Ha! Ha!” Laughter rippled through the people nearby.

Shidian frowned. These guys were from Class 3, the vocational track. The ringleader was Weilong. He couldn’t stand the college-prep kids, so he was always looking for an excuse to start something. Shidian didn’t want any trouble, so he turned to leave.

But a familiar voice cut in from behind. “Hey—what’s your problem?”

“Chen Rui!” The moment Shidian heard him, his stomach dropped. Chen Rui was the type who couldn’t mind his own business—and he hated bullies.

“What’s our problem?” The group snickered. “Call me Grandpa and I’ll tell you.”

“You losers think you deserve that?” Chen Rui snapped, jaw tight, glaring at them.

“The hell did you just say?” The guys surged forward at once, closing in like they were ready to throw down.

“Hey! What do you think you’re doing?” The PE teacher appeared out of nowhere—Shidian right beside him.

They all exchanged looks, then Weilong snapped at Chen Rui, “Nine o’clock tonight. Basketball court. If you don’t show, you’re trash!” With that, he turned and walked off, and as he passed Shidian, he shot him a hard glare.

“You okay, Chen Rui?” Shidian rushed over, asking anxiously.

“Tch. If you hadn’t gone and called the teacher, I’d have dropped them already,” Chen Rui said with a look of pure contempt.

Only then did Shidian finally relax—but he had no idea about the meetup Chen Rui had just agreed to.

That night, Chen Rui made up an excuse and left the dorm. Shidian didn’t suspect a thing. He just nodded and went right back to reading. But it wasn’t a textbook—he was reading Professor Feng’s introduction to ancient civilizations.

Shidian looked up at the window, and the scene from the museum—standing in front of that stone slab—rose in his mind again. In that moment, when the light appeared, it hadn’t felt blinding at all. Instead, images had flashed before his eyes like a movie—something straight out of a big-budget monster blockbuster.

Two enormous, birdlike demons battled nonstop in the sky, dazzling and violent, the force of their collisions shaking Shidian to his core.

He didn’t understand what it was. But the splitting headache that followed left him unable to think. After Chen Rui brought him back, he’d fallen into a deep sleep. And when he finally woke up again, he could tell his body had changed in some strange, unexplainable way.

He didn’t know what it meant, but Shidian still felt a rush of excitement. Maybe some ancient power had chosen him.

Thinking that, he couldn’t help but grin—only for his roommate Wu Wei to roast him. “What’re you grinning like an idiot for? Thinking about some girl?”

“No,” Shidian blurted, instantly embarrassed, not sure how to explain.

But then the dorm door suddenly flew open, and a panicked voice blurted out, “Your roommate Chen Rui got into a fight!”

“Ah!” The moment Shidian heard, he shot to his feet. What the hell was going on? Wasn’t he supposed to be out buying something?

But it didn’t take long for Shidian to figure it out—this was probably just an excuse so he wouldn’t worry.

“Where?” Shidian asked, panic rising.

As soon as he got the location, he took off for the basketball court at a dead sprint. While he ran, his mind raced. Could it be that group from this afternoon? How could I be so careless? If you really think about it, this all started because of me—and now Chen Rui’s the one paying for it...

The thought made him push even harder. But when he reached the court, there wasn’t a single person there.

Desperate, Shidian asked a nearby student and found out Chen Rui and the others had already left—no one knew where they’d gone.

So Shidian started walking and asking around, following directions from people he passed. Before he realized it, he’d ended up outside campus in a park. The park had an old, historic tower, and supposedly that was where Chen Rui and the others were.

By the time Shidian finally reached the area near the tower, he was bent over, gasping for air. From a distance, he could make out a group of people standing at the base. It was too dark to see faces clearly, but the one surrounded in the middle had to be Chen Rui.

“Chen—” Shidian started to shout, but before he could, someone threw a punch and knocked Chen Rui to the ground. Shidian’s heart lurched. He bolted toward them. These guys weren’t messing around—if he didn’t stop it in time, Chen Rui could get seriously hurt.

With that many opponents, no matter how well Chen Rui could fight, he’d end up taking a beating. He shook as he forced himself back to his feet, the corner of his mouth lifting into a stubborn, mocking smile.

“Damn, you’re still smiling? You got a death wish?” a shadowy figure snapped. He grabbed Chen Rui by the collar, cocked his fist, and swung.

But a voice cut through the dark, and the punch froze midair.

“Stop! Don’t!” Shidian charged in, shoved people aside, and pushed his way in front of Chen Rui.

When Ten Hall saw Chen Rui, he froze. The Chen Rui in front of him was barely recognizable—bruised all over, black-and-blue from head to toe—yet still forcing himself to stay on his feet.

“Well, well, well. Look who it is—the little bookworm. What, you crying too? Don’t tell me you two got a thing going on. Hah!” The tears at the corner of Ten Hall’s eyes were met with merciless laughter. Rage flared in his chest. He squeezed his eyes shut, and a faint glow began to flicker across his forehead.

“Ten... Hall... why are you here?” Chen Rui’s weak voice suddenly cut through his anger. Ten Hall snapped his eyes open and saw Chen Rui still trying to force a smile.

“I... came to take you back. The dorm’s about to lock up...” Ten Hall lowered his head, unable to meet his eyes.

“Hmph. You think you can just leave? Not a chance!” To his surprise, they still weren’t done. They quickly closed in.

“Heh. If we’re leaving, you really think the likes of you can stop us?” Chen Rui suddenly straightened up, fists clenched, glaring at the people around him with a hard, dangerous look.

“What the— you...” Intimidated by his presence, they actually took a step back.

“I was just messing with you before. Now I’m done playing!” Chen Rui let out a low growl and charged. Ten Hall stared, stunned, forgetting to stop him.

In the split second they hesitated, Chen Rui dropped several of them. Only then did the rest snap out of it and fight back—but Chen Rui was nothing like he’d been a moment ago. Every punch sent someone to the ground. Little by little, they realized they couldn’t win.

Seeing things turn bad, Wei Long gritted his teeth. Then, while no one was paying attention, he slipped behind Ten Hall and pressed a small knife to his neck.

“Hey! Chen Rui!” he shouted at Chen Rui in the middle of the fight.

Chen Rui turned around, cursing under his breath at the cheap shot, but he still froze mid-move. Before he could say a word, someone behind him seized the moment, grabbed a club, and swung it into his neck. Chen Rui didn’t dodge in time—his eyes rolled back, and he dropped unconscious.

But Chen Rui didn’t respond. He lay facedown, completely still, as blood slowly seeped from the back of his head.

Shi Dian’s eyes went wide. The vivid red seemed to jab straight into his brain. A sudden, splitting pain tore through his head, like something inside him was about to break loose.

“Hahaha, serves you right! Thought you could act tough? This is what you get for going against me!” Wei Long laughed smugly. “As for you… let me think…”

Wei Long jerked his hands back and stumbled a few steps away.

At some point, thick storm clouds had gathered above the old tower, and the world around them dimmed even further.

Shi Dian seemed to hover in midair. The wind lifted his bangs, revealing a sun-shaped mark on his forehead, flickering with golden light. His eyes were shut tight, and his face looked dusted with a thin sheen of gold—pale skin lit from within.

Wei Long stared at him, mind blank, and managed to stammer, “W-what… what are you?”

In the next instant, Shi Dian’s eyes snapped open—cold, blood-red, looking down at Wei Long. A mocking smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.

That single, icy snort sent Wei Long stumbling backward until his spine hit the tower wall. Cold sweat beaded on his forehead as he stared at the familiar yet utterly unfamiliar Shi Dian. From that razor-sharp gaze came a crushing pressure, so heavy it nearly stole his breath.

Ten Halls lifted his head to study the ancient tower, then gave a faint smile and murmured, “Purple-Winged Fire Phoenix—Solitary One. You’ve slept for a thousand years. It’s time to wake up.”

The moment the words left his lips, storm clouds churned above the tower. Lightning writhed through the sky, thunder rolling without pause. Several bolts slammed into the tower, and violet flames erupted up its sides. Bright, glowing patterns surfaced along the stone, gathering into the shape of a phoenix. With a deafening cry, a fire phoenix with purple wings shot up from the tower, its violet radiance flooding the entire sky.

“I have to be… dreaming,” Weilong stared upward, slack-jawed, his eyes nearly popping out of his head. But the scream tore out of him a heartbeat later—dream or not, that massive fire phoenix was diving straight at him!

The Purple-Winged Fire Phoenix passed through Weilong’s body. Violet fire raced over him from head to toe. After one last, ragged scream, he collapsed to the ground, unconscious. Everyone who saw it panicked and bolted, scattering in every direction. Ten Halls only let out a cold laugh. With a flick of his gaze, the Purple-Winged Fire Phoenix swept through the fleeing crowd in an instant, burning their souls to ash...