Chapter 3 : Chapter 3
Chapter 3
Ji Qing did not dwell on the matter any further.
The protagonist’s troubles belonged to the protagonist. What he needed to solve were his own problems. At the moment, Ji Qing’s most urgent task was to determine his identity through the manga, the forum, and the people around him.
Ji Qing opened Volume Two of the manga.
The cover of the second volume featured the gate of the Third Ability Academy as its background. Xie Chang’an and Gu Lingxue stood before it, one in front of the other, leaving two side silhouettes.
Gu Lingxue’s black hair fluttered in the wind. She had a pair of deep blue eyes, and the ribbon tying her hair—as well as the accessories she wore—were mostly colored in shades of deep blue.
Xie Chang’an’s clothing was very simple. But as the protagonist, the attention he received was already more than enough.
The manga’s comment feed:
[Baby Lingxue is so cute.]
[Finally getting on track. They finally get to go to school!]
[This is the first time I have seen a series with “Academy” in the title where the entire first volume does not even take place at the academy (facepalm).]
[I am finally going to meet the companions the author mentioned, sob sob sob!]
[Woohoo, here we go!]
“This manga seems quite popular.”
Ji Qing smiled with interest.
He paid special attention to the author’s name. The creator of 《Ability Hunter Academy》 was Yuexia Cao, and the publishing platform was the Kuman website.
The story of Volume Two began with “the police officer in charge of the case suggesting that the two transfer schools.”
Gu Lingxue’s talent was extremely high. The ability she awakened was enough for her to attend any academy of abilities.
But Xie Chang’an’s ability was somewhat unimpressive.
So far, the only thing known about it was that it was related to physical strength.
Among the five ability academies, only the Third Ability Academy explicitly offered to accept him.
After learning this, Gu Lingxue decisively chose to enroll in the Third Ability Academy.
She calmly explained:
“I believe the most important quality of a school is educating students, not selecting them. The Third Ability Academy follows the principle of ‘teach according to aptitude and place people first.’ That is the kind of school I recognize.”
The readers were deeply moved by her words:
[Wow… Lingxue baby.]
[Xuexue is really gentle.]
[Rejecting a student just because their ability is weak… No matter how you think about it, that is not something a school should do!]
[How are the schools ranked anyway? I am really curious.]
The subsequent plot was something Ji Qing already knew.
Because the two had boarded the rear carriages, they ended up encountering insect-type Aberrants head-on.
After a tense and thrilling battle, Xie Chang’an carried Gu Lingxue on his back and ran toward the front carriages.
They encountered a mysterious youth from the same academy in Carriage No. 6.
The youth treated the Aberrants with remarkable indifference.
His attitude was calm and detached, and his movements were relaxed and effortless.
With just a single appearance, he conquered both the manga’s protagonist and its readers.
The comment feed immediately erupted with screams:
[So handsome.]
[Handsome to the point of explosion!!!]
[Author, you have one minute. I want ALL the information about this character!!!]
[How can someone have such a cool entrance?!]
“Hmm…” Ji Qing frowned slightly in confusion. “Are the readers being a little too enthusiastic?”
In the previous timeline, Ji Qing had never made a direct appearance.
Yet in reality, the three of them had boarded the same train that ended up in an accident.
Ji Qing wondered: Could it be that the train did not encounter any problems in the previous timeline?
He continued reading.
The manga presented a close-up at the moment he stepped off the train.
The white-haired, green-eyed youth raised both hands above his head in a carefree and flamboyant gesture, his hair flowing in the wind.
Security personnel aimed their guns at him, but he paid them no mind.
Instead, he casually whistled and said, “See you at school~”
The comment feed instantly exploded:
[AAAAAAAH this is beyond handsome!!!]
[White hair, green eyes, cold personality, powerful strength, and a hint of cunning. Damn, damn, this hits all my preferences. I am completely hooked, sob sob sob.]
[Author, you know perfectly well—Chinese readers LOVE white-haired characters!!!]
[You pull this stunt right before they enroll in school?!]
[Finally meeting people their own age! The “Academy” in Ability Hunter Academy has finally appeared! I am so excited. How many new characters are waiting for me?!]
Ji Qing could not help smiling.
Earning Popularity Value was even easier than he had expected. He would probably obtain a considerable amount very soon.
Ji Qing glanced at the Popularity Value displayed in the upper-left corner of the screen:
[Current Popularity Value: 2344]
[Popularity Shop Unlock Requirement: Above 5000 Popularity Value]
“I feel like I have been tricked,” Ji Qing muttered with a frown.
He comforted himself: Forget it. What he truly needed was the system’s intelligence network, not anything else.
As for the forum posts, there was not much worth reading.
Ji Qing skimmed through them briefly and found that readers were mostly speculating about the new characters and the academy.
However, due to the limited content available in the manga, the scope of their guesses was also extremely restricted.
***
Early the next morning, Ji Qing woke up.
He bought two meat buns and a cup of soybean milk at the cafeteria for breakfast, then followed the instructions in the freshman guide toward his classroom.
On the way out of the cafeteria, Ji Qing spotted Xie Chang’an and Gu Lingxue—the two he had met on the train.
They were sitting face-to-face eating breakfast.
Yesterday’s accident had not affected their enrollment.
From the nameplates on their chests, Ji Qing concluded:
Xie Chang’an had been assigned to Class F, while Gu Lingxue was in Class A.
Xie Chang’an looked somewhat dejected, while Gu Lingxue was comforting him.
“Relax your mindset. The classes will be reassigned at the end of the semester. Just focus on improving your ability for now.”
“The problem is that I do not even know what my ability is…” Xie Chang’an sighed while covering his face.
Ji Qing smiled when he heard this.
As the protagonist of the manga, Xie Chang’an would certainly enter Class S.
But compared to Xie Chang’an’s ability, Ji Qing was more curious about his identity as an Infected.
Why could Xie Chang’an confidently declare that he had been infected?
And if he truly was infected, why did his appearance show absolutely no abnormalities?
The matter sounded quite strange.
Ji Qing continued walking toward the classroom of Class S.
He arrived quite early.
When he reached the classroom, only two students were already seated.
One was a green-haired, green-eyed boy with a calm expression sitting in the last row by the wall. A potted plant rested on his desk, and he was trimming its branches.
The other sat diagonally opposite him.
He had flamboyant red hair, several metal earrings on his earlobes, and an impatient expression.
When Ji Qing appeared at the door, the red-haired boy gave him a surprised look.
His expression seemed to say: “How can someone I do not recognize still appear here?”
Apparently someone he did recognize would appear later, Ji Qing thought.
Ji Qing chose a seat in the second-to-last row by the window.
In anime, protagonists often sat in this position.
The view was excellent, allowing him to observe everything happening in the classroom.
There were not many members in Class S.
Surely no one would be foolish enough to sit behind him.
The sunlight was bright today, and a gentle breeze drifted through the window.
Ji Qing could not help feeling sleepy.
Perhaps it was simply the aftereffect of attending school for too long—every time he had a morning class, he inevitably felt the urge to sleep.
“Hehe, may I sit beside you?”
A voice—both unfamiliar and strangely familiar—appeared beside Ji Qing’s ear.
Ji Qing looked up.
It was You Xingluo, whom he had met briefly on the train.
You Xingluo bent slightly, smiling as he examined Ji Qing.
“Did you not sleep well yesterday?”
“You did that on purpose, did you not?” Ji Qing frowned.
Their first meeting had been on the train yesterday, and now they were meeting again in the classroom.
Ji Qing did not even need to think to know the other person had come specifically for him.
No one could stumble into coincidences like this.
You Xingluo sat down at the neighboring desk with a helpless expression and spread his hands.
“Who knows? Let us just call it luck.”
He explained, “Before boarding the train, I did not know I would meet you. But today I did intentionally come to greet you. That much is true.”
Luck?
Ji Qing half believed him and half doubted him.
While the two spoke, other students gradually arrived.
At the exact moment the class bell rang, their homeroom teacher finally entered the classroom.
The homeroom teacher of Class S was a woman in her early thirties.
She wore her hair in a neat ponytail and had black-framed glasses. In her hand was the teacher’s attendance register.
She first glanced around at the students present before smiling.
“Thank you for choosing to enroll in the Third Ability Academy. I am your homeroom teacher, Li Xuehua. You may call me Teacher Li or Teacher Xuehua.”
“This year, six students have enrolled in Class S.”
Li Xuehua said with satisfaction,
“Compared to previous years, this is an extremely significant breakthrough. I believe none of you expected to see so many classmates.”
Hmm…
Ji Qing felt puzzled when he heard this.
So were there simply very few S-level students?
Or did S-level students usually choose other schools?
Judging from the earlier reaction of the red-haired boy, Ji Qing suspected it was the former.
At the podium, the homeroom teacher continued speaking:
“The teaching philosophy of the Third Ability Academy is to teach according to each student’s aptitude. Before enrollment, we conduct research through the admission materials submitted by students, their previous schools, and their teachers to place students into Classes F through S.”
“Of course, the current class assignments are not final. At the end of the first semester, there will be ability tests, individual competitions, and team competitions for freshmen in order to accurately assess each student’s overall ability and potential.”
“Some of you may wonder why the academy does this.”
Li Xuehua smiled as she answered her own question.
“Because the academy gives students with strong overall abilities more room to develop independently. While students in Class F are still attending theoretical classes on campus, those of you in Class S will already be conducting practical work outside the academy.”
“Class S will have a winter practical training opportunity during this year’s winter break.”
“After the training ends, based on your performance, the academy will issue you Hunter Guild accounts. This will allow you to accept commissions from the guild and complete off-campus practical assignments.”
The red-haired boy suddenly interrupted:
“Teacher, are you not worried about the Federation causing trouble?”
“Why… is it even more dangerous than I imagined…” a dark-purple-haired girl sitting in the middle of the last row murmured nervously. “I thought the Third Ability Academy would be easier…”
Another white-haired boy raised his hand calmly.
“As far as I remember, the Hunter Guild only allows adults to register. How does your academy bypass that rule?”
Li Xuehua did not appear angry.
She smiled and explained:
“If we are able to conduct these activities, it means we have obtained permission from the Federation. However, unlike the personal accounts you are familiar with, the hunter accounts issued by the academy belong to the academy itself. After graduation, they cannot be converted into personal accounts and will eventually all be canceled.”
“As for Ling’s question…”
Li Xuehua pointed toward the dark-purple-haired girl sitting in the middle of the last row and spread her hands helplessly.
“Well, that is precisely why our academy is ranked as the Third Ability Academy.”
The students of Class S: “…”
“So it is because the academy does not follow the rules, which prevents it from ranking higher?” the white-haired boy laughed softly to himself, as though he had discovered a new continent.
The red-haired boy who had spoken earlier suddenly became much more lively.
He already seemed to be imagining a bright future and could not help turning to chat with the white-haired boy behind him.
Meanwhile, the dark-purple-haired girl wore a bitter expression.
“All right, all right—”
Li Xuehua clapped her hands to draw everyone’s attention back to the podium.
“I believe everyone is very interested in practical training. But compared to that, the most important thing right now is getting to know each other.”
“The initial members of Class S rarely change, though new students may be promoted here at the end of the semester.”
“However, that does not mean we can avoid interacting with one another.”
She smiled.
“Let us begin with the student ranked first in the admission list. Let us have a round of self-introductions.”
She lowered her head and opened the attendance register.
“The first student—Ji Qing.”
As soon as the homeroom teacher spoke those words, everyone in the classroom instantly turned their gaze toward Ji Qing.
Even the green-haired boy who had been trimming his potted plant looked up.
How did they know that “Ji Qing” referred to him?
Ji Qing grew instantly vigilant.