Chapter 7: Rank
Yu Xian thought about Nora's suggestion, then replied, "Two and a half hours? That's too long. By the time your guardian gets here, the parasites would have devoured us all."
He knew full well that Nora was aware of his identity. Once her guardian arrived here, while the others would probably be fine, he would be in grave danger.
Only a little over ten minutes had passed since the Aberrant Parasites had exposed themselves, yet most students in the other classrooms had already been wiped out. If the parasites concentrated their forces for a full-scale assault, Yu Xian was confident he could escape along with one or two people by jumping off the rooftop. The rest, however, would be doomed to die.
He thought for a moment, then glanced at the wire mesh fence. "Zhang Shou, take the other guys with you and hold the door. I'm going to see if I can fashion a weapon from it."
If he could twist the wire mesh together, it could work as an improvised club.
At that moment, Nora spoke up. "I have a weapon!"
She revealed a bracelet on her wrist. The next instant, a red handgun appeared out of thin air.
The students stared at her in shock. Someone even exclaimed, "Spatial storage equipment?"
Although they had all read about spatial storage equipment online, this was the first time they had ever seen the real thing.
Yu Xian took the handgun, aimed it at a distance, then handed it back to Nora. "Do you have any other weapons?"
The handgun only had a few dozen rounds in it, and since he had never used a firearm before, he would probably burn through the ammunition without managing to kill a single Aberrant Parasite.
Nora went silent for a moment, then produced a half-meter-long short blade. "This is a blade made from silver. It's not especially sharp, but it has strong suppression effects against vampires. Be careful when using it."
As he took the short blade, a faint, ambiguous smile appeared on Yu Xian's face. Nora immediately lowered her head, her face flushing red. She knew Yu Xian had definitely guessed something.
Yu Xian didn't press the matter. The short blade could not have come at a more perfect moment. "Thanks. This is exactly what I needed right now."
Under everyone's dumbfounded gazes, he crushed the short blade into a silver ball roughly the size of a shot put before opening his mouth and taking a bite out of it. Smiling, he said, "Perfect. I was just getting hungry."
Nora looked up at him as if she were staring at an utterly inconceivable monster. Unafraid of the sun and treating silver as food. Is he still a vampire? Could Roche and the others have made a mistake? This is too absurd.
After devouring all the silver, Yu Xian felt warmth spreading inside him. His senses were heightened on all fronts. He could now clearly perceive the slightest movement within a radius of several hundred meters. And when he took a deep breath, his body turned black.
Zhang Shou couldn't help but cry out in alarm. "Yu Xian?"
Yu Xian reassured him. "Relax, I'm fine. Better than ever, in fact."
To everyone else, he appeared pitch-black. This was because he had used Silver Blood to enhance his ability to absorb light. Previously, although he could absorb light, the absorption process wasn't perfect. Some light still reflected off him, allowing others to see him. Now, due to the boost provided by Silver Blood, light no longer reflected off his body.
As was well known, when an object reflected no light at all, it ceased to emit any photons detectable by the human eye, becoming what was known as a "perfect black object." This was the exact state Yu Xian was in now.
During the daytime, people could still barely make him out. But once night fell, no one would likely be able to detect him standing in the darkness. Additionally, in this state, he could rapidly recover his strength. Even if he got hurt, his injuries would heal in the blink of an eye, thanks to the sheer abundance of "food" available to him.
After growing accustomed to this new state, Yu Xian gave the others a faint smile. "I'm heading down to deal with those parasites. The rest of you stay here and stay put!"
He then turned around and headed downstairs.
After she had confirmed he had left, Chen Ling curiously asked the others, "Yu Xian definitely ate a Forbidden Fruit. What do you guys think his ability is?"
Nora couldn't help but say, "Yu Xian most likely didn't eat a Forbidden Fruit. Anyone who becomes a supernatural being through one starts at Eagle Rank. If he were at Eagle Rank, dealing with the Aberrant Parasites in this school would be effortless for him.’"
Since the appearance of the Forbidden Fruits, countless fortunate individuals had gained all kinds of bizarre abilities after consuming them. Different systems had their own ranks and hierarchies, which made the overall classification incredibly chaotic. In the end, several dozen of the world's strongest supernatural beings had convened a summit to establish a unified ranking system.
Under it, supernatural beings were classified as Insect Rank, Ant Rank, Bee Rank, Sparrow Rank, Serpent Rank, Eagle Rank, Wolf Rank, Tiger Rank, Dragon Rank, and God Rank, in that order from the bottom to the top. However, even those in the weakest rank, the Insect Rank, were strong enough to effortlessly slaughter ordinary humans.
But as one renowned bigshot once put it, "Don't think that just because you've gained a little power, you can do whatever you please." The Insect Rank was named as such to remind those who had just acquired supernatural powers that, before the true powerhouses, they were still nothing but insects!
Zhang Shou turned to Nora. "Then, what's Salted Fish's current rank?"
Nora thought for a moment before taking a guess. "I think he was in the upper Insect Rank or lower Ant Rank. Say... Do you think there's any chance he's a vampire?"
Everyone burst into laughter.
"A vampire? Hahaha, no way! Not only does he not fear sunlight, he even likes to eat silver. How could he possibly be a vampire?"
Nora wanted to object, but she couldn't find a single logical argument to refute them. Not being afraid of sunlight could be explained by the Daywalker ability. But how about not being afraid of silver?
Can it be that Yu Xian has an ability that enables him to consume silver? she wondered.
If Yu Xian had really turned into a vampire by using her blood, it would have only been a few days. He could not have possibly awakened a second ability. Moreover, he could also turn his body completely black. All this added up to three abilities.
No matter how Nora went about it, Yu Xian could not possibly be a vampire. The more she thought about it, the more she felt Roche and the others had made a mistake in their investigation. Although Yu Xian had also moved a large amount of funds, perhaps he used it on other matters. For example, buying silver and eating it? The Blood Race had driven the price of silver up to nearly the same level as gold. Yu Xian spending so much money could be explained.
Nora decided that she would need to have a proper talk with Roche and the others afterward. They couldn't falsely accuse Yu Xian.
***
Downstairs, Yu Xian strode through the sixth-floor corridor, his fingers dancing like a pianist's across the piano keys. In an instant, he sliced three Aberrant Parasites into pieces.
Although the blood in his body hadn't completely transformed into Silver Blood yet, at least forty percent of it already had. With an ample supply of Silver Blood, Yu Xian could now unleash incomparably sharp silver threads.
These silver threads were not made of pure silver. Instead, they were a unique, specialized metal forged from the fusion of his blood and silver, maintaining an exquisite suppleness while possessing unparalleled sharpness and resilience.
Most importantly, these silver threads moved according to his will. No matter whether it was the classroom's concrete walls or steel railing, he could effortlessly slice through them as though he were cutting soft tofu.
By now, more and more parasites were pouring out of the classrooms. But before any of them could even get close to him, Yu Xian would cut them down with his silver threads.
An Aberrant Parasite inhabiting a teacher had just stepped out from a classroom when it saw the carnage Yu Xian had unleashed. Fear flashed across its eyes, and it immediately roared, "Everyone, here! We've got an enemy! Kill him!"
The parasites from the classrooms farther down the corridor surged out one after another. The moment they saw Yu Xian, they roared and charged.
With a mere thought, a silver thread shot from Yu Xian's fingertip and swept across the corridor. The razor-sharp threads severed every parasite rushing toward him at the waist, their bodies splitting in two as they collapsed to the floor.
Yu Xian looked toward the far end of the corridor. The literature lesson teacher who had shouted earlier was already long gone. Sure enough, compared to the parasites inhabiting students, those inhabiting teachers were far more cunning.
At that moment, the distant sound of gunfire echoed through the air. Clearly, Silver City's official authorities had not been wiped out. They had finally reacted and begun their counterattack.