The thunder was deafening, and everyone's ears were ringing, making it impossible to concentrate on the exam.

Feeling restless, Wu Yue instinctively sped up her work; she needed to go out and check things out. For some reason, she had a vague, ominous premonition.

At the same time, in the next examination room, Yan Chiyu suddenly looked up at the sky, but his gaze was quickly drawn to Mu Junyan and the others who were suspended in mid-air above the school.

The White Impermanence carries a mourning staff on his shoulder and a black sack in his left hand, his eyes darting around as if waiting for something.

Meanwhile, the expressionless Black Impermanence held a soul-catching chain, occasionally waving it in the air. It had curved hooks and claws, which looked rather frightening.

Beside Mu Junyan stood a man dressed as a judge, holding the Book of Life and Death. He spoke as he quickly drew lines on the book with a wolf-hair brush.

Yan Chiyu's heart sank.

He stared at it for a while, but found nothing unusual.

Just minutes later, the school's fire alarm suddenly went off, pounding in the students' ears.

The supervising teacher stood up from his seat and shouted, "Don't take anything! Students in the front row, leave through the front door; students in the back row, leave through the back door. Escape quickly and in an orderly fashion! Hurry!"

The school usually conducts many fire drills, but the mindset then is completely different from now. The students who only knew how to escape had forgotten the knowledge they had been taught before, and they just rushed out and ran downstairs.

The most intense fire wasn't in Zone B, so the students in Zone B were relatively unaffected. However, thick smoke billowed above the teaching buildings in Zone A, darkening the already gloomy sky. The mixture of gray and black brought a sense of despair to everyone.

Cries, the sizzling of flames, alarms—all the noise distorted amidst the raging fire and smoke.

A sea of ​​fire, ignited by lightning, trapped students in several classrooms.

Fire trucks and police cars arrived on their way, their sirens blaring from afar. Students who had escaped the school were panting heavily, their faces flushed from the intense running. Several teachers who had guided the students to safety maintained order at the main gate and calmed them down.

The sounds of students sobbing or wailing filled the air, and the more composed students could only watch with worry as the fire raged.

Fire extinguishers were only a drop in the ocean. The lightning struck the school's physics lab, and several adjacent exam rooms were affected to varying degrees...

-

A dark figure blocked the young man's path, the Soul-Hook Lock resting on his jade-white wrist. "Young Master Yan, I know you are no ordinary person, but life and death are beyond your control. Please do not interfere with official business."

Yan Chiyu's eyes darkened, and his usually nonchalant tone turned cold, a layer of icy coldness appearing in his eyes: "You go after my soul, I'll save my people, there's no conflict."

He hadn't heard of Young Master Yan's kind heart before coming, which surprised him. But soon, Black Impermanence dismissed his idea: "People can't be saved. Young Master Yan, you're in this line of work, you know better than us that whatever you do, there are gains and losses, and you're bound to pay a price. If you save them, would you be willing to exchange the lives of those around you for them?"

"Life and death are predetermined; they are all recorded in the Book of Life and Death."

Black Impermanence left behind his last words, then drifted towards the A-zone teaching building, using his soul-hooking lock to snatch the collarbones of the students who had perished in the fire, pulling them into his Earthly Bag.

I've withered... so this is what game boxes are for.

Are Qian Bolun and the others alright?

[Is my neglected child alright?!]

I can't bear to watch this scene, it's too painful.

I feel like Brother Yan must be really upset.