Chapter 3
A cold electronic synthesized voice rang out over the empty testing ground:
[The physical fitness test has concluded. All personnel remain on standby.]
Heizhong Wushi slowly stopped and stood still, just lowering his head.
A few strands of black bangs soaked with sweat stuck to his pale cheeks, while the rest covered the dark bruise under his eyes that was impossible to erase, and the old scar on his forehead that was swollen by sea water.
Under the overly wide linen cuffs, the skinny fingers curled unconsciously, and the fingertips were slightly cramped due to the long-term clenching during the test.
She didn't breathe because she didn't feel tired. The rise and fall of this body's chest was so weak that it was almost non-existent, as if the power source driving the movement was not oxygen, but something more mysterious.
The discussion was buzzing in this dead silence.
"Is it a monster? It's not even breathing..."
"A crushing first place! No way, is this a statistic that a human can achieve?!"
On the sidelines of the physical fitness test, a group of "chosen ones" who graduated from the top crusade academy gathered spontaneously, their gazes fixed on the figure that didn't fit in on the field.
An overly sloppy appearance, a report card that is so incredible that it is suffocating... every detail is like a silent mockery, poking at their proud resumes.
Whispers merged into a repressive undercurrent, and the sound waves were like a turbid tide, carrying fragments of "monsters", "non-humans", and "data", trying to hit the person at the center of the tide.
But when their voices reached Kurozuka Kirishi's ears, they had already been stripped of their meaning, leaving only the physical, sharp friction sound that made his teeth ache, and a blank in terms of content.
She tilted her head ever so slightly, and the joint of her left index finger stiffly pressed against the underside of her earlobe—an instinctive movement to block out sound waves, rusty and clumsy.
“Tsk.”
A clear, metallic sneer abruptly cut off the discussion.
The people discussing turned their heads at the sound—
A platinum-blond American-style front-spiked hairstyle pierced the air with arrogance. A face filled with "keep away" appeared in sight. Ice-blue eyes were as sharp as a knife, slashing across them without mercy.
The corner of the man's lips curved into an almost ferocious arc, and his lip studs flashed a cold light as he moved.
"What's the point of gossiping behind people's backs? If you have the guts, go and tell them to their faces."
Several people looked at each other, bewildered. Who was gossiping? They were just stating the facts! What was wrong with this person?
Sengoku Sakuya, who was in a bad mood, glanced at them and turned away.
The action caused a few silver earrings on the earlobes to make a crisp sound, as if leaving behind a string of disdainful endings.
With a clear goal in mind, he strode through the crowd and walked straight to the invisible vacuum area in the middle of the field - the location of the Black Mist.
Kurozuka Kirishi looked at the ground, and an extremely aggressive shadow enveloped her.
The platinum-colored hair pierced the air, the earrings shone silver, and the silver rings on the knuckles reflected a bit of dazzling cold light in the sunlight.
After he stood still, he extended his hand to her, who had remained silent the entire time, without hesitation: "Sengoku Sakuya, what about you?"
That bit of light, in Kurozuka Kirishi's blurred pupils, suddenly twisted into the sharp metal pieces on the hatch of a deep-sea shipwreck she had seen in the past, spinning and piercing her eyes.
Her breath stopped for a moment.
Her cracked lips moved a few times, like a fish out of water, and finally, a dry syllable uttered from the depths of her throat: "Black Mist Gone."
She didn't raise her hand, but subconsciously pulled her sleeves to cover the dark red water stains on the bandage inside.
It's really a block of ice...
Sengoku Sakuya looked at the other person's hand, which showed no sign of returning the handshake and didn't even move, but he didn't seem embarrassed.
He withdrew his hand very naturally, as if the invitation just now had never happened.
"No way? So you're actually a girl?!"
A green furry head suddenly popped out from under Sengoku Sakuya's armpit, its dark brown eyes flickering curiously on the baby face.
The overly bright green expanded and deformed in Kurozuka Misty's out-of-focus vision, transforming into rotting fluorescent seaweed, which came towards him with a suffocating sweet and fishy smell.
In an instant, the muscles at the back of her neck tensed.
Fortunately, a bony hand suddenly appeared, clamped the other person's neck like an iron clamp, and dragged him away neatly.
"Itami Koji——" An overly gentle voice, like warm water soaked in honey, sounded slowly, attracting everyone's involuntarily looking over.
The person who was speaking had long, smooth, almost luminous gray-blue hair, which was elegantly gathered at the side of her shoulders and braided into an exquisite pigtail.
The gray eyes were as warm as spring water, and there was a tenderness in the eyes that softened one's heart.
"This problem of yours is truly deeply ingrained," the gentle voice carried a hint of a helpless sigh. "As soon as you smell a girl's scent, you pounce on her like a dead dog at a bone?"
Fujimine Tsukasa, who was complaining about his childhood friend's behavior, instantly became the focus of the audience with his breathtakingly beautiful face.
At the same time, Kurozuka Kirishi, who was standing beside the other person and was forced to enjoy the same treatment, pinched her fingers hanging by her side into her palms, using the stinging pain to anchor herself in the "present moment".
She really…hated being stared at.
"Oh my god... the goddess of beauty has come..." Someone in the crowd exclaimed in a dreamy voice.
"Mom, I'm in love!!" another voice trembled with excitement.
A vein suddenly popped up on the forehead of the person being praised, Fujimine Tsukasa, and his face, which was as beautiful as a lotus in spring water, suddenly became gloomy as the eve of a storm.
He ripped off the hair tie that bound his hair, letting his long gray-blue hair cascade down like a waterfall, adding a touch of messy thriller. At the same time, a thunderous roar exploded:
"Heartbeat! I'm a man!!!"
No need to say more,
All I could hear was the clear and audible sound of heartbreak, like exquisite glass crafts falling to the ground one after another.
The young men on the sidelines who were immersed in the "beauty" just a second ago were now collectively petrified, weathered, and their souls ascended to heaven.
All the noise seemed to be separated by a layer of frosted glass. Heizhong Wushi quietly turned his head, his sight falling on the empty corner of the wall.
She could feel the atmosphere on the field, which was probably fun and lively. If she were in the past, she would probably force a smile and join in eagerly, fearing that she would be left behind.
But now... she has become the only still silhouette in this bustling scene, with a layer of silent isolation surrounding her.
Kurozuka Kirishi had no idea what the much-praised Fujimine Tsukasa looked like. Her face blindness made other people's faces nothing more than a collage of chaotic light, shadow and color blocks in her eyes.
Those exquisite features and breathtaking beauty that are enough to arouse amazement are completely ineffective on her.
All she could capture was the overly vibrant hair color or some eyes that were so beautiful that they were shining.
On the other hand, Fujimine Tsukasa had long been accustomed to all kinds of sticky or astonished gazes glued to his overly beautiful, even somewhat feminine face.
But at this moment, he suddenly became aware of something strange: the gaze of that figure who had disappeared almost silently from beginning to end...
No, it wasn't even a sight—just a complete, unwavering blur.
She looked at him with the same feeling as if she were looking at peeling paint in the corner of the wall or an empty chair. She glanced at him casually and then quickly looked away.
I have to admit that Fujimine Tsukasa began to feel that this guy who exuded a cold and alienated aura and was talked about by everyone as "weird" seemed to have a bit of a pleasing look to him.
He waved as a greeting: "Hello, my name is Fujimine Tsukasa."
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