157: Chapter 157 Compulsory Classroom
The Fourth High School playground.
The image of the inverted city still hung in mid-air.
In the image, another Jiang Feng stood in the center of the Awakening Plaza.
The same school uniform.
The same face.
Only his eyes were very empty.
Like a piece of white paper that had been wiped clean.
He looked at Jiang Feng through the screen.
“You are finally coming back.”
As these words fell,
the playground became terrifyingly quiet.
Li Yan stared at that face and couldn't help but curse.
“Crap, the pirated version meeting the genuine one?”
Zhang Changlin glanced at him.
Li Yan immediately changed his tune.
“I mean, this thing is very impolite.”
Xiao Zhenjiang did not respond.
His gaze remained fixed on the school within the image.
The same Dongjiang City.
The same Fourth High School.
Even the position of the old locust tree by the playground was exactly the same.
But all the buildings were growing upside down.
The buildings were in the sky.
The streets hung overhead.
Rows of classrooms were like black honeycombs, quiet as if they weren't meant for the living.
Zero Seven's face turned pale.
“Mr. Jiang, you cannot go there rashly.”
Jiang Feng looked at her.
Zero Seven took a deep breath, trying to speak as clearly as possible.
“The First Blue Star is not an ordinary world.”
“It is the source.”
“Now that you have three earth keys, you only have the qualification to open the path; it doesn't mean it's safe to go in.”
Li Yan frowned.
“Then what is that fake Jiang Feng inside?”
Zero Seven was silent for a second.
“Possibly a substitute.”
“If Mr. Jiang doesn't return, it will be released.”
As soon as these words were spoken, everyone's expression changed.
Shen Qingni stood outside the cordon and asked in a low voice:
“And after it's released?”
Zero Seven glanced at her.
“Replacement.”
“Replace whom?”
Zero Seven did not answer.
She looked at Jiang Feng.
The answer was already obvious.
Li Yan bristled on the spot.
“It's worthy?”
Inside the image.
Mirror Jiang Feng smiled.
He seemed to be able to hear the voices on this side.
“Whether it's worthy or not is not for you to say.”
He looked at Jiang Feng, his tone calm.
“Jiang Feng.”
“The three earth keys on you are the road home.”
“Don't let that Mortal Liu Cuilan continue to deceive you.”
The temperature on the playground suddenly dropped.
It wasn't Shen Qingni who acted.
It was Jiang Feng who looked up.
He didn't move.
But those Old Array Remnants at the bottom of the pit shattered one by one.
Jiang Feng looked at himself in the image.
“You have quite a mouth on you.”
Mirror Jiang Feng's smile deepened.
“I'm just stating facts.”
“You weren't born of her.”
“You are a key raised by The First Blue Star.”
“Liu Cuilan merely picked you up.”
Just after these words were spoken,
the three earth keys in Jiang Feng's hand lit up simultaneously.
They weren't being activated.
They were being crushed by him.
Crack.
A fine crack appeared on the edge of the first earth key.
Zero Seven's eyelid twitched.
Here he goes again.
This man doesn't scream or shout when he's angry.
He crushes taboo objects.
The smile on Mirror Jiang Feng's face faltered.
“You dare destroy the keys?”
Jiang Feng said indifferently:
“Say one more word.”
Mirror Jiang Feng stared at him.
After a few seconds, he did not continue to provoke him regarding Liu Cuilan.
He changed the subject.
“The fourth earth key is with me.”
“If you want it, come to First Blue Star's Fourth High School.”
“I'll be waiting for you in class.”
The image began to fade.
But just before disappearing, Mirror Jiang Feng added another sentence.
“By the way.”
“The Liu Cuilan here is also waiting for you.”
The image went out.
On the playground, even the sound of the wind stopped.
Li Yan opened his mouth.
This time he didn't dare to curse.
Xiao Zhenjiang said in a heavy voice:
“Jiang Feng, this might be a trap.”
“Mm.”
Jiang Feng nodded.
“So I'm not going for now.”
Zero Seven was stunned.
She had been prepared to spend a long time persuading him.
Instead, Jiang Feng said himself he wasn't going.
Li Yan was also momentarily dazed.
“Not going?”
Jiang Feng glanced at him.
“The faucet at home hasn't been fixed yet.”
Li Yan: “...”
This reason was just so Jiang Feng.
But everyone present understood.
He wasn't afraid.
He was waiting.
Waiting for the Blue Star to stabilize.
Waiting for the Awakening System to be recast.
And waiting for himself to get a bit stronger.
He never followed the enemy's rhythm.
The enemy told him to go to class, so he insisted on finishing the renovation of his own school first.
That's what being steady meant.
Jiang Feng looked down at the Foundation of the old array that had been pulled out from the bottom of the pit.
“The old array is dismantled.”
“The new one will be established today.”
Xiao Zhenjiang immediately understood his meaning.
“What does the military need to cooperate with?”
Jiang Feng said:
“Deactivate all old Awakening arrays.”
“Seal them all within the territory of Huaxia.”
“Whoever objects, investigate them.”
Xiao Zhenjiang nodded.
“I'll handle it.”
Li Yan grinned.
“I like this job.”
“Whoever is anxious must have a skeleton in their closet.”
Jiang Feng raised his hand.
The Spare Array Core that had been compressed into a red crystal core earlier flew back into his palm.
Then, he took out the three earth keys.
The three stone fragments hovered above the core.
Zero Seven's expression changed.
“Mr. Jiang, you want to use the earth keys to recast the Awakening array?”
Jiang Feng asked:
“Is there a problem?”
“Yes.”
Zero Seven swallowed hard.
“This is equivalent to stealing The First Blue Star's job.”
Jiang Feng's tone was very flat.
“Then steal it.”
Zero Seven shut up.
Fine.
This answer was very stable.
And very Jiang Feng.
Jiang Feng spread his five fingers.
The red crystal core shattered.
Inside, the names that had been pinned down by the old array floated out one by one.
There were those who died in battle.
There were ordinary students.
There were powerhouses from the military.
There was also Shen Qingni.
Densely packed.
It was as if the fate of an entire era had been forcibly compressed into this old array core.
Jiang Feng did not erase these names.
He just pulled out all the chains behind the names.
One.
Two.
Thousands of them.
The old array made a piercing sound.
Like someone screaming.
Jiang Feng frowned.
“Noisy.”
He flicked his finger.
The sound vanished.
As clean as turning off a broken radio.
A System prompt popped up.
[Ding! Recasting of the Blue Star Awakening array prototype successful.]
[Stripping old array pollution...]
[Stripping complete.]
[Obtained all attributes: 8 Ji.]
[Current basic six-dimensional attributes: 108 Ji.]
Jiang Feng glanced at it.
Not bad.
Rebuilding the home's education System and gaining some attributes in the process.
This wave wasn't a loss.
The three earth keys fell into the new array core.
A blue light spread out.
It was no longer cold.
Instead, it was clean and bright, gradually covering the entire Fourth High School.
The playground ground lit up again.
This time, there was no rating panel.
No S-rank.
No B-rank.
And certainly no so-called “control sample.”
Only a line of text appeared before everyone's eyes.
[The Awakener's own will takes priority.]
Li Yan stared at this line of text and rubbed his chin.
“What does that mean?”
Zero Seven explained in a low voice:
“It means that from now on, Awakeners will no longer be forcibly positioned by external objects.”
“Talent is just the starting point.”
“How to walk the path is chosen by oneself.”
A light flickered in Xiao Zhenjiang's eyes.
“This is true Awakening.”
Zhang Changlin was also silent.
Looking at that line of text, he suddenly felt that something that had weighed on his shoulders for many years had lightened a bit.
Standing at the edge, Shen Qingni's body suddenly trembled.
The frost in her palm reconsolidated.
This time, the frost was no longer in the shape of a crown.
Instead, it was a small ice sword.
Very thin.
But very steady.
She stared blankly at her palm.
A prompt sounded in her ear.
[Old control sample identity stripped.]
[Frost Empress route unlocked.]
[New route being generated...]
[Ice Soul Sword Heart.]
Shen Qingni's eyes grew warm.
She looked up at Jiang Feng.
Jiang Feng wasn't looking at her.
He was checking the new array.
But she still bent down and gave a deep bow.
“Thank you.”
Jiang Feng didn't even turn his head.
“Thank yourself.”
“The path is your own.”
Shen Qingni pursed her lips.
This time, she didn't cry.
She just gripped that ice sword tightly.
Once, she thought she was the Frost Empress.
Later, she knew that was just a label others had written for her.
Now, she could finally choose for herself.
Seeing this, Li Yan grinned and said:
“A good thing, the school beauty is no longer a sample.”
Zhang Changlin coughed.
“Be serious.”
Li Yan immediately stood up straight.
“I am very serious.”
Jiang Feng put away the new array core and casually tossed it to Xiao Zhenjiang.
“Replicate it.”
“Spread it across the country.”
Xiao Zhenjiang caught it with both hands.
This thing wasn't heavy.
But it concerned the fate of the Blue Star's next generation.
It was heavier than any supreme treasure.
Xiao Zhenjiang's voice was solemn.
“Huaxia will guard it.”
Jiang Feng nodded.
Then he looked in the direction of Tianshu Dragon Garden.
“I'm going back to fix the faucet.”
Zero Seven had just breathed a sigh of relief.
The next second.
The three earth keys in Jiang Feng's palm suddenly grew hot simultaneously.
On the playground, that already extinguished old ground pit lit up again with a circle of blue light.
It wasn't the cold light of The First Blue Star.
It was the light of the new Awakening array.
A System prompt popped up.
[Detected the establishment of a new Awakening System.]
[Blue Star autonomous fate line opened.]
[Thirteenth transition preliminary progress increased.]
[Obtained all attributes: 7 Ji.]
[Current basic six-dimensional attributes: 115 Ji.]
[Prompt: The fourth earth key has sensed the Blue Star's autonomous Awakening.]
[First Blue Star Dongjiang City Fourth High School is about to start a Compulsory Synchronized Classroom.]
Jiang Feng raised an eyebrow.
“Classroom?”
Zero Seven's face instantly turned white.
“Oh no.”
Li Yan asked:
“What now?”
Zero Seven looked at the center of the playground.
“It's not waiting for Mr. Jiang to go over anymore.”
“It's going to connect the two schools together.”
As soon as she finished speaking,
the bells of all the teaching buildings in the Fourth High School rang simultaneously.
Ding-ling-ling—
Ding-ling-ling—
This wasn't the Blue Star's bell.
The sound came from overhead.
Everyone looked up.
In the sky,
an inverted Fourth High School was slowly pressing down.
In the classroom windows,
students sat neatly in rows.
They all looked up,
staring at the Blue Star below.
Those gazes didn't seem like living people.
They were more like rows of empty shells waiting for instructions.
In the classroom in the very center,
Mirror Jiang Feng sat in the last row.
He was twirling half a blue stone fragment in his hand.
That should be the fourth earth key.
On the podium stood a woman.
She slowly turned around.
Her face was exactly the same as Liu Cuilan's.
Except there wasn't the slightest bit of warmth in her eyes.
She picked up a piece of chalk and wrote a line of text on the blackboard.
[First Lesson: Who is Jiang Feng's mother.]