Luo Enen wanted to watch too, but Gu Fenghua took out a few fruits and got her to wash them first, so they could have them after dinner. Luo Enen kept turning to look as she swallowed her drool while she walked over to the stream to wash the fruit. After Jun Lansheng stir-fried some vegetables and soup, they sat down and happily started on their meal consisting of four dishes and one soup.
"Wow. Hottie, your cooking is awesome." Luo Enen almost ate her tongue altogether. She called him a hottie just like Gu Fenghua did. If she could get to have so much good food every day, she did not mind calling a lump of lard handsome against her conscience.
"You are hot and your cooking is incredible," commended Gu Fenghua succinctly as she ate swiftly.
"Considering how good-looking I am, it is only natural that I am a good cook. Someone once begged to marry me after sampling my cooking. But how could anyone on earth be good enough for someone as handsome as me?" bragged Jun Lansheng nonstop. After he was done boasting, he noticed that no one responded. He lowered his head to look and was left shocked.
All the dishes on the table were almost completely wiped out. Luo Enen and Gu Fenghua continued eating quickly. Jun Lansheng promptly stopped bragging and dived into the fray and fought for food. He knew that they had huge appetites and were swift eaters, but they seemed to have broken the record today.
After they were done eating, they ate fruit leisurely as they discussed their route.
The freshmen exercise was the same every year and students would steal from their peers and look for resources. Things seemed to be proceeding smoothly. However, something happened to one of the teachers guarding the entrance of the mountain on this fateful day. During the freshmen exercise, teachers would come in to assist students who had sent out the signal flare. Teachers were positioned at the entrance, its outskirts, and inside the mountain so that they could reach the students in need of help as soon as possible.
Someone had sent out the first signal flare and it was a teacher instead of a student.
The students' signal flares were red while teachers used green flares. Everyone was puzzled when they saw a green flare shoot into the sky. It was already too late by the time the teachers nearby got there. All they saw were two unrecognizable mutilated bodies when they arrived.
"Who could be capable of such cruel acts?" The teachers who had arrived to help were furious as they examined the bodies lying on the ground.
The corpses on the ground were new Celestial Academy teachers. Even though they were new and inexperienced teachers, they were passable fighters. Since they ought to be able to handle the outskirts, they were sent to guard it.
A mishap unexpectedly befell them and the two teachers were lying dead on the ground. One of their faces was so badly cut it was beyond recognition. The other teacher's limbs were broken and his heart had been pulled from his chest and was lying by the side completely crushed.
"Who could have done something as ruthless as this?" The teacher's fury almost transformed into a wave of energy after he inspected the dead teachers.
An older teacher who came along with him instantly stood up anxiously and said, "Notify the deputy principal this instant! Get the students to leave as soon as possible. The freshmen exercise is over."
The younger teacher stood up in surprise. Before he managed to ask, the older teacher hurriedly explained, "They are the top-level criminals, the Diabolic Duo! Since the students are no match for them, they are in grave danger. Get everyone to leave the mountain. I will inform our superiors and start to encircle and apprehend them."
"Oh my! Is it them?" It was evident that the younger teacher knew who they were and his face instantly looked worried. These criminals called themselves the Golden Couple and were a husband and wife team better known as the Diabolic Duo. They were hardened criminals and utterly ruthless.
The man was fond of pulling out his victims' hearts and crushing them while the woman would disfigure anyone better looking than her. Both of them were cunning and cautious, so they managed to escape the law all this time. They were classified as wanted criminals across the land and were very formidable, so the freshmen were certainly no match for them.
The older teacher felt puzzled. Even though the Diabolic Duo was ruthless, they valued their lives, so they were cautious in nature and never touched people from powerful families. They would never have tried to provoke someone as influential as the Celestial Academy.
The two teachers that were attacked were dressed in Celestial Academy's teachers' uniforms and were clearly on the teaching staff. How could the Diabolic Duo dare to provoke them? Were they not afraid that Celestial Academy would come after them?
Teachers arrived on the scene one after another and were appalled by the sight. The deputy principal who was in charge of the exercise promptly sent out a signal flare to summon the students back.
Gu Fenghua and the others naturally saw the signal flare.
"A signal to retreat?" said Gu Fenghua softly as she frowned slightly while she looked at the yellow signal flares shooting into the sky repeatedly.
"What's going on?" Luo Enen ate a piece of beef jerky as she blinked and looked at the yellow signal flare in the sky quizzically.
"What happened? Why did they end up sending the yellow signal flare to retreat?" Jun Lansheng raised this head and frowned as well.
"Something must have happened. Also, it is quite serious." Gu Fenghua looked somewhat solemn. "This is the second time in the history of Celestial Academy's freshmen exercise that a signal flare was sent for students to retreat."
"What happened the first time?" asked Luo Enen curiously as she swallowed the last piece of beef jerky.
"Two powerful demon beasts appeared in the mountains. They injured over 100 students and one teacher," said Gu Fenghua calmly.
"Powerful demon beasts? Were there no deaths? Were there only casualties?" Jun Lansheng opened his eyes wide in surprise. "How is that possible? Were they trying to capture the demon beasts? Or did the demon beasts get annoyed by the humans and decide to attack?"
"Neither." Gu Fenghua's lips twitched as she said, "The demon beasts were fighting and chasing each other through the mountains, so some students and a teacher were inadvertently injured."
"Huh?" Luo Enen and Jun Lansheng opened their eyes wide. "Are you for real? Couldn't they have dodged the beasts?"
"They did their utmost to evade them, but still ended up injured. I heard that the beasts were incredibly powerful, so they didn't give a damn about the students. Otherwise it wouldn't have been just a simple matter of injuries. They would more likely kill everyone without leaving a single corpse intact."
"What happened in the end? What happened to the demon beasts?" asked Luo Enen.
"Nothing else happened. They left after they were done fighting and disappeared. The exercise simply ended halfway," continued Gu Fenghua. "Enough. Let's go back. I wonder what happened this time."