The grand hallways of Azure Crest Institute echoed with Headmaster Róng Míngxiù's fury as she lashed out at her students, her voice sharp and grating. The words stung like poison. "Imbeciles!!! How could you let those idiots, those scoundrels, win against us?! Are you mad!!" Her fists clenched, her eyes blazing as she looked over her students in shame and anger.
Mei Xue, Fù Rèn, Feng Kai, Mù Yǒng, and Guŏ Suàn stood before her, heads bowed, shoulders tense. All except for Guŏ Suàn. He met her gaze coolly, unaffected by her tirade. He knew this loss wasn't on him. He had watched Xuan Jing slip into an unhinged rage because of the little "test" Guŏ Suàn had thrown his way. In truth, Guŏ Suàn had anticipated this outcome from the beginning.
"You are now lower than trash!!!" Róng Míngxiù spat, her words dripping with disdain. She scanned their faces, her glare cutting like a blade, until her eyes met Guŏ Suàn's calm defiance. He muttered under his breath, barely audible, "Enough, woman."
The air went still, and for a brief moment, even she faltered, her mouth twitching in barely contained rage. But instead of directing her wrath solely at him, she redirected it at the group, her voice laced with frustration. "We're the laughing stock of every institute, while those three fools have already stepped into the Hall of Resonance!"
With one last, furious look, she turned and stormed out, slamming the door behind her. The silence that followed was thick and suffocating.
Fù Rèn let out a sigh, massaging her temples. "Well, that went well," she muttered, her voice heavy with sarcasm.
The others shared in her exasperation, each weighed down by the humiliation. But Mei Xue wasn't ready to let it go. She clenched her fists, anger simmering as she recalled how Míng Hào had humiliated her on the battlefield. It was a blow to her pride she couldn't ignore.
"Pathetic," Guŏ Suàn's voice cut through the silence, his tone cold and dismissive. His words were like fuel poured over smoldering embers, igniting the lingering resentment in the others.
Feng Kai's eyes narrowed, his voice dripping with indignation. "Hey, you're acting like you didn't lose as well!"
Guŏ Suàn paused, glancing over his shoulder with an icy stare that made the temperature in the room drop. In that moment, his gaze mirrored the intensity of Xuan Jing, and a shiver ran through them, memories of that brutal fight surfacing. "I lost to someone no one in this institute can beat," he replied, his tone edged with finality.
The comment stung, and an uneasy silence settled over the room. Mei Xue's pride couldn't let that remark slide. Her eyes flashed as she stepped forward, voice laced with venom. "What makes you so damn special, Guŏ Suàn? Acting like you're above us—like you're untouchable. We all know what your real weakness is."
A muscle in Guŏ Suàn's jaw twitched, his expression darkening. A dangerous glint appeared in his eyes as her words struck a nerve. His fists clenched, and a primal urge stirred within him, a shadowed voice at the edge of his consciousness whispering, Eat them.
"Watch your mouth, Mei Xue," he warned, his voice low and menacing.
But she smirked, undeterred. "Or what? You'll lose control again? Just like before?Xuan Jing, he beat you without even trying."
Something snapped. Guŏ Suàn's restraint shattered, and he moved faster than anyone could track. He was on her in an instant, fist driving into her jaw with a force that sent her sprawling across the floor, blood spurting from her split lip. Before she could react, he closed the distance, eyes blazing with something feral and dangerous.
Feng Kai, enraged at the sight of his friend beaten, lunged at Guŏ Suàn, his fist aimed for Guŏ's face. But Guŏ Suàn sidestepped effortlessly, grabbing Feng Kai by the arm and twisting it behind his back with a sickening crack. Feng Kai screamed as his shoulder dislocated, and Guŏ Suàn shoved him to the ground, dismissing him as if he were nothing.
Mù Yǒng hesitated, but the sight of his friends bleeding on the floor pushed him to action. He charged, only for Guŏ Suàn to catch him mid-swing, lifting him by his collar and slamming him into the wall. Mù Yǒng's head hit the wall with a sickening thud, his body going limp as he slid to the floor, blood dripping from a gash above his eyebrow.
The room was in chaos, blood staining the floor as Guŏ Suàn's inner instincts clawed their way to the surface. His breathing grew ragged, and the shadows in his gaze darkened as the voice in his mind urged him to go further, to break them completely.
"Guŏ Suàn, stop!" Fù Rèn shouted, her voice desperate as she tried to approach him. But he shot her a glare so filled with murderous intent that she froze in her tracks, fear rooting her to the spot.
Just then, a group of council members rushed into the room, alerted by the noise. They took in the scene—three students on the floor, blood staining their uniforms, and Guŏ Suàn standing over them, eyes wild and unhinged. They moved to restrain him, surrounding him from all sides.
But he didn't go down easily. Guŏ Suàn fought back, his movements fueled by a primal, almost predatory instinct. One council member lunged at him, only to be met with a brutal knee to the stomach that left him gasping for air. Another tried to grab him from behind, but Guŏ Suàn twisted free, delivering a sharp elbow to the man's jaw that sent him sprawling.
It took nearly half the council to finally subdue him, pinning him to the ground with a struggle that left bruises on more than a few of them. Even restrained, Guŏ Suàn's eyes burned with a dark, unsettling hunger, his mind echoing with the whisper, Eat them… they're nothing… just prey…
As they dragged him away, the bloodied, battered bodies of his peers lay strewn across the floor, their faces etched with fear and disbelief. Guŏ Suàn's cold, predatory gaze lingered on them.
And only one thing flooded in his mind like voices urging gim.
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