An invisible stream of information quietly merged into a shell that had just lost its heartbeat at Nankai University.
Ian—or rather, this body carrying Ian's informational consciousness—reopened its eyes. After a brief period of adaptation, he took full control of the physical form.
After reviewing the available data, Ian discovered that he was now a student at Nankai University, and he happened to have a classmate named Zhang Chulan. It appeared that his informational segment had successfully transmigrated into the world of Under One Person.
Through observing Zhang Chulan's daily routine, Ian determined that the main plot should still be some time away from starting. He then took a few days of leave, dug down to the Earth's core, and conveniently replenished a bit of his EMC value while there.
Afterward, he returned to campus in the guise of an ordinary college student and began secretly observing Zhang Chulan.
Two and a half days later.
In the dormitory next door, Zhang Chulan's voice drifted through the poorly soundproofed walls, carrying irrepressible anxiety and shock.
"What?! Someone dug up my grandfather's grave?"
"Even the body is gone?!"
Zhang Chulan's panicked roar followed; his voice had gone completely out of tune.
Ian leaned against the doorframe, a slight curve appearing at the corners of his mouth. Finally, the plot was beginning, which meant the fun was about to start.
Without alerting anyone, he vanished, his form turning into a shadow that quietly attached itself to the back of Zhang Chulan as the latter hurried off campus.
The dark curtain of night blanketed the silent graveyard.
Today, this place was far different from usual; ghostly winds howled, and paper money lay scattered across the ground. When Zhang Chulan arrived, he found the atmosphere incredibly eerie. He forced himself to stay alert, only to suddenly spot a girl with messy hair and a face smeared with mud, carrying a shovel and digging into the graves.
This person was none other than Feng Baobao.
Zhang Chulan instinctively assumed that the person before him was the one who had stolen his grandfather's body. He immediately took a combat stance and stepped forward to question her.
Ian stood in the shadow of an old locust tree dozens of meters away, his vast perception quietly spreading out.
'Hoh, quite a crowd here.'
Was the All-Encompassing Heaven group really so intent on making such a fuss over a Zhang Chulan who had just popped onto their radar?
Ian carefully distinguished the auras he perceived.
One aura was charming and seductive, leaking an enticingly coquettish vibe—that should be 'Bone-Scraping Knife' Xia He.
One aura was gloomy and reserved, as if it could hook the deepest greed in one's heart—that should be 'Root of Disaster' Shen Chong.
One aura was ethereal and unstable, seemingly able to silently pluck at emotions to make one frantic or intoxicated—that should be 'Gut-Piercing Poison' Dou Mei.
There was another aura, chaotic and violent, filled with the urge to destroy—that should be 'Thunder-Smoke Cannon' Gao Ning.
All of the 'Four Madmen' of the All-Encompassing Heaven had actually shown up.
Beside them stood Lu Liang, who specialized in manipulating memories, and a young girl with a muddled aura that screamed 'clear-eyed stupidity' mixed with a trace of fear: Liu Yanyan.
This lineup was slightly different from the original story. This small graveyard had actually gathered masters from all walks of life. Could his appearance have caused some sort of butterfly effect?
As Ian was pondering, a sudden change occurred in the field. Zhang Chulan's questioning had yet to receive a response from Feng Baobao.
"Squeltch! Squeltch!"
Pale, rotting arms suddenly burst out from the soft soil of the graveyard. Following that, stiff corpses wearing old burial shrouds crawled out of the ground, swaying. Their rigid heads turned toward the few living people present; eerie blue flames seemed to burn in their hollow, vacant sockets as an unintelligible 'hurr-hurr' sound issued from their throats.
"Crap! Zombies?!"
Zhang Chulan let out a cry of terror and instinctively retreated a few steps, nearly tripping over a mound of dirt.
Feng Baobao's eyes remained calm. She simply rotated her wrists, acting as if she didn't consider these zombies a threat.
"There's quite a lot of them."
Just as she was about to step forward to clear out this 'trash'—
"Swish! Swish! Swish!"
Several figures suddenly lunged out from the grass and tree shadows surrounding the cemetery. It was the All-Encompassing Heaven members who had been lurking for a long time.
Xia He swayed her body provocatively and was the first to approach. Her soul-hooking pink eyes stared straight at Zhang Chulan, radiating flirtatiousness.
"Oh, little brother, you've got quite a temper."
Shen Chong and Dou Mei blocked Feng Baobao's path from the left and right. Gao Ning stood a bit further back, hands in his pockets with a playful look in his eyes; he didn't think these nameless nobodies were a match for them.
Lu Liang led Liu Yanyan behind Xia He, his gaze locking onto the dazed Zhang Chulan. Looking at the crowd that had suddenly appeared, Zhang Chulan felt a desperate urge to complain. However, before he could react, he and Feng Baobao were surrounded by these uninvited guests.
Suddenly, Zhang Chulan felt a waft of fragrant wind hit his face. His heart began to race with a strange heat, and his head grew slightly dizzy. He bit the tip of his tongue hard, the sharp pain instantly clearing his mind.
"Who are you people?! What do you want?!" he shouted at the group.
"It doesn't matter who we are," Lu Liang stepped forward, a cynical smile on his face. "What matters is exactly what secret your grandfather, Zhang Xilin, hid back then."
"The truth of the Jiashen Incident, and those legendary 'Eight Supreme Skills'... you should know about them, right?"
Seeing the group separating her from Zhang Chulan, Feng Baobao immediately drew the kitchen knife from her waist.
"You lot are so annoying."
She wrinkled her nose and blurred, charging directly at Shen Chong who was closest to her, leaving an afterimage in her wake.
"Stop her!"
Seeing such speed, Shen Chong's eyes narrowed as he realized the person before him was no amateur.
Dou Mei, beside him, moved instantly. An invisible wave expanded with her as the center. Feng Baobao's charging figure suddenly jerked, as if she had stepped into thick mire; her speed dropped abruptly.
At the same time, Gao Ning grinned. The air around him seemed to grow frantic and restless. An invisible pressure mixed with a violent aura shrouded Feng Baobao like a physical weight, attempting to detonate the hidden negative emotions in her heart to make her lose her usual composure.
Feeling her speed decrease, Feng Baobao frowned slightly, but her movements did not stop completely.
"Hands off!"
She gave a low shout, forcibly resisting the influence of Dou Mei's ability. Her kitchen knife whistled through the air as she slashed at Shen Chong.
Shen Chong didn't dare take the hit head-on and nimbly retreated while pressing his palms forward. A strange suction force issued from his palms, seemingly draining the vitality of the surroundings—even the Qi naturally dissipating from Feng Baobao was being pulled.
Gao Ning's violent aura and Dou Mei's sensory interference acted like two invisible nets, continuously draping over Feng Baobao.
For a moment, Feng Baobao was actually pinned down by the combined, eerie abilities of Shen Chong, Dou Mei, and Gao Ning. Though her physical skills were formidable and her Qi volume was staggering, under the clever coordination of the trio, she was like someone stuck in a swamp, unable to immediately break the encirclement.