Chapter 25: The Shadow in the Mirror
The Student Council Office of the South Block was not a classroom. It was a penthouse suite located at the top of the central tower.
Leather sofas, rare spirit fruits in crystal bowls, and a panoramic view of the sea of clouds.
Jiang Chen sat on the leather chair that used to belong to Lei Zhen. He tossed the Student Council Badge onto the mahogany desk.
"This place is ridiculous," Jiang Chen muttered, popping a Spirit Grape into his mouth. "Students are starving in the dorms while the Council drinks wine that costs 500 points a bottle."
"It's ours now, Boss!" Fatty Wei was already raiding the mini-fridge. "Look! Ice-Spirit Soda! This stuff is vintage!"
Gu Linger was floating near the ceiling, throwing darts at a portrait of the previous President. "Boring. When can we kill more people?"
"Soon," Jiang Chen said. He looked at his hand. The Netherworld Fragment was quiet, but his Qi was restless.
He checked his System.
[Quest Complete: Clean the Trash.]
[Reward: +1 Level.]
[Current Realm: Qi Gathering 4th Stage.]
"4th Stage," Jiang Chen clenched his fist. The black-gold Qi hummed. "I'm catching up."
Suddenly, the lights in the office flickered.
The temperature dropped. It wasn't the cold of ice. It was the cold of killing intent.
"Fatty, Linger," Jiang Chen said calmly. "Get out."
"Huh?" Fatty Wei blinked, holding a soda. "Why?"
"Because we have a guest. And he didn't knock."
The shadows in the corner of the room elongated. They stretched across the floor like spilled ink, pooling behind Jiang Chen's chair.
"Go!" Jiang Chen roared.
Fatty Wei grabbed Gu Linger and dived out the window, activating his Emergency Parachute Pack.
As they fell, a black blade materialized from the shadow behind Jiang Chen.
It aimed for his throat.
SHING.
Jiang Chen didn't turn. He leaned back, tilting his head.
The blade sliced a single hair from his bangs.
"You missed," Jiang Chen whispered.
He spun the chair around, driving his Demon Arm into the shadow.
SPLAT.
His hand hit something solid. A groan echoed from the darkness.
A figure burst out of the shadows, flipping backward to land on the desk.
He was dressed in a sleek, skin-tight suit made of Void-Silk. No face, just a smooth black mask.
[Enemy: Jiang Clan Shadow Guard (Number 7)]
[Realm: Qi Gathering 9th Stage (Assassin Specialist)]
"Number 7," Jiang Chen stood up. "Jiang Tianhao sent a numbered dog? I'm insulted."
The assassin didn't speak. He moved.
He dissolved into smoke. Unlike the students, this was a professional killer. He didn't use flashy moves. He used efficiency.
Slash. Slash. Slash.
Three cuts appeared on Jiang Chen's body instantly. One on the thigh, one on the shoulder, one across the chest.
Blood sprayed, painting the expensive rug crimson.
"Fast," Jiang Chen hissed, the pain flaring. His Qi Armor hadn't even registered the hits.
"Die," the Assassin whispered.
He appeared directly in front of Jiang Chen, his dagger glowing purple—Neurotoxin.
He stabbed Jiang Chen's heart.
Jiang Chen didn't block. He stepped into the blade.
SHLUCK.
The dagger pierced Jiang Chen's chest, missing the heart by an inch, burying itself to the hilt in his lung.
"Got you," the Assassin sneered. "The poison will liquefy your organs in three seconds."
Jiang Chen looked down at the dagger in his chest. Then he looked at the Assassin.
He smiled.
Blood bubbled between his teeth.
"My turn."
His Void Body activated.
It didn't reject the poison. It drank it.
[System Alert: High-Grade Toxin Detected.]
[Absorbing... Converting to Demon Qi.]
Jiang Chen's eyes turned pitch black.
He grabbed the Assassin's arm with his right hand. The Netherworld Armor manifested, jagged spikes digging into the Assassin's flesh.
"You..." The Assassin realized he couldn't pull away. "You're not dying?"
"I'm starving."
Jiang Chen twisted.
CRACK.
He snapped the Assassin's arm at the elbow. Bone jutted out through the black suit.
"ARGH!"
Jiang Chen didn't let go. He pulled the screaming Assassin closer.
He opened his mouth.
Beast King's Roar.
Point blank range.
ROAR!
The sonic blast hit the Assassin's mask. The mask shattered. The Assassin's eardrums exploded in a spray of red mist. His eyes burst in their sockets.
The Assassin went limp, his brain turned to jelly.
Jiang Chen ripped the dagger out of his own chest. He coughed, spitting out a clot of black, poisoned blood. The wound began to close visibly, steam rising from his flesh.
He dropped the Assassin's body on the desk.
"Tell Father," Jiang Chen rasped to the corpse, "Send Number 1 next time."
He looted the body.
[Loot: Void-Silk Stealth Suit (Black-Tier).]
[Loot: Shadow Step Manual.]
[Loot: Encrypted Datapad.]
Jiang Chen picked up the datapad. He hacked the bio-lock using the Assassin's own severed finger.
A message displayed on the screen.
From: Patriarch.
To: Shadow Guard.
Mission: Eliminate the Failures. Start with Jiang Chen. Then locate and purge the remaining families of the 104th Division hiding in Sector 12.
Jiang Chen froze.
Sector 12. That was the slum district where the widows and orphans of his adoptive parents' unit lived.
"He's going to finish the job," Jiang Chen whispered. The temperature in the room dropped to freezing.
He walked to the window. The wind howled outside.
"Fatty! Linger! Get back up here!" Jiang Chen shouted into his comms.
A minute later, a drone carried the two terrified teammates back into the office.
"Bro, you're bleeding!" Fatty Wei gasped.
"It's fine," Jiang Chen wiped his chest. "Pack up. We're leaving the school."
"Leaving?" Gu Linger blinked. "We just conquered it!"
"The school is a cage," Jiang Chen strapped his heavy sword to his back. "The real war is in the city. The Jiang Clan is targeting the families of the 104th."
He looked at the lights of Skyscar City in the distance.
"Tonight, the South Block Tyrant goes hunting."
He jumped out the window, plummeting toward the clouds below.
[Quest Updated: The War of the Rifts.]
[Objective: Save the Families. Slaughter the Shadow Guards.]
[Reward: Access to Continent #3 (The Alchemy Realm).]