Chapter 709: Shikoku Gakuin’s Underground
Kyoto, Central District, Shikoku Gakuin. The elite academy, once filled with youthful vitality and academic atmosphere, was now shrouded in a grim and tense atmosphere. The once-open campus boundaries were now completely enveloped by a large, circular, pale blue semi-transparent energy light membrane. Faint arcs of electricity occasionally flowed across the surface of the light membrane, emitting heart-pounding energy fluctuations, clearly indicating an extremely powerful defensive force field.
Inside the academy, the teaching buildings, gymnasiums, and libraries that were usually filled with joyous laughter were now occupied by various unique defensive devices on their rooftop platforms, exuding a sense of advanced technology or spiritual energy ripples. Automated aiming energy cannons, constantly rotating rune detectors scanning the surroundings, and massive amplification devices connected to underground energy pipelines.
If Kazumi were here, she would notice the subtle differences. These were not hastily set up; their bases perfectly integrated with the building structures, and the edges even showed signs of wear from long-term use and interfaces for daily maintenance. All of this clearly indicated that this top-tier institution, housing tens of thousands of students, hid an extremely sturdy and powerfully armed war fortress beneath its glittering facade!
On the campus roads, the leisurely students and faculty were gone, replaced by teams of solemn-faced, well-equipped patrol units. They were clearly divided into two types of uniforms: one was deep blue, adorned with police badges, their actions marked by the decisive discipline of the Kyoto Police Special Mobile Unit; the other consisted of professional heroes in various colored combat suits, wearing the Heroes Association emblem, emitting powerful energy fluctuations all over their bodies.
Whether police or heroes, their eyes were sharp, their steps steady, and they communicated with each other through concise hand gestures and low-toned communicators, forming an airtight defense network. The air was filled with an invisible pressure, the powerful aura naturally formed by the convergence of countless strong practitioners standing by in full battle array.
It was clear that after learning that the [Dark] Organization had targeted Shikoku Gakuin, the Heroes Association and the Kyoto Police Department had mobilized all their elite forces, turning this place into a veritable iron bucket.
At the grand yet now tightly shut main gate of Shikoku Gakuin, a small, even slightly hunched white-haired old man stood as straight as if he were nailed to the ground. His face was a roadmap of the years, his expression exuding authority without anger. His rare golden eyes flickered with tiny sparks of lightning as they opened and closed. He was none other than the Heroes Association’s number one hero stationed in Kyoto – Thundery, Hamano Tsukasa. He gazed solemnly at the still bustling but now invisibly isolated city beyond the energy light membrane, deep in thought.
“Hey, Hamano!”
Suddenly, a slightly hoarse but powerful shout came from the entrance of the isolation zone set up by the police outside the school.
A middle-aged man in tattered ronin attire, looking unkempt, was lazily walking from the entrance of the isolation zone. A seemingly simple and unadorned sword was casually tucked into his waist. His messy black hair was tied high in a ponytail at the back of his head, and his face bore the marks of wind and dust, with a few faded old scars, giving him the appearance of having just completed a long journey.
The police guards seemed to recognize him and did not stop him, merely saluting respectfully before letting him pass.
The newcomer was Minamoto Shunko.
“Hmm, you’re back?” Hamano Tsukasa snapped out of his deep contemplation and looked at his approaching old friend without much change in his expression.
“This time it’s what kind of mess?” Minamoto Shunko walked familiarly to Hamano Tsukasa’s side, complaining as if to himself, “Things in the capital have been endless, and Riku’s girl is almost driven crazy. If she weren’t the guardian hero there, with her duties, she would have flown back with wings this time. The troublemakers there are like flies, kill one batch and another appears, it’s disgusting, impossible to clean up.”
As he spoke, he very naturally took out a crumpled pack of cigarettes from his pocket, shook out a cigarette, put it in his mouth, and took out an old-fashioned metal lighter. With a “snap,” he lit it and took a deep drag, a look of satisfaction and weariness on his face.
“Sigh, being a firefighter, I haven’t had a peaceful day. The incidents at various prisons are not completely settled, and the scum from [Dark] have been too active lately, fanning flames everywhere. Hey, old Lei, honestly, I shouldn’t have taken this job from you back then. If I had stayed in Nagoya, properly managed my dojo, taught disciples, and had some tea, how comfortable would that have been.”
He exhaled a long breath of gray-white smoke. As the smoke drifted towards Hamano Tsukasa, he seemed to suddenly remember something and quickly turned his head away slightly. But then he remembered that his old friend was also a heavy smoker, so there was no need to be too avoidant. He then offered the crumpled cigarette pack again, waving it in front of Hamano Tsukasa.
“Hmm? The usual, want one?”
“No need,” Hamano Tsukasa waved his hand, directly refusing his offer. He glanced at Minamoto Shunko’s undisguised exhaustion and stated after a moment of silence, “You’ve worked hard. There have indeed been many things lately.”
“Huh?!”
Hamano Tsukasa’s unusually mild reply, with a hint of gentleness, caused Minamoto Shunko’s initially unrestrained and cynical expression to instantly vanish. The cigarette in his mouth almost fell out. He knew his old friend too well. With Hamano Tsukasa’s usual stubborn and abrasive temper, under normal circumstances, upon hearing his complaints, he would have already been fuming, calling him “useless,” “lazy,” and “complaining about such a small matter.”
But now, not only did he not scold him, but he actually said “you’ve worked hard” for the first time?
When something is out of the ordinary, there must be a reason!
Minamoto Shunko’s expression immediately turned serious, and he lowered his voice, asking, “This matter… is it that serious?”
He knew that if even Hamano Tsukasa could put away his temper and become so “polite,” it could only mean that the situation was so dire that even this number one hero had to treat it with extreme seriousness, possibly even requiring all his strength.
“Well, it’s alright.”
Hamano Tsukasa shook his head, his golden eyes sweeping over the surrounding defending forces. “It’s just that this time they’re playing openly, and their target is clearly here. Much of the Association’s and the police’s regular forces are tied down by disturbances elsewhere, and the places where evil guys are imprisoned also need to be reinforced. It’s difficult to mobilize them easily. The high-end combat power that can be deployed and is sufficient to deal with this level of conflict is currently only you few.”
He explained, his tone still calm, but with a hint of helplessness. It had been a turbulent time recently, and due to his own physical condition, he could only remain in Kyoto. Many external emergency matters relied on Minamoto Shunko to handle, truly making him work hard. A word of thanks was indeed appropriate. .”
“Ah, I see… It’s good that nothing major happened.” Minamoto Shunko finally breathed a sigh of relief, as long as it wasn’t a crisis where the sky was falling. He returned to his somewhat jerky demeanor and looked around at the exaggerated defensive formation in the academy, clicking his tongue in amazement.
“But this setup… is the academy the main target of this attack? I heard from that kid Zhen that the school was closed and cleared out in advance? Who the heck is so brave to directly target here? Last time they caught everyone off guard with a time difference, but with our current setup, how could they possibly succeed so easily?”
He counted on his fingers: “With you, Thundery, Hamano Tsukasa, here, with Ming and those guys, and the old cunning… old experts from the police, what organization would dare to make such a decision? Sacrificing their entire fortune to bite this hard bone? Could it be those persistent guys from [Dark] again?”
In Minamoto Shunko’s opinion, the defensive strength here was almost excessive. Even Hetuan, the trump card of the academy principal, had been activated. This was the location of the Kyoto Association and the Police Headquarters! The success of the previous attack was largely due to the [Dark] Organization having been dormant for too long, and no one expected them to suddenly attack Shikoku Gakuin, and in a non-core area at that, which caused a time lag in the deployment of defensive forces. Now, the entire system was operating at full capacity. Unless the [Dark] Organization launched a reckless all-out attack, there would be no chance of success.
“It’s [Dark],” Hamano Tsukasa confirmed his guess, his tone serious. “We received reliable intel from an internal informant. Their core target this time is Shikoku Gakuin… or rather, Hetuan.”
“Holy crap! They’re serious?! They’re coming for Hetuan?!”
Minamoto Shunko was truly astonished this time, but after the astonishment, his face was instantly replaced by extreme excitement and a burning desire for battle. “These lunatics! They actually dare to set their sights on Kyoto! But… that’s good too!”
He instinctively touched the hilt of his sword, a sharp glint flashing in his eyes. “With you guys holding them off on the front lines, I can find an opportunity to settle old scores with those old rivals!”
“Yes, there will be an opportunity.” Hamano Tsukasa nodded, turning and walking towards the academy’s interior. “Come, go with me to the academy’s core. Hetuan will tell you the specific defensive deployment and assign you a defense area.”
Minamoto Shunko immediately followed his old friend’s footsteps.
The two walked one after another, passing through the heavily guarded main road of the campus, bypassing several teaching buildings, and finally arriving at a mountain forest area behind the academy that was designated as a restricted zone. Passing through a seemingly ordinary forest trail, a cleverly disguised cave entrance appeared on the rock face of the mountain.
Entering the cave, it was not a natural cave as imagined, but a high-tech metallic passageway. Lights automatically turned on, and scanning beams passed over the two.
“Identity confirmed: Hamano Tsukasa, Codename ‘Thundery’, Clearance Level: Highest.”
“Identity confirmed: Minamoto Shunko, Codename ‘Jinwu’, Clearance Level: Temporarily Granted – Highest.”
A cold electronic synthesized voice sounded, and a heavy alloy door silently slid open.
“Whoa! This is the first time I’ve been here, it’s quite fancy inside!” Minamoto Shunko exclaimed curiously.
Behind the door was a spacious elevator. The two walked in, the elevator doors closed, and then began to descend at an extremely rapid speed, a sense of weightlessness faintly palpable.
After about half a minute, the elevator slowly came to a stop. The doors opened again, and the view suddenly opened up.
Directly opposite the elevator was an independent room separated by a giant glass screen wall. The arrangement inside the room was quite simple, with only a large desk. And behind the desk… A semi-transparent blue slime, the size of a computer tower and resembling jelly, was extending two sticky tentacles. One was holding a thick book, and the other was holding a specially made teacup, seemingly reading while drinking tea.
Hearing the movement of the elevator, the blue slime – the current principal of Shikoku Gakuin, the 15th ranked hero of the Heroes Association, [Blue Demon] Nenchō Hetuan – raised its head. Ripples spread across its sticky body, and a gentle, youthful voice emanated, “Old Lei, you’re back. Shunko is also here? That’s rare.”
“Yo, Hetuan, long time no see!” Minamoto Shunko greeted with a smile, curiously examining the place where Hetuan’s true form resided. He knew that even the Hetuan he saw when he visited the principal’s office on previous business was likely just a significant clone. “This time I finally get to see your true form. I didn’t expect you to be hidden so deeply.”
“Heh heh, it’s for duty. Clones feel the same as me, so it’s not really a long time no see.” Hetuan chuckled a couple of times, and a slimy arm extended from inside its body, scratching its head apologetically. Although it said so, after all, they had been friends for so long, it was indeed a bit inappropriate to have met only through clones for so long.
Hamano Tsukasa, who had walked in, skipped the pleasantries and got straight to the point, “Hetuan, please arrange Shunko’s defense area and permissions. Also, confirm the target’s situation.”
“Hmm, okay,” Hetuan responded. Its sticky body immediately stretched out, part of it transforming into a clear blue screen that floated in front of Minamoto Shunko, displaying a detailed structural diagram of Shikoku Gakuin and the deep underground. Another part condensed into a thinner, longer finger, pointing to a certain area on the map and beginning to explain the planned defense position, energy node support range, and emergency plans to Minamoto Shunko in detail.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the room, the giant glass curtain wall, which had been displaying data streams, suddenly became transparent, revealing a larger, darker space behind it. The scene inside this gradually revealed space was eerie.
There were no cold scientific instruments or energy conduits here. Instead, semi-transparent blue slime mucus, like living things, slowly wriggled and flowed, filling the entire vast space. The mucus emitted a soft, ethereal glow, becoming the sole light source in this space, casting everything in a hazy and eerie blue.
And in the center of this viscous, seemingly boundless blue ocean, through the semi-transparent gel, a figure could be vaguely seen. In the mucus, a completely naked, extremely emaciated man floated quietly in the very center of this space…
