After Clearing the Infinite Flow, I Tamed the Mad Dog Boss - Chapter 32

“That’s fine. If you die, it only proves you weren’t qualified to pursue me.” Qin Xian’s voice was icy. “I only like the strong, after all.”

The Student Council President smiled too. “How heartless of you, Teacher Qin… Unfortunately, I really don’t know where the master of this Domain is hiding. I only arrived half a day before you, so I haven’t figured out all the rules yet. But I can still tell you everything I do know—as long as you come rest with me in the Student Council office.”

Qin Xian stood up and walked into the teaching building. He entered the now-empty Class 2203 and found himself a seat.

The president followed close behind and dragged over a chair to sit beside him.

He shook his head and sighed with apparently sincere concern. “My office is so much more comfortable. Why won’t you let me do something nice for you?”

“Cut the crap. Tell me what you know, unless you’d rather I beat it out of you.”

The president looked at Qin Xian’s restless fist and heaved another long sigh. “Fine. What do you want to know?”

Qin Xian pointed at the armband on his arm without a word.

The president understood immediately. Smiling, he pulled the Student Council armband from his right arm and placed it in Qin Xian’s palm.

It vanished at once, only to reappear on the president’s arm a second later.

The president spread his hands. “It’s useless. Your role is a teacher, Teacher Qin, and only students can serve on the Student Council.”

“Meaning you can give it to another student?”

The president nodded. “That I can.”

“Can I change my role? Or are any of the students outside rescuers?”

“Roles can’t be changed. Outsiders over eighteen won’t be assigned student roles. They can only become faculty, maintenance workers, or something similar.”

Qin Xian gave him an idle once-over. “You’re eighteen?”

The Student Council President smiled with a strange, coy shyness. “That’s right. I just turned eighteen.”

His tone was perfectly normal, but Qin Xian could not help remembering all the short videos he had seen lately—the ones where people pinched their voices high and cooed, *I just turned eighteen~*

There came the goose bumps again.

In any case, it seemed there was no way to exploit a loophole with the armband.

The president suddenly added, “Actually, an armband doesn’t guarantee you won’t be attacked. Someone higher-ranking, or a more powerful aberration, can take it away directly.”

“Higher-ranking… So this Domain has a hierarchy? Explain.”

“Outside faculty are at the bottom. Then come students, followed by official teachers, student leaders and other administrators, and finally missionary teachers. There seem to be ranks above that, but I don’t know what they are.”

Qin Xian frowned. “Missionary teachers? Could it be…”

A name flashed through his mind. “The Ghost Path?”

The president nodded. “I think that’s what it’s called. Oh, speaking of which, the next period is religious studies. Every class has it, and each one will be taught by a missionary teacher.”

There was no need to guess what the lesson involved. They would be brainwashing the students with their doctrine.

“Have the students attended this class before?”

“No. Yesterday was too chaotic. Too many people resisted, so a lot of the teaching never took place.”

Qin Xian lowered his head in thought.

If they had not begun preaching to the students yet, then he had every reason to disrupt this lesson. It was fortunate that the enemy was so inefficient.

Just then, the school bell exploded through the teaching building. A voice came over the speakers.

“Religious studies will begin shortly. All students must return to their classrooms and prepare for class within three minutes. Anyone late will be executed!”

The moment the announcement ended, the building grew even more restless. The students who had fled earlier poked their heads out in terror. Some had already started returning to their classrooms.

As students began filing into Class 2203, Qin Xian braced himself against a desk and rose with some difficulty.

The Student Council President followed him. Seizing the opportunity, he suggested ingratiatingly, “If you don’t want to rest in my office, Teacher Qin, why not use the faculty office? It’s the easternmost room on every floor.”

Qin Xian did not answer, but he began walking toward the eastern end of the first floor. After making his way through the streams of students, he found the office exactly where promised.

Several people were already inside. They all turned when he pushed open the door.

Qin Xian dropped into the nearest empty chair and leaned sideways against its back, openly studying everyone else in the room.

They were clearly not students. Every one of them wore a black trigram robe and a black face covering, both embroidered in gold and red with a strange emblem. The outer ring resembled the Eight Trigrams, but instead of yin and yang at its center, there was a red, fanged ghost head.

No need to think about it. These people belonged to the Ghost Path.

As Qin Xian looked them over, they did the same to him. One middle-aged man approached first, wearing the kind of smile seen on a multilevel-marketing recruiter.

“Hello. Are you an unaffiliated practitioner?”

Qin Xian smiled. “That’s a funny way to put it. What are you, then—government issue?”

Even after that jab, the man kept smiling. “The Ghost Path is the most legitimate and powerful organization in existence today. Would you like to join us? We warmly welcome strong people such as yourself.”

“Heh.” Qin Xian’s smile did not reach his eyes. “A powerful organization shouldn’t need to recruit like a pimp hunting for business.”

The man’s smile faded slightly. “Our organization is powerful. Ordinary people couldn’t join even if they begged, but exceptional talent like yours is always welcome.”

Qin Xian rested his cheek on one hand. Boneless with fatigue, he had nearly sprawled his entire upper body across the desk beside him.

“Do you actually know what you’re doing?” he asked disdainfully. “Do you even know what your organization does?”

“Of course I do!” the man replied at once. “We’re a branch of Daoism. Now that evil spirits have overrun the world, we’ve emerged from seclusion to save humanity!”

Qin Xian rolled his eyes. The sheer nerve of using Daoism’s name for this garbage. These people truly were stupid, and thoroughly brainwashed besides.

“And by ‘saving humanity,’ you mean imprisoning and torturing nearly a thousand students, perhaps even killing them?”

The office fell silent for a moment. Then someone immediately protested, “Of course not! We’re only teaching the world the cruel truth!”

The man recovered as well. “That’s right. The world has fallen into chaos, and the ghosts of the underworld have invaded the human realm. We’re helping these children understand the truth! We’re making them stronger so they can survive in this chaotic world!”

Qin Xian’s eyes went cold. “And if a child is injured or killed?”

“Then it proves they weren’t fit to survive in a world like this. Even if they didn’t die now, they would never make it in the future. They might as well be released from their suffering sooner. To put it plainly, it’s survival of the fittest!”

Madness shone in the man’s eyes. The others in the office wore much the same look, with only a scant few showing any hesitation.

Qin Xian turned directly to the Student Council President. “Go. Beat them up and shut their mouths.”

The man froze. He had just opened his mouth to laugh when the boy beside Qin Xian—the one who looked as if he had not quite finished growing—shot forward too fast for the eye to follow.

A fist slammed into the man’s eye socket. Agony exploded through his skull, and before he could scream, a second blow knocked him unconscious.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing, brat?! We’ll kill you!”

The only answer was another fist.

The rest of the office swarmed him, but five or six grown adults could not overpower one half-grown boy.

Qin Xian propped up his head and watched through half-lidded eyes, taking in every movement.

The bastard fought with the recklessness of someone who did not fear death. He never bothered protecting his own vital points. Yet every attack he made went straight for someone else’s: throat, temple, the soft abdomen below the ribs…

Even so, his strength was impeccably controlled. He beat them until they lay helpless on the floor, but for now, no one was dead.

Strangest of all was the faint lack of coordination in his movements. He was inordinately fond of thrusting both hands forward together when he attacked.

Whatever he was, he certainly did not look human.

After finishing off the cultists, the Student Council President strode back to Qin Xian with a smug expression.

“Well? Am I strong? Didn’t I obey you?”

Qin Xian, who had only just claimed that he liked people who were strong and did as he said, closed his eyes.

As he relaxed, he considered what to do with the Student Council President. He still did not know what the thing wanted, but…

If it was going to claim it would obey his every word, it would be a terrible waste not to make full use of it.

After resting for a few minutes, Qin Xian opened his eyes and gave another order. “You. Go see whether the police who entered have made it over here. If they have, tell them to guard the power switches and make sure no one damages the broadcast system. By the way, do you know where the broadcast room is?”

The president smiled and answered obediently, “Yes. It’s the small office in the middle of the third floor.”

Qin Xian rose unhurriedly and headed for the door. Once he reached it, he glanced back at the president, who was still admiring the view of his retreating figure.

“Are you coming or not?”

“Yes. As you command.”

Only then did he move, walking out of the room.

Qin Xian went straight to the third floor and found the broadcast room. When he pushed the door open, he saw a drowsy man sitting inside.

The man immediately became alert. He rose to challenge Qin Xian—and Qin Xian punched him in the face. He hit the floor with a thud.

Qin Xian sat down in front of the computer and stared at the unfamiliar operating system. A faint touch of regret came over him.

He should have kept the man conscious long enough to ask how to use it before knocking him out.

Still, it probably was not that difficult.

He examined the interface, selected every available broadcast zone—Teaching Building One, Teaching Building Two, Field One, and the rest—then dragged the volume to maximum. After adjusting the microphone, he pressed an icon marked “Record.”

“Testing, testing?”

“TESTING, TESTING!”

His voice thundered outside at once. Qin Xian winced and rubbed one ear.

But this was exactly what he wanted: enough noise to drown out every other voice and silence the people trying to spread their poison through the lessons.

Sure enough, after he had tested the microphone a few times, an enraged shout rose outside.

“Who’s using the broadcast system?! Get in there and shut him up!”

Qin Xian watched the door. Footsteps raced toward it, but before the person reached the threshold, there came a muffled grunt and the sound of a body hitting the floor.

Qin Xian looked up.

The Student Council President stepped inside and leaned against the doorframe, smug satisfaction written all over his face.

“Well? I finished the job before I came over. Don’t I deserve some praise?”

Qin Xian was silent.

The way this creature came begging for praise after completing a task…

He really did resemble a dog.