My setting is above yours!

Chapter 38 The Space About to Crack (4k2)

"what!!!"

"W-what is this?!"

"Monster! Run!"

Screams, wails, and cries of panic filled the air.

The students who were just there to get their grades had no reason to suffer this undeserved misfortune.

Upon seeing a monster rush out of the teachers' office, everyone immediately screamed and ran away, causing chaos at the scene.

But everyone instinctively avoided the monster, which left Ron with an empty space around him.

Ron frowned as he watched the monster burst out of the teachers' office, its body shrouded in illusion, twisted and grotesque.

What is this? !

The doubt had barely formed in his mind when he saw a distinct, illusory fluctuation emanating from the charging monster, as if it were resisting the erosion of some force...

Ron immediately realized what this was... it was the power from the "Void".

It was actually a "hollow" monster?

Ron found it utterly unbelievable.

Did it emerge from a "hollow"?
According to Irina, the "void" that erupted in the inner city of Ideal City could only have occurred if someone was conducting some kind of experiment involving unknown technology, thus triggering the "void"...

Is it possible for such an experimental project to be conducted in a slum-like high school in District D? Are you kidding me!
Ron was completely baffled, so he shook his head to clear his mind and focused his attention on the monster.

There are no large holes of fire on the horizon, and even if a "cavity" does appear, its magnitude wouldn't be very large.

Although they didn't know where the "void" was, all they had in front of them was this one monster.

For now, we just need to get rid of it.

Even if Ron might not be able to handle a real "Void", dealing with a single monster from a "Void" would be a piece of cake.
He pulled back the old teacher who was trying to pounce on the monster and urging Ron and the others to run away, and pushed him to An Hui who was standing to the side.

"Take the old man to the infirmary... I'll handle things here."

After saying that, Ron charged forward without hesitation and kicked the "hollow" monster not far away.

“Okay.” An Hui nodded and immediately led the unconscious old teacher away quickly.

At this moment, Lind, who had been somewhat stunned by the sight of the monster charging towards him, came to his senses.

"Oh, no!"

He saw Ron rush over and instinctively tried to grab him.

He couldn't help but feel a little anxious—Old Luo, why are you rushing forward so much when you're only a Lv.0!
We're all students, so this kind of monster that suddenly appeared out of nowhere should definitely be handled by the patrol bureau... or at the very least, isn't An Hui the Great Goddess right here?

Why did you have to send her away so you could do it all by yourself?
You, a powerless being, are practically offering yourself up as food to this monster...

The thought had barely crossed his mind when he saw Ron kick the monster in the chest, sending it flying backward and crashing into the wall before collapsing to the ground!
What's happening here?
He looked at Ron in astonishment, only to see Ron pressing his head and rubbing his temples as if he were feeling a little dizzy.

The process of "fantasy dissolution" is being eroded by trace amounts of "mystical influence."

[Performance impairment: 10%]

Ron felt a wave of dizziness. He shook his head to clear his head, and the next moment he saw streaks of blood mist bursting from the monster he had kicked away.

"Bang, bang, bang..."

A sound like bubbles bursting rang out from his body, and the illusory, twisted limbs that had sprouted from the monster, seemingly not of this world, exploded completely.

They exploded into a bloody mist that scattered across the sky. The originally vibrant red color instantly charred upon contact with the air, as if being scorched by a burning temperature.

In no time, the blood mist turned charred black, then transformed into the ashen white of burnt-out blood...

It turned into ashes and scattered across the ground.

The monster that Ron could kick away didn't turn to ashes along with the blood mist...

He crashed into the wall, his body missing pieces, and collapsed there like a rag doll.

His head and face were covered in ashes, and bright red blood was gushing from his body, mixing with the ashes to form a pool of blood.

You could still vaguely make out his distinct human features and the tattered clothes he was wearing...

Upon closer inspection, one can clearly discern the school badge of a certain high school sewn onto the clothes beneath the bloodstains!

What's happening here……

Ron's eyes immediately sharpened.

What emerges from the "historical void" are only those illusory monsters, seemingly from the "Potion Age".

It is said that all the “hollow” monsters have no intelligence and only act on instinct, hunting all living things they encounter.

They would never do anything like disguising themselves by wearing a school uniform... This is a student from a certain high school!
A human being transformed into the appearance of a "hollow" monster?
How did you do it?
Ron frowned and quickly searched the body slumped in the corner, but found nothing of use.

Suddenly, he heard painful wails and cries outside the teaching building.

He looked outside and saw several "hollow" monsters emerging from the teaching building, indiscriminately attacking all the examinees within sight!

Are there any experts?

He turned his head and saw the monster standing there, staring blankly out the window, rubbing its eyes in disbelief, looking at Ron Lind with a bewildered expression—

"What are you still doing?"

Ron couldn't help but pat him hard on the shoulder to bring him back to his senses:
"Call the police!"

“Oh, oh…”

At that moment, Lin Decai seemed to wake from a dream, and hurriedly dialed the police station's emergency number with Ron...

But the next moment, they heard a cold and unified response—

"Sorry, the person you are calling is busy. Please try again later."

"Feel sorry……"

Will the police emergency hotline at the patrol station also get busy?

Ron frowned and dialed the number again.

After waiting for a long time, the call was finally answered.

A seemingly very tired female voice rang out, responding skillfully:
"This is the D District General Inspection Bureau. I am operator D-16."

"Hello, please briefly explain the reason for reporting the case and the details of the incident. We will dispatch an agent team to the scene to investigate and handle the case."

"We've encountered an attack at a high school in District D of Ideal City. The monster is dead, and one person is seriously injured..."

Ron briefly described what happened, but received a desperate response from the operator:
"Another murder case?! Or some kind of monster murder case??"

She remained silent for a long time, then finally sighed and said:

"I have reported the case to headquarters. According to the mission assignment, the team closest to you will go to provide support as quickly as possible..."

When will the nearest squad arrive?

Ron's tone was serious. The "hollow" monstrous human students involved in this case were deeply concerning to him. This was beyond his comprehension; even a fool could see that... there was probably some serious trouble hidden behind this!

But the operator responded with a self-deprecating remark:
"When? Hmm... tomorrow morning? Probably."

"They still have 192 murder cases to handle ahead of you..."

...192 murder cases?

Ron was stunned when he heard this.

What... is going on?!

……

Xia Zhi never imagined that she would encounter such a busy time in her career as a patrol operator.

While theoretically speaking, the social atmosphere in District D of Ideal City is indeed not very good, with all kinds of criminals everywhere and a crime rate far exceeding that of other districts.

But it's summer vacation now, and many people with special abilities are wandering around the streets because they're on holiday. The petty thieves who used to dare to commit crimes are now afraid to act rashly, for fear of running into some high school student with special abilities who is on vacation.

Especially today is the day the college entrance exam results are released, many good students who were able to get into Zone B will also be going back to Zone D to pick up their report cards, and you might bump into them on the street.

To avoid getting into trouble, all the gangs and underworld organizations in District D went quiet today, hiding in their burrows like quails. It should have been the most peaceful day ever...

But who could have imagined that the operator had already reported five murder cases to her within a minute?!

This situation has been going on for a full half hour!
Even the operators themselves were overwhelmed with these emergency calls, completely clueless about what was happening. All they knew was that every time they answered a call, they would hear someone screaming in terror that someone had died somewhere…

What's so strange about this? The top killer in the entire Ideal City is about to play some tricks and start a serial killing competition in District D.
To be honest, if it were just these few, it wouldn't be so bad. Even if there were many murderers, Xia Zhi was confident that their D District General Patrol Bureau could arrest all the criminals and bring them to justice.

After all, with her as an ace in the game, relying on her Lv.3 spatial ability, she can spot criminals anywhere and teleport them back to the patrol station in the next second...

But here is the problem.

Murder is murder, but the most absurd thing is that in these cases, all the cameras that could see the area where the crime was committed were temporarily damaged, leaving the view completely dark!
C-112 team was forced to drive there, randomly choosing a crime scene and heading towards it...

But each time they went to the location described by the complainant, they only found a pool of blood and a pale corpse lying in it.

The fact that the corpses had identical faces, were naked, and died in the same way in various places is what caused so much panic and led to so many citizens reporting the incidents.

The first few times they handled the bodies with great care and followed standard procedures, but after doing this dozens of times, they finally couldn't take it anymore.

"How many people have suddenly died in the streets?!"

A pink-haired girl sat in the patrol bureau's standard hovercar, scratching her hair irritably and making her smooth pink hair messy.

"They all looked the same, died the same way, and all committed suicide on busy commercial streets—"

"Seriously, isn't this some kind of performance art piece where someone bought ten thousand clones?"

"I can't take it anymore, senior! We're patrol officers, not corpse collectors... How about we find a funeral home and have them take care of things for us?"

"...You're right, Xiao Jin."

Xia Zhi sighed deeply and slammed on the gas pedal in frustration.

All of today's cases are strangely similar, as if they were all cut from the same mold...

None of the corpses had any identification information, and they all looked exactly the same, clearly indicating that they were a group of clones.

Clones have no intelligence and no human rights. Although Xiao Jin's guess is quite funny, it may not be wrong.

But who exactly ordered these clones to commit suicide...? Did he use the clone suicide case to attract the attention of all the field teams of the Patrol Bureau in order to cover something up?
Is there something amiss behind all these cases of clone suicides?
She couldn't help but fall into deep thought, while her teammates continued to complain about the intensity of their work that day.

Suddenly, a series of "beep beep" notification sounds brought her back to her senses.

She tapped on the brain-computer interface, and a chat pop-up appeared:

[Ron: Something's happened! There's a monster attack.]

[Ron: A high school in District D. After I called the police, the operator said the nearest patrol team was still handling the previous 192 cases and wouldn't be able to reach me until tomorrow morning.]

[Ron: I think this happened suddenly, something's not right. You need to bring the team over and check it out.]

Ron? A high school in District D?

It seems they've gone back to pick up their college entrance exam results; I wonder what their scores were.

I really don't know how he could be so unlucky as to be attacked again...

But a monster attack?

Not a clone who committed suicide?

Xia Zhi frowned, suddenly recalling the deduction that had just formed in her mind.

These clones that suddenly appeared and committed suicide in the streets are clearly not normal.

These clones are very likely pawns created by a mastermind to divert the attention of the police department...

So, the fact that such a distinctly different case emerged at this time might be something that the mastermind behind the clone's suicide was trying to hide!

After pondering for a moment, Xia Zhi immediately made a decision.

She turned the steering wheel, and the hovercar spun around, speeding off in the opposite direction from its original destination.

"Uh oh, senior, your driving skills are really... Wait, senior, what are you going to do?"

Ji Jin pressed her slightly dizzy head and had just complained about Xia Zhi when she realized that they had strayed off course.

She immediately regained consciousness:
"I was just joking, senior. If this were really outsourced to a funeral home, the higher-ups would take off our name tags. I haven't accumulated enough credits to apply for [Athena's] computing privileges yet..."

She muttered nervously, trying to persuade Xia Zhi, "Don't take it seriously!"

"No, not to the funeral home."

Xia Zhi shook his head, parked the car in the roadside parking lot, and said to the team members:
"Let's go, we can't waste time on these pointless cases..."

As she spoke, she took out a few game coins, tossed them into the air, and then used them to frame a four-corner area, encompassing everyone in Squad C-112—

The next moment, she murmured fragmented coordinates to herself, and the surrounding space instantly distorted...

Then, it appeared out of thin air at the gate of a high school.

As soon as she arrived, she saw several seemingly unreal monsters with inexplicably grotesque limbs roaring wildly and indiscriminately attacking students who were crying and trying to escape.

If it were just these monsters, it wouldn't be so bad.

After all, it seemed that they could handle the monsters at Lv.2, and they would be easily defeated by their patrol team.

but……

Looking up at the sky directly above the school on the summer solstice, Xia Zhi couldn't help but frown.

Although there seemed to be nothing there, as a spatial ability user, her familiarity with space told her—

The space there is about to crack open.

It seems that something is about to burst forth from the void!
　I wasn't paying attention while editing, and the update is half an hour late. I'm really sorry...

　　
　
(End of this chapter)