Chapter 17: About to Drown 【Izayoi Ame is dying, can you hear…

Liu Ming looked toward Du Shui and Ying Huo, attempting to awaken their consciences so they would save him.

Unfortunately, Du Shui and Ying Huo only wanted to laugh as they watched the young master being harassed by Yun Zhou. The two of them were doubled over, laughing so hard they forgot where they were, completely missing the deep sense of longing in Liu Ming’s eyes.

“Eh? So why do you hate wolves? Wolves are so great-“

Liu Ming could only tragically continue to deal with Yun Zhou, who was relentlessly digging for answers with a face full of innocent curiosity.

“Look at that, Old Ame. It’s just like when we were young-” Hozuki laughed and patted Izayoi Ame on the shoulder. They were roughly the same height, both around 1.8 meters, making the gesture quite natural. “Watching them makes me miss the days when we were correcting Anomalies at the Tree Tower Academy, Old-“

Izayoi Ame shot her a look, and Hozuki instantly shut up. “Fine, Lord District Chief.”

Liu Ming tried to struggle, but his efforts were in vain. Fortunately, the District Chief of the Third District extended a helping hand. Izayoi Ame walked over, his brow furrowed. “So, where is this Anomaly you mentioned?”

Under the District Chief’s terrifying pressure, Du Shui and Ying Huo stopped laughing. Even Yun Zhou let go of Liu Ming’s collar. Liu Ming brushed off his collar and clothes where Yun Zhou had touched him with a look of disgust. He glanced at Yun Zhou, thinking he should just sell the guy out, but unfortunately, as punchable as the guy was, he held the status of the protagonist…

Liu Ming sighed and chose to help cover it up. “That thing was attached to Yun Zhou just now, but it has already escaped.”

Izayoi Ame looked at Yun Zhou, scanning the simple-looking youth from head to toe. He indeed only sensed a faint, lingering aura of an Anomaly.

His hand rested lightly on the hilt of the katana at his waist as he sighed. “How did it get away? I thought I’d be able to stretch my muscles and get some exercise.”

Liu Ming: …Wait, aren’t you a bit too relaxed? Is being strong that big of a deal? Can you just act like this because you can fight?

Izayoi Ame was unaware of Liu Ming’s internal complaints. He shook his head. “The Third District has many affairs to attend to. Since that’s the case, I shall take my leave-“

“Don’t be in such a hurry, Lord District Chief.”

Liu Ming blocked Izayoi Ame’s path. Behind his silver-rimmed glasses, a hint of cunning flashed in his blood-red eyes. “One ran away, but… there’s another one here.”

He pointed toward the sea below the cliff of the observation deck. Although the culprit that caused Yun Zhou to faint was the entity lurking inside him, a tentacle made of a massive surge of water had indeed rushed toward them when Yun Zhou fell off the platform earlier.

That thing was different from the Anomaly abilities of the fake Yun Zhou; they were clearly not the same Anomaly.

“There’s more?”

Izayoi Ame’s eyes, usually as calm as the deep sea, suddenly lit up. Like a child who had found a new toy, he became visibly excited.

Liu Ming’s lip twitched. It was clear that the District Chief was usually suppressed by paperwork to a miserable degree if getting to fight a single Anomaly made him this thrilled.

“Lord District Chief! Then let me share your burdens!”

Hozuki was equally excited. The Anomaly tide from that night had ignited her battle instincts as a Sentinel. After being suddenly dragged into a pile of paperwork to handle the Izayoi Family’s trivial information, her hands were indeed itching for action.

“No need, Hozuki. How could I trouble you with this? I am the District Chief; let me handle it.”

Izayoi Ame blocked Hozuki, ignoring her resentful gaze as he walked toward the edge of the observation deck.

Hozuki: …You bastard, your own hands are just itching for a fight. Don’t try to play the “caring superior” persona here!

The tables had turned. This time, the four members of the Salvation squad became the spectators. Hozuki and Izayoi Ame kept blocking each other and pushing forward, nearly shoving each other off the platform just for a chance to kill the Anomaly. In the end, Izayoi Ame, by virtue of being the District Chief, seized the right to the kill and stood at the very edge of the platform like a victor.

Muttering curses, Hozuki quickly ran back toward the shrine, not forgetting to drag the other youngsters with her. She handed them several disposable raincoats. “This guy’s basic attacks are like ultimate moves. Let’s get to the shrine quickly so we don’t get caught in the friendly fire.”

Yun Zhou and the other two were still a bit dazed, unsure of what was about to happen, standing there blankly with the raincoats in their hands. Liu Ming, who knew Izayoi Ame’s capabilities, reacted quickly. He threw on the raincoat in a few swift motions and zipped it all the way to the top.

He looked at Yun Zhou’s group and shook his head with a regretful, punchable expression. “Alas, because of your stupidity, there’s no time left.”

T231 began frantically adding Misunderstanding Points.

In the next second, Izayoi Ame, who had just settled at the edge of the platform, moved.

He didn’t summon his Spiritual Body, but a vibrant blue spiritual energy already enveloped the katana at his side. He simply drew the blade and swung it a few times, as if it were a ceremonial sword.

As he swung, the blade of the katana, wrapped in spiritual energy, flowed with a luster like the deep sea, forming an eerie resonance with the churning dark waters below. His movements were light, lacking any earth-shattering momentum, possessing only a rhythm that seemed to pluck the strings of the ocean itself.

The sea immediately surged violently as if answering a summons. The surface of the water seemed to be divided into several layers, which were peeled back one by one under Izayoi Ame’s control, revealing the monster hidden beneath the waves.

As more and more seawater was stripped away, a thunderous explosion suddenly erupted from the sea. Following it was a churning, massive wave that crashed onto the observation deck. The giant wave made no distinction between friend or foe, instantly soaking everyone on the platform to the bone-especially Yun Zhou and the other two who hadn’t had time to put on their raincoats.

Yun Zhou, Du Shui, and Ying Huo wiped the seawater from their faces and looked resentfully at Liu Ming, who was perfectly bundled up in his raincoat. Their six eyes were filled with one clear message: Why didn’t you say so earlier?

Liu Ming shrugged helplessly. “It’s your own fault for not being in a hurry earlier.”

As the giant waves surged, a massive tentacle composed of viscous seawater burst from beneath the surface, attempting to flee the waters controlled by Izayoi Ame.

“That’s it!”

Yun Zhou didn’t care about his image anymore. He wiped his face again and complained to the District Chief, who was also his senior: “That’s the thing that tried to drag me into the sea just now!”

Izayoi Ame raised his gaze slightly.

Perhaps sensing it couldn’t escape, the tentacle gave up on flight. It swept toward Izayoi Ame on the observation deck, the sheer force of its movement tearing through the air.

“Watch out!” Yun Zhou cried out instinctively.

However, Izayoi Ame didn’t even blink.

He simply held his katana horizontally in front of him. The mental strength flowing along the blade suddenly deepened, forming three concentric rings of blue light.

With the tip of his blade as the center, the three blue rings expanded rapidly, staining the seawater below with a surreal hue. The ocean itself seemed to become an extension of his limbs.

The winding seawater surged upward, quickly swallowing and surrounding the tentacle. It dissolved back into normal water within seconds of its appearance. Izayoi Ame sheathed his blade and brushed a single droplet of water from his Haori, as if flicking away a speck of dust.

“So… so strong…” Yun Zhou watched with his mouth agape, forgetting to even wag his tail.

Knowing that the seven District Chiefs were powerful was one thing, but seeing a Sentinel of that caliber take action with his own eyes was an entirely different concept.

Ying Huo was equally shocked, though he didn’t forget to snark: “Even so, why does it feel like he’s using his katana as a… magic staff?”

Liu Ming pushed up his silver-rimmed glasses. “He is the youngest District Chief, after all. Can’t you allow the man a little innovation?”

Hozuki curled her lip, clutching her wakizashi as she muttered under her breath, “Tch, this show-off is just taking another chance to look cool…”

Izayoi Ame glanced at Hozuki and tossed out a casual warning: “I can hear you, you know.”

Hozuki immediately shut up. What do you do when your childhood friend and boss is like a ghost? Asking for advice online!

Izayoi Ame shook his head helplessly. The venting he’d done by slaying the Anomaly had slightly improved his mood, which had been soured by those lunatics in the Izayoi Family Elder Council. His eyes, which held overlapping shades of blue, scanned the slowly calming sea, but he suddenly frowned.

“Strange…”

Izayoi Ame tapped the guard of his sword. Several streams of seawater carried a vibrant blue fragment up to him—a piece of the Anomaly he had just destroyed.

But… this aura was completely different from the Anomaly just now. Instead, it felt more like… more like…

The composure and calm Izayoi Ame had maintained suddenly vanished, replaced by a look of utter shock.

If his senses weren’t mistaken, the aura of this strange Anomaly fragment…

“This… this is impossible…” A breathy whisper escaped him, so low it was almost audible only to himself. He snapped his head up, looking toward a certain person standing in the shrine.

The blue-robed shrine maiden stood there quietly, a Clear Sky Umbrella hanging at her waist that could double as a katana sheath.

Du Shui froze under the Third District Chief’s sudden, piercing scrutiny. She instinctively took half a step back.

But Izayoi Ame’s gaze lingered on her for less than half a second before snapping back to the fragment. His expression turned incredibly grim, as if he had glimpsed a terrifying truth beneath the waves.

“This is bad…” he muttered, his voice carrying an unprecedented sense of urgency.

In the next second, Izayoi Ame didn’t even stop to say goodbye to anyone. He turned sharply toward Hozuki.

Hozuki’s head began to ache. Whenever the District Chief wore that expression, it meant she was about to start working overtime.

“Hozuki! Highest level communication encryption! Connect to the Tower immediately! I need to report directly to the Council Chairman!” He sprinted toward the shrine’s exit, his voice stripped of all calm, leaving only the anxiety of an approaching storm.

“The situation has changed! The plan is canceled! All operations are suspended! I repeat, all operations are suspended! Wait for my orders!”

Before his voice had even faded, he had already vanished beyond the shrine at high speed.

The playful smile on Hozuki’s face froze completely, her expression turning dead serious. She hurriedly acknowledged the order and chased after him, though she didn’t forget to nod to the Tree Tower students before leaving. “Please make yourselves at home. All expenses in the Third District will be covered by the Izayoi Family.”

Yun Zhou scratched his head blankly. “What… what happened? Why did the District Chief run off?”

Du Shui’s face was pale, her fingers unconsciously twisting the hem of her clothes. Izayoi Ame’s gaze just now had triggered fragmented memories in her mind; it felt as though someone else had once looked at her that way…

Ying Huo’s brow was furrowed as he watched the direction where Izayoi Ame had disappeared, then he glanced thoughtfully at Du Shui.

Liu Ming, meanwhile, was contemplating everything that had just occurred. A small silver-blue snake crawled out from his collar and settled on his shoulder.

He was a Guide, after all. Through his mental strength, he had clearly captured the emotions in Izayoi Ame’s eyes when he last looked at Du Shui… disbelief, grief, anxiety, and a trace of something easily overlooked—fear.

What could make the Third District Chief, one of humanity’s strongest combatants, feel fear toward Du Shui?

He thought back to the eye of that Anomaly before Du Shui arrived in the Third District.

【Is the truth about to be discovered?! Is Du Shui’s true identity and past finally going to be exposed?!】

【Sigh, what a shame… if Du Shui’s identity is exposed, it means… they’re going to start another battle royale.】

【It’s more than just a battle royale! There’s something even more terrifying for humanity! Humanity is about to lose one of its strongest Sentinels!】

【??? What’s going on? I’m new here, don’t trick me.】

【Izayoi Ame is going to die. Do you understand now?】