An alarm– loud, shrill and urgent.
"ATTENTION, ALL CIVILIAN!!! A RIFT HAS BEEN DETECTED! PLEASE EVACUATE THE SCHOOL GROUNDS AND STAY AS FAR AWAY AS POSSIBLE!"
The whole place turns upside down in an instant as panic kicks into overdrive in the students bloodstreams. They pack up their stuff and run towards the nearest exit like it’s a normal routine.
"Shit!" Zhao Xi grabs Xin Linhua.
Xin Linhua grabs his bag and phone, running after his friend.
"How many times this month!?" Zhao Xi grits out "Zhongjing institute needs to do something about these rifts."
Memories skid through Xin Linhua’s mind. He grabs his friend, changing their route.
"What are you doing!?" Zhao Xi almost trips over his own two feet.
"If you go towards that exit, you’ll have us both killed. Out of the five rifts that have opened this month, two opened up on the football field."
"So?"
"The other three opened up at the basketball court, judo room and boxing ring."
Zhao Xi finally clicks the puzzle pieces into place.
All four locations are close to one another. There’s a high chance the new rift will appear there as well.
"Nicely done." Zhao Xi can’t help but praise him "But we should pick up the pace. The detectors usually detect a rift a few minutes before their appearance."
They run back towards the faculty building, racing down the hallways and turning around the sharp corners.
If they can’t run towards the nearest exit, they’ll just have to take the old school one. The fence.
"ATTENTION, ALL CIVILIAN!!! PLEASE EXIT ALL CLASSROOM AND BUILDING! A NEW RIFT HAS BEEN DETECTED! PLEASE, STAY CALM AND EVACUATE AS FAR AWAY AS POSSIBLE!!!"
The two skid to a halt. The announcement is different from the first one. From the looks of things, it’s not just one rift this time, they’re two! Two rifts!
"Damnit!" Xin Linhua grabs Zhao Xi tight "We can’t go there either."
"Why not?"
"I don’t know...I just feel it."
Zhao Xi drags him back instead. They run into a lecture room and bolt the door from inside with a few tables.
"What genius thought it was a good idea to build this faculty so close to the sports center?" Xin Linhua refrains himself from kicking something "We’re boxed in."
"We’ll hide here for now." Zhao leans against the tables "The institute’s sentinels should be here soon. Once they deal with the situation, we’ll be safe."
Xin Linhua slumps beside him, adrenaline washing off him in an instant.
"Forty eight hours." He grits out "Not even up to that, and I already have so many fucked up situations coming my way one after another. First, this stupid body, then there’s that Rong Yizhan and now I encountered a rift– two! I could have sworn I didn’t offend the heavens." The source of this chapter is g.com.
"What are you yapping about?" Zhao Xi frowns.
"My fucked up life." Xin Linhua exhales.
"Well, life is like–"
"Spare me the bullshit quote." Xin Linhua glares "I want nothing–"
__Crack!
A sharp noise. Like glass cracking and crumbling to the floor. The sound is especially loud in the quiet hallway. A rift has appeared.
"Breathing exercises start now." Xin Linhua quickly regulates his breath.
Footsteps echo. They’re not human. They’re heavy, slow and reeks of bloodlust. The monsters from the rift.
Zhao Xi clutches unto Xin Linhua, exhaling shakily. He has never been in such close contact with a rift before. He always escapes before a rift appears. But this is his first time encountering two and at a close call as well. If Xin Linhua hadn’t dragged him away, they’d have been rift food by now.
Xin Linhua shrinks back more. This isn’t Earth, this is whole new definition of fucked up world. Monsters and rifts that consume souls. Humans with abilities that cannot be explained as ordinary.
On Earth, he was powerful. Weapons, technology, combat, name it and he’s versed in it. But here? He’s nothing and he knows it. He’s powerless and he’ll be damned if he were to get killed. Again.
His dream of being a drifting vagabond while squandering away his father’s money seems to have taken a big hit.
"Find it!" A voice yells from outside "They might still be students here. We can’t let it come in contact with them."
"A senti–"
Xin Linhua grabs his friend and drags him down, covering his mouth in the process.
"Shut up!" He hisses softly "That thing is still out there. If sentinels are panicking over it, what makes you think going out there is the best option?"
Zhao Xi tactically nods. He taps the hand covering his mouth as a sign of understanding.
"I’m just gonna check on the situation." Zhao Xi raises his hand in resignation.
"Alright."
The two shuffle towards the windows as quiet as possible. They have a clear visual of the situation.
"Shit..." Xin Linhua cusses softly "It’s a Nikura."
"The hell is that?"
"The Sentinel can handle it...right?"
Xin Linhua frowns. The said monster is about two meters tall. Not big, not huge, it looks harmless to be exact. Its eight limbs hold its body upright as its four eyes lock on to the three sentinels before it. Grey scales cover its body like armor and a hint of red can be seen underneath.
"Who the fuck send just four D-ranks to deal with two gates?" Xin Linhua cusses "Did they not detect the rift’s danger before assigning them?"
"So, what you’re saying is, the Sentinels have a low chance of winning and we have a high chance of dying."
"Yes."
"Got it. I’m just gonna send out a bunch of texts first." Zhao Xi quietly gets down and takes his phone out.
Xin Linhua ignores him. His eyes stay glued to the fight before him.
Pyromancers. All three of them. Their fourth companion is injured and propped up a wall far behind them and away from the fight.
The Nikura, as Xin Linhua identifies it, is a mid-level monster. One that controls fire. So technically, it’s fighting fire with fire.
As poetic as that sounds, it’s practically suicide. Especially in a small enclosed space as a school hallway– the entire place gets scorched pretty fast.
Xin Linhua watches as the fight drags on, as the sentinels endure burns and grit their teeth to take down the Nikura.
"They killed it..." Xin Linhua mutters in disbelief.
"Wait, for real!?" Zhao Xi backspace real quick.
"Yeah. Take down the blockade."
The two move fast, dragging the tables back and packing their stuff. They carefully step into the burnt hallway.
"Xin...Linhua...?" One of the sentinels turns to him.
"You don’t look so good."
"Thanks, I was having a hard time noticing." The sentinel tries to roll his eyes but fails.
His body falls, hitting the floor hard. Xin Linhua and Zhao Xi run towards him.
"What do we even do in this situation?" Zhao Xi asks in confusion.
"I’ll call the institute." Xin Linhua picks up the collapsed sentinel "You, grab the other one and drag him into the lecture room."
"Okay, but first..." Zhao Xi takes a wary step back "Can you stop doing that?"
"Uhn?"
Xin Linhua stares down. Thin, hazy, like white smoke... swirling in between his hand holding the Sentinel’s arm.
"Hell to the no..."