Chapter 46 - The Deans' Gathering Hard to Calm Down

“Dean?!”

Lock Fan and his Sharp Knife Squad had just slaughtered a squad of demons on a hunting trip when he saw his dean descending from the sky with Lu Hong to land beside them.

“Ah!

The dean has come to rescue us!” The students of the Sharp Knife Squad shed tears of relief.

“My children, you’ve all worked so hard.

As the sole survivors of Kains Academy, I’ll definitely ensure your safe passage out of this hell.

Please forgive my late arrival.” The dean looked at the over fifty weathered faces with a deep sense of guilt.

In just under a week in hell, what had these barely adult kids gone through?

The dean’s heart ached terribly, sigh~

“?????” Lock Fan was stunned.

Had he heard wrong?

“Dean, didn’t Cain tell you that the students of Kains Academy successfully escaped hell?”

“Uh…,” the dean was just as stunned and then glanced awkwardly at Lu Hong, who was smirking beside him, and said, “That, uh, I got it wrong, got it wrong.”

“No way?

Can you even get that wrong?

How little do you care about us students?” The learners complained upon hearing the dean’s explanation.

“Let’s stop right there.

Don’t mind the details too much.

It’s enough you know I’ve come to rescue you,” the dean hastily changed the subject.

“Does that mean we can go home?” Lock Fan asked.

“Of course, my presence naturally means you can safely go home,” the dean nodded and continued to Lock Fan, “You’ve done an excellent job leading the team.

I knew I chose the right person.”

“Not at all, not at all.

It’s all thanks to Cain’s guidance.” Lock Fan dared not take credit.

Without the knowledge of survival in hell imparted by Lu Hong, they probably wouldn’t have made it past the food crisis and would have long since perished.

“Pack up quickly.

I’ll contact the other deans shortly, and then we’ll set off for home,” the dean said briefly before grabbing Lu Hong and slipping into the trees, grumbling, “Cain, were you tricking me earlier?”

“You caught me, my apologies,” Lu Hong continued to sneer.

“Hey, hey, my feelings for you are genuine, okay?

Don’t look like that,” the dean said helplessly.

“All I know is that the dean has some unspoken secrets.

Hey, hey!

Stay away from me!

All the students saw you pull me aside.

If you lay a hand on me, let’s see how you’ll explain it to them!” Lu Hong stepped back as the dean approached him.

“I…,” the dean saw Lu Hong backing away and realized he had been too reckless with the students: “Rest assured, I would never harm my own students.

This trip to hell involves matters too complex for you to know.

No matter what doubts you have, you must keep them to yourself.”

So there were secrets!

Lu Hong nodded, “I knew it, but I was this close to dying, Dean.

Can’t you share just a bit with me?”

The dean paused for a moment before saying, “You just need to know that I’m here, and you can all return safely.

That’s enough.”

“Alright then, I have nothing more to say.

I just hope the dean can safely lead us out of here.” Lu Hong didn’t dwell on the issue any further and waved off the dean before walking out of the woods first.

“Cane, you’ve saved all the students of Kains Academy.

I will remember this favor,” the dean breathed a sigh of relief internally.

No dean wanted to see their academy’s students sent to their death, but they had no control over the matter.

“Gong Xiaochuan, how are things on your end?” Just as the dean was reflecting internally, he was interrupted by a telepathic communication.

“Not bad, I successfully assassinated Shui Tanxin.

How about you?”

“Not bad at all, managing to kill the dean of Bauhinia Academy all by yourself.” The voice on the other end seemed relieved and immensely grateful.

“I found students from an academy fleeing the demon ambush.

If you’re done hunting on your side, you might want to try and look.”

“There are students who survived?

Which academy are they from?” The voice on the other end excitedly responded to Gong’s words.

“Sorry, they’re my own academy’s students.” The dean chuckled gleefully.

“Damn it, you lucky bastard.

I’m off to look too; if there are any students from my academy alive, that’s a real jackpot.” The voice on the other end was about to end the communication.

“Wait, Old Man, is such a sacrifice really worth it for His Majesty?” Our dean finally voiced his deepest doubts.

“…,” the other end hesitated before responding after a long pause: “I don’t know, but having chosen His Majesty, we must carry out our duties resolutely.”

“That’s true.

The empire’s fate must change.” After saying this, the dean cut off contact and returned to the Sharp Knife Squad.

“Dean, you’re back!”

“Mm.” At the moment, the dean seemed to be in a rather foul mood and spoke with a lack of vigor.

“What are you all doing?” Seeing a group of students frantically moving rotten fruits and stinky salted fish, the dean asked in confusion.

“Aren’t we about to leave hell?

We wanted to take some specialties back with us,” Lock Fan snickered.

Over the days, they had grown somewhat attached to the unique delicacies found only in hell, so they had collectively decided to take more back with them.

“Specialties from hell?” The dean was too lazy to comment.

If you want to bring specialties, why not bring something appealing?

What’s the use of taking back these appetite-killing things?

As collectibles?

“Alright, alright, bring whatever you want then.

I have a Space Ring that can hold them for you.” The dean showed them the silver ring in his hand, which was the legendary Space Ring.

Such an item was rare, even Vili needed nearly a month to create one Space Ring; therefore, their production was extremely low across the entire continent.

The ring in the dean’s hands was an heirloom passed down through generations at Kains Academy.

“Thank you, Dean!

The Dean is wise!” The students, who had been distressed over which specialties to take back based on the capacity of their backpacks, now cheered loudly.

With the dean’s Space Ring, they no longer had to worry about how much they could collect—they could take as much as they wanted!

Damn, a Space Ring!

I really want that!

Lu Hong had his eyes on the Space Ring the moment the chubby dean showed it.

It was like the concept of a space-time backpack in games, able to hold a lot of things; too convenient.

He had previously asked the old man for a Space Ring, but the old man had said he couldn’t acquire such an expensive luxury item.

“Don’t wander off.

Once you’ve collected the specialties, wait here for me.

I’ll go scout ahead.” The dean gave Lu Hong a few more instructions.

Among the group, he trusted Lu Hong’s abilities the most, as he was, after all, the champion of the grand melee.

To ensure absolute safety, our Dean Gong took the Dagger Team and spent an hour to clear all demons within a ten-mile radius, much to Lu Hong’s frustration.

How could he do this?

Those demons were all experience points!

After confirming the Dagger Team wouldn’t face any more danger, the dean moved further afield to scout the area.

“How’s the situation, Gong?” The Dean advanced toward the crack leading out of hell.

After half a day, they found a gathering of humans on the ground, and of course, both deans had already met up with these people.

“The situation is bad,” Dean Nian walked a hundred meters away from the crowd before speaking up.

“There are two hundred students and seven teachers who survived.

They were abandoned as bait by the three major academies.

If Hong and I hadn’t arrived in time, they all would have been wiped out by now.”

As he spoke, Dean Nian clenched his fists; clearly, the harrowing stories of survival had already been recounted to the two deans by the students who witnessed it all.

Under Dean Nian’s narration, Dean Gong gradually became aware of the tragic escape the students had experienced in the past few days.

After the alliance of seven academies was directly routed by the demonic army, the fleeing students numbering over a thousand were relentlessly pursued by the demons.

This was a key reason why Lu Hong and his Dagger Team managed to survive relatively comfortably—the demons simply hadn’t gotten round to them yet.

During the incessant chase, there was little time to rest for the fleeing students, and food was a major issue.

Thus, the three stronger academies—Bauhinia, Tulip, and Swordsmen—forced students from the remaining three poorer academies to test potentially poisonous food.

The incident originated when a student who proposed to taste the food first had died, scaring the top students from the three major academies into using students from Civilian Academy as guinea pigs.

They caused the deaths of no less than fifty people; then, under pursuit from demons, they abandoned them as sacrificial bait to save their own lives.

An hour before, the demon army had caught up to them again and launched an attack.

To survive, students from the three elite academies cruelly abandoned all students from the three Civilian Academies as bait.

Fortunately, the three deans arrived in time to rescue them.

However, this also peaked the deans’ hatred towards the three elite academies.

“Old Gong, the students from your academy are really lucky,” Dean Nian couldn’t help but congratulate, having heard about the safe evacuation of Kains Academy from his own students.

“After our three academies merge, they will be your students too,” Dean Gong, feeling a bit uneasy under Dean Nian’s envious gaze, quickly reassured him.

“That’s true, but it still hurts inside,” Dean Nian sighed, letting go of the matter.

“Where is Shabasan?” Dean Gong looked around; Dean Nian was beside him, while Ms.

Hill from Moon Lake Academy was comforting distressed students.

He then inquired about the whereabouts of another dean.

“He went to look for those from the three elite acadacies,” said Dean Nian, a hint of ruthlessness flashing in his eyes.

Dean Gong was well aware of Dean Nian’s thoughts; among the four deans of the Civilian Academies, Shabasan was the most ruthless.

Already furious at the three elite academies for abandoning their students, sending the callous Shabasan to find them was likely not for rescue, but for retribution.

“They are all lives!” lamented Dean Gong.

“Our students aren’t human?

Do they deserve to be used as bait and sent to their deaths?

The ones who should die are them!”