"H-hey, hey!!! What happened? Are you ok?!"
Upon seeing Tian Qingfeng collapsing to the ground, Wu Haoran rushed over and managed to catch him before Tian Qingfeng hit the ground. After shaking him for a while, he noticed how severe the injuries on his body were. Aside from the bruises left by the cultist thugs, this entire body was a wreck.
Setting him down, Wu Haoran put away the Sky Piercing Halberd and raised his astral link. He prepared to call the Wu family patriarch and the police.
Right as he was about to, a call from the Family Head came in. After connecting, a deep commanding voice came through.
"Haoran, what happened? We sensed a surge of divine energy at your location."
"Grandpa, I was with a classmate when the blood cult jumped us."
"What?! Are you hurt? Can you hold on?"
"I'm fine. The battle just ended, so I was about to call the police."
"Don't bother, they're with me. Stay put, we'll be there in about 5 minutes."
Over the line, Wu Haoran heard another voice.
"You said there was a classmate. How are they?"
"Officer, he's quite severely injured and currently unconscious. But otherwise, he seems to be stable."
"Phew," Wu Haoran seemed to hear a faint sigh of relief. "Ok, do you have any rope?"
Looking around, Wu Haoran found some rope on the cultists.
"Uhh, yes." Wu Haoran said
"Please tie up the cultists and wait for us."
"Got it."
With that, the line disconnected. Wu Haoran then went and gathered the surviving cultists, peeling the two off the brick wall and dragging the other three that were knocked out together before using the rope to tie them up.
After that, he walked over to the side of the alley, grabbed the tattered backpack, and placed it next to Tian Qingfeng. With all that done, He sat down next to Tian QIngfeng and relaxed a bit.
After waiting a while, the immense fatigue flooded in, and he gradually dozed off.
…
"-ey, hey, wake up!" Wu Haoran felt someone nudging him on the shoulder.
"Ngh~ " With a grunt, Wu Haoran opened his bleary eyes. Two men were kneeling right in front of him.
Recognizing one of them, Wu Haoran jerked forward and called out with joy, "Grandfather!"
Placing a hand on Wu Haoran's shoulder, Grandfather Wu reassured him, "Calm down, you're safe now."
After calming down, Wu Haoran looked around. There were a bunch of officers walking around. The tied-up cultists were being walked over to transport vehicles at the end of the alley while several people were photographing and analyzing the corpse of the saber-wielder.
After seeing the situation, Wu Haoran calmed down and turned his attention back to the two men who were in front of him.
The second man reached into his light blue coat and pulled out a badge, and showed it to Wu Haoran. On the badge was the symbol of the Genesis Federation, a circular vortex swirling towards a center circle. Inside the circle was a pale blue snowflake. Below the Swirl was a ribbon design engraved with the words "Frost Unit, Counter Terrorist Department".
"I am Fang Tao, a Unit Commander from the Counter Terrorist Department in Tian Ping City. Can you tell us what happened here?"
Looking at Grandpa Wu and seeing him nod, Wu Haoran began to relay what happened to both of them.
"We were just heading home after a class welcome party…"
After candidly relaying what happened, from leaving the restaurant to the battle with the cultists, both of them understood the events that occurred.
Standing up, Fang Tao said, "Thank you for your cooperation. We'll handle things from here."
After the counter terrorist commander walked away, Grandpa Wu immediately started pestering Wu Haoran while examining him.
"You haven't been injured, have you? What about any bruises?" Grandfather Wu searched around, patting his body and examining his arms, legs, and torso.
"Grandpa, I'm fine. Really." Wu Haoran said with an exasperated voice. "More importantly, how is he?"
"Who?" Grandpa Wu asked
"My classmate. The one I told you about. I don't see him anywhere," Wu Haoran said while looking around. "Well, aside from his backpack."
"Oh, that courageous boy." Grandpa Wu chuckled, "After arriving here, the counter-terrorist department sent him to the hospital to get treated immediately. You said this bag was his? Why don't you go and return it tomorrow morning?"
"How is he?"
"He's fine. They said they'll do their best to treat his injuries. He should be back to school by tomorrow."
Exhaling a sigh of relief, Wu Haoran slowly got up from the ground and went over to pick up the tattered backpack. While doing so, he caught a glance at his dusty jacket and pants.
Surprisingly, upon looking at his dusty clothes, he noticed that not a single threat was damaged from that scuffle. In fact, upon looking back on what happened, any external attack seemed to have had the power of the strike reduced by quite a bit.
"How generous of the school to provide such clothing." Wu Haoran muttered. Picking up the tattered backpack, Wu Haoran slung it across his back and left with Grandpa Wu.
Entering the car emblazoned with the family crest parked nearby, Grandpa Wu indicated for the driver to start moving after Wu Haoran closed the door.
Setting the backpack down on the floor of the car, Wu Haoran propped his head up with one arm and looked out the window. Seeing the neon lights flashing by outside, his mind wandered back to the events leading to and during the fight.
Gradually, a slight smirk appeared on his face. This new school is interesting, very interesting.
"What are you smirking at?" Grandpa Wu's voice cut through the silence in the car.
Snapping out of the daze, Wu Haoran turned and faced Grandpa Wu.
"Not much. It's just that this new school and the students in my current class are very interesting.
"They don't seem too interested in my identity as a Successor." After thinking through his words, Wu Haoran said: "Well, at least one of them doesn't seem too interested."
"The others seem to be interested, but not in a way I expect.
"They look at me like an ancient relic in a display case. Most people want to grab the hilt and wield the blade, but they're just curious to see if the legends are true."
At that, Grandpa Wu replied with a chuckle, "Well, good for you. At least you look like a child now."