Ye Feng walked over and sat by the window facing the athletic field. The seat was slightly toward the back. Outside the window were cherry blossom trees in full bloom, as well as the track field.
"Quiet. We'll continue the lesson now…"
On the podium, the middle-aged Mr. Sato slowly took a sip of his goji berry tea and continued with his grand mission of putting students to sleep.
The beauty of mathematics lies in making people completely confused…
In short, most of the students who were just there to spectate were already half-asleep.
Except—
Ye Feng took out his textbook, then shifted his gaze to the cowlicked girl sitting at the desk to his right.
She was a very proper and beautiful girl.
She had smooth, slightly wavy wine-red long hair, star-shaped hairpins at her temples, and beneath her bangs were pure, clear blue eyes—like the blue sky itself.
Seen from the side, her posture was impeccable. Her back was straight, eyes wide open, listening to the lecture with utmost seriousness.
That level of earnestness alone was enough to make anyone feel ashamed.
Her school uniform was neatly arranged down to the smallest detail—
the only exception being the cowlick on her head, standing proudly and gently swaying.
Serious.
Solemn.
She looked like a top student.
That was what Ye Feng thought at first—until yesterday, when the math test papers were handed back…
And then—
Her score completely shattered his worldview!
Nakano Itsuki.
A transfer student for the new semester.
Her strengths were being able to eat a lot—ahem—having a serious, meticulous personality, and an extremely earnest attitude in class.
Aside from math, where she could only hold out for a short while, she listened carefully in every other subject and took notes diligently.
And yet…
Her exam scores were in the single digits!
You heard that right—single digits!
Ye Feng had been completely shocked.
Super serious in class.
Super serious during exams…
And the result was a single-digit score?
Are you kidding me?!
Even guessing randomly should get you more than that, right?
In other words, Nakano Itsuki had single-handedly claimed the throne of last place!
Of course—
That wasn't why Ye Feng was paying attention to his airheaded cowlick neighbor.
It wasn't because she was beautiful and well-featured.
And it definitely wasn't because her legs, wrapped in black stockings, were slender, shapely, and rather tempting, or anything like that.
Absolutely not.
In reality, Ye Feng had noticed something abnormal about her.
Something ordinary people couldn't perceive.
From his point of view, ominous black energy was gathering above her head—dark and inauspicious, just like the monsters of the Boundary.
It was genuinely shocking.
Ye Feng had no choice but to take it seriously.
If he remembered correctly, because he had been so stunned by her math score yesterday, he had paid close attention to her during class.
And he was certain—this phenomenon hadn't been there yesterday.
A simple analysis led to one conclusion:
Sometime yesterday, his cowlicked desk neighbor had encountered something abnormal… or come into contact with something.
And that caused her current condition.
Moreover, this was the first time Ye Feng had ever encountered such a case.
Perhaps because he had been staring for too long, Nakano Itsuki sensed the strange gaze from next to her. Her brows furrowed, and she glared straight back at him.
Staring at a girl like that—how rude!
"Ahem…"
Ye Feng awkwardly looked away, collecting his thoughts. He decided to take advantage of Mr. Sato's hypnotic teaching and get some proper sleep.
It should be a very good nap.
Then later, he'd find an opportunity to interact with his cowlicked neighbor and figure out what was going on.
Hm?
Not long after he rested his head down, Ye Feng suddenly sensed something strange—
The barrier he had set up in the Boundary… had been touched.
He opened his eyes, his expression turning serious.
In fact, he had grown stronger recently. The Boundary had stabilized somewhat, and the frequency of monster appearances had dropped significantly.
And this time, it had been a full three days since the last monster appeared.
But this was uncontrollable.
The Boundary was so close to the real world that he could reach it with ease—hence the name Boundary.
Ye Feng raised his hand.
"Mr. Sato, I need to go to the restroom."
Mr. Sato's face darkened.
Sleeping in class was one thing, but it hadn't even been that long—and now he needed the restroom again?
Do you even believe that excuse yourself?!
And the worst part was that he used the same excuse every time…
At least come up with a new one!
Teachers have dignity too, you know?!
Mr. Sato weakly waved his hand.
"Go, go. Just come back quickly…"
For the student ranked second in the entire school, certain special privileges were tacitly allowed.
As long as his grades didn't drop.
"Thank you, Mr. Sato."
Ye Feng stood up, ignored the gazes around him, and walked out of the classroom.
If he could, he really didn't want to deal with monsters at all.
Unfortunately, with the Boundary invading and him living in this world, reality was something he couldn't escape.
Since he couldn't escape it—
He would eliminate hidden dangers and strangle all crises in the cradle!
After experiencing despair, witnessing horror, and trying to run from reality, he had already made up his mind.
Entering the restroom, Ye Feng's figure gradually blurred… and then vanished, entering another world.
The Boundary.
Under a blood-red moon stood a ruined city.
If one looked closely, they'd notice that this city was very similar to Chiba City—like a mirror image of it.
"Hah…"
The air was cold and sinister. Ye Feng slowly exhaled a breath of white mist. Every time he came here, he felt an overwhelming sense of discomfort.
Oppression.
Cold.
Despair.
This was a world that had been completely destroyed.
Filled with nuclear radiation.
All life had vanished.
Aside from the occasional appearance of monsters, this world was eternally silent and lifeless.
Boom!
A building collapsed.
Within the rising dust, a humanoid-shaped monster appeared and disappeared intermittently.
"A small fry… Another soul fell, got absorbed by the Sky Rift, and turned into a Void?"
"Still… the Void's aura is very similar to the aura on Nakano's body—yet not quite the same…"
Ye Feng narrowed his eyes in thought.
He raised his hand, forming the posture of drawing a bow.
In the next instant, a longbow and an arrow of light slowly took shape.
Pure white, sacred light illuminated the night sky.
"Go!"
Wrapped in white radiance, the arrow shot forward like lightning, instantly piercing the monster's head.
In an instant, the newly formed Void dissipated into nothingness.
A lowest-rank Void posed no threat whatsoever.
Ye Feng's superpower was a form of ideational power.
Simply put—
Whatever ability he wanted, he could have.
X-ray vision, phasing through walls, flight, time stop, spatial lockdown, enhanced senses, teleportation, dimensional travel, hypnosis, manifestation of imagination…
And many more.
What he had just used was the ability of Imagination Manifestation.
With his current level, things like time stop, spatial lockdown, dimensional travel, or even time reversal were theoretically possible.
But if he actually used them, Ye Feng was certain he'd die instantly from the sheer consumption the moment the ability activated.
As for how he reached the Boundary…
Perhaps it was because the two worlds were extremely close, and due to the Boundary's invasion, the barrier between them had grown thin?
With just a bit of spatial manipulation, he could step directly inside.
In fact, the Boundary was the only other world he could currently travel to.
"Hah…"
He exhaled, the bow and arrow vanishing. After standing still for a moment, he turned and left.
He truly didn't want to stay in this place for even one more second.
Despair.
Silence.
Cold.
If he didn't intervene, the monsters would invade reality, allowing the Boundary to encroach even further.
Don't ask how he knew.
At the beginning, the Sky Rift had only been a barely visible crack.
Now, it had grown into a rift thousands of meters long…
That was the result of him not intervening.
One could easily imagine how catastrophic it would be if the monsters of the Boundary invaded the real world.
It might very well end in global nuclear annihilation all over again.