Chapter 69: Kidnapping

After more than an hour of rapid travel, Zhang Wen finally returned to the Thymis Academy.

The time was just as the sun was about to set, and the sky was ablaze with crimson clouds, casting everything within the academy in a fiery red glow.

To avoid being caught by the students of Thymis Academy for some mischief, Zhang Wen specifically asked the driver to park the psychokinetic hovercar in a secluded spot where no one would notice. Then, he covered most of his face with a scarf before stepping out and returning to the inn where the delegation from Almysis Academy was staying.

Just like when he had sneaked out, Zhang Wen first waited for a moment when no one was watching, then climbed over the back wall of the inn. With a powerful leap, he landed neatly through the open window into his room.

Drawing the curtains and locking the window behind him, Zhang Wen cautiously sensed the surroundings outside his room. The spies sent by both Thymis Academy and Katjeyna were still stationed in the hallway, secretly monitoring his door.

Phew! The calmness of the surroundings allowed Zhang Wen to exhale in relief once again. Obviously, none of them had noticed that Zhang Wen had sneaked out long ago and spent the entire afternoon wandering around the city of Babylon.

Although even if Katjeyna discovered Zhang Wen’s actions, he wasn’t afraid of what she could do to him, still, no one likes being nagged endlessly by an older woman.

Dong! Dong! Dong! Just then, the psychic clock in the room rang out.

According to the historical records of the Empire, the final chime before sunset marked the traditional dinner time for the people of the Empire. Of course, even in the Empire, where traditions are highly valued, this millennia-old custom had long since lost its significance for most people today.

However, since Zhang Wen happened to coincide with this time, occasionally following tradition didn’t seem like a bad idea. Thus, he openly pushed open his door and stepped out, heading toward the room where Xiaoxi and Amelice were staying. However, to his slight surprise, he knocked for quite a while but there was no response.

Those two little brats… He had clearly told them not to go wandering off. Sigh! If he had known this would happen, he shouldn’t have infused Xiaoxi with the Spring Water Technique energy, leaving her too weak to move from her bed. Zhang Wen couldn’t help but grit his teeth in frustration.

Before departing for the Thymis planet, Zhang Wen had accidentally discovered that by infusing Xiaoxi with the Spring Water Technique energy, he could control the effects of the ancient reagent—Zero—within her body, allowing her to function away from him.

However, the Spring Water Technique energy would gradually deplete over time, and once it ran out, Xiaoxi would again lose strength due to the effects of the Zero reagent, giving her the impression of a robot needing recharging.

Before Zhang Wen went to find Xiluo, Xiaoxi had stubbornly begged him to refill her “energy.” At the time, Zhang Wen had a slight premonition that a fully charged Xiaoxi wouldn’t be content to stay in the room.

Was this what they called the upper beam being crooked, so the lower beams followed suit? Zhang Wen sighed inwardly, suddenly realizing he perhaps had no right to scold the two girls.

Well… It was almost dark now. The energy he had infused into Xiaoxi that morning should be nearly depleted. It was unsafe for the two girls to keep running around outside. Zhang Wen thought helplessly, returning to his room to retrieve his psychic communicator and attaching it to his ear. After channeling a small amount of psychic energy, Zhang Wen quickly connected to Amelice’s communicator.

“Hello?” The voice from the other end suddenly sent a wave of ominous premonition through Zhang Wen’s heart. It wasn’t Amelice’s voice, but a cold, male voice.

“Who are you?” Zhang Wen asked as a matter of routine.

“Hehehe! You don’t need to know who I am. You should be Lord Zhang Wen, right?”

“That’s correct.”

“I’ve been waiting for you for quite some time. I believe you already know—your three students are in my hands.”

“Three students?” Zhang Wen furrowed his brows tightly.

“Yes. Hehe! One is called Garret, one is Amelice, and the other is Xiaoxi. Three very beautiful girls—you must really like them, right?” The cold male voice sneered from the communicator.

“Xiaoxi…”

Frankly speaking, when Zhang Wen first connected to Amelice’s communicator and heard that cold male voice, he thought it was just another prank by the Thymis Academy students targeting him. However, Zhang Wen suddenly realized the situation was entirely different from what he had imagined.

If only Amelice and Garret had been captured, Zhang Wen wouldn’t have found it strange at all. But now, not only were Amelice and Garret gone, but even Xiaoxi had fallen into their hands!

After all, Xiaoxi was not only a ninth-stage warrior, but also a speed-type fighter—one of the most difficult and least affected by numerical advantages in combat. Unless she had encountered an opponent of tenth-stage strength or higher, it was practically impossible to capture a battle-experienced speed-type warrior like her!

No matter how strong the physical combat department of Thymis Academy was, there was absolutely no way their students could include a tenth-stage expert. As for the instructors in the physical combat department of Thymis Academy, of course, there were many tenth-stage experts among them. However, how could instructors from Thymis Academy possibly take action against students from the Almysis Academy delegation?

If the person who captured Xiaoxi wasn’t from Thymis Academy, then who could he be? As this question crossed Zhang Wen’s mind, his thoughts suddenly flashed back to Edward’s last fierce gaze.

“Who exactly are you?” Zhang Wen’s eyes narrowed, his voice suddenly turning deep and low.

“Hehe! Haven’t you figured it out yet? Anyway, your three lovely students are in my hands. If you want to see them again, come to Training Ground No. 3 at midnight. Remember, come alone. If I find out you’ve told anyone about this, I can’t guarantee what will happen to those three lovely female students. Hehehehe…” With a sinister laugh, the other party cut off the communication without hesitation.

Zhang Wen tried to connect to Garret’s and Xiaoxi’s communicators again, but all he received were replies indicating no response.

Those three little brats… They had really fallen into their hands. Zhang Wen silently threw the communicator aside.

For Zhang Wen, there was now no point in pondering the identity of the captor. Since Garret and the others had been captured, regardless of why the other party was after him, Zhang Wen had no choice but to follow their instructions and go alone to Training Ground No. 3 at midnight.

It was going to be dangerous… Zhang Wen sighed deeply.

After the first communication ended, Zhang Wen was unable to contact the kidnapper who had taken the three girls again. However, since these people had managed to identify Zhang Wen’s identity and infiltrate Thymis Academy to abduct his students within such a short time, Zhang Wen had every reason to believe that the surveillance on him was extremely tight.

If Zhang Wen wanted to seek help from others out of fear of walking into a trap, the other party would certainly discover his actions and mercilessly harm the hostages. Zhang Wen couldn’t afford such a risk.

Waiting in the inn for a long night, thirty minutes before midnight, Zhang Wen opened the window again and jumped out of his room.

According to the traditions of most imperial academies, Thymis Academy also imposed a curfew on its students at midnight. Therefore, the academy grounds were quiet and deserted at this hour, and Zhang Wen naturally didn’t need to be as cautious as he had been when leaving in the afternoon.

Although the No. 3 training hall of Thymis Academy was located at the farthest eastern end of the campus, directly opposite the inn where Zhang Wen and his group were staying, the distance was great. However, Zhang Wen, exerting his full strength, reached the solitary building situated behind a small hill in no time.

Like the other buildings in Thymis Academy, the No. 3 training hall was also dark and unlit at this time. Moreover, the moon that night happened to be behind the training hall. Under the silver moonlight, the huge shadow cast by the small hill enveloped the entire training hall, adding an eerie and terrifying atmosphere to it.

Arriving in front of this ghost-like training hall, Zhang Wen saw that its main entrance was wide open. However, the interior was pitch black, and even with his vision enhanced by the Spring Water Technique, he could see nothing.

Drip! Suddenly, a sound like water droplets falling on the ground echoed within the dark training hall. Any Empire citizen with a bit of common sense could recognize it as the reverberation of psychic energy filling a psychic slot.

Soon, two dim psychic lamps lit up inside the training hall. The figures of Amelice, Garret, and Xiaoxi immediately came into view before Zhang Wen.

From appearances, the three girls didn’t seem to have suffered any physical harm. However, their hands were bound and tied with thick ropes to the ceiling beams above, their feet similarly bound together, their eyes covered with thick gauze, and their mouths stuffed with white towels.

“Umm! Umm!” As soon as they sensed the light from the psychic lamps, the three girls knew that Zhang Wen, who had come to rescue them, must have arrived. They immediately began to struggle in excitement.

However, the lights in the training hall went out again. Immediately after, the same sinister male voice that Zhang Wen had heard through the psychic communicator before echoed out.

“Hehehehe…” He let out a string of sinister laughter. “Didn’t expect you to be so foolish as to actually come alone.”

“Yeah! Who told me to have such disobedient students? I told them to stay in the room nicely, but they not only disobeyed, they even got themselves captured! It’s really frustrating.” Zhang Wen shrugged helplessly, but secretly, he was already fully alert.

Although within the range of Zhang Wen’s vision, he couldn’t see a single enemy, he could clearly sense that in the current training hall, there were at least ten people hiding in the shadows, watching him like predators ready to pounce.

“Ha! You’re quite humorous. However, no matter how good your jokes are, what good will it do in your current situation?” The cold male voice sounded again.

“Okay. Enough joking. Let’s talk business. Your target should be only me, right? Now that I’m here, why are you still holding them?”

“Hehe! Do you think I’m an idiot? I’ve heard long ago that in martial arts, your specialty is speed. Even a tenth-stage expert may not be able to keep up with your speed in battle. If I let them go, what’s to stop you from running off, leaving me helpless?”

“Oh? You’re indeed quite cautious.” Zhang Wen smiled faintly, but his heart grew increasingly anxious. The opponent had managed to investigate his situation so thoroughly in such a short time, which was something Zhang Wen hadn’t anticipated.

After all, unlike his role within the Almysis Academy delegation, his martial arts specialty wasn’t something that could be easily discovered through simple records.

Except for a few teammates who had fought alongside him in the Sandra Forest, and a few bounty fighters at the Casares Arena who had a good relationship with him, Zhang Wen had hardly ever displayed his martial arts skills in front of others. How had the opponent come to know this information?

Damn! Zhang Wen silently cursed in his heart.

“Hehe! Better safe than sorry.” Perhaps because he felt he had completely taken control of the situation, the cold man’s voice unconsciously carried a hint of mockery. “Now, I want you to seal your own battle energy!”

“Umm! Umm!” This time, as soon as the cold man’s voice fell, not only Garret but also Amelice and Xiaoxi beside her began to shout fiercely. Even though the training hall was still pitch black, Zhang Wen could imagine the three girls’ flushed faces and their desperate struggles.

“Seal my own battle energy?” Zhang Wen’s eyebrows furrowed deeply.

Under such circumstances, even Zhang Wen had to struggle internally. Sealing his battle energy would almost mean Zhang Wen would lose his ability to resist. However, if he didn’t follow the other party’s instructions, those ruthless criminals would certainly not know the meaning of mercy.

“What? Hesitating? Don’t want to comply? Ha! Think carefully. Your students are still in my hands. You have no room to bargain.”

“I know.” Zhang Wen nodded coldly.

When he first arrived in this world and began practicing the Spring Water Technique, Zhang Wen had once considered this question. If he didn’t use battle energy and instead used only his physical strength to fight, like he did on Earth, how far could he go? Although until now, Zhang Wen had never actually done this, the idea had always lingered in his mind.

As Zhang Wen’s understanding of the Spring Water Technique and battle energy deepened, this question in his mind gradually formed a vague answer.

When Zhang Wen used only his physical strength against opponents who could use battle energy, since pure physical strength was not enough to break through the opponent’s battle energy defenses, it would be very difficult to defeat the opponent. However, if he could push the advantages of the Spring Water Technique’s techniques to the extreme, it would not be easy for the opponent to defeat Zhang Wen quickly either.

Of course, all of this was just Zhang Wen’s own speculation and had not been tested in any actual combat. However, at this point, with no other way out, Zhang Wen could only choose to take a gamble.

Hey! I hope after Phoenix and Edward were destroyed, these guys don’t gather other tenth-stage experts too quickly. Even if the techniques of the Spring Water are advantageous, with only physical strength, facing a tenth-stage expert would still result in instant defeat! Zhang Wen thought helplessly, and for some reason, he couldn’t help but curl his lips upward.

“Hurry up!” The cold male voice impatiently urged again.

Zhang Wen expressionlessly glanced into the pitch-black training hall. Suddenly, a blinding blue burst of battle energy exploded from his right hand. Then, the battle energy gathered in Zhang Wen’s right hand gradually became brighter and brighter, until at the moment it became almost blinding, it suddenly exploded like an overinflated balloon.

“Good!” Seeing the battle energy explode from Zhang Wen’s right hand, the cold male voice said one word in satisfaction.

“When a martial artist gathers battle energy, if they ignore the limit of their own battle energy’s fusion capability and gather the battle energy limitlessly at one point, it may cause an overload phenomenon, leading to the failure of gathering battle energy. The result of the failure of gathering battle energy will cause a large amount of battle energy to surge back into the body, causing internal battle energy chaos, making it impossible to use for quite some time.” In the Empire’s martial arts textbooks, this passage is one of the most basic introductory knowledge.

Dong! Another sound of psychic energy filling the psychic slot echoed.

The next moment, the third training hall suddenly became brightly lit.

“Umm! Umm!” The three girls, who had just heard Zhang Wen’s entire process of sealing his battle energy, also struggled fiercely, desperately shaking their heads toward Zhang Wen.

“Now you can come in.” The cold male voice sounded again. This time, Zhang Wen finally got a clear look at the other party’s appearance.

That was a long-haired young man, looking to be about seventeen or eighteen years old, wearing a short-sleeved combat outfit commonly seen in arenas. He was holding a seemingly ordinary crystal energy sword, standing beside the three bound girls.

“Hmph!” the long-haired youth sneered得意ly, lifting the crystal energy sword in his hand and carelessly pointing it at Zhang Wen.

The term “得意ly” is kept in Chinese here because it adds a nuance that isn’t fully captured by the English “sneered.” To convey the full meaning more effectively in English, a better version might be:

“Hmph!” the long-haired youth said with a得意 smirk, raising the crystal energy sword in his hand and carelessly pointing it at Zhang Wen.

Or even more naturally in English:

“Hmph!” the long-haired youth scoffed smugly, lifting the crystal energy sword in his hand and carelessly pointing it at Zhang Wen.

Would you like me to adjust it further for tone or style?

When Zhang Wen saw the long-haired youth, he was indeed so startled that his whole body froze. The look of disbelief on his face caused the long-haired youth to become even more smug.

“What’s wrong? Scared to come in now? If you don’t come in soon, I can’t guarantee what I might do to your lovely female students! Hehehe!” The long-haired youth’s sinister laughter was now laced with even more lewdness.

Zhang Wen silently stared at the long-haired youth for a moment before finally stepping forward and crossing the threshold of the training hall.

Bang! As soon as Zhang Wen’s body entered the training hall, the heavy door behind him was slammed shut by someone.

“Hehehehe!” About twenty or so young people, looking no older than sixteen or seventeen, grinned wickedly and quickly surrounded Zhang Wen in the middle.

Sigh… Looking at the young people appearing around him, Zhang Wen let out a particularly complicated sigh. Their presence finally confirmed Zhang Wen’s earlier guess. When he saw the long-haired youth’s appearance, Zhang Wen had realized that the long-haired youth was not some ruthless criminal. His eyes and movements were completely different from cold-blooded killers like Phoenix or Edward.

And if he had to guess the identities of these surrounding youths, Zhang Wen would bet his annual salary that they were the students of Thymis Academy that Katjeyna had repeatedly warned him to be careful about.

“Hehe! No matter how you act, it won’t help! From that energy overload you did just now, your battle energy will at least be sealed until tomorrow morning. Without battle energy, no matter how strong you are, you’re still going to end up as a helpless dish!” Seeing the “prey” surrounded by his companions, the long-haired youth laughed arrogantly.

“Hey! What should we do with him? Should we hang him upside down on the clock tower like that fool Fox last year?” The youths surrounding Zhang Wen also laughed loudly, eyeing him with ill intentions, like a pack of stray dogs eyeing a captured rabbit.

“Ah! No, no! Repeating the same thing has no artistic sense? Hehe! This guy has three lovely female students, right? How about we strip this guy naked and throw him together with those three cute beauties and shoot an interesting little movie? We can call it ‘Beast Teacher vs. Naughty Teen Beauties.’ The guys on the psychic network will definitely love it!” A girl with only a half-earring in her right ear grinned wickedly, pulling out a psychic surveillance device she had prepared in advance and quickly setting it up near the wall.

“Ha! What a great idea!” The youths immediately burst into wild laughter. Several male voices even whistled loudly.

“Umm! Umm! Umm!” Hearing the increasingly vulgar suggestions from the “kidnappers,” the three girls were almost driven mad. Xiaoxi, in particular, turned red in the face, desperately pulling at the ropes binding her hands and feet, making the steel beam of the training hall creak loudly.

Zhang Wen remained silent, standing listlessly among the youths, letting them laugh and mock him.

“Okay, okay!” After allowing his companions to laugh heartily, the long-haired youth raised his hand to quiet them down. Then, he turned around again, looking at Zhang Wen with satisfaction.

“So now, are you going to cooperate with us willingly, or do we have to take matters into our own hands? Hehe! I should warn you in advance! If you cooperate yourself, we’ll just shoot a little movie and that’s it. But if we have to take action ourselves, you might have to endure a bit of hardship!”

“Hehe, is that so? I’ve heard your proposal.” The corner of Zhang Wen’s mouth slowly lifted. “But unfortunately, I’m just the kind of person who prefers to drink the penalty cup instead of the offered one.”

As Zhang Wen pronounced the last word “cup,” the psychic steel he had been holding in his hand suddenly extended, transforming into a three-foot-long crystal energy sword. Although Zhang Wen had sealed his battle energy, this did not prevent him from using psychic steel powered by psychic energy.

The arrogant students of Thymis Academy clearly hadn’t expected that Zhang Wen, in such a desperate situation, would still dare to resist. Before they could even react, Zhang Wen lightly flicked his wrist, and the sword flashed like lightning, slicing upward from below, passing in front of the girl with the earring who was holding the psychic surveillance device.

Crack! The psychic surveillance device in the girl’s hand was instantly severed in two. The psychic energy stored within the device erupted, startling the girl so much that she screamed and threw the remaining half of the device aside.

After quite some time, the girl with the earring, her face pale, finally realized that Zhang Wen’s previous strike had only cut the psychic surveillance device and that she herself had not been injured. However, she certainly wouldn’t feel grateful for Zhang Wen’s mercy. On the contrary, she only felt humiliated in front of her companions and, as soon as she regained her senses, glared at Zhang Wen in anger.

“Heh! Little brats, don’t think that just because you’ve tied an adult’s hands, you can play tricks on him. If you go too far, your butts will still get spanked!”

Even surrounded by more than twenty martial arts students, even with his battle energy sealed and unusable, Zhang Wen was still the same Zhang Wen. Even if he didn’t have a definite chance of defeating his opponents, making him surrender was simply impossible—two words: “Dream on!”