Chapter 158: The Hunting Academy

Du Bin lay on the bed, holding his phone. Comparing the mobile devices of the two worlds, the differences were subtle, yet the technology here seemed slightly more advanced. At the very least, the holographic virtual screen had not yet been successfully developed in his own world. No wonder the SIM card he brought was useless; even its shape was entirely different.

Examining the military-grade smartphone, he unlocked it using the password she had provided. The network speed here had already reached the 5G era. The progress of science was truly miraculous—he had never experienced the 5G era before. It was quite impressive; streaming movies and downloading files took mere minutes.

Without the heart to play around, Du Bin opened the web browser to search for the information he needed. Right, he remembered that he currently lacked any legal identity. He typed his ID card number into a search engine to check, but the resulting page came up completely blank. Du Bin was puzzled—there ought to be another version of himself in this world, right?

"Forget it, I'll just ask my other self for an ID card when the time comes."

When he backed out of the browser, he accidentally tapped on the photo gallery. Instantly, over a hundred selfies of Oda Sakurako appeared on the screen. This girl was actually quite cute. As Du Bin browsed through them, casually scrolling down, he suddenly swiped across a picture of her in a swimsuit. His weathered face flushed red, and a sudden sense of guilt washed over him, as if he were peeking into someone else's privacy.

Du Bin exited the gallery. Overcome by exhaustion from his recent ordeals, he finally closed his eyes and fell asleep. Little did he know that the phone's GPS system was linked to Oda Sakurako's device. Having just finished cursing him out, she had checked her phone and noticed that the signal was currently out in the middle of the ocean.

Before long, the cargo ship arrived at the port of Tianjing. This was the capital of the Southern Dynasty, heavily guarded and fortified. Gazing at the towering skyscrapers on one side and the retro Ming-dynasty architecture on the other, there was a surreal blend of modern and ancient aesthetics. If a film crew were looking for a shooting location, this place would undoubtedly offer the absolute best scenery, though the wealthy tended to congregate on the opposite side.

Although the dynasties differed, their development had clearly progressed in sync. According to historical records, the Ming Dynasty had produced numerous capable leaders, relying on their own elite corps of super-powered individuals to keep the realm intact. However, due to disputes over imperial succession and a schism between the forces of light and darkness, the empire eventually split into two distinct dynasties. That raised the question: where had all those legendary historical figures gone?

Suddenly, a citizen leaped with explosive force, vaulting dozens of meters up onto a rooftop, while others used high-rise terraces for parkour. Sweat trickled down the back of Du Bin's neck. What kind of rhythm was this? The streets were practically crawling with beings possessing special abilities.

Having learned a thing or two about this world, he realized that superpowers were no longer a secret. As long as you had money, you could easily pay to learn them—whether it was invisibility, flight, clairvoyance, telekinesis, or anything else you could possibly imagine. The only thing absent was anything as bizarre as manipulating space-time. Otherwise, if everyone ran around casually warping through space to other parallel universes like Kagura, the world would descend into complete chaos.

As Du Bin groped his way forward, he gradually adapted to life in this world. From what he had managed to gather, the enduring coexistence of the Northern and Southern Dynasties was thanks to the protection of four great noble families. The Northern Dynasty was guarded by the Tianlong and Xuanyuan families, while the Southern Dynasty was watched over by the Hunting family and the Huangpu family. Beneath them stood the Five Elements families: the Ji clan of Qishan, the Xia clan of Qingzhou, the Jiang clan of Jingxiang, the Gongsun clan of Liaodong, and the Sikong clan of Baiyue. Naturally, countless smaller factions existed as well, though they all operated as vassals attached to the major houses.

Aside from the minor factions, Du Bin had never even heard of these major powers, save for the Hunting family. He deeply doubted whether any of these forces had ever existed in his own world. If this were ancient times, he might have been able to carve out a career using his modern advantages, but here, he'd better forget about it. Finding Xiaotang safely was his top priority.

Du Bin made his way straight toward Tianjing, as the Hunting family resided right there. However, the only way to gain access to them was through the Hunting Academy. Every year, they recruited elites from the academy to cultivate them within the main family. Since Ye Tang had arrived in this world just two months before him, she likely had to follow the same path—enrolling in the academy as a stepping stone to entering the Hunting family. It seemed imperative that he find a way to infiltrate the academy. Age was no barrier there; all it took was money. Unfortunately for Du Bin, not only was he penniless, but he was also entirely devoid of identity papers.

At that moment, he suddenly thought of Oda Sakurako. For reasons unknown, she was the first person who popped into his mind, perhaps because she was the very first person he had gotten to know in this world. Retrieving the phone and checking the contacts, he initially assumed he would need to ask her friends to reach her. To his surprise, the entire contact list contained only a single saved number belonging to her. Damn it, what was going on here? Why did this suddenly feel a little ambiguous?

Not overthinking it, Du Bin placed a video call directly. Oda Sakurako appeared on the screen, still clad in her signature armor. She said with a face full of excitement, "I knew you would look for me."

He informed her of his current predicament. Much to his surprise, Oda Sakurako replied with a helpless tone, "If you were in Dongying, I could definitely help you sort this out. But since you're in another country, it's a bit more difficult. Still, this phone number is linked to one of my bank cards; you can use the money inside to take care of things. Fake IDs are easy to come by everywhere anyway."

"That's true. There should be currency exchange rates, too."

"Don't worry, just spend whatever you need." Sweat dripped down Du Bin's forehead; he felt as though he were being kept by a woman. He cleared his throat with a cough to ease the awkwardness: "Consider this money a loan. I'll pay you back once I make some cash."

Oda Sakurako didn't push the matter further. She knew men cared about their pride, and whether he paid her back or not didn't matter to her. Judging by her posture, Du Bin guessed she must be in the middle of a mission. "Alright, I won't disturb you while you're catching criminals. I won't say much else—stay safe, and don't be as reckless as last time."

"Mn, I'll remember." After hanging up the video call, she resumed leading her squad in pursuit of a rogue super-powered criminal.

Du Bin quickly located a place that produced forged documents, swiftly resolved his identity issue, and headed toward the Hunting Academy with his fake papers in hand.

The campus architecture featured a blend of Chinese and Western styles, covering an area equivalent to two Tsinghua Universities. Filled with the fragrance of flowers and the chirping of birds, it bore no resemblance whatsoever to a school designed to train super-powered individuals. Students strolled along the paths in groups. There was no uniform dress code; everyone wore whatever they pleased, giving it a relatively casual, egalitarian campus atmosphere.

As he walked, a sudden commotion broke out among the male students. All eyes converged upon a group of beautiful girls approaching from ahead. Du Bin glanced in the direction of their gazes. Among the girls walking down the opposite street, one particular face looked painfully familiar: straight bangs and a long, flowing cascade of natural blue hair. The moment he clearly recognized her features, Du Bin's entire body jerked violently. His expression twisted with rage as his fists clenched so tightly they trembled.

The familiar girl was none other than YOYO—the very person who had repeatedly sought to drive Ye Tang to her death. Even though he knew this YOYO wasn't the exact one from his own world, he simply could not suppress the deep-seated hatred within him. If not for her, Ye Tang would never have fallen into the parallel-universe rift, and he would never have wound up trapped here. She bore the full blame for every single catastrophe. Just to purge the vampires, did she really have to go to such merciless extremes?

Seemingly sensing the murderous aura radiating from Du Bin, she paused and cast a puzzled glance in his direction, wondering what on earth she had ever done to him to warrant such a hostile glare, as if she owed him millions. Snorting coldly, YOYO ignored him entirely and followed her friends into the campus grounds. Realizing she was a student here, Du Bin felt a profound sense of helplessness. Truly, enemies often crossed paths; if they didn't run into each other at every turn, where would they meet? He worried he might lose control and pick a fight with her. Then again, if she was here, shouldn't Ye Tang be here as well? After all, the two of them were sworn rivals.