Chapter 208 - 194: South City Gate Route, Return of the New Students

Chapter 208: Chapter 194: South City Gate Route, Return of the New Students

The entire South City Gate of Meteor University suddenly became a hub of excitement. Compared to its usual tranquility, it was quite a spectacle. Li Heng finally understood why the upperclassmen were always so gleeful during the freshmen’s spring outing.

After five or six minutes, a freshman finally stumbled through the South City Gate, looking absolutely wretched. The robe issued by the university was tattered beyond recognition; its sleeves and pant legs were nothing but strips of cloth.

But that wasn’t the important part. The moment the freshman made it inside the gate, he collapsed to the ground, gasping for air. He had the look of someone who had just survived a disaster, and he was muttering under his breath.

"S-Saved... I... I finally made it out alive..."

After the first freshman arrived, the number of new students reaching the South City Gate gradually increased.

But while more new students were arriving, their condition was hardly any better than the first.

The students who were only gasping for breath were considered the ones with good stamina. Some freshmen, upon reaching the South City Gate, immediately collapsed, barely breathing, and lay sprawled on the ground like dead dogs.

Of course, collapsing on the ground like a dead dog wasn’t even the most pitiful sight.

The most wretched were the ones who collapsed with their eyes rolling back, spouting gibberish, and foaming at the mouth.

Li Heng watched as a large crowd of freshmen clogged the entrance to the South City Gate, the scene descending into chaos. Meanwhile, the teacher in charge of the spring outing watched the whole thing with a smile on his face.

’This is such an act! Those two Tier Four High-Grade Soul Beasts look like they’re about to fall asleep!’

Besides the teacher in charge, Li Heng also noticed the two Soul Beasts in the sky. They were basically "playing" with one eye open and the other closed. The Roaring Cloud Chilong was even yawning, looking utterly bored.

The freshmen on the ground, who had been chased half to death, didn’t see this. If they had, they probably would have coughed up blood from sheer frustration.

Of course, if he put himself in their shoes, most of the freshmen were just Soul Apprentices—some hadn’t even reached that level yet. For them to even be able to run for their lives when chased by a Tier Four High-Grade Soul Beast was already impressive. At least they knew to flee.

"Sigh! Is it over already? I thought we’d get to watch a little longer this year."

"Oh, well. Time to get to work!"

"True. Fun’s over. Medical Type, time to work!"

"Hey, this year’s batch of freshmen isn’t very impressive, but they’re our juniors all the same. Let’s get to work, people!"

"I call dibs on the cute ones!"

Huh?

’Get to work?’

Li Heng was standing on the city wall watching the freshmen when he suddenly heard a shift in the tone and attitude of the upperclassmen around him.

Then Li Heng saw them, one after another, running down from the wall and heading toward the collapsed underclassmen on the ground.

’Looks like... the upperclassmen are pretty decent after all!’

Li Heng had originally thought the upperclassmen were just there to gloat. But when he saw them heading down with various medicines and first-aid kits, he felt a flicker of warmth in his heart.

Meteor University had many traditions, but so far, it seemed only the administration was out to get them. The upperclassmen were actually pretty great.

There were very few freshmen left outside the gate. It looked like the spring outing for the South City Gate route was about to end, so Li Heng decided to leave the wall.

As he was walking down from the gate tower, Li Heng saw an upperclassman with medicine and bandages questioning a freshman whose eyes were rolled back.

"Hey, man. How are you feeling? Does anywhere hurt?"

"Guh... bleargh...!"

The upperclassman with the medicine paused, taken aback for a moment. After a brief silence, he asked again, "Don’t rush, man. Just speak slowly. Where does it hurt?"

"I... ghk... bluh...!"

Hearing the freshman speak again, the upperclassman paused once more. This time, he didn’t hesitate. He quickly wrapped a bandage around the student, poured a handful of pills from his hand, and stuffed them directly into the freshman’s mouth.

"There, you should be fine now, buddy. Drink plenty of hot water when you get back. I’m going to go check on the others. Don’t thank me, it’s what we upperclassmen are for."

Li Heng witnessed the whole exchange, unsure of what snarky comment he could possibly make. He just smiled and walked away quietly, hoping that the "forcefully treated" freshman would actually be okay.

Most of the freshmen were lying on the ground, completely motionless. They would only cooperate slightly when an upperclassman came to help them.

For the most part, these freshmen looked miserable on the surface—tattered clothes, covered in scrapes—but none had any obvious life-threatening injuries.

At one point, Li Heng saw the most severe case: a girl whose left forearm was bent at an unnatural angle, with a piece of bone even poking out.

But the girl was only shedding silent tears, her face contorted in pain. She didn’t let out a single cry. Two female upperclassmen and one male upperclassman were by her side, helping to treat her.

It was unclear if any students had been permanently lost during the spring outing, but judging from the current scene, the overall situation at the South City Gate wasn’t too severe.

The situation at the South City Gate was much better now compared to the initial chaos. The upperclassmen were helping the fallen underclassmen, and an orderly recovery process was underway.

"All freshmen who chose the South City Gate route for the spring outing, once you’ve recovered a bit, please present your proof of a three-hundred-li round trip: the Sealing Stone containing a Soul Beast."

Li Heng was walking away when he saw the male teacher in charge of the event fly into the city. He heard the teacher’s voice ring out from the sky and stopped to listen.

The moment the male teacher spoke, the freshmen, who had been passively receiving treatment from the upperclassmen, suddenly reacted as if they’d been given a shot of adrenaline.

"Son of a—!"

"This piece of junk! It almost got me killed!"

"I actually believed the school’s crap about picking the biggest one! Two Tier One Soul Beasts popped out at once! It scared the soul right out of me!"

*(A litany of curses and complaints followed...)*

Listening to the chorus of complaints rising around him, Li Heng naturally pictured the freshmen being ambushed the moment they released their Soul Beasts. He couldn’t help but feel a little sympathy.

But sympathy was one thing. Hearing that the other freshmen had also been ambushed by their Soul Beasts, Li Heng felt an inexplicable sense of relief.

"Sir! Um... when I went, there were no stones left... just this altar... does it count?"

The air was thick with complaints, but even as they grumbled, the students produced their Sealing Stones. Yet amidst the cacophony, one voice stood out.

At any rate, it caught Li Heng’s attention.

His gaze sharpened as he looked toward the source of the voice. Sure enough, he saw the Soul Beast Sealing Altar.

Say what you will, Li Heng was instantly filled with admiration. To have the guts to release a Tier Four Soul Beast and still remember to grab the altar afterward... he knew he couldn’t have done it. He would have fled at the first possible moment.

"It counts! I originally thought this year would be like last year, with the freshman getting so scared they’d drop the altar and run. I was even thinking... I’d have to go pick it up myself. Not bad! Not bad at all! Student, you’ll receive an extra ten credits for this spring outing."

After saying this, the male teacher slowly descended from the sky, adding, "And don’t any of you other students think this is unfair. This student is holding the Soul Beast Sealing Altar, which is used to seal Tier Four Soul Beasts. Yes, that means the two Soul Beasts that have been chasing you all for the past few days!"

The teacher’s explanation was delivered calmly, but the surrounding freshmen were utterly shocked. For some of them, their brains seemed to short-circuit on the spot.

’So you’re telling me those two Tier Four Soul Beasts flying in the sky... came out of that altar?!’

’And not only that... Meteor University’s administration knew about it!’

For a moment, all the freshmen were completely dumbfounded. They stared blankly at the male teacher, as if hoping to receive a more "satisfactory" answer.

Seeing the freshmen’s reactions, the male teacher just smiled and said, "It’s fine, everyone, don’t worry! It’s not a big deal!"