23 Chapter 23: Training (2/2)

Before I reached the bus stop, I caught sight of an unfamiliar group of people. Initially they didn't seem out of place, dressed casually and all that, but their movements raised my hackles. Intuitively, I could tell that they were moving in a familiar pattern.

A pattern that Dad warned me about.

Not this bullshit again…

As I said before, there were quite a huge number of people who resented my Dad or held a grudge against him, or just wanted stuff from him, and one of the ways they tried to get back at him was by targeting me. No doubt they intended to kidnap me, probably to ransom my Dad, or to blackmail him. This wasn't the first time, but it had been a while since the last one.

Good thing I was on the alert for my schoolmates, or I might have missed them. Damn, I had let down my guard and become a little sloppy.

While keeping an eye on them, I immediately altered my route and turned down a corner. As I suspected, the people tailing me immediately hastened their pace a notch, trying to ensure that I stayed within their sight.

Unfortunately for them, I had way too much experience dealing with them.

The moment they lost sight of me, I slipped into a crowd heading toward the bus stop and simply disappeared amongst them. My pursuers cursed when they could no longer locate me, and wasted precious seconds gathering to discuss among themselves what to do.

While they did so, my bus arrived and I joined the throng of students in boarding it. One good thing about uniforms – while many claimed that it destroyed individuality and should not be forced upon students, it allowed me to blend in with my fellow schoolmates and escape the suspicious group of people trying to shadow me.

Unfortunately, they were intelligent enough to realize that something was amiss. When one of them spotted the bus at the bus stop, and having known my route well enough because they evidently did their homework, they realized that I had just taken them for a ride.

”Follow that bus!” their leader snarled. Turning to another couple of members, he singled them out. ”You, you, and you! Stick around here and continue to search, just in case he isn't on that bus and is hiding somewhere around here.”

”Yes, sir!”

They split up immediately, the majority of them filing into a car.

By then, the bus had already launched off. I took a seat by the window and took note of the car that zoomed after us. The stalkers, whoever they were, were professionals. They didn't tail the bus too closely, remaining just a few cars behind. Otherwise they might have alerted the bus driver.

There were a few times they actually disappeared from sight, only to reappear again just when I thought I had successfully shaken them off. They were good…I had to give them that.

I considered not alighting at my stop, but they would just follow the bus a bit further, all the way until the terminal. Then I would be in trouble as I would be too far from anywhere for help. On the other hand, if I got off, I could sprint toward my house and get under the barrier before they reached me. Furthermore, I had other countermeasures in place…

Additionally, their car was quite some distance away, so I chose to gamble on the chance that I would make it before they catch me.

With that decided, I got off my stop. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the car suddenly accelerating. Trying not to glance at them, I began sprinting toward my house. A good thing Dad trained me daily, or I wouldn't have the stamina or speed.

”Huff…”

Normally, it was just a three to four minutes' walk from the bus stop to my house. A minute if I ran. But right now it seemed like forever. My house, which was normally just a stone's throw away, felt like it was kilometers away.

I could hear the tires screaming as the car behind sped after me. But I was almost there. I could see my house coming into view now. Another minute…no, thirty seconds…!

Then a second car cut in right in front of me, almost running me over. The doors banged open, and a group of adults emerged quickly, moving toward me.

”Grab him!” the leader commanded, a cold smile curling across his face. ”Once we get him, we'll be able to threaten Huang Shun Yin! We'll finally be able to kill him!”

”Let's see if he prizes his own son more, or his own life more!”

”That boy should be his weakness!”

I knew it. These bastards were trying to abduct me to get back at my Dad, to blackmail him. As fucking usual.

However, I was far from helpless. I hadn't spent all that time sitting in the bus waiting for them to abduct me. Having finished the casting of my spell long ago, I then unleashed it.

Boom!

Within a few moments, the entire space was engulfed in an inferno. My would-be kidnappers sprang back cautiously as they sought to avoid being burned.

With a shrill cry, Vermillion Phoenix emerged from the blazing earth and flapped its massive wings before fixing its eyes on the puny humans before it.