Chapter Fifty-Four: Out of Control (Part One)

When the roll call reached Ronin's name, the entire class fell into a deep silence.

Ye Ran understood the reason perfectly well. Skipping class had become routine for Ronin; if she ever appeared in a lesson, that would be the true surprise. Over time, teachers rarely bothered to call her name, and students preferred not to mention her at all. That girl... it was best not to provoke her, and even better to avoid uttering her name.

“Instructor, Ronin isn’t here,”

After a long pause, a girl spoke in a low chuckle.

Her laughter was unlike any other; the stillness shattered, replaced by an eerie atmosphere. Several gazes swept over her, surprise clear in their expressions. It was that girl—she no longer wore her dull, vacant look.

“Thank you, Alyssa,” Roger said, glancing at the girl with two long ponytails standing at the end of the row. The two students beside her seemed frightened, edging away as if she were not a sweet animal girl but a venomous serpent to be avoided at all costs.

Ye Ran continued with the roll call, scanning the list.

“Mars,”

“Here…”

“Instructor, have you ever killed someone?”

Two voices sounded at once: one was Mars’s response, and the other came from the ponytailed girl.

Her bizarre question made the classroom’s atmosphere even stranger. Watching the curve of her lips and the shadowed smile, Ye Ran felt a sudden chill inside.

Sun Jiulou had been right: Alyssa, ranked second on the Martial Review Board, was a headache even for legends; not even the greatest could handle her. Though Ye Ran was meeting her true self for the first time, her name was unforgettable—Sun Jiulou and Cat Teacher mentioned her more than the top-ranked Tiger Warrior.

Alyssa, second on the Martial Review Board at Tyding Academy, was born into an artistic family. Her father was a renowned sculptor in Torrent City, and Alyssa grew up surrounded by art. She possessed remarkable sculpting talent, coupled with the peculiar exacting nature and obsession of artists.

Yet, she was also a mild psychiatric patient, primarily manifesting in issues of excitement triggers.

Most people have similar triggers—food, service, beauty—but Alyssa’s were much higher, far beyond the norm. When she entered school, she seemed dull and uninterested in anything, until one day she passed the laboratory of the Academic Department, where she saw dissected human and animal corpses and blood on the interns’ scalpels. Only then did her subconscious excitement ignite.

That day, nearly everyone heard her frenzied laughter. By the time the experts and teachers from the Hall of Fame arrived, the laboratory was a chaotic mess of corpses. Sun Jiulou himself had to intervene to subdue her.

After that incident, everyone’s view of her changed completely.

Some said she was traumatized, a victim of severe childhood abuse that led to her condition.

Others claimed that the real Alyssa deserved to be top of the Martial Review Board: if she saw blood and entered berserk mode, even the Hall of Fame masters could hardly restrain her.

Still others argued she was not mad, but a genius.

Whatever the truth, Ye Ran knew one thing: whenever this seemingly dull girl laughed, disaster was imminent.

The gossip from Cat Teacher about Alyssa was highly credible.

“No, Alyssa,” Ye Ran replied.

But the fervor in Alyssa’s eyes did not diminish; she laughed softly, “Liar, Instructor. Alyssa can smell the blood on you—so rich, so tempting.”

“Instructor, the aura and intent left by slaughter cannot be washed away. I can smell it.”

She licked her crimson tongue as she spoke.

Her quiet laughter and whispers changed the mood entirely.

Everyone felt her transformation; the laughter unmistakably carried heat and madness.

The tall Zhao Kai and another boy exchanged a glance, nodding slightly, their faces paling.

This was bad—Alyssa seemed on the verge of losing control.

Ye Ran found the atmosphere intolerable, but his face remained placid. “It’s monster blood from the underground nest, not human blood. Alyssa, please stay rational.”

“Hahaha, does it matter whose blood it is?”

Whoosh—

Suddenly, chaos erupted. Ye Ran had not expected that a simple phrase would trigger Alyssa’s complete breakdown. She vanished in a blur, reappearing silently behind Ye Ran.

A small sculptor’s blade stabbed toward Ye Ran’s throat, its sharp edge glinting coldly.

“Alyssa, stop!”

“Alyssa, Instructor…”

Shouts echoed as the sudden turn left everyone stunned.

Zhao Kai, eighth on the Martial Review Board, was shocked. He had planned to intervene, but Alyssa’s speed was incredible; he had no chance to stop her.

A sharp metallic sound rang out. At the crucial moment, Ye Ran’s jade-hued blade flashed from his sleeve, meeting Alyssa’s sculptor’s knife with a spark. He quickly retreated a step.

“Alyssa, don’t act recklessly.”

“All others, leave the field—quickly.”

Ye Ran felt his hand numb from the impact, but his first reaction was to wave the students away.

His heart sank. On his first lesson, Alyssa, ranked second on the Martial Review Board, had gone berserk. If he couldn’t handle this, the consequences would be dire.

Nearly out of control, Alyssa pressed forward in a blur, her powerful aura surging like sharp blades slashing fiercely. Ye Ran moved through afterimages, stirring two strong air currents, his energy rapidly draining. Only when the students had mostly scattered did he dare to disperse the currents, raising his blade for three airborne clashes with Alyssa’s, sending himself flying backward.

In her frenzy, Alyssa’s speed and strength reached unbelievable heights, and Ye Ran’s heart grew heavier.

When Alyssa had lost control before, only Sun Jiulou had managed to subdue her. How could he do it alone?

“Instructor, we’ll stay and help you.”

Two men stepped forward behind Ye Ran.

Zhao Kai, eighth on the Martial Review Board.

Gules, third on the Martial Review Board.

As they advanced, their auras collided fiercely with Alyssa’s, tearing deep cracks into the plastic track beneath Ye Ran’s feet.