Dragon Clan: Avoid the College Entrance Examination to Slay the Dragon

Chapter 1 Leaving School
Dusk snaked up the glass windows like an inky koi carp swimming across yellowed rice paper. The pre-rain sky, with its low-hanging leaden clouds, bathed the classroom in a bluish-gray glaze.

Teacher Zhang tapped the podium with his blackboard eraser, sending chalk dust cascading onto his blue jacket. "Evening study begins in half an hour. Students who are attending should take a break."

The classroom was suddenly filled with dense waves of sound. The rustling sound of textbooks flowing between desks and the low voices of boys arguing in the back row intertwined into a tide, but quietly receded in a corner. Gu Yi was stuffing "Five Years of College Entrance Examination" into his schoolbag, and the cover was brushed by the last golden rays of the setting sun.

"Student Gu," the girl holding the roll call, stopped three steps away. The wind blew through the half-open window, blowing the strands of hair at Chen Wenwen's temples into trembling butterfly whiskers. The young man raised his eyes at that moment, and the dusk melted into a pool of hot gold in his amber pupils, startling her so much that she took a step back.

"You're not going to evening study today..."

"No." The boy answered decisively.

The roster in Chen Wenwen's arms trembled, and the sentences she hadn't spoken yet shattered into pieces, scattered in the aisle by the wind caused by her hasty turn.

"Gu Yi!" Lu Mingfei suddenly appeared, clinging to the edge of the desk like a squirrel guarding a tree hole. "There's a discount for chartering a computer at an internet cafe tomorrow morning on the weekend. How about..."

Before he could finish his words, a towering black figure, reeking of sweat, rolled across the aisle. Xu Yanyan's bloated body made the desks and chairs creak and shake, and the dull thud of Lu Mingfei toppling over to the ground, along with his chair, startled the girls into letting out a low gasp.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Brother Lu." The fat man's hand, pretending to support him, hung in the air, and a sneer leaked from the corners of his fat eyes, "But you really should eat more with your small body."

The words stopped abruptly.

Gu Yi's canvas soles struck Xu Yanyan's lower back with incredible force, sending his 200-pound frame careening into the bathroom corner like a bowling ball. Amidst the crashing sound of brooms and dustpans toppling over, the young man stood calmly, as if the thunderous side kick hadn't even occurred.

"I'm sorry, Brother Xu. But you really should lose weight." He nodded at the mess on the floor.

Lao Zhang slammed the blackboard eraser on the podium, "Lawless! Give it all to me!"

"Teacher, I was wrong, I was wrong, I will take care of it right away!" Lu Mingfei jumped up like a spring, half of his cheek was still covered with dust, but he had already forced out his signature grin, "Gu Yi's shoelaces are undone! Yes! He was just trying to tie his shoelaces!" The incoherent excuses were accompanied by a strong dragging force, and the stiff boy was forcibly dragged towards the corridor.

Seeing that the two had already left the classroom, Xu Yanyan leaned against the wall to prop himself up, his fat body trembling violently with his breathing. He wiped the corners of his mouth where the skin had been rubbed raw, and cursed in a low voice: "My own stuff is the only thing left in the family tree..."

Lu Mingfei felt the school uniform fabric he was holding suddenly tense like iron. As Gu Yi turned, the last rays of sunset outside the corridor shone through the window lattice, casting a dark red cast on his straightened back like molten iron. His shoe soles scraped against the tiles, making a sharp sound, but just as he was about to leap, an arm extended from the side, cutting him off.

"Don't hit me! Really don't hit me!" Lu Mingfei's body was half hanging on Gu Yi's left arm. "The teacher is still here. Wait until there's no one around before hitting me!"

Dusk drifted across Gu Yi's profile, the melted gold foil solidifying into amber in his pupils. From the bathroom corner came the muffled thud of a plastic bucket toppling over. Xu Yanyan was scrabbling to clear away the scattered brooms, his massive frame casting a trembling shadow on the wall.

"I'll come find you tomorrow." Gu Yi threw off the shackles and stepped through the water in the corridor. "Remember you pay this time."

Lu Mingfei looked at the figure walking away, sighed, and hurried back to the classroom, "I'll clean up now, I'll clean up now..."

---

The rain curtain enveloped Shilan Middle School like a tattered spiderweb. Just as Gu Yi stepped out of the teaching building, he was suddenly struck on the back of his neck by something cold and heavy. A shrunken basketball, covered in mud, rolled to his feet. He turned to see Chu Zihang leaning against a porch pillar, his tracksuit unzipped to his chest, his hair still dripping with fresh rain.

"How have you been lately?" His voice came through the rain curtain.

Gu Yi brushed his wet black hair back. "I'm fine. How about you, brother? Are you confident about the college entrance exam?" Chu Zihang's pupils trembled for a moment, then sank back into the dark cold pool. "I won't take the college entrance exam. I'll study abroad."

"Going abroad?" Gu Yi was a little surprised.

"A university in Chicago." Chu Zihang pulled his right hand out of his sweatpants pocket. There were dark red scabs on his knuckles.

He clenched his fist, unclenching it again, as if measuring some invisible weapon. "Let's have a meal together before we go."

"I understand. I'll go." The boy turned and left.

Chu Zihang stood there until the thin figure was about to disappear in the depths of the rain and fog.

"Do you need me to go with you?" He suddenly raised his voice, the tail sound hitting the wet wall and splashing an echo. The moment he said this, he was stunned, as if another soul was vibrating through his vocal cords.

A vague response came from the sound of rain: "Just going to the hospital."

The streets were bathed in a steely gray sky. Sycamore leaves twitched in the wind, and neon signs shimmered into eerie patches of light in the rain. As Gu Yi turned into the alley, the stagnant water suddenly rippled unnaturally—someone was dancing on his shadow.

"You say one thing and mean another." The girl's voice was laced with honey-like poison, her raven-feather hair unfurling like a flowing waterfall of ink in the night breeze. She stepped barefoot through the puddles, her arches unblemished. "You clearly wanted to tug at his clothes and cry, 'Please stay with me,' didn't you?"

Gu Yi clutched the strap of his schoolbag and quickened his pace. Raindrops penetrated the girl's translucent body, condensing into illusory pearls on the tips of her hair.

"You've shown up more times this week than you did last month." He slammed open the door of the convenience store, and the wind chimes wailed in the heavy rain.

"Because your san value is almost zero~" The girl suddenly appeared in front of him, hanging upside down, her long wet hair hanging down like black vines, and the face that emerged from her hair was so beautiful that the moonlight shattered into stardust. She stretched out her hand and poked the boy's eyebrows.

"Look, it's happening again."

The convenience store suddenly fell silent. The automatic doors continued to open and close mechanically, but no one was behind the cash register. The lights in the freezer flickered, and the girl landed lightly, her toes radiating blood-red ripples where they touched.

“It’s coming.” She hummed an off-key version of “Ode to Joy.” “Guess what’s coming this time…”

Streetlights exploded one after another. From the depths of darkness came the sound of scales scraping against the ground, mixed with the sharp whine of rusted gears gnashing. The girl's white shirt rustled in the air, and when she turned, she had become a translucent phantom, her pupils aglow with gold.

"If you die here—" She suddenly placed her cold palm on Gu Yi's heart, "Who will take care of the one in the intensive care unit?"

Gu Yi felt for the Swiss Army knife in the lining of his schoolbag. The metal shell was stained with blood and rust. He roared into the void, "What on earth are you?"

The girl's soft laughter mingled with the sound of rain as the entire glass curtain wall behind her exploded with a bang. A twisted shadow shattered the rain curtain and rushed into the convenience store. Its form still held a remnant of human form, a spiderweb of dark blue veins bulging beneath its pale skin. Its eye sockets were occupied by two pools of seething gold, and its lower jaw twisted unnaturally outward, revealing dagger-like white fangs. Most terrifying of all were the scales that stretched down its neck. Each one looked as if corroded by strong acid, its edges curling to reveal the writhing flesh beneath.

It raised its five fingers and pounced towards the young man behind the shelf.

(End of this chapter)