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

Chapter 58 Time Zero

When the attending physician took off his stethoscope, he said, "The recovery speed is amazing. He will be discharged in the next two days."

Gu Yi was about to thank her, but his throat was so sore from not speaking for so long that he could only utter a breath. The head nurse thoughtfully handed him a throat lozenge, and the cool minty taste made his eyes sore.

The doctor nodded and said, "No need to say anything, this is our job." Then he led the medical staff out of the ward.

"Don't be so moved. What do you want to eat tonight? I'll go to the cafeteria to get the food myself." Vivian leaned against the door frame with her arms folded.

"KFC."

"Hey!" The girl approached the bed with her hands on her hips. "Do you think you're Wolverine? You just woke up from a deep coma and you want to eat fried chicken."

"Then it depends on what Senior Sister arranges. I'll eat whatever you eat."

"That's more like it." Vivian snorted.

Two stealthy figures squeezed in through the crack in the door, and the telescopic ladder Finger was carrying slammed against the door frame. Behind him, Su Yuqing was holding a family bucket, and the aroma of fried chicken mixed with ketchup packets fell down cracklingly.

Vivian was shocked. "Fingal? Amara? How did you two get in?"

"It's all his fault!" Su Yuqing stamped her foot in anger. "He insisted on dragging me here, and I told him he couldn't get in without an appointment. He stole a ladder from the school maintenance department and said, 'With a ladder, you can get in anywhere.' I didn't expect it to actually work. No one tried to stop us along the way."

"Surprise!" Finger yelled, "Junior brother, look what I brought you."

Vivian picked up the medical record board and slammed it over: "You're going to die! He just woke up!"

Finkel quickly dodged, "Don't hit me yet! Wait for me to talk to my junior brother!"

Then he leaned the folding ladder against the corner, passed the fruit baskets on the ground, and shook Gu Yi's IV tube. "Is he alive?"

"I almost died." Gu Yi's pale lips curled up slightly.

Before they could finish their conversation, the ward door opened for the second time. An elderly man with meticulously combed silver hair stood at the doorway, his sophisticated black suit making him look like he had just stepped off a negotiating table.

He raised one eyebrow slightly: "It's very lively."

The air suddenly froze. Finger's hand, gripping the IV tube, froze in mid-air. Another ketchup packet in Su Yuqing's arms clattered to the floor. Only Vivian managed to maintain her composure. She put the medical record sheet behind her and bowed slightly, "Principal."

The old man walked briskly into the ward and glanced at the aluminum telescopic ladder in the corner. "Fingal, after visiting the patients, do you still want to repair something for the school hospital?"

"Absolutely not!" Finkel took two steps back as if he had been electrocuted. "I just heard that my junior brother woke up, so I came here to offer my loving condolences!" He said as he glanced at the door of the ward.

Ange nodded, "Then, could you please allow me to talk to Gu Yi alone?"

The question was filled with an unquestionable momentum, and everyone rushed to the door like a receding tide. Vivian did not forget to take the bucket of fried chicken with her before leaving.

When the last seam of the door was closed, the old man casually dragged over the accompanying chair and sat down, his fingers folded on his knees. "How is it?" he asked casually.

Gu Yi propped up his upper body by the bed rails, "Everything is fine."

Ange nodded. "I've watched all the missions. You did a great job."

The boy suddenly leaned forward and said, "Principal, the people who attacked Caesar and me..."

"We haven't found anything yet." The old man interrupted the inquiry, "but we have found some clues."

"Is this so"

"Tell me," Ange said, changing the subject abruptly, "What kind of words do you think Time Zero is?"

"Deceitful," the young man blurted out. The old man's smile wrinkles deepened. "Good answer. What about the flaw?"

Gu Yi thought for a moment: "It's a huge mental burden, and the endurance is very short."

"That's why you only activate it for one or two seconds at a time during combat, using high-frequency short bursts instead of continuous consumption." He clapped his hands and chuckled. "Smart decision, kid."

"Thank you for the compliment. Principal, you are the strongest user of Time Zero. Can you teach me some techniques?"

"Of course." Anger nodded, "But we must first understand that the bloodline of Time Zero does not belong to the Four Kings, but to the Black King."

"Black King?" Gu Yi was stunned. "What is the origin of the bloodline?"

"Sorry, I forgot you haven't been to many classes." Ange held his forehead. "Bloodline origins are where this Word Spirit originates from. For example, your friend Chu Zihang's Junyan originates from the King of Bronze and Fire, and Caesar's Kamaitachi originates from the King of Sky and Wind."

"I see."

"Time Zero is perhaps the most difficult of all known Word Spirits to understand, even though its sequence number isn't very high. We all know that all Dragon Word Spirits are achieved through the control of some element. However, there's no element of time among these elements, yet this Word Spirit can manipulate time. Therefore, we give it an Unknown Danger Rating."

"unknown?"

"For example, above time zero, Jun Yan, number 89, is at high risk. Below time zero, Jian Yu, number 82, is at medium risk."

"That nameless word spirit is Jian Yu." Gu Yi's eyes lit up.

"Yes. By the way, the tactics you and Caesar used to take him out were brilliant."

"Then how can I improve the effect and duration of Time Zero?" Gu Yi asked
Ange picked an orange from the fruit basket and weighed it. "It's simple, versatile. Word spirits are like muscles." He suddenly clenched his fists, and the faint outline of his aged yet sturdy figure emerged from under his suit cuffs. "Just like when you do push-ups every day, the muscle fibers will become stronger through tearing and reorganizing. Every time you activate Time Zero, the mental load you endure will cause the synapses to undergo adaptive changes. If I'm not mistaken, you can use Word spirits on campus, so why not?"

The boy pondered, "I thought the school rules prohibited the use of words within the school..."

"As long as you don't cause any serious damage, like blowing up the clock tower into fireworks, no one will bother you about it." The old man winked cunningly.

"I understand," Gu Yi nodded, "but I'm a little curious, how long can the principal's time zero last?"

"Why don't I show you?" Ange smiled and threw the orange into the air.

The boy was about to answer when his pupils suddenly constricted. A falling orange hovered eerily in mid-air. The old man's pupils shone a brilliant gold, and fine light particles formed a halo around his silver hair. The entire ward fell into an eerie silence.

"Six seconds." As the ice-blue irises reappeared, the orange landed on the old man's palm with a "pop." "Under normal conditions, it can be maintained stably for six seconds. That's the limit. It's been too long since I've tried that."

"What about the ratio of the speed of time flow?" Gu Yi's voice became tense.

"About fifty times." Ange peeled the orange. "That gives me five minutes."

Gu Yi's eyes widened. "It's really... scary."

"You'll be able to do it sooner or later. Do you want to make a bet? By this time next year, your limit will at least double." The old man put the peeled orange into the boy's palm.

"I hope so." Gu Yi smiled bitterly.

"Believe in yourself," Ange said, wiping his fingertips with a handkerchief. "I, an old man, won't disturb your gathering. After all, if I always hang around young people, I'll become an annoying old-fashioned person, right?"

"Without you, Principal" the voice stopped abruptly.

Gu Yi stared blankly at the closed door. There was only an empty folding chair in the ward, which was still shaking slightly.

(End of this chapter)