Lin Hao stood at the main campus gate, a cheap baseball cap pulled low over his eyes.
It was noon. He was clean, fed, and had just slept for a solid four hours. He was back on campus to finalize his "leave of absence," a simple, bureaucratic task.
The campus was no longer the tense, anxious place of the day before. The Global Announcement had changed that. Now, it was a buzzing, electric carnival.
The quad was packed. BSA recruiting tables were set up near the broken library steps, which were now a roped-off memorial. Students, high on the news of "Cultivation Academies," were openly practicing their new "Awakened" powers. Level 1 "Iron Skin" types were laughing as they punched trees, while "Adept" types showed off by leaping onto picnic tables.
Lin Hao's [Level 6] senses were immediately overwhelmed. The noise... the shouting, the bragging, the unfiltered, chaotic energy of thousands of newly-empowered, hormonal college students was a physical assault.
He just wanted to get to the registrar's office and leave. He kept his head down and walked.
He made it ten feet.
"OH MY GOD! IT'S HIM!"
A girl's shriek, sharp enough to cut glass, sliced through the crowd.
Lin Hao froze. He had been "seen."
In an instant, the entire chaotic energy of the quad shifted. It was like a magnet had just been turned on. The crowd, a mass of hundreds, turned and began to swarm him.
"It's Lin Hao! The Hero of Campus!" "Is that the guy? The one who fought the dogs?" "Are you a Level 3? A Level 4? My god, you're so strong!" "Can you teach me? How did you Awaken?" "Are you joining the Hero Class?"
He was mobbed. A dozen smartphone cameras were shoved in his face, their flashes blinding. Student reporters from the campus paper were shouting questions. Aspiring "Awakened," with their weak, flaring, [Level 1] energy, were pushing forward, their eyes wide with a desperate, pathetic hero-worship.
Lin Hao felt his pulse quicken, not with fear, but with pure, unadulterated annoyance. This was a prison of flesh. He was a [Level 6] cultivator, and he was being trapped by a mob of mortals. He could, with a single push, send all of them flying. But he was on stage. He was the "Hero." He had to let this happen.
"Back off! Give him space! Can't you see he's tired?"
A loud, booming voice cut through the chaos.
THUD.
A large, heavy body planted itself directly in front of Lin Hao, acting as a human shield. It was Fatty Zhang. His chubby face was red with exertion and anger, his arms spread wide.
"He just saved your asses two nights ago, and you're trying to eat him?" Fatty yelled, physically shoving a guy with a vlogging-stick back. "Show some damn respect! Back off!"
"He's right," a second, calmer, but no less authoritative voice said.
Su Yun, the class president, materialized at Lin Hao's other side. She didn't shout. She just moved with a natural, politician-like grace, her presence instantly calming the few students she made eye contact with.
"He's still recovering," she said, her voice clear and firm. "We're just trying to get him to his car. Please, let him through."
They were his handlers. They had seen him, sensed his "overwhelmed" state, and just... acted. They were a perfect team. Fatty was the bodyguard, the muscle. Su Yun was the publicist, the de-escalator.
Lin Hao, for the first time, felt a flicker of something almost like gratitude. They were... efficient. They were a useful, self-assembling shield.
They formed a three-person wedge, with Lin Hao in the middle, and began to slowly, painfully, push through the mob.
"Mr. Lin."
The voice was not part of the mob. It was deep, professional, and cut through the student chatter like a knife.
The crowd parted.
A man was standing in their path. He was in his late thirties, with sharp, intelligent eyes and a crisp, perfectly-tailored BSA officer's uniform. It wasn't Captain Wu. This man looked less like a soldier and more like a high-stakes corporate recruiter.
"Mr. Lin Hao," the man said, offering a polite, thin smile. He held up his hand, and the BSA agents with him, all [Level 3] Experts at least, Lin Hao noted, quietly but firmly pushed the rest of the student crowd back, creating a sterile, ten-foot bubble.
"My name is Recruiter Han," the man said. "I'm with the Bureau's new Academy Initiation Program. I've been reviewing your file. Your actions two nights ago... they were more than heroic. They were extraordinary."
Lin Hao kept his "traumatized hero" mask firmly in place. "I... I just did what anyone would do."
"No, Mr. Lin," Han said, his smile not wavering. "You did what no one else could. You showed grit, power, and a perfect heroic instinct. You are the exact kind of person we want for the First Academy's inaugural 'Hero Class'."
The offer was laid bare. Su Yun, beside him, let out a tiny, involuntary gasp of awe. The Hero Class. It was the opportunity of a lifetime.
Lin Hao looked at the ground. He shook his head, his voice a perfect, humble, "conflicted" mumble.
"Sir... I'm flattered. Truly. But... I'm just a normal student. All this..." He gestured to the crowd. "It's too much. I'm... not a hero. I'm just a kid."
He took a breath, delivering the unassailable excuse. "I... I need to look after my family. My parents. They're just normal people. With the world like this... I can't leave them. I have to be there to protect them."
He had played the "filial son" card. It was the perfect, noble, unambitious excuse.
Recruiter Han's smile tightened, just a fraction. He was annoyed. This "humble" act was costing him his prize.
"Your family," Han said, nodding, as if in understanding. "A noble sentiment. But how can you protect them? With your bare hands?"
He stepped closer, his voice dropping, becoming conspiratorial, tempting.
"A talent like yours, Mr. Lin... it's wasted here. You're a Level 2, maybe a Level 3, running on raw, undisciplined instinct. You won. But you were lucky. The next pack will be stronger. And you won't have a 'method'."
He leaned in, delivering the hook.
"Don't you want a Gongfa?"
The word, the ancient term for a cultivation manual, hung in the air.
"We have them," Han whispered, a salesman revealing his hidden, top-shelf product. "The real ones, from the Guardian Families. We can give you the path. Don't you want to get stronger?"