In Lei Jiang City's Dragon Mountain Botanical Garden, a group of teenage boys and girls had just finished their barbecue.
"Shu Feng, you clean up the rest!"
A boy named Xu Gang, dressed head to toe in designer brands and wearing a sunny smile, pointed at the mess left over from the barbecue. He was speaking to a short-haired boy of average build with decent features—handsome, if you looked closely—who wore clothes with two visible patches.
The smile on Shu Feng's face stiffened. His gaze drifted to a girl in the crowd. She was wearing a white dress and small black leather boots, with beautiful hair that fell to her shoulders. Her skin was as fair as milk, and with her oval face, delicate eyebrows, and picturesque features, she was the very image of pure beauty.
That beautiful girl was Zhong Jietong, the girl Shu Feng had had a secret crush on for a long time.
Zhong Jietong tilted her head slightly, got up, and started walking away.
Shu Feng's eyes dimmed, but he forced a smile and said, "Okay!"
Xu Gang laughed heartily. "Let's go! We're going for karaoke. My treat!"
"Awesome!"
"Brother Gang's singing voice is good enough to rival a professional's. We definitely can't miss it!"
"Is that for real? You're exaggerating!"
"..."
Amid waves of laughter, the group of teenagers left cheerfully, as if their companion Shu Feng didn't even exist.
'She and I are from two different worlds. Even though we're in the same class, our paths are like parallel lines. I've already tried my best! It's time... to give up.'
Shu Feng watched her receding figure, a sour feeling rising in his nose as his eyes reddened and two streams of tears fell. He had fallen for Zhong Jietong the moment he saw her in their first year of middle school. He'd pursued the pretty, smart girl—who consistently ranked in the top five of their class—for two years. This was the result, and it left him utterly disheartened.
"Jietong, don't you think we were a little too harsh?"
Zhong Jietong's best friend, Wang Lu—a girl with long legs, a model-like figure, and looks just a step below Zhong Jietong's—whispered.
Zhong Jietong said flatly, "The high school entrance exams are coming up. I'm destined to get into Lei Jiang First High School. There's no possibility between him and me. It's better for him if I crush all his hopes now. Besides, I really don't have any feelings for him."
Wang Lu nodded slightly and left with Zhong Jietong.
Shu Feng was in a daze. While cleaning up the barbecue skewers, he accidentally pricked his hand, and a few drops of blood dripped onto a piece of black charcoal.
A black aura surged from the charcoal and shot into the space between Shu Feng's eyebrows.
"Host detected. Initiating soul-bond."
"Beginning scan!"
"Central Analyzer, intact!"
"Eternal Power Furnace, damaged!"
"..."
Countless strange and mysterious streams of information flooded into Shu Feng's mind, threatening to make his brain explode.
Outside Dragon Mountain Botanical Garden, a seemingly ordinary black dog suddenly twitched its nose. A red light flashed in its eyes, and in a flash, it dashed into the botanical garden.
The ticket seller at the garden's entrance glanced lazily toward the gate.
A very strange scene unfolded: the black dog actually ran into the botanical garden right under the ticket seller's nose.
'Huh? What's with that black dog? Why is there a dog here? Is it giving off a black aura, or are my eyes playing tricks on me?'
Shu Feng's headache had subsided a little. As if drawn by something, he suddenly looked in the direction of the black dog and immediately saw faint wisps of a black aura rising from its bizarre body. Its eyes were crimson, and it was staring intently at him.
'It's targeting me!'
Shu Feng's heart skipped a beat. He quickly pulled out two barbecue skewers and watched the black dog with full vigilance, instinctively feeling that he was its target.
The black dog, which was the size of a German shepherd, had crimson eyes and exuded a terrifyingly oppressive aura as it walked toward Shu Feng step by step.
'I can't run! The terrain here is too open; I can't outrun it. You should never turn and run from a wild animal like a stray dog. It'll just see you as prey and attack!'
Shu Feng gripped the two barbecue skewers tightly, his body trembling slightly as cold sweat streamed down his back.
When the black dog was five meters away from Shu Feng, it suddenly accelerated, pouncing toward him like a cheetah.
"Die!"
Shu Feng thrust the barbecue skewers straight at the strange black dog.
'It's so tough!'
The skewer struck the strange black dog's back as if hitting a steel plate. It barely managed to pierce the dog's skin, and a few drops of black blood dripped to the ground.
The strange black dog opened its massive jaws and bit down hard on Shu Feng's right leg.
CRUNCH!
The strange black dog's bite force was terrifying. Shu Feng screamed and fell to the ground, his right leg bitten clean through by the bizarre creature.
'What is this monster? Am I going to die?'
A look of terror flashed in Shu Feng's eyes. Forcing himself to ignore the pain, he gripped a skewer in his left hand and stabbed viciously at the strange black dog.
A flash of black sword light appeared, and the strange black dog's head was sent flying, splattering a large amount of black blood across the ground.
Faint wisps of a bizarre aura surged from the black dog's corpse and entered Shu Feng's body.
"Ding Xiaoxue?"
Shu Feng focused his gaze and saw a peerlessly beautiful girl standing before him. She wore a black martial arts uniform and held a black long sword. Her long black hair flowed in the wind. She was tall, with a cold, noble air, skin as smooth and white as milk, and flawlessly exquisite features, all wrapped in an aura that screamed 'keep your distance'.
Zhong Jietong was the "class beauty" of Class 53, Grade 9 at Lei Jiang Third Middle School. But Ding Xiaoxue was the undisputed, sole "school beauty" of the entire school. She was first in the grade in every exam and a master of all sports. Whenever school let out, middle and high school students from nearby schools would even come just to get a look at her.
Zhong Jietong was cheerful, lively, and sociable, with many friends. Ding Xiaoxue had a cold temperament, like a celestial fairy who was above worldly matters, an untouchable flower on a high peak. She only had two or three close female friends and not many others.
Shu Feng never would have imagined that the person who saved him would be Ding Xiaoxue, the school's resident ice queen.
Ding Xiaoxue's delicate eyebrows rose slightly as she asked curiously, "You know me? Who are you?"
His face contorted in pain, Shu Feng tensed up, looking at his bleeding right leg. He gritted his teeth and said, "I'm Shu Feng, a student from Class 53, Grade 9 at Lei Jiang Third Middle School. Your classmate. Ding Xiaoxue, help me call 120! The pain is killing me."
"I've never seen you before! You can see the Void Demon, which means you're a newly awakened Spiritualist. That makes things easier!"
Ding Xiaoxue took out a small bottle, ripped open the pant leg on Shu Feng's right leg, and sprayed its contents onto his wound several times.
"It hurts! It hurts so much!"
Shu Feng let out a bloodcurdling scream. The wound was suddenly both painful and itchy, and his body convulsed. It felt as if some mysterious power was being drawn from him and channeled into his right leg.
After five minutes of agonizing struggle, Shu Feng looked as if he had just been pulled from water. He was foaming at the mouth, drenched in sweat, and collapsed on the ground, gasping for breath.
Ding Xiaoxue muttered to herself, "Looks like this High-Level Rapid Healing Spiritual Mist has some serious side effects. Intense pain, Spiritual Power drain, Physical Strength drain... No wonder it's so cheap, only a million per bottle. This stuff is useless in a fight; you can only use it somewhere safe."
Gasping for air, Shu Feng gritted his teeth. "120! Call 120, my leg was bitten off! If I don't get treatment soon, it'll be too late to save it!"
Ding Xiaoxue poked Shu Feng's injured right leg with her scabbard. "Your leg is already healed. Stop playing dead and get up."
"Have you no humanity... Huh? It doesn't hurt anymore!"
Furious, Shu Feng was about to snap back at her when he made a startling discovery. His right leg, which had been bitten clean through, was now healed, the wound already scabbed over. He hesitated for a moment, then struggled to his feet, panting heavily, as exhausted as if he had just played a full ninety-minute soccer game.
'How is that possible? My right leg was clearly bitten off by that black dog! How is it healed now? Wait, where's the dog's corpse?'
Shu Feng glanced around, a look of confusion in his eyes.
The black dog's body had vanished. If not for the splatters of his own blood on the ground, the torn pants, and the bent barbecue skewers, Shu Feng would have thought the entire incident was a hallucination.
Ding Xiaoxue explained, "That black dog was a Void Demon that infiltrated our world. It was a Low-level Void Demon that hadn't yet formed a physical body. Once dead, they turn to dust. Only High-level Void Demons leave corpses when they die."
Shu Feng was completely baffled. "Void Demon? What's that? I've never heard of anything like it online or at school. Are you messing with me?"
"Void Demons are Otherworld Demons that descend into our world from the Void Demon Realm. Only we Spiritualists can see them. To avoid causing a panic, very few people know about the existence of Void Demons and Spiritualists. If an ordinary person finds out about us without a special permit, their memories will be sealed."
"The internet is also monitored by us Spiritualists. It's impossible for any information about Void Demons to circulate."
"Shu Feng, since you can see the Black Dog Illusion Demon, it proves that you have awakened as a Spiritualist and become one of us," Ding Xiaoxue said.
Shu Feng asked curiously, "Wait, what if an ordinary person without a special permit finds out about us?"
Shu Feng's parents were both alive, and he wanted to know what kind of treatment they would receive if they found out he was a Spiritualist.
Ding Xiaoxue said, "Don't worry, we'll have a Hypnotist from among the Spiritualists seal their memories. Sealing one person's memory costs one million yuan."
"One million!"
Shu Feng blurted out in astonishment.
In Lei Jiang City, half a kilogram of rice costs three yuan. Shu Feng's father was a low-level employee at a private company, and his mother was a cashier at a convenience store. Their combined monthly salary was barely over 4,000 yuan.
To Shu Feng's family, one million was an astronomical figure.
Shu Feng pressed, "What if you don't have the money to pay?"
Ding Xiaoxue replied, "Then it gets complicated. If you don't have the money, you'll be sent to the Erosion Realm to earn it. You can only come back after you've earned enough."