“Who are you? How did you get over here just now?”

The male student Yi Nanye had tossed aside was completely dazed. All he’d seen was a blurry shadow flicker in front of him, and then he’d lost his balance and hit the ground, nearly flying straight off his feet.

“I’m Jiang Yuan’s supervisor. I’m here to make sure he can’t do anything harmful.”

“So you’re on her side? Why bother protecting someone like him? Move!”

The boy was still fuming. Yi Nanye looked so petite that she could’ve passed for a middle schooler, or maybe a freshman at most. He was already a senior. Getting tossed aside by a little girl in front of a crowd was humiliating—even if she was supposedly an Esper.

He’d been this close to becoming famous all over the world!

If he killed a suspect known by the codename Jiang with his own hands, just imagine the fame he’d earn. People across the world would thank him and remember his name. And lately, all kinds of bounties had been circulating online, too.

Kill Jiang Yuan, and you could earn one billion—or even ten billion—in reward money, paid directly by foreign governments!

Killing Jiang Yuan could change your life. You’d go from an ordinary person to a super-rich tycoon overnight, and live in absolute luxury before the apocalypse arrived!

“Sorry. Personally, I’d love to step aside, too, but I’ve got a job to do. Try to understand. You can hit him or insult him; I won’t stop you. But you can’t directly threaten his life.”

Yi Nanye made her position clear. As long as Jiang Yuan’s life wasn’t in danger, she could turn a blind eye and pretend she hadn’t seen a thing.

“Heh. You’re one of the few Espers among us humans, and you’re protecting a major criminal? You deserve to die, too!”

Seeing his dream of becoming a tycoon slip away, the boy flew into a rage and cursed Yi Nanye as well. He was sure that if his kick had landed, Jiang Yuan’s neck would’ve snapped on the spot!

“All right, all right. You won’t listen to reason, so you want to do this the hard way?”

Yi Nanye gave a cold laugh, pulled a pistol from her waist pouch, and fired several shots into the sky without a word. The gunshots silenced the entire sports field. Then she aimed the gun at the boy’s forehead.

“I’ll say it again. I don’t care if you hit or insult Jiang Yuan. But if you threaten his life, I’ll give you one warning. Ignore me after that, and I’ll shoot.”

Yi Nanye’s expression was dead serious. The boy didn’t dare so much as breathe. Faced with the dark mouth of the gun, he chose to back down. After muttering a few complaints, he left.

The other students saw how things had ended and quickly moved on, no longer wanting to get involved.

“Can you get up?”

Yi Nanye came over to check on Jiang Yuan. He smiled and nodded.

“I might need you to help me up. And thanks for stepping in. I thought you’d just watch me get beaten to death, but it turns out you take your job pretty seriously. I’ve changed my mind about you.”

Jiang Yuan’s smile looked genuine, but it only made Yi Nanye feel worse. She’d ignored the insults and beatings, stepping in only at the crucial moment to protect what she saw as his “worthless life.” She hadn’t expected him to thank her so sincerely.

So who was the real sinner?

“If you’ve got enough energy to talk, you’re probably fine. Rest a bit, then get up on your own.”

“Fair enough… I’m a little dirty.”

Jiang Yuan brushed the dust off his stomach, but even that tiny movement touched his injuries. He sucked in a sharp breath and tried to bear the pain. He really was taking “don’t fight back, don’t talk back” to heart.

Jiang Yuan was holding himself to the standards of a saint.

Only by acting like a saint could he undo the image of a sinner in other people’s eyes.

Even if nobody’s perfect and everyone makes mistakes, Jiang Yuan couldn’t afford to make any in his current position.

After more than ten minutes, Jiang Yuan’s pain had finally eased enough for him to stand and slowly make his way toward the classroom. The students along the way kept their distance from him, though most of them were really avoiding Yi Nanye.

They didn’t want to get near someone who looked so young but carried a gun.

In the classroom.

The teacher had already entered the classroom. When he saw Jiang Yuan, his expression turned complicated. He hesitated for a moment, then seemed to make up his mind and smiled at Jiang Yuan again.

“Jiang Yuan, I heard what happened this morning. The students who laid hands on you will receive a serious warning. If anything like this happens again, come straight to me!”

Anyone who became a teacher must have had some sense of what it meant to educate. The homeroom teacher made his goodwill toward Jiang Yuan clear. He felt sorry for the boy. How could such a good student possibly become a criminal in the future? Jiang Yuan shouldn’t be treated like this!

“Thank you, sir!”

Jiang Yuan immediately nodded his thanks. It was the first time since he’d become the suspect known as Codename Jiang that he’d felt anyone show him kindness. It came from his stubborn homeroom teacher, an old man nearing retirement.

“Sir, I hope you won’t interfere with anything involving Jiang Yuan. I’m directly responsible for him.”

Yi Nanye immediately dashed cold water on Jiang Yuan’s hopes. The homeroom teacher looked awkward and didn’t know what to say.

“Um… what should I call you?”

“You don’t need to know. Just teach your class and pretend I’m not here.”

With that, Yi Nanye fell silent and went to stand in the corner of the classroom. But as she passed Qin Xin’s desk, Qin Xin shot her a fierce glare, as if returning the glare Yi Nanye had given her earlier.

The lesson went more or less normally. Jiang Yuan’s classmates didn’t do anything too strange—not openly, anyway. Plenty of them still whispered to each other, or quietly played on their phones and chatted.

Jiang Yuan sat with perfect attentiveness, as if trying to repay the teacher’s trust. The homeroom teacher also paid close attention to his situation. He deliberately called on Jiang Yuan to answer a question, then praised him in front of everyone for getting it right.

But just before class ended, the homeroom teacher got a phone call. After he hung up, the hand holding his phone was trembling.

He’d just been notified that his career was over. He could retire starting today. No one had told him why, but he knew it was because he’d helped Jiang Yuan.

He looked at the students whispering to one another, the boys and girls secretly playing on their phones and not caring about school because the apocalypse was coming. Only Jiang Yuan still wore a serious expression, listening to the lesson and taking notes as he went.

Maybe he could keep the class a little longer.

Just one last time.

That was what he thought. Then he called on Jiang Yuan to stand and recite a passage from the textbook.