Chapter 28: Chapter 28: Bellwether
And now, with Fang Can laying his cards on the table, their suspicions were completely confirmed.
This intangible pressure was, indeed, something only a superpowered individual could possess.
It was followed by a wave of ecstatic joy.
They were actually classmates with a superpowered individual.
’This is amazing! A superpowered lord! We’re saved!’
Thanks to the lifelong indoctrination of the New Country, the idea that superpowered individuals were a superior class of people was carved into their very bones.
While not compulsory, etiquette classes teaching students the proper way to kneel before a superpowered individual had become standard.
In their eyes, superpowered individuals were an entirely new, higher race of beings, almost as if reproductively isolated from ordinary people.
Therefore, the moment Fang Can revealed his identity, his actual superpower didn’t even matter; on the level of sheer personhood, he had already far surpassed any ordinary human.
As for Fang Can, he really should have condemned such a degrading custom. But unfortunately, the superpowered individual they were prepared to kneel to was him.
’Kneeling is a bit extreme,’ Fang Can thought, ’but since it’s a popular custom among the people of the New Country, it would be rude of me to refuse. I guess I’ll just have to go along with it.’
And what were his classmates thinking?
The mere thought of having spent three years in the same classroom as a superpowered individual was so overwhelming that it was a testament to their willpower they weren’t humming with delight.
Watching the students, whose bodies were trembling with excitement at his revelation, Fang Can calmly continued.
"I wanted to live among you as an ordinary person, but clearly, the current situation doesn’t allow for that. I have no choice but to reveal myself."
As he spoke, Fang Can slowly retracted his Heart Image. In just over ten seconds, he felt he had already consumed a third of its power.
The moment he retracted his Heart Image and its intimidating effect vanished, the class immediately surged forward. They wanted to reach out, to touch, to get close to a legendary superpowered individual.
But just before they could make contact, they snatched their hands back as if they’d been shocked.
Without his express permission, to touch him would be a clear transgression.
Looking at the young man before them, the history teacher was the first to ask, "Lord Fang Can, what should we do now?"
"Whatever you want," Fang Can said, shaking his head slightly.
"The situation is critical, and order could collapse at any moment. I will permit you to use my name to maintain order."
Fang Can put it simply. Right now, aside from the lack of a signal, the city was unchanged. The only real problem was a crisis of confidence.
It wasn’t even ten days until Carnival Day. If they could just hold out until then, order would be completely restored.
And what if they didn’t know how to leverage his authority?
It didn’t matter. Once the word got out that Fang Can was a superpowered individual, plenty of order-loving citizens would step up on their own.
With this in mind, Fang Can placed a hand on the history teacher’s shoulder. "Let me through."
The crowd automatically parted, creating a path. Fang Can walked between them with an air of indifference and headed out of the classroom.
While the history teacher was still reeling in delight at being touched by a superpowered individual, a student asked, "Lord... Fang Can, where are you going?"
"Home," Fang Can replied without looking back.
"Then... what about us?" a student asked, bewildered.
Fang Can said, "Whatever you want."
Watching his figure disappear from the classroom, everyone hesitated. But upon hearing the chaotic din from the other classes, one girl gritted her teeth and quietly began to follow him.
Once the first person started, a second quickly followed. Soon, driven by herd mentality, the entire class, including the teacher, was trailing after Fang Can.
Fang Can gave no response to this development. He neither approved nor disapproved, which allowed their tense nerves to settle.
Their orderly procession, a stark contrast to the chaos in the other classrooms, quickly drew the attention of onlookers.
"Hey, what are you all doing?"
A student from another class rushed up to the group to ask, assuming they were following some new directive from the school.
Looking at the panic-stricken student, a wave of superiority washed over the group. One of them said, "See that guy at the front? He’s a noble superpowered individual."
"A superpowered individual!" the student’s eyes went wide. Seeing how certain the group was, he rushed off.
A minute later, the thunder of footsteps echoed from the stairwell as students and teachers from several other classes rushed downstairs to join the procession behind Fang Can.
In just a few minutes, the line behind Fang Can had swelled to over a hundred people, all of them following him in silence. No one broke away.
But that was just the beginning. As their numbers grew, more and more students took notice.
One class, two classes, three classes...
By the time Fang Can reached the school gates, the entire student body and faculty had gathered behind him.
Some tried to approach Fang Can to talk, but they were quickly stopped by his own classmates, who cited the need to avoid offending a noble superpowered individual.
Soon, Fang Can was walking toward his home, followed by a vast procession of several thousand students and teachers.
Once the crowd reached a critical mass, a pack mentality naturally took hold.
In a city where the authorities had officially lost control and could no longer guarantee anyone’s safety, most people would instinctively join a group. It was the only way to feel secure.
After they left the school grounds, the sight of several thousand students marching in silence drew the attention of everyone they passed. Once they learned the reason, they chose to join.
Hearing the distant clamor of the city and contrasting it with the quiet reassurance of this massive, silent crowd, the confidence they had lost began to return.
Suddenly, a student pulled out their phone. "My parents are in Z City too. It’s so dangerous out here, I should get them to meet up with us as soon as possible."
This one sentence was a wake-up call for everyone else. The quiet procession instantly grew boisterous as people started trying to contact their own friends and family in Z City.
Two thousand... five thousand... ten thousand... twenty thousand...
Like a rolling snowball, the crowd behind Fang Can had grown into a dense mass of at least tens of thousands of people.
The crowd was made up of students, office workers, shut-ins, retirees, drivers in their cars, teenagers on bikes...
Under the psychological influence of a superpowered individual, this motley crew of men and women, young and old, from all walks of life, remained miraculously free of chaos.
It was as if humility and politeness had been engraved upon their hearts.
Fang Can was fully aware of what was happening behind him but made no move to interfere. All he had done was calmly announce his identity; everything else had fallen into place as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
In all this time, apart from his classmates, not a single person had witnessed Fang Can display any ability. Yet, no one dared to doubt the truth of the claim, and no one stepped forward to question it.
Because right now, what everyone needed was a superpowered individual to take charge, even a fake one would do.
’If someone questioned it now and he turned out to be a fake, then things would really be screwed, wouldn’t they?’
And so, on the back of a trust born from doubt, Fang Can successfully led the silent crowd of tens of thousands to his front door.
Meanwhile, inside the house, Jiang Ning’an was regulating her breathing. ’??? Wait, is the modern world invading???’
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