Interstellar Empress

Chapter 2

It was the annual passing of the Gangfeng, and the entire sky over Zhuyi City was shrouded in thick black cotton, blocking out all sunlight. Despite it being daytime, the streetlights on campus were lit up, illuminating only a small area within the gray haze. Due to electromagnetic interference, various electronic products throughout the city had malfunctioned including intelligent transportation vehicles.

The campus police at Biancheng Medical College were forced to chase after a young girl on an old-fashioned two-wheeled bicycle as their advanced transportation tools had also failed. The lead officer, a middle-aged man around forty years old with half-closed eyes shouted into the wind: "Stop! It's during Gangfeng season. Please return to your original class!" He repeated himself but she continued running like a rock rabbit released from its cage and quickly pulled away from them.

The officers struggled to keep up while grumbling about how fast she ran and why she wasn't going to military school instead of medical school. Their pursuit lasted until they reached the edge of campus where they encountered a wall that blocked their path. They braked hard causing three bicycles to screech loudly before coming to a stop.

The middle-aged officer took off his hat and wiped sweat from his face before finally getting a good look at her appearance - approximately twenty years old with long black hair tied back in a ponytail; deep-set features; medium height with well-proportioned limbs. She didn't seem nervous or worried about being caught as she squatted down tying her loose shoelace while her shirt outlined her butterfly-shaped spine perfectly. Although thin-looking, this girl possessed excellent explosive power and endurance which made him wonder why she wasn't eating more food.

The officer tilted his hat against the direction of wind-blown sand grains then asked if there was any permission for leaving campus or if anyone came to pick her up? She shook her head in response. He was half-angry and half-amused, "You have no permission to leave campus during Gangfeng season. You will be punished with confinement, writing a self-criticism report, and labor reflection." He put his hat back on, straightened it out before turning the front of his bike around. "Come with me to the police station first to think about how you'll write your self-criticism report. I'll contact your advisor for further punishment."

As he spoke, two colleagues beside him exclaimed in surprise mixed with admiration: "Wow!" Suddenly, he turned around only to see that the girl had already jumped over three meters high onto the wall's top edge without any difficulty. Her bouncing ability was impressive! In just a few seconds from tying her shoelaces while squatting down she had leaped up onto the wall's top edge then flipped herself over landing on her feet like an acrobat.

She ran away after thanking him politely for coming all this way but explained that she wasn't actually a student at their school; she was just there delivering something. However, as she tried jumping off the other side of the wall, things didn't go quite as planned - they heard a loud thud followed by her exclaiming loudly indicating that her landing hadn't been successful.

The middle-aged school police officer chuckled and rubbed his forehead for a few seconds before sighing, "Let's go outside and see if anyone got hurt from the fall." District 13 had poor living conditions. Those who could afford to move or transfer schools did so, leaving behind children with varying levels of aptitude. Although these troublemaking kids were causing problems all day long, each one was still the future of the city in their own way.

If someone really got injured, they would have to wait until tomorrow to receive medical attention during the period of high winds. The location where people climbed over the wall wasn't far from the gate. The school police officers quickly rode their two-wheeled bikes and arrived at the other side of the wall.

To their surprise, they didn't see any injured climbers but only empty alleys with several semi-dried bloodstains on the ground. They searched around for a few minutes but found no one. The middle-aged school police officer patted off some dust from his hat and said: "Let's go back." The two young school police officers looked at each other hesitantly as they glanced at the bloodstains before suggesting that they should continue searching. However, he shook his head after looking up at black clouds spinning faster in mid-air: "We need to return for safety precautions since we're approaching hurricane season."