Great! I'm surrounded by villains!
Chapter 102 - 22: Change

Chapter 102: Chapter 22: Change

The very next morning, Duan Mingyuan headed to the classroom.

As a new teacher, he felt unprecedented pressure.

"I remember the academy explicitly forbids Mohawk hairstyles."

Glancing around the room, the classroom was so colorful that Duan Mingyuan almost thought he had entered a den of delinquents.

"Rest assured, Teacher Mingyuan, these are wigs!"

The Chess Institute’s second senior brother Jiang Wen stood up and answered, and to prove he wasn’t lying, he even removed his wig in front of Duan Mingyuan.

"Who taught you all this?"

Duan Mingyuan always felt his students were straying off course; real combat had nothing to do with being street thugs.

"We unanimously believe that to change our current lives, we must start by changing our image!"

Jiang Wen’s words were powerful, eliciting nods of agreement from the other students.

After the practical combat class the day before, they reflected on themselves deeply and realized that their bookish appearance easily marked them as targets, whereas the Mohawk sporting delinquents were a presence that ordinary citizens didn’t dare confront.

A complete tough guy image, they should not lose in momentum to the thieves coveting the academy.

"But earrings and nose rings are a bit too avant-garde for us at the moment, and it might take some time to get used to them."

The academy’s students discussed it among themselves the day before, deciding that getting holes in their noses, mouths, or ears was a bit too gory, and from a medical perspective, prone to infection. They ultimately couldn’t become true Mohawk-sporting delinquents overnight.

"There’s no need to get used to it, this course is called ’Defensive Strategies Against Evil Spirits,’ not ’How to Become a Thug.’"

Duan Mingyuan gave an order.

"But, Yang Ping mentioned yesterday that monsters fear evil, and we thought if we dress like villains, we might be able to overwhelm them with our presence from the get-go."

Faced with Jiang Wen’s explanation, Duan Mingyuan was momentarily at a loss for words.

Because it was exactly the theory he had summarized in his manuscript, and the only method for ordinary people to deal with evil spirits. The students of the academy took the initiative to experiment, perhaps in their minds, delinquents with Mohawks were the most vicious people they encountered in everyday life. But the real question was whether this kind of human evil could influence the monsters?

Such a question could only be answered by a professional monster.

"Red-eyed Demon, are you afraid of Mohawk-sporting delinquents?"

With Duan Mingyuan’s question, the classroom suddenly fell silent, a cold atmosphere spreading quietly among the students. As a figure suddenly appeared on the podium, it seemed even the sunlight outside couldn’t penetrate into the room anymore.

Hair dry like seaweed, and crimson pupils peeking out from between the bangs.

Just being stared at by those eyes seemed to trigger the most primal fear in the human heart.

The Red-eyed Demon looked Jiang Wen up and down with those malicious eyes and then shook her head.

"The first point of ’Defensive Strategies Against Evil Spirits’."

Duan Mingyuan picked up the chalk and wrote "Disguise as a Mohawk-sporting delinquent is ineffective against monsters" on the blackboard, then he said, "So there’s no need for you to show up in bizarre outfits for class next time."

"Tea... Teacher, this is——"

Jiang Wen, who had been full of fighting spirit just moments ago, suddenly found it difficult to speak clearly. He had thought that he was mentally prepared to face any opponent, but now it seemed that he was still too young.

Looking around, all his classmates also didn’t dare to breathe too heavily after the figure appeared, for fear that they might attract the attention of the apparition and be faced with an intimate "face-to-face kill" in the next second.

"When it comes to this course," Duan Mingyuan said, "I advocate for more practice. You must understand the entities you are defending against, prepare adequately, and then take the axes, chain hammers, maces, and mops soaked in slop outside the classroom."

At Duan Mingyuan’s command, the students scattered from the classroom.

When they returned and took their seats again, the crowded classroom had become much emptier, and the air fresher.

Clearly, after yesterday’s practical combat, the students of the Institute found that picking up chess boards, textbooks, and paintbrushes was somewhat awkward and began to seek out more powerful weapons.

Duan Mingyuan continued to write with his chalk, "Red-eyed Demon, compiling practical apparitions, humanoid, Life Energy 6, characteristics..."

The curriculum for regular classes was primarily based on the contents of manuscripts.

In their interactions with apparitions, the students had lost track of time.

Unnoticed, the doorway of the classroom filled up with other teachers from the Institute.

Initially, they were drawn by the sight of the slop-soaked mop, and given Duan Mingyuan’s actions yesterday, they couldn’t help but wonder if this new "Apparition Defense" teacher was instructing students on making biological weapons. Shortly afterward, to their astonishment, they discovered that Duan Mingyuan had brought an apparition into the classroom.

The teachers intended to stop this absurd behavior, but as the class progressed, their opinions began to change.

Especially the older teachers, they looked solemn.

The library also housed some books that described apparitions. It was said that before the Extraterrestrials arrived, those who mastered Strange Gates and Devious Techniques worked to counter apparitions and monsters and to protect the safety of the world from them.

That war took everything from them, including their original duties, which were eventually abandoned.

Not to mention the students in the classroom, even these teachers who had lived in peaceful times for most of their lives had never truly dealt with apparitions. They could only imagine what apparitions looked like based on fragments in the books of the library.

But what if students were targeted by apparitions on their way home, or if an apparition really infiltrated the Institute? How should they advise the students then?

All they seemed able to do was to pass on to the students the unverified methods from the books, unaware of whether or not they were effective.

The first lesson by Duan Mingyuan, however, entirely quenched their illusions.

Hundreds of years have passed since the era recorded in the books, and the apparitions of the outside world have undergone earth-shaking changes. The knowledge passed down by their ancestors no longer provided protection for those living in this era.

They were incapable of resisting apparitions or stopping the Imperial Court assassins who lurked outside the Institute, ready to strike at any moment.

Feeling powerless, they stopped pondering and merely survived each following day as it came.

Until now, when this new "Apparition Defense" teacher made them realize for the first time that someone was addressing the crisis faced by the Institute.

Every journey begins with a single step, and all change starts with truly understanding apparitions.

"Teacher Mingyuan!"

Class had been over for over ten minutes, yet there was still a student with an insatiable curiosity raising their hand to ask, "Since apparitions can also possess intelligence and develop self-awareness, is it possible for us to become friends with apparitions or other abnormal creatures?"

"As for the answer to that question,"

Duan Mingyuan glanced at the time and said, "let the instructor of the ’Magical Monsters’ course give you the answer. Class dismissed."