Chapter 5: The Uncontrollable Sprint to School

‘I’m utterly, utterly doomed—’

After her brain, overwhelmed by the drastic changes, momentarily seized up for several seconds, Bai Zhi immediately grasped the gravity of the situation.

She then realized that within those fleeting seconds, her body, supercharged with magic, had already traversed the entirety of San City, now hurtling headlong towards an unfamiliar destination.

Thankfully, her trajectory led her away from densely populated areas, sparing any innocent citizens from harm.

However, the roads Bai Zhi had traversed were largely devastated, implying that nearly a third of San City’s thoroughfares would be impacted from the following day onwards, likely causing a significant surge in tardiness among its office workers.

Of course, there was also a silver lining—

Perhaps due to the lingering magical residue she had previously expelled, Bai Zhi’s clothes remained remarkably intact, spared from the intense friction with the air during her high-speed movement.

Thus, the young girl’s modesty was preserved, a truly commendable outcome.

Yet, even if she wished to halt her relentless pace, Bai Zhi found herself momentarily incapable.

The sudden surge in power rendered her unable to properly control her own body in the short term.

While she had previously demonstrated the ability to instantaneously appear before the Demon Dragon Emperor and deliver a punch, that feat was merely a result of Bai Zhi’s instantaneous magical discharge.

To draw a comparison, it was akin to attaching a temporary thruster to her body, propelling her fist directly into the Demon Dragon Emperor’s face.

The state of physical enhancement then and now was worlds apart.

Nevertheless, she still needed to devise a solution.

Otherwise, if she continued to run unchecked, she might well find herself in another country.

Bai Zhi felt exasperated; the last thing she wanted was to spark an international incident—

After letting out a lengthy sigh, she gritted her teeth and slammed a foot to the side, effortlessly creating a large crater in the ground—fortunately, they were in the wilderness, so no one would notice—before forcibly altering her current trajectory.

Due to her incredible velocity, Bai Zhi’s vision was compressed into a small area directly ahead, yet this had little impact.

Even under such conditions, she could still clearly discern that she had returned to the outskirts of San葉 City.

At least she wouldn’t have to worry about ending up in some bizarre location.

Moreover, the suburbs were sparsely populated, alleviating any concern of colliding with people or structures, granting Bai Zhi ample time to formulate a strategy.

Two potential solutions came to mind.

Bai Zhi’s mind raced, swiftly arriving at a conclusion:

The first was to continue circling the perimeter of San City, as she was doing, until the magic infused within her body was entirely depleted, causing her to automatically exit her current “physical enhancement” state.

However, considering that Bai Zhi, fearing failure, had unleashed a considerable amount of magic previously hidden within her, fully exhausting it would likely require her to loop around for more than two days and two nights…

Certainly, with Rena’s assistance, she might be able to stop sooner.

Yet, Bai Zhi highly doubted Rena could truly halt her current “speeding” self.

It would be disastrous if Rena were to get injured in the process.

Therefore, only the second method remained viable—

Bai Zhi quietly steeled her resolve.

Simultaneously, her movements grew erratic, veering left one moment and right the next, much like a pinball ricocheting within a confined space.

Aside from her range of action being restricted to the vicinity of San City, her path seemed utterly devoid of pattern.

This was precisely the effect Bai Zhi desired.

By performing these high-frequency, rapid zigzags, she could swiftly acclimate to the changes within herself.

Through countless shifts in direction, Bai Zhi continually sensed the outflow of power and the resulting alterations in speed, gradually familiarizing herself with her enhanced physique.

The consequence, however, was that the area where Bai Zhi repeatedly zigzagged was now a desolate wasteland, pockmarked with craters of all sizes, as if it had endured an intense artillery bombardment.

Yet, in this remote wilderness, where no one typically passed, it shouldn’t truly matter… right?

Bai Zhi pressed her lips together, thinking guiltily. ‘If all else fails, I’ll just have to wipe the memories of anyone who might have witnessed this later.’

The citizens of San City truly seemed to be plagued by misfortune.

Regardless, this method indeed yielded promising results.

Though imperceptible to outsiders, Bai Zhi keenly noticed her speed gradually diminishing, a clear indication that her mastery over her body was steadily improving.

While still unable to halt instantly, she surmised it was merely a matter of time before she returned to normal.

At that moment, another concern surfaced in Bai Zhi’s mind.

Ultimately, her initial wild idea of physical enhancement had been conceived solely to ensure she arrived at school on time.

Despite having wasted some time for various reasons, making her way there now would not be unduly late.

After all, tardiness was still marginally acceptable compared to an entire day of unexcused absence.

Furthermore, she had gradually adapted to her current body, and the morning rush hour had long since passed.

With sufficient caution, she should be able to approach the school without harming any pedestrians or structures.

Yes, as long as she was careful enough…

As Bai Zhi pondered this, she maintained her erratic movements, slowly drawing closer to the urban center.

The scenery before her constantly shifted, transitioning from the monotonous desolation of the outskirts to bustling streets where man-made structures grew increasingly numerous.

Gradually, the distinctive clamor of the city center began to register in her ears.

Bai Zhi was now sprinting along the road at an incredible speed, deftly weaving through traffic while rapidly closing in on the school.

Though she occasionally felt on the verge of losing control, she believed she had now fully mastered her physical enhancement ability, capable of effortlessly navigating even slightly complex road conditions.

‘She could still control her body, after all.’

Bai Zhi thought to herself, a relieved smile gracing her lips as a heavy burden lifted from her shoulders.

Then, in that fleeting instant, Bai Zhi suddenly perceived the scenery before her warp.

The very next second, the familiar iron gates of the school abruptly materialized in her sight.

This unexpected development truly caught Bai Zhi off guard.

Even more astonishingly, directly in her path, stood a short-haired girl in a San葉 City First High School uniform, utterly petrified with fear.

Bai Zhi recognized the girl’s face.

It was Xia Ranxin, the school’s renowned top student and student council president.

While Bai Zhi couldn’t fathom why Xia Ranxin would be at the school gate at such an hour, she had no time for further contemplation.

The distance between her and Xia Ranxin was perilously close!

If this continued, the two of them would inevitably collide.

Of course, Bai Zhi herself would be unharmed, but the other girl would…

Bai Zhi dared not complete the thought.

In that critical, split-second moment, her body reacted almost purely on instinct.

The instant before she would have made contact with Xia Ranxin, Bai Zhi unleashed a concentrated burst of magic, safely enveloping them both.

She then stomped fiercely onto the ground, launching herself and Xia Ranxin skyward with the resultant recoil.

The moment they soared into the sky, Bai Zhi suddenly realized, ‘Why didn’t I just do this from the very beginning?’

Judging by her previous ability to run while still bound to the ground, it seemed she was currently unable to defy gravity and escape the planet’s surface.

If that were the case, had she simply chosen to leap skyward from the outset, using gravity to dissipate her kinetic energy and then descend, would she not have been able to stop herself?

That way, she wouldn’t have had to go through all that arduous back-and-forth.

With a tinge of regret, Bai Zhi condensed a cushioning barrier of highly concentrated magic beneath her feet.

This served a dual purpose: firstly, to protect Xia Ranxin, who had already fainted in her arms; and secondly, to mitigate any further destruction upon landing.

After all, Bai Zhi had already caused enough ground damage that morning.

However, it was only as she was about to touch down that Bai Zhi belatedly realized her landing spot was none other than…

San City First High School.

As the sole key high school in San City, its founding history was almost as ancient as the city itself.

Consequently, the school’s atmosphere was rigidly formal to a somewhat uncomfortable degree.

Most students here, with only a few exceptions, typically had room in their minds for nothing but the monotonous pursuit of academics, all relentlessly striving towards a singular, shared objective.

Perhaps recognizing that this educational approach, treating students as mere machines, was somewhat inappropriate, the school designated a “grand recess” after the first morning class, mandating that all students proceed to the sports field for a group run, ostensibly to “exercise their bodies and relax their minds.”

Thus, at a specific time each day, all students of San City First High School would be crammed onto the narrow sports field, like sardines in a can, to perform their so-called group run, with barely enough space to stretch their limbs—a truly peculiar sight.

Today’s group run, however, would prove to be anything but ordinary—

Shortly after the music began, something plummeted from the sky onto the center of the school’s sports field, an abrupt incident that forcibly interrupted the run.

A massive impact sent plumes of dust billowing upwards.

As the wind swept through several times, the dust partially dispersed, slowly revealing two somewhat disheveled figures.

There was Bai Zhi, breathless, her face flushed, her clothes in disarray.

And similarly disheveled, lying unconscious in Bai Zhi’s arms in a princess carry, was the student council president, Xia Ranxin.

Under the astonished and, to Bai Zhi’s mortification, somewhat gleeful gazes of the entire school faculty and student body, Bai Zhi, for the first time in her life, entertained the thought of leveling the entire place.