BEEP...
At that same moment, the Recording Rings of all the students at Site Eight vibrated slightly. Jiang Qiu slowly raised his left wrist, and a virtual screen popped up.
[System loading new student information...]
[Site One: Li Juefeng]
"Li Juefeng is in Qingmu Town?"
Jiang Qiu's chewing cheeks slowed slightly. His eyes were like dark moons in water, a single point of starlight flickering within them.
Li Juefeng...
During the first outstanding student selection in their freshman year, while he himself couldn't even make it into the top 120, Li Juefeng had taken down Wang Guanjia—who had a shot at second place—in just three rounds.
While he was still building his foundation in the training hall, Li Juefeng, as one of Eighth Middle School's biggest stars, had participated in numerous exchanges and competitions with other Outer City Districts and Gaocheng Districts. He was the undisputed leader among the outstanding students from the eight sites.
The gap between them was huge.
In the past two years, hearing that name meant nothing to him. After all, a frog in a well can see the moon but never chase it.
But now, he had to surpass Li Juefeng and win "Best Performance" to claim the incredibly rare Qiang Su Fragrance...
At this thought, the corners of Jiang Qiu's mouth lifted slightly before falling again, and his cheeks resumed their chewing motion.
'The Slaughter Drill is more than five times as efficient as a normal drill, and there are far more than just one or two dozen Demon Beasts in Qingmu Town.'
'My Ancient Martial Spear Technique might even break through to the Mastery Level. Killing Demon Beasts will only get faster.'
'So what if Li Juefeng is here?'
"Holy crap, Li Juefeng's already in Qingmu Town? We only had a one-day head start!"
"He's a lone wolf. He probably didn't travel with the other students from Site One. I wonder if his dad secretly told him where the Demon Beast dens are. If no one's holding him back, his kill count is going to skyrocket!"
For a moment, the ruined restaurant was abuzz with heated discussion as a few outstanding students chattered all at once. "You're underestimating his dad. Forget Demon Beast dens, he probably even knows where the Demon Plants are."
"Good point. If they're willing to offer up something like the Qiang Su Fragrance as a reward, they'd probably leak the location of a Demon Plant too."
"You can't put it like that. Aside from the principal's grandson, isn't he our school's number one genius? If they don't give the best resources to him, who else would they give them to? His dad isn't exactly wrong for doing this, it's just that the rewards are much richer than usual..."
Suddenly getting carried away, Zhang Shan froze for a second, then shot Jiang Qiu a sheepish glance and lowered his voice. "But now that we have Brother Jiang, I don't think Li Juefeng will be able to get his hands on the reward his dad prepared for him."
"Yeah."
Jiang Qiu gave a casual reply, wiped his greasy mouth with the back of his hand, and stood up, spear in hand. "Eat up. This afternoon, we'll search further down the street and see if any Iron Armor Lizards have moved their dens."
"Alright, alright."
The group replied in unison. They quickly finished the large chunks of Demon Beast Meat in their hands and followed Jiang Qiu onto the road, pressing forward.
They had only taken a few steps when a flurry of footsteps echoed from several hundred meters away, bounding across streets and buildings.
The sound was faint but rapid, occasionally punctuated by a few muffled roars.
"Students from another site?"
Zhang Shan's thick eyebrows twitched as he turned to gaze toward the end of the road.
Past the shattered concrete and rebar blanketed by vines and green leaves, a street corner at a crossroad came into view. A few sesame-seed-sized figures popped out.
"That's weird. It's only the second day. Why would students from another site run several kilometers all the way over here?"
By the time Jiang Qiu turned to look, his spear tip was already lowered to the ground. In the time it took him to narrow his eyes, the distance between them had closed by another hundred meters. It was a group of about ten students dressed in black, sprinting for their lives.
Suddenly, several pitch-black Black Armored Lizards shot out from the buildings on both sides of the street. They leaped over rubble with a flick of their tails, darted back into the buildings, then emerged from windows to scramble along the walls.
Despite their more difficult path, they kept pace with the fleeing students. If the students slowed even for a moment, the lizards would surely pounce on them from the walls.
Their vague shapes numbered in the double digits at least, and they were forming an pincer-like encirclement.
SKRAAAAPE... SKRAAAAPE...
The strange sound of claws scraping against concrete grew clearer.
Just as he got a clear view of the situation, Jiang Qiu's left wrist pinged as if answering a call.
BEEP...
"Brother Jiang, that's a [Distress] signal from Site Five! Their coordinates are locked. Should we help?"
Zhang Shan stared intently at the Iron Armor Lizards swarming from both sides, the tip of his long spear tapping the ground.
"Help."
The word had barely been spoken when—BOOM!—dust billowed up from the road. Jiang Qiu shot forward, his long spear held diagonally and skimming the ground. His hair and the hem of his clothes streamed behind him, making him look like a shark charging upstream into a school of sardines.
'So many Iron Armor Lizards... you could search all day and not find a group this big. This is a rare opportunity.'
'Now that Li Juefeng is in Qingmu Town, I have to work even harder to kill Demon Beasts and improve my Ancient Martial Spear Technique!'
THUMP THUMP THUMP...
The footsteps grew closer, and the shouts of the ten or so students became clear and loud. "Hey, friend! Help us kill a few of these Iron Armor Lizards to take the pressure off! When the Red Armored Giant Lizard behind us catches up, our two sites can team up to fight it!"
"Hey! Friend, you're running too fast! Your people haven't even caught up!"
"Holy shit, they've caught up to us... Fuck!"
With a startled cry, the sprinting students slammed on the brakes and turned to see that one of their classmates at the rear had been pounced on by an Iron Armor Lizard. He had just managed to struggle back to his feet when a dozen more Iron Armor Lizards leaped down from the walls on both sides, forcing them into a fight.
At that moment, the bald-headed student in the lead gritted his teeth. He turned and sent a pouncing Iron Armor Lizard flying with his spear, then yelled, "Let's take out some of them before we run to another area! These goddamn Iron Armor Lizards are too persistent!"
Before he could finish, a startling gust of wind blew past his bald head. A blood-soaked collar brushed against his neck, and a spear with a Double Arc Blade sliced through the air in his line of sight. A young man in a billowing black shirt had arrived like the wind.
'Damn it, he was hundreds of meters away just a moment ago!'
'How the hell did he jump over here?!'
The bald student's eyes went wide. He suddenly felt that the young man looked incredibly familiar, as if they had met once before. But a sharp *SHLICK* of a spearhead piercing armor cut his thoughts short.
An Iron Armor Lizard that was still in mid-air was skewered through the body and casually flicked away. With another sweeping strike, he cut down an Iron Armor Lizard that was nipping at another student's heels.
SWISH, STAB, SHLICK—
His steps were like a tiger's, his footing solid as a mountain. As his toes touched the road, cracks appeared in the asphalt. With a flick of his spear, another Iron Armor Lizard was beheaded.
In the span of two or three breaths, he moved like a sudden clap of thunder, charging out of the crowd with a glint of cold steel. He left behind a floor of Iron Armor Lizard corpses and a group of students frozen in place, their eyes wide and their blood pumping. "Huh?"
They watched as the young man gathered strength in his toes and leaped. The concrete on the road shattered with a BOOM, sending up a cloud of dust. His dark figure shot upward like a reverse meteor, smashing into an Iron Armor Lizard climbing the wall with a THUD and sending its bisected corpse tumbling down.
BANG, BANG, BANG!
The black shadow leaped back and forth between the buildings on either side of the road. Even the Iron Armor Lizards trying to slip back inside were flung out, their bodies torn asunder.
Ah...
The group of students, standing on the road like wooden posts with their spears in hand, stared upward. They watched the figure jerk left and right like a chicken pecking, their jaws slack and their eyes nearly popping out of their sockets.
"Holy shit, has Brother Jiang already killed most of them?"
"His legs have that much explosive power? Don't tell me he usually makes us capture them alive just to train us... He's killing them so fast on his own..."
The bald leader of Site Five turned his head and saw they were students from Site Eight. His eyelids twitched violently, and he swallowed hard. "Is he the top pick who replaced Li Juefeng this year?"
'That terrifying explosive power... among all eight sites, it might already be comparable to Li Juefeng's!'
'And his Spear Technique is so clean and efficient! I'm afraid his Ancient Martial Spear Technique has already reached the Proficient level!'
'A genius on par with Li Juefeng!'
'No wonder he's the one who made Teacher Wu Shan slam his desk in excitement…'
Zhang Shan puffed out his chest, his thick eyebrows raised high. "That's right! Jiang Qiu, our Brother Jiang!"
THUD!
As they were speaking, Jiang Qiu bent his knees and landed on the road. His puffed cheeks slowly deflated as he let out a long, hot breath. "Twenty-one."
'This [Powerful Penetration] is also extremely effective when used on the legs. It's just that using it repeatedly makes my blood boil too quickly. My heart feels a little hot.'
'Transferring the Strength application method from the spear to my body really is effective...'
CRUNCH-CRACK—
Suddenly, a harsh grating sound interrupted his thoughts. He turned his head to see a Red Armored Giant Lizard leap out from a small street up ahead. Its body, like that of a giant crocodile, crushed several concrete blocks as it landed, and its two rows of sharp teeth glinted coldly.
At this, the bald student flicked his spear tip, his gaze hardening. The words tumbled out of his mouth, "Fuck, this Red Armored Giant Lizard knows how to circle around to block us off! It won't let us go until we kill it! Brother Jiang Qiu, let our two sites team up! Its armor is tough. We'll tie it down, and then you guys can..."
Before he could finish, Jiang Qiu had just taken a half-step when—WHOOSH!—a small, dark shadow shot through the Red Armored Giant Lizard's massive, hideous head. Like a bullet, it exited the other side, taking with it a spray of brain matter that bloomed like an Other Shore Flower.
As the several-hundred-pound Middle Tier Demon Beast collapsed with a thud, the entire scene fell deathly silent. Only the wind could be heard, blowing withered leaves and yellow snow mixed with dust across the sky.
Tap, tap, tap...
The sound of unhurried footsteps drew closer from the other end of the street.