As soon as I left the supermarket building, an explosion sounded, and hordes of monsters began to pour out from the direction of Min Wei's school. My legs could barely move from exhaustion; I definitely need to work on my physical development. On the way, I threw off my mask; I no longer needed it. Arriving near the safe zone, the first thing I did was find a clothing store and change again. I also removed some of the bandages from my face so that I could be recognized.
"Let me go, Zhou Ming; I need to find Jiaxing Yun; I believe he's alive!" I heard Mo Fan's voice as I approached the safe zone. Walking a little further and emerging from the dense thicket of trees, I saw Mo Fan, who was being held back from the safe zone. Zhou Ming was holding him; Lin Yu Jiaxing, Wang Ping, Xu Zhao Ting were standing nearby, and Jiaxing Xia was sitting in a wheelchair. I just smirked seeing this scene.
"Zhou Ming, we're going with him; nothing will happen," Zhao Ting said, trying to calm Zhou Ming.
"Look, isn't that Jiaxing Yun?" Jiaxing Xia asked, pointing at me.
"Hi, guys," I waved to them, approaching closer. Everyone here stared at me with wide eyes; I didn't look very good.
"Where did you get so fried?" Mo Fan smirked, being the first to speak.
"Yeah, when I was looking for Jiaxing Xia after the chaos started, I ran into a guy in black and decided to ask him if he had seen her. And he just doused me with a fire wave; I barely escaped. I patched myself up somehow, rested, and finally made it to the safe zone," I smiled, scratching my head, giving a pre-planned story.
"You need to rest; come on, I'll take you to the infirmary," Lin Yu Jiaxing said, approaching me.
"Okay," I nodded, then addressed the others. "Thank you for worrying about me; we'll talk when I've healed."
"How did you manage to survive? A regular mage with light and medium burns all over his body, and these wounds too?" Lin Yu Jiaxing asked when we moved away from everyone, heading towards the building with a red cross.
"I don't know; it just happened," I replied in confusion. "You're Lin Yu Jiaxing, Lin Yun Er's sister, right?"
"Yes, thanks to you, my sister left for Xi'an right before the catastrophe; thank you for that," she said in a sad voice.
"You're welcome; thank you for escorting me further; I can manage myself," I replied, entering the infirmary.
After a quick registration, I was examined and assigned a place to rest. They changed my bandages and applied a special ointment to the burns, telling me to rest. Approaching my cot, I saw Zhang Xiao Hou sitting by another cot. He Yu lay on it unconscious; her stomach was bandaged, but she had clearly lost a lot of blood.
"Hi, Xiao Hou, what happened?" I asked him, sitting on my cot.
"Nothing pleasant. On the way to the safe place, we met Bai Yang, who turned out to be a member of the Black Church. If it weren't for Lin Yu Jiaxing's help, He Yu would have died saving me from a black monster," he said with a tearful voice, then looked at me and asked, "What happened to you?"
"While looking for Jiaxing Xia, one of the Black Church adepts fried me," I smiled. "Do you want strength to protect your loved ones? And you don't know where to get it?"
"Oh, what makes you think that?" Xiao Hou asked, looking at me intently.
"It's all written on your face," I exclaimed, and he lowered his head, admitting I was right. "I can tell you a place where you can quickly and easily gain strength."
"Really? And where is it?" Xiao Hou asked with disbelief.
"It's called the army," I smirked, lying down on the bed. "They'll teach you how to fight monsters, and they'll give you resources for cultivation."
"And what are you going to do yourself?" Xiao Hou asked, thinking about my suggestion.
"Me? I'm going to enroll in Minzhu University, but for that, I need to raise my cultivation, so first, I'll work as a hunter," I said, putting my hands behind my head. "Well, for those who want strength and to protect people, the army is the place."
"Well, I don't know; I'm not sure..." Xiao Hou couldn't fully decide, but it seemed more like fear of military service and parting with everyone he knew.
"I'll join the army to learn to protect, like Lin Yu Jiaxing does," He Yu said in a weak voice, having regained consciousness.
"Then let me go with you," Xiao Hou said confidently. He Yu just nodded with a smile. Will everything be okay with this couple?
After that, we talked a little. Xiao Hou left on business, and He Yu went to sleep. Soon, Jiaxing Xia came to me and healed me with healing magic, using all her magical energy. Shortly after dawn, the "Eagle" squad arrived in Bo City, consisting of mid-level mages led by a high-level mage. Together with Zhang Kong and the city's strongest mages, they killed the Winged Ash Wolf and began destroying the pack leaders. I, having slept well, went for a walk in the evening. Xu Zhao Ting found me almost immediately.
"Hi, did you rest well?" he asked, running up to me.
"Yes, quite well. Did something happen?" I asked, looking at him.
"No, nothing. Remember you said you were going to become a hunter?" Zhao Ting asked. I nodded in response. "Can I come with you? After these events, I realized how weak I am. When it turned out that Bai Yang was a traitor, I could do almost nothing. But Mo Fan managed to kill a monster alone! And there was also some Aquilon; he came with Lin Yu Jiaxing and wiped out more than half the monsters with lightning magic. He created star paths in mere seconds! Moreover, he easily dodged all the monsters' attacks. I want to become like that!" he delivered a passionate speech. Yes, it seemed my actions had quite an impact on him.
"Yes, why not, but let's talk later? Everything is uncertain now; let's talk in a couple of days?" I asked. I still needed to confirm Mo Fan's intentions to enroll in Minzhu and move to Shanghai; after that, I could act freely on my own.
"Okay," Xu Zhao Ting replied, then suddenly became very sad and added, "All my relatives died in this catastrophe. I'm moving to Shanghai; I hope I can start a new life, become a hunter, and enroll in Minzhu. I hope for your help with this."
Then we walked a bit, talked, and I felt incredibly sorry for him, but unfortunately, he has to die in two years; it's one of the key moments in Mo Fan's development. A week passed, mages had practically cleared the city of monsters, Mo Jiaxingg was able to arrive from the hunter base to us. Mo Fan, meanwhile, was repeatedly interrogated, trying to learn everything in the smallest details, but he wasn't put on trial, as thanks to him, many people were saved. Also, Lin Yu Jiaxing, along with the military, was searching for Aquilon and Austra, mid-level mages who also contributed to the defense of the city and the sacred spring, but found no one. No one bothered me, and no one paid any attention to me, which suited me. Lin Yun Er also returned from Xi'an with her mother; I headed with Lin Yu Jiaxing to meet her. She was returning by car, not by train, as the station was destroyed.
We both went to the gates of the fortress, the safe zone, and waited for the taxi from which Lin Yun Er emerged with her mother. Both of them were very sad; it was no surprise, their father and husband had died, and the sister and daughter had miraculously survived. I helped them get their things, after which Lin Yu Jiaxing and her mother left, leaving me and Lin Yun Er alone.
"Jiaxing Yun, I'm so glad you're okay. If it weren't for you, my mother and I could have died like my father," she said in a sad voice. "My sister was lucky that a mid-level mage, Aquilon, saved her from the adepts of the black church."
"Yes, she was lucky. And how was your trip?" I asked, feeling awkward from knowing the truth.
"Everything was good. My mother and I walked through the streets of the ancient capital, saw many strong light mages, and also learned what's needed to get into Xi'an University. I have every chance to get in there, thanks to you and the fact that you allowed me to cultivate with the leakage of the sacred spring. I still have a year of school left, and I'm already close to the third stage. True, when we learned about what happened here, we couldn't believe it and immediately decided to return."
"I understand. What are your plans now?" I asked, and her face became even sadder.
"We're moving to Xi'an. I plan to enroll in the local university. Plus, they provide housing for those affected by the disaster. And my sister doesn't mind. But..." she said, falling silent for a minute, then continued. "We have to part ways."
"But why?" I asked, confused and shocked by her statement.
"I felt gratitude towards you for taking me away from the library then and saving me, then giving me strength. I even fell in love with you, but we're not on the same path. I don't want to depend on you, so forgive me," she said, lowering her head. "I'll become stronger myself, you'll see."
"Okay, I hope we remain friends," I managed to say, barely. My first girlfriend had dumped me, in both my lives. Yes, unfamiliar feelings.
"Yes, why not?" she replied, cheering up a bit.
Then we walked around the safe zone, I learned the details of her trip, and told her a made-up story about how I survived. A week after the monster invasion, Mo Jiaxingg, Mo Fan, Mo Qing, Jiaxing Xia, and I gathered in our assigned room. These were all who had survived. Mo Qing's husband had gone missing, but most likely he was dead, or as I thought, turned into a black monster.
"What will we do next?" Mo Jiaxingg asked the main question. "Mo Fan, Jiaxing Yun, you are both grown men now, and I am quite old, so we will do as you say." He addressed us. "Imagine, my opinion will even be considered, ha!"
"You do as you please. I will stay here. I cannot leave the city of my ancestors," Mo Qing said, waving her hand.
"As for me, I am grateful to you for raising me, so I don't care. But I wanted to go to Shanghai to become a hunter and enter Minzhu in a year," I said, leaning against the wall.
"I agree with Jiaxing Yun. We should move to Shanghai. I also plan to enroll in Minzhu," Mo Fan replied, agreeing with me.
"I will follow my brother Mo Fan," Jiaxing Xia said modestly.
"Alright, but apartments in Shanghai are very expensive. We need to think about what to do about that," Mo Jiaxingg remarked sadly.
"I heard that Shanghai provides apartments to refugees from Bo City," I chimed in. "We need to find out more about this."
"I'll go find out," Mo Jiaxingg said, standing up. "You guys gather your things for now."
After this small meeting, Mo Jiaxingg found out that Shanghai did indeed provide apartments in a microdistrict in the suburbs. So, quickly gathering our things, we took a taxi to Xiamen, where we boarded a high-speed train to Shanghai.