Chapter 101

"Achoo!" Who's cursing him?

Aiseboer suddenly sneezed loudly. Having done too many bad things, he silently cursed all those he didn't get along with in his heart.

Unable to change the status quo, Qin Su began to make plans based on the current situation, according to the 'lit' map of his own side.

The meeting was scheduled for six o'clock. The moment Qin Su received the message from the school at six o'clock, he opened all the Spaceship cabins.

Everyone had been sleeping for the two days before they arrived, so there was a high probability that they would wake up early. Qin Su wasn't worried that the students would be late.

Blumer also received the news at the same time. Thinking about how Qin Su was targeted in the first real battle, although... no one should dare to target Qin Su after that, Blumer still asked Qin Su just in case.

Once he confirmed that Qin Su had received the exact same message as him, Blumer was relieved and wisely refrained from asking any further questions. Looking at the map sent by the school, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Fortunately, it was just a contest of cleanup speed, not some kind of... battle against the same nest of insects. If it were, the face-to-face comparison would be stark, and even if they knew they were going to lose, it would be too humiliating.

--

Most of the students on the different Spaceships remembered what Qin Su had said earlier and had gotten up and waited outside before six o'clock. When they saw the Spaceship doors open, they all stepped out of their respective Spaceships.

It was bright outside, and even though I had worn a helmet that allowed me to see in the dark last night, many things were still hidden by the darkness.

Under the blazing sun, even with dense trees, one can see far more than at night.

Even so, everyone suppressed their curiosity and did not run to the edge of the platform to take a closer look; their first thought was to gather together.

Less than a minute before six o'clock, the nearly 30,000-strong crowd had not yet formed. The people, who were spontaneously gathering, heard Qin Su's familiar voice coming through the Full-Band Communication.

Qin Su: "Free time, we'll meet again in ten minutes."

This amount of time was enough for him to plan his day's activities according to the map sent by the school.

The group exchanged glances, then immediately let loose and followed their instincts, curiously heading towards the edge of the platform. Although Qin Su had not given any explicit instructions, everyone consciously kept their activities within the platform's boundaries.

There was no rain today, Optical Brain showed that the body surface temperature was above 40 degrees Celsius. However, no one was worried about being burned by the rain. They took off their helmets and used their personal Optical Brain to take pictures and observe the surrounding environment.

The scene below was unforgettable for everyone. Most people chose not to torture themselves anymore. Having satisfied their curiosity yesterday, they did not want to look any further today. A small number of people with Mental Power, despite being mentally prepared, still felt a wave of nausea when they looked again.

At dawn, after a night's rest, most people are at their most energetic. As the first rays of sunlight stream into the prison, the Prisoners begin to stir.

The Prisoners are given three meals a day, at 9:00 AM, 12:00 PM, and 9:00 PM.

The nutrient solution was supplied in limited quantities, and the Prisoners who survived were all tall and strong, with a higher energy expenditure than ordinary people, so they naturally needed more nutrient solution. They could only survive if they had enough food to maintain their physical strength.

If it's not enough, replenishing with similar supplies is the norm.

A night of hunger led them to rise early in the morning and begin their usual law of the jungle, preying on the weak.

Biting, slamming, exchanging Pheromones... the Prisoners, strong as oxen, pounced on one after another, their human cushions screaming and crying out in pain.

This was the first time He Muzhi had ever witnessed such a hellish scene. As the people around him looked around, he inexplicably lowered his head, zoomed in with his scope to a suitable level, and silently observed the chaotic scene below.

He hadn't looked closely last night, but now he realized that there were no rooms like those in a regular prison below. Instead, the area was supported by four transparent pillars, with high walls extending to a circle that connected to the Jump Point Platform.

The area closest to the high platform has ventilation holes, each too small to fit a head.

There wasn't even a shield; forget about beds or toilets.

Thick layers of excrement splattered everywhere with the Prisoners ' movements. Some prisoners were submerged in feces, their mouths and noses buried beneath the excrement, struggling and suffocating to death. Prisoner were torn apart, their limbs mangled, blood splattering onto the transparent walls and drying out...

"He Muzhi, what's wrong?" Noticing He Muzhi's abnormal trembling, Lailisi slapped He Muzhi's He Muzhi hard, followed his gaze, and blurted out, "Holy crap!"

Then he quickly looked up and patted He Muzhi's shoulder repeatedly. "Don't look, don't look, it'll hurt your eyes."

"... Hmm." He Muzhi's throat moved, but he felt like he couldn't swallow even if he tried.

"Let's look at Green √ to cleanse our eyes," Lin Yin suggested. Although everyone knows that a deserted forest is fraught with danger, they haven't gone in yet, so looking at the surface can still lift their spirits.

"Okay." He Muzhi looked at the lush, towering trees.

At a height of over 400 meters, from their perspective, they were still below the Jump Point Platform. Looking down from above, it was indeed an endless expanse of green, very beautiful.

He Muzhi soon discovered that even the most pleasing scenery to his eyes made him feel complicated whenever he thought about what lay beneath the surface.

On one hand, he felt that this was different from what the Federation had publicly stated; the truth was more shocking than he had ever imagined, and he had unexpectedly witnessed the truth.

According to his upbringing, he should expose all of this, but... on the one hand, he also believed that they were heinous Prisoners who deserved to be treated this way, just as his classmates said, "evil people will be punished by evil people," and that they deserved it.

If he reveals the truth of this matter to the public, does that mean he is speaking out for these heinous criminals?

How can we face those who died because of these Prisoners?

For He Muzhi, this was far more complicated than simply killing all insects that were harmful to humans. At this moment, He Muzhi inner turmoil and conflict overshadowed his investigation of the insects.

The ten-minute delay in assembling was, though Qin Su didn't explicitly say so, clearly meant to give them time to observe their surroundings and prepare themselves mentally, according to Qin Su previous arrangements.

He should now focus on the environment, like the other students, to prepare for the tasks ahead, instead of letting his mind be preoccupied with the situation below.

He Muzhi recalled the image of Qin Su as he was the first to disembark from the Spaceship.

Even though he couldn't see the change in Qin Su's expression at that time, he could deduce from Qin Su's indifferent tone when he spoke to them that Qin Su had anticipated everything that was happening here.

Qin Su already knew all this, but he didn't take it to heart.

"If the water is too clear, there will be no fish. What's wrong with that? Why is He Muzhi thinking so much?"

[If it were me, I wouldn't care about explaining anything or revealing the truth. I'm simple-minded; I only look at the results directly. As long as they paid the price with their lives, that's enough. I don't care how they paid it.]

The world is not simply black and white.

[Murderers should be punished with their lives, and according to Federation law, each person here has more than thirty lives on their hands. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say they deserve to be grounds for ashes. I even suspect that the Federation's abolition of the death penalty was a law that some people were trying to obstruct from being implemented for fear of backfiring.]

Six minutes passed, Qin Su decided on the scope of today's cleanup. When he looked up and saw the comments about 'He Muzhi believes that he already knew the truth but took it for granted', the sky fell.

Honestly, he was terrified at the time.

He doesn't bother others unless they bother him. So far, aside from feeling disgusted, he has no other thoughts about Federation laws or the Prisoner are physically in a dog-eat-dog world.

Despite his thoughts, Qin Su knew it was impossible to explain to He Muzhi. Feeling powerless to change the situation, he decided to ignore it, looked away from the barrage of comments, quickly took a shower, and put on his Combat Suit.

The moment Qin Su appeared before the students, he announced the group assignments he had made a few minutes earlier based on their abilities, calmly commanding over the Full-Band Communication: "Assemble according to the groups you've formed in the group chat."

For visual appeal, all the Spaceships were controlled by Qin Su. Upon landing, they were neatly arranged according to size on one side of the Jump Point Platform. The platform was very large, with enough space to accommodate nearly 30,000 people without any problem, and there was even a lot of space left, considering the large number of Prisoners in the prison below.

Upon hearing Qin Su's voice, everyone received a notification on their phones. Looking down, they could easily see the team zones marked by Qin Su, and they quickly headed to their respective group areas.

The 59 Classes that were used to standing together with their own classmates were quickly disrupted.

After the group assembly was completed, the students who were group leaders, as arranged by Qin Su, looked in Qin Su's direction in the order of their groups and reported in turn.

He Muzhi: "Report, Group 1 has assembled."

Cen Ning: "Report, Group 4..."

Lin Yin: "Report, Group 6 has assembled..."

The number of people in each group was not fixed. Qin Su divided the students according to his understanding of them over the past month, based on their individual strengths and areas of expertise. Each group had its own position during the mission, the areas to Purge, the weapons and supplies allocated to each group, and even the timing of when groups would switch places was strictly scheduled.

There were 10 groups in total. The group leaders didn't have much time to report. While listening, Qin Su manipulated the Mecha and Warships that he would use later out of the Spaceship and brought them to each group.

After the leader of the tenth group finished reporting, Qin Su immediately ordered, "You have ten minutes to move your assigned weapons and supplies onto your respective group's Warships."

After a chorus of "Yes!" responses, the group members quickly sprang into action under the leadership of their group leader.

Ten minutes passed quickly. Qin Su disappeared into the Mecha, and the other team leaders did the same, all heading towards the marked area.

The Prisoners couldn't make out the features of the people on the ship, and they didn't know who they were, but they could see a huge group of them leaving, leaving behind many Spaceships.

Upon seeing the Spaceship, countless people below gleamed with a fervent, yearning light in their eyes.

At 8:00 AM, the entire 1st Brigade arrived at the edge of the map. Qin Su, piloting his Mecha, hovered at the highest point of all the Warships, surveying the situation below and issuing the order, "Disperse."

In the next instant, the Warships, densely packed Hover high in the sky, quickly dispersed according to the formation arranged by Qin Su, with Qin Su at the center.

Amidst the intersecting and dispersed Warships, Qin Su piloted his Mecha as it descended.

Before Qin Su issued the new orders, and after they were finalized, the students stood on the Warship and looked down.

The vegetation is of varying heights and layers upon layers, so that from their perspective, the view stretches as far as the eye can see.

Not to mention that there are also a large number of buildings interspersed among the trees beneath this area, further obstructing the view.

"It's kind of creepy, to be honest."

"It's been so long, the trees have grown so tall, they've even pierced through the concrete and steel slabs, and many of the frames are still just rusty. The quality is actually quite good, but if the quality is so good, why leave?"

"Of course it's because the people on this planet are too poor. Didn't you see that their buildings are all grounded? Obviously, they have no energy. Their homes have definitely been completely invaded by the Zerg."

"That's reasonable and well-founded, but what I fear most is this kind of situation where you can't see through it at all, and have no idea what kind of insects are underneath or how many there are."

"By the way... so far, it seems no one has told us what kind of insects we're going to Purge this time? What are the rules?"

"The Commander 1 certainly won't forget why he didn't say..." Sophia exclaimed, "Could it be that there are all kinds of bugs? If so, wouldn't that overlap with our training in the simulated combat training ground!"

"If that's really the case... No wonder he's Qin Su, he can predict a hundred steps ahead for every one step he takes, he can even foresee this, it's terrifying."

"By the way, where are the people from the Unit 2?"

Even inside the Mecha, one can see clearly in all directions, just like when wearing Combat Suit outdoors.

Qin Su descended to the central circle and glanced at the positions of the ten team leaders in their Mecha: "Ten Team Leaders, descend fifty meters; Team 7 to Team 10, ascend thirty meters; Group 1 to..."

The chaotic noises on the Communication Channel spontaneously shut up and began to listen attentively the moment Qin Su's voice rang out.

To prevent students from getting distracted and not hearing clearly, Qin Su sent the instructions verbatim to each student's Optical Brain during the explanation.

In less than a minute, each group had completed its adjustments according to Qin Su's orders.

Qin Su, who was constantly monitoring the team's situation, immediately issued a new order, "After the three-second countdown ends, Ten Team Leaders will attack the trees below them together. Before my countdown begins, each of you should adjust your Mecha's position to ensure that your Mecha is in the exact center of the tree canopy."

"Each team member should be ready to attack at any time after the tree canopy is attacked."

The team members were taken aback when they realized they had been promoted so high and were now being assigned tasks. They snapped back to reality, their scattered thoughts returning to their senses, and gripped their assigned weapons tightly.

As they stood ready for battle, a question couldn't help but cross their minds: 'At such a height, can they really hit the insect?'

The Ten Team Leaders looked down, and from their vantage point, it was easy for them to notice that the tree below where their Mecha were suspended in mid-air had the largest canopy in the surrounding area; all ten of them were in the same situation.

Ten people. "!"

'If my memory serves me right, this should be their first time here, right? How does Qin Su know about this place? Could it be... that Qin Su has been here before?'

The ten men were shocked and quickly adjusted their positions according to Qin Su's orders.

Using a flying vehicle, and knowing that the place wasn't far from the prison, He Muzhi, having quickly adjusted to his destination, couldn't help but ponder why Qin Su had come here.

'Is it because... there are people he knows in prison? If so, did Qin Su come here to visit him, or did he bring him here? Is he... dead?'

He Muzhi really tends to overthink things regarding Qin Su.

[Concern can cloud judgment, please understand.]

[Am I the only one who thinks He Muzhi's thinking makes sense? If it weren't for an acquaintance, and possibly an important one, how could he possibly come here and know every blade of grass and tree in this godforsaken place so thoroughly?]

Following this line of thought... Qin Su's nonchalant attitude towards the situation beneath the Jump Point Platform makes perfect sense!

[Genius!]

Qin Su had thoroughly investigated the situation here last night based on photos and videos. While waiting for the team leaders to adjust their positions, Qin Su passed the time by reading the live chat comments.

"..."

On the Birth of Rumors.

I was here last night, so to be precise, it wasn't exactly 'before'. But there's no such thing as being a prophet; I just secretly rolled it up when it was late at night and no one was around.

In less than ten seconds, I could hear the team leaders reporting that the adjustments were complete.

After confirming that all group leaders had finished reporting, Qin Su pulled himself together and began the countdown. "Three, two, one, begin."

As the last note faded, the Ten Team Leaders, who had been holding their breath, and Qin Su, who was positioned at the center, launched a fierce attack downwards in their Mecha.

Boom!

Bang! Bang!

Although the weapons on the different Mecha are different, and the noise they create varies, the giant trees targeted by their concentrated fire suffer similar damage in the successive attacks.

In the high-definition view, everyone saw that the towering tree canopy, which had seemed quiet not long ago, suddenly became a ripple effect the moment it was attacked.

Countless insects of different kinds either 'fluttered everywhere' or 'fluttered down' in an instant.

Seeing this, Raymond's pupils dilated in shock, and he kept muttering "Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit" while typing incessantly.

"My God!" Lailisi kept shooting while muttering, "This 'rain' is even louder than last night's!"

Lin Yin: "..."

Is that how you use "noise"? Never mind, that's not important. The important thing is the mission.

Lin Yin piloted the Mecha, ignoring the surrounding insects and focusing on attacking the trees.

Qin Su's decision to have his team leaders focus on the trees instead of immediately attacking the Zerg must have been deliberate.

Anthony: "I knew Qin Su wouldn't make us recognize so many insects for no reason, nor would he let us experience so many insects in actual combat!"

[My god, this density is incredible!]

Raymond showed us what it means to regret not having studied enough when you need the knowledge, and that a single "fuck" can get you by.

[Lailisi is equally impressive; this was a true showdown between the two.]

[Illiterate is illiterate, why make it sound so high and mighty?]

[Good, easy to bet?]

Have you noticed? A-Mu is unusually quiet today, and his brow is constantly furrowed.

[Case solved! Qin Su never does anything unnecessary. The previous training was indeed purposeful. It all fits together perfectly. Qin Su is truly amazing; he even foresaw this!]

Is it possible that the "sea of questions" approach worked?

Is it so hard to admit that Qin Su is amazing?

Although Qin Su knew he had made the right choice when he came to film last night, he still couldn't help but get goosebumps when he witnessed the countless dense insects being startled and "taking off" into the air.

He completely understood why no one lived on this planet anymore.

This is even more terrifying than disturbing a cockroach nest. Cockroaches only nibble at people while they're sleeping, crawling into their ears and mouths. These insects here can chew up a whole person's bones in the blink of an eye.

The other students were in a similar state to Lailisi and the others. A month of continuous training had honed their instincts. The moment they saw the image, before their minds could even process it, their hands reacted as a conditioned reflex.

Only when they saw the insect's corpse explode did they belatedly realize what they had done.

Once they realized what was happening, the group, having undergone professional training and possessing solid expertise, knew exactly where the weaknesses of each type of insect lay. They acted swiftly and accurately, resulting in a higher kill rate.

As the giant tree, which had been under concentrated fire, collapsed under the relentless bombardment of the Mecha, revealing a large, accessible area in the middle, and the 'flying' insects had been nearly wiped out by the students above, Qin Su spoke up at the opportune moment, "Everyone, cease attacking."

The commotion in the woods vanished in the blink of an eye.

Qin Su: "The Ten Team Leaders will go down to their respective areas, assess the situation, and report in turn, one by one."

To facilitate combat, 90% of the Warships assigned by the school were open-air, except for the Mecha were fully enclosed, offering the highest level of safety and making them the most suitable for inspection.

"Yes!"

Despite having just seen countless insects, the thought of Qin Su's previous training boosted everyone's confidence. After the initial surprise and shock, they quickly recovered and piloted their Mecha hundreds of meters below without hesitation.

Everything came to a temporary halt. The team members had not received any orders, and only then did they realize that none of Qin Su's previous arrangements for them had been in vain.

"I suddenly realized that no matter what kind of insect jumps into my line of sight, while I'm shooting them, without even realizing it, their names and weaknesses have already flashed through my mind, making the probability of killing them with a single shot much higher than before."

"Same here. This is an experience I've never had before. It feels like knowledge has unknowingly invaded my brain, and I suddenly feel like I've grown a brain."

"At first I thought it was impossible to hit him from such a high position, but later I realized that Brother Su was amazing, his strategy was flawless."

"Going back in time, Brother Su really knows this place inside and out, otherwise he wouldn't have made such thorough preparations."

"Have you guys noticed?" Sheng Shuang whispered, ignoring the puzzled looks on everyone's faces, "Brother Su has shown absolutely no interest in the bugs this time. He hasn't killed a single one. The kill count in the group is currently at 0. Putting aside the question of why, such precise control under such a large-scale attack is no small feat."

"That's so true! I hadn't even noticed until you told me!"

"..."

More than 400 meters underground, Qin Su listened to the chat content on the Full-Band Communication, his face expressionless as he scanned the insects around him.

Everyone was scrutinizing his every move with a magnifying glass. Even though they were in the midst of a tense shooting battle, they still managed to spare the energy to observe him. Qin Su felt a chill run down his spine.

His classmates were right; he was indeed deliberately avoiding killing any insects.