Chapter 139
Faced with an even more unpredictable danger than before, Su Zhanghua asked Blake, the class Class Monitor of Class of 25 (Class 18), "What should we do now?"
The students in both classes had recently encountered a terrifying attack by an unknown creature. Although Blake had instructed them to flee immediately upon noticing the danger, all the students were still uncontrollably scattered in less than twenty seconds.
By the time they realized what was happening, they had already separated from their respective classes. While shooting and retreating, they were swept away by a huge underwater current and ended up in this unknown place.
The only thing that made Su Zhanghua feel fortunate was that Blake had adopted a strategy of Purge the students in two separate time slots, in the afternoon and morning. Not all the students were on the mission at the same time, so the casualties... Although he didn't see them, he could foresee that the situation was not good. Su Zhanghua could only comfort himself by saying that they wouldn't be completely wiped out.
He stood in this pitch-black Abyss filled with endless unknowns, feeling a chill run down his spine, as if a heavy stone was pressing on his heart, making it hard to breathe.
"This area is not within the scope of this Purge Zone."
Blake moved his limbs, which were almost numb from the violent impact, and used the cleaner inside his Visual Helmet to wipe the blood out of it. He suppressed his groans of pain, looked at the cleanup map issued by the school, and spoke in a heavy tone.
"This is the area the next batch of students will be responsible for cleaning up. There must be quite a few people like us who were separated by the flood. We'll go back to see if we can run into our companions. I'm sending this message to everyone now to warn them to take shelter."
"Okay." Su Zhanghua nodded.
Still recovering from the pain, the two of them, back to back, slowly circled in the water, cautiously making their way towards the marked spot.
After swimming for a few seconds, Blake belatedly realized what was happening and blinked hard as he looked at the replies he had received from other classes, "Wait a minute."
"Hmm?" Su Zhanghua looked around warily, temporarily stopping his movements as his Combat Suit carried him through the water.
"I remember now, after that giant monster scattered us, the direction it headed was towards Qin Su's team."
"After I sent out the message about the sudden attack by the unknown behemoth, no class reported encountering it. Only Alec didn't reply. I guess Alec must have handed over command authority to Qin Su. Qin Su... why didn't he reply?"
"Is it because... like us, we were scattered and trapped in danger by that enormous monster, and didn't have time to reply?"
Upon hearing this, Su Zhanghua's face paled as he recalled the horrific scene from before. He then remembered witnessing Qin Su instantly kill countless insects with Pheromones, turning them into rivers of blood in the blink of an eye, when he and Blumer were on the same team. He unconsciously shook his head and murmured softly, "It shouldn't be..."
Any video of Qin Su has been widely circulated, and Blake had naturally seen them as well. He immediately understood what Su Zhanghua meant and echoed in a hoarse voice, "Let's hope it's as we imagine."
Based on the trajectory of that behemoth, if Qin Su is unable to stop it from moving forward, then more classes may not have time to evacuate and will suffer the same fate as them.
"Why don't you ask Alec privately, senior?" Su Zhanghua still wanted to know about the situation of Class 66) and Class 6).
Qin Su and the others didn't dare to ask. Alec had handed over command to Qin Su, and since Alec was in the Transport squad, he should be in the rear and relatively free, so he might have time to answer them.
"Um."
Blake responded.
A minute had passed since the message was sent, and there had been no response. Blake's unease grew.
But now they are in dire straits themselves, and apart from spreading the news and letting the other classes temporarily return to the Spaceship to avoid danger, they have no other choice.
Alec had long forgotten what his original major was. He rediscovered the passion he had when he first entered the school as a freshman. Like the students in Class 6), his eyes were constantly reflecting a blood-red light, and he didn't have time to look at any messages received on his Optical Brain.
Although Qin Su left without hesitation after delivering the fatal blow to the behemoth, catching them completely off guard, they recovered from their astonishment and continued to carry out Qin Su's commands without the slightest doubt.
Regardless of why Qin Su left, they didn't want Qin Su to return to find that they hadn't even done a good job of cleaning up the mess.
--
Three minutes passed in the blink of an eye. Qin Su arrived at the training ground from the previous week. His Combat Suit, which was equipped with both time and location protection, suddenly stopped moving, hovering motionless in the water, its red arc light extinguished.
After an unknown amount of time, Qin Su opened his eyes. His mind was buzzing, and all he could see was a scarlet color. He could also smell a strong stench of blood.
Qin Su: "..."
As he had set out, he was still in the water. During the unconscious period after injecting K-110, he indiscriminately killed countless insects, and the blood staining his Combat Suit would be washed away by the water.
Clearly, the blood inside the Visual Helmet could have come from him, or it could have come from the flesh and blood he carried from the giant creature after he traversed and tore it apart.
Regardless of the situation, Qin Su controlled his Combat Suit and restored his helmet to a clean state.
In the past, he would temporarily remove his Combat Suit to wash himself and the Combat Suit clean, but now he simply didn't have the strength.
King's time has passed, and in his waste period, even moving his eyeballs requires a great deal of effort.
Qin Su once again expressed his gratitude for the technology of the Comic World. Even though he was so powerless that he couldn't even move a finger, as long as he could think, he could control himself with his mind and use his Combat Suit to maintain a semblance of dignity.
While the Visual Helmet was being cleaned, Qin Su opened the screen recording to see what happened after he injected K-110.
The three-minute screen recording was very short; I forced myself to keep my eyes open and carefully review it.
Having confirmed that he hadn't made any mistakes or acted shamefully from the injection until he left his classmates' sight, and that he had even killed countless insects while leaving, allowing his kill count to reach the maximum exchange threshold within just three minutes, and that even if he unexpectedly encountered Su Zhanghua and the others along the way, he was too fast for them to recognize him, Qin Su was relieved...
Wait, he's gone. Those insects that were supposed to be drawn to him by the Pheromone- laden Light Waves from his Combat Suit, won't they also go with him...?
Before Qin Su could finish his thought, he saw the 'familiar insects' constantly emerging around him, and the silence was deafening.
Qin Su: "..."
What should have been a helping hand in his time of need has instead become an added insult to injury.
The thought of staying up late last night, diligently injecting the instruments into each one, made Qin Su wish he could travel back in time and knock his past self, who had been so diligently digging the holes, unconscious.
As the insects drew ever closer, Qin Su, whose strength had been completely drained by the K-110, was filled with regret, deep regret.
Without any means of resistance, Qin Su did not hesitate for a moment. He used his mind to control his Combat Suit and plunged headfirst into the boundless Abyss.
Since there's no Viewers, and all his actions are known only to heaven, earth, and himself, no one else will know, so he...
I'm outta here.
If you can't afford to mess with them, you can at least avoid them; not only can you avoid them, you can also lure them into the presence of their natural enemies.
It doesn't matter if he can't fight them; there are plenty of bugs that can take them down. As long as the bugs he shot into his Combat Suit that were attracted to him are all eaten up, he can retire successfully and return to the team.
Otherwise, if that useless little snack goes back now, he will only bring danger to everyone who is finishing up the work.
Plans can't keep up with changes. You're either working for nothing or on your way to working for nothing. And after working for nothing, you end up sabotaging yourself. Qin Su is numb to this kind of thing.
While seemingly slipping away, I actually led them to their own stomachs. During this time, I didn't forget to seize the opportunity to carefully write down my experience using 10 K-110 bottles based on the video.
Unable to even sigh, Qin Su could only lament inwardly, silently marveling at how technology truly changes lives. Even becoming a cripple required relentless, non-stop work; anyone who saw this would surely say his life was miserable.
--
Time passed second by second. The students of Class 6) and Class 66) didn't know how much time had passed. They only knew that when everything calmed down, their hearts were still pounding.
"Phew... it's finally over."
The sound of heavy breathing echoed through the Communication Channel.
"Thank God... no, that's not right." Alec shook his head, "It should be Qin Su's blessing; we finally escaped this calamity."
Alec's words were met with agreement from everyone.
"Without Qin Su, I don't even want to think about what would have happened to us. Relying solely on weapons, we wouldn't have even been able to break through the outer layer of that thing before we were torn to pieces."
"Qin Su is practically a walking human weapon."
"The scale is too small. Before taking action, he deliberately took off his Combat Suit and used his bare body to pierce through the behemoth. He was clearly a walking, terrifying weapon. Qin Su could easily tear through the behemoth and shred it with ease, but after severely injuring it, he made us take action. I suspect that Qin Su was trying to make us feel involved."
Hearing the voice beside him, Qin Su: "..."
That's a good idea, keep it up!
"But then again, is this really something a human could do?"
There was a brief silence on the channel, followed by a soft voice.
"I've wanted to say this for a long time. I suspect that Qin Su's body has undergone some kind of special modification and is no longer within the realm of humanity."
"Same! I even suspect that Qin Su's entire body, including his Pheromones, has undergone some kind of tempering that is beyond our comprehension."
"If that's the case... is it possible that Qin Su's lifespan is even longer than ours? After all, his body and Pheromones have been 'tempered' to a level we can't comprehend, so an increased lifespan seems... understandable, right?"
"Um... have you guys heard the rumor that someone used technology to push their physical potential to the limit, shortening their lifespan from the average three hundred years to just a few decades?"
"... I've heard of it, but it's absolutely impossible for this to happen to Qin Su."
"That's right!"
They couldn't accept it and firmly believed it was completely impossible.
"The giant is dead, but Qin Su hasn't returned yet. What should we do now?"
As they chatted, they rested for less than a minute. Without Qin Su, they were leaderless and lost their bearings.
"Continue clearing according to the routes Qin Su set for each of us," Alec said decisively.
Lifi immediately said, "I'll run Qin Su's Purge route."
Sophia and He Muzhi were on both sides of Lifi route, immediately offered their help. After a short rest, even without Qin Su, no one in either team slacked off, and they rallied to continue the mission.
Qin Su tried to speak, but found that when he moved his lips, the sound coming from his throat was too different from his usual feigned indifference, and his tone was also strange. Forcing himself to speak would expose his current situation.
Hearing that his classmates wouldn't let him down even without him, Qin Su felt relieved.
Anyway...
Qin Su saw the insects relentlessly chasing him through the Visual Helmet, but he didn't even have the strength to twitch his lips.
The slightly more powerful insects that swam in the area they were assigned to now all followed behind him.
The students are not in danger; the one in danger is himself.
"Wait, there are people, a group of people are coming towards us."
Less than five minutes after the renewed Purge, students spotted someone wearing the same Combat Suit appearing in their field of vision.
Is that Qin Su?
"Unfortunately, the movement speed is clearly not that."
"That is..."
Everyone quickly remembered the same Combat Suit that had been hanging on the giant creature before, and a suffocating feeling welled up in their hearts.
After the behemoth suffered a fatal blow, it stirred up whirlpools and powerful currents in the water. They didn't have time to retrieve the bodies of the other students from the monster before they disappeared into the undercurrents.
Those approaching them now must be survivors.
A group of people gathered around.
Blake and Su Zhanghua received no response from either class. They led the survivors along the way toward the giant object's trajectory and saw Class 6) and the group of (66).
The torn-up behemoth had long since sunk into the bottomless water, unseen by Su Zhanghua and the others.
They only saw that there were many people in Class 6) and Class 66), and judging from the appearance, no one was missing, so their hearts were relieved.
He Muzhi and the others also saw that there were very few people left in Su Zhanghua's and Blake's classes. When they gathered together, they didn't dare to ask them anything like "Are you all okay?" They just looked at them with sympathy and didn't dare to say anything rash.
Blake and the others naturally understood the meaning in the expressions of Class 6) and Class 66), and couldn't laugh at all.
Blake looked at Alec: "Why aren't you replying to me?"
"Huh?" Alec looked at his personal Optical Brain and realized that Blake had sent him a message. "Sorry, I was busy and didn't notice."
"Where's Qin Su?" Blake quickly realized that Qin Su was nowhere to be seen in the crowd.
"This is a long story, let's... never mind, let's just watch it." With that, Alec pulled up the video footage of the monster from its appearance until Qin Su dealt with it.
Before long, Su Zhanghua and the others, having finished reading, had their expressions change repeatedly.
Stun, shock, regret, and sadness welled up in their hearts, but in the end, they said nothing.
After all, saying things like "If Qin Su had been with them back then, their two classes wouldn't be in this situation now" has a strong element of moral blackmail.
Raymond was about to say something when Sophia patted him on the shoulder, signaling him to be quiet lest he say something inappropriate that might upset them.
Although the appearance of the colossal creature was none of their fault, and they hadn't anticipated it, they ultimately escaped unharmed. Having witnessed their companions die before their very eyes in front of Blake and his men, whom they were powerless to stop, any further words they uttered would be pale and likely to be misunderstood; it was better to say nothing at all.
After a tense silence, Blake composed himself and forced a smile that looked more like a grimace at Alec: "The crisis is over. Knowing that everyone will be safe is enough. We'll be going now and won't bother you any longer."
"... Hmm." Alec hugged Blake, not daring to utter even the words "condolences," only cautiously saying, "Goodbye."
Blake said nothing more and quickly left with Su Zhanghua and the others.
As he watched their figures disappear from sight, Alec's voice rang out again. "We continue..."
Before Alec could finish speaking, he saw a red arc of light flash by. When he looked closely, he saw Qin Su's familiar figure appear not far away.
"Qin Su!"
Qin Su had been keeping Full-Band Communication on, so everyone naturally heard Alec's voice.
The others also watched Qin Su reappear in the blink of an eye. Although they didn't speak, their eyes were full of eagerness, and they unconsciously tightened their grip on the weapons they were holding. They were uneasy and had no idea whether Qin Su was satisfied with their reaction after he left.
Alec was quite far away, so Qin Su pretended not to hear him calling his name through the Full-Band Communication. Unable to speak, he simply used his mind to control his Combat Suit, letting it carry him to a glimpse of Lifi.
Although Qin Su didn't say anything, just one calm glance from him was enough for Lifi to immediately understand, and she quickly moved away from the cleaning line that originally belonged to Qin Su.
Qin Su still didn't speak, but silently made a 'continue' gesture, a gesture commonly used on the battlefield, by controlling his hand with his Combat Suit.
He deliberately waited until Blake and the others left before appearing. He hadn't expected to suddenly encounter such a giant creature. He felt distressed by their plight but couldn't comfort them, and even found it difficult to face them.
After all...
If he had been with them, there was a high chance that the tragedy could have been avoided.
Unfortunately, there are no "what ifs" in either the Comic World or the Real World. Once something happens, it can't be undone. He felt a little sad and wanted to escape.
"..."
Seeing Qin Su's cold and silent demeanor, everyone became even more puzzled by Qin Su. Not daring to delay any longer, despite their many doubts, they didn't dare to ask any more questions and continued with the mission.
[My Su Bao has suddenly appeared!]
[They're so elusive; they must have been secretly watching these people's performance from somewhere we couldn't see them.]
[They came back without saying a word. Tsk tsk, it must be because their wrap-up took too long, which didn't meet Qin Su's expectations.]
[Geniuses always assume everyone else is like them. They've broken down, giving us ordinary people a way out. Qin Su's standards are too high; who can possibly meet them?]
Qin Su: "..."
No, that's not it. He simply didn't have the strength to speak. The Combat Suit couldn't move up to his throat, it could only control his limbs. The idea of secretly observing was absurd; he was busy being chased and bitten by insects at the time.
The weapons were almost out of ammunition, so Qin Su sent Richards a list, Richards wisely maneuvered the submarine forward.
Between the vibrant black and bright Green √, every mature and strong person knows to blindly choose the former; when their mind is in control, they don't need to hesitate about which color to pick up their weapon from their Combat Suit.
After all, it was a mistake; please see VC... no, Raymond.
In the distance, Raymond's black and red Combat Suit, adorned with shades of red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, and purple, resembled a color palette; anyone who could look at it without laughing would have a high threshold for humor.
The dangerous insects had already been fed to other insects by him not long ago. There weren't many insects left, and they weren't moving very fast. Qin Su didn't have the strength to grab weapons as quickly as before, so he simply used the speed of his Combat Suit as a guide, not focusing on speed, but on making his movements methodical and error-free.
Soon, Richards, seeing that only the colorful weapons remained unselected, asked, "?"
'It can't be that Qin Su dislikes their colors; Qin Su wouldn't be so superficial. It must be that Qin Su simply doesn't like using them.'
Richards' table was so obvious that it was hard for Qin Su not to notice it.
"..."
But I'm sorry, he's just that superficial.
Seeing Qin Su turn around after selecting his weapon, Richards wisely stepped back.
Not wanting his classmates to notice anything unusual about him, Qin Su deliberately controlled the distance each time, just like when he first attacked today, and delivered the fatal blow only when the insect was almost pouncing on him, after he had prepared in advance.
The cleaning speed wasn't fast, but it maintained a "effortless" approach throughout.
In the absence of insects, he controlled the Combat Suit, making it twist its head and turn to look at He Muzhi, Sophia, and the others, pretending that 'he wasn't slow, but deliberately observing their performance at a leisurely pace.'
Jeffrey and the others immediately thought they understood Qin Su's meaning and worked even harder.
In the end, seeing how fast He Muzhi and the others were cleaning, Qin Su simply gave up his cleaning path. Exhausted, he righteously pretended to be a 'supervisor,' but in reality, he was taking the opportunity to secretly rest.
Although the appearance of the giant creature disrupted Qin Su's plans, it also attracted a series of dangerous insects in the area to other places, feeding them to other insects. This inadvertently accelerated the students' cleanup speed, allowing Qin Su's plan to achieve a strange balance.
By 10 p. m., the cleanup area belonging to Class 6) and Class 66) was completed within the time frame planned by Qin Su.
Back on the Spaceship, Qin Su went straight to the Rest Pod without wasting a second.
Isolated from everyone's view, Qin Su used his Combat Suit to take himself into the bathroom to shower and clean the Combat Suit. Then, he had the Combat Suit take him back to the Hibernation Pod, set the timer, and without wasting a second, he fell unconscious.
He left the crowd outside, filled with questions.
"Is the Class Monitor satisfied or dissatisfied?"
"Is that even a question?" Raymond said confidently. "They don't want to say a word to us; they're clearly not satisfied."