Chapter 47

[???]

[Can someone tell me what happened? How did he become class monitor?]

[!!! I knew it, Qin Su really does know something!]

"..."

After checking the notification on their Optical Brains, the rest of Class 6, standing on the Jump Point platform, almost unanimously turned to look at Qin Su.

Qin Su stood at the edge, unmoved by their stares. Whether secretly checking on the trees last night or communicating with Zhang Minglang, Qin Su had not activated the comic camera, nor had he exposed himself to He Muzhi.

At the Jump Point, no one on either side of the screen knew the truth except Qin Su.

After a brief silence, murmurs broke out among the crowd.

"Aaah, it's killing me! What happened?"

"Whatever it is, the homeroom teacher not letting us move is one thing, but he also told us to listen to Qin Su. However you look at it, this doesn't seem like an easy problem."

Everyone gossiped in low voices, but no one asked Qin Su, who radiated an aura warning strangers to stay away.

Before long, unable to come up with an answer and with their hearts in their throats, they unconsciously followed Qin Su's example and stood along the edge of the platform, looking back and forth between the water and the distance, trying to make something out.

Naturally, they could see nothing, which made them even more uneasy...

In the wordless silence, Qin Su swept his gaze over the area where the towering trees stood, mentally estimating the area covered by the object underwater while thinking about the K-110 he carried.

His luck had always been bad, so he had to prepare for the worst.

If he really was unlucky enough for the thing underwater to start stirring while he was acting as class monitor, all he had to fight it to the death were the five K-110 doses he carried and the weapons and ammunition brought on the ship and stored on the Jump Point platform.

So far, no one had ever injected more than one dose at a time.

If the thing underwater was made up of countless creatures, that would be manageable. He could deal with them one by one within the three minutes after injecting K-110.

If there was only one...

Given how much area it covered, and based on his experience on Mutian Tuo, a single dose of K-110 definitely wouldn't be enough.

In theory, he was stuck in a health-point bug, so no matter how many doses he injected, he wouldn't die. He might, however, accumulate an endlessly stacking weakness debuff from injecting too many at once.

So, no matter how big the thing below was, in the worst-case scenario, he could only inject four doses at once and make sure he dealt with the problem within the three minutes after the injection. He would leave one dose to inject during the period of weakness after those three minutes, ensuring he could return to the Rest Pod like a normal person within the next three minutes.

To ensure he could 'hit his target in one strike' during the three minutes after the injection, he first needed to understand the thing below to a certain extent.

To maximize his chances of survival while finding out, the Z-X307 mech was the best choice.

He pictured how the thing below was occupying the area... Besides that, he might also need help.

Even while looking, he couldn't appear aimless. Qin Su drew his gaze back from the distance and fixed it on the bullet-comment box in the upper left corner.

From the endlessly scrolling comments, Qin Su learned that the protagonist was standing to his right at that moment. He turned his head.

From a third-person perspective, Qin Su, who had been staring into the distance with deep, dark eyes, suddenly turned his head and fixed his gaze precisely on He Muzhi.

His eyes met those of He Muzhi, who had been glancing at him from time to time.

He Muzhi: "..."

Oh no, I got caught...

While He Muzhi was feeling guilty, Qin Su quickly took advantage of looking at him to sweep his peripheral vision over the positions of the students on his left. He abruptly discovered that, for some reason, they had all lined up neatly along the edge of the platform, just like him.

Now, because he had turned sideways and looked at He Muzhi, they were all instinctively looking at the two of them.

The information flashed through Qin Su's mind. Neither his eyes nor his expression showed the slightest sign of surprise or hesitation. Looking perfectly composed, he let his gaze rest on He Muzhi for less than a second before seizing the opportunity to speak while He Muzhi was still caught off guard. "He Muzhi."

He Muzhi's lips moved, but he hesitated, embarrassed at being caught. Before he could say anything, Qin Su had already looked at the next person and spoken again. "Raymond."

He Muzhi turned to look at Raymond, who was standing beside him.

"Me?"

Raymond raised a hand and pointed at himself in disbelief.

"Yes."

Qin Su gave a mild affirmation, his gaze not lingering on Raymond for even a second longer. He looked at another person he had selected earlier. "Sophia."

"Here!"

Sophia answered out of habit.

"..."

He Muzhi breathed a sigh of relief. Qin Su probably hadn't caught him sneaking glances; he had been about to call their names anyway.

But... Qin Su clearly hadn't looked at them at all, yet he knew exactly where they were. How had he done it?

[He called He Muzhi first. That roll call isn't exactly innocent...]

[Raymond provided today's laughs]

[It's not that I want to compare him to a husky, but Raymond really does look like one with clear-eyed stupidity written all over his face (husky holding a rose)]

Qin Su continued calling names. "Jeffrey."

"Sheng Shuang."

"Zhong Lin."

"Lu Pin."

"Janice."

"Daniel."

After calling the names on one side, Qin Su turned smoothly and naturally to the other, looking as though he had always known exactly where his classmates were.

"Evan."

"Zhang Wenzhe."

"Sisley."

Based on the number of trees he had counted the night before, Qin Su called the names of 136 students in all.

When he finished, Qin Su was grateful that after every class, he made a table on his Optical Brain ranking his classmates' strength, so he could keep track of which members of Class 6 might be his 'potential threats'. That was how he had come to know everyone's strength so thoroughly and had been able to call their names without a hitch.

The students called at the beginning hadn't understood why Qin Su was suddenly calling their names, but as he called more people, they gradually realized that every student he named excelled in Class 6's courses.

In other words, He Muzhi wasn't the only one Qin Su paid attention to; Qin Su paid attention to them too!

This group of people, who had initially thought Qin Su might not even care who they were, couldn't help straightening their backs and puffing out their chests after he precisely called each of them by name, as though they had received some invisible medal.

The students who hadn't been called yet looked at Qin Su expectantly, hoping to hear their names from his lips.

"Follow me." With that, Qin Su strode toward the storage facility not far from the ship.

Qin Su's icy voice shattered the hopes of the students whose names hadn't been called. Clear disappointment appeared on their faces as they watched the 136 selected students grow excited and hurry after Qin Su like victorious roosters.

As he brushed past Anthony, Qin Su clearly noticed Anthony staring at him with a gloomy expression.

Hidden among the crowd, Anthony stared bitterly at Qin Su, unwilling to accept it. When Qin Su passed by, he quickly looked away.

Out of all those people, even several betas had been selected, yet he, an Alpha, hadn't.

Qin Su was obviously targeting him on purpose.

Qin Su ignored Anthony's evasive behavior. Out of the 136 people, Anthony was the one person he had deliberately left out, even though Anthony was fairly strong when his pheromones erupted.

He didn't like using someone who 'harbored obvious hostility toward him and had already acted on it'. Such a person would be uncontrollable.

The students who hadn't been called watched Qin Su lead the selected students away. They soon noticed something odd and turned their gazes on Anthony.

Every Alpha above the B+ level had been called away by Qin Su except Anthony.

Combined with the gossip from the members of Squad 2, led by Qiao Yue, after they returned yesterday, Anthony immediately became the subject of everyone's gossip.

Their gazes were like needles, prickling Anthony's back and making him extremely uncomfortable.

"Hmph!" Anthony snorted coldly and viciously shoved the beta blocking his way. "Can't you see I'm trying to get through? Are you blind, you idiot?!"

"What are you—"

The beta who had fallen to the ground didn't finish. Anthony shot him a threatening glare, and he shut up.

He couldn't afford to provoke a petty man like Anthony, who would take revenge for the slightest grievance.

The 136 students followed Qin Su with anticipation. At their head, Qin Su ignored the excited and questioning looks directed at him and silently typed to communicate with the system on his Optical Brain:

[Enable access to the Viterra Tower 5285 Jump Point storage facility.]

That access should have been granted when the homeroom teacher notified him that he was 'temporarily assuming the class monitor's duties'.

Unfortunately, from the moment he saw the notification on his Optical Brain until now, access had never been enabled, so he could only 'do it' himself.

The system serving as his 'Optical Brain' could obtain so much top-secret data; getting a little access was no problem.

[Access obtained!] 777's response quickly rang out in Qin Su's mind.

The people behind him looked toward the place Qin Su was heading and felt no surprise. Qin Su was already acting as class monitor, so it was hardly strange for him to have access to the storage facility.

When they reached the door, the facility scanned Qin Su's ID. The circular, gray metallic door split straight down the middle and opened to either side.

Before the enormous circular entrance, Qin Su raised his right hand and beckoned slightly with his long, curled fingers. His icy voice rang out at the same time. "Enter."

The students behind him answered and hurried after him.

During the basic weapons and mech instruction course, the teacher had briefly mentioned that most of the contents of the storage facility were weapons and ammunition left unused after each routine clearing operation.

After the freshmen cleared the outer area, senior students came back to clear the inner area. Naturally, the weapons inside also included those used by the senior students against larger bugs.

Judging by the size of the 'roots' clinging to the tall tree trunks, Qin Su led his classmates straight to the most destructive weapons.

Everyone looked around curiously at the weapons they had learned about but had never had a chance to use, their eyes shining.

Qin Su turned to face them and ordered coldly, "Each of you, choose the weapon that suits you best and familiarize yourselves with it as quickly as possible. Make sure you can use it even with your eyes closed."

"Understood?" Qin Su swept a stern gaze over them.

Everyone immediately stood at attention and met Qin Su's sharp gaze, answering solemnly and loudly, "Understood!"

These were weapons they would need a long time and a great deal of training before they could use. Qin Su had used his authority to give them access, and if the military academy asked questions, Qin Su would take responsibility, so they weren't afraid.

"Begin." After giving the sharp command, Qin Su strode toward the area of the storage facility where conventional ammunition was kept.

Specifically, the bombs that were present in the greatest quantity at the Jump Point, which students of every year loaded around the bottom of their warships and dropped into the water to explode, stirring the underwater bugs into leaping above the surface.

The ammunition was arranged much the same way as it was on the ship, and Qin Su had been able to take it in easily out of the corner of his eye on his way in.

As he walked straight toward the ammunition storage area, Qin Su, who as class monitor had access to all-frequency group communications, sent his first brief order to the students still on the platform. "Enter the storage facility."

The other students who hadn't been called had been disappointed, but not long afterward, they heard Qin Su's cold command from their Optical Brains, right by their ears.

"!"

Unable to believe their ears, they looked at one another.

"Did you hear that?"

"You heard it too!"

Confirming it with one another didn't stop them from quickly running toward the storage facility as soon as they heard Qin Su's words.

While waiting for his classmates to arrive, Qin Su drew an 'assembly diagram' on his Optical Brain based on what was available in the storage facility.

Upon entering, they saw Qin Su standing alone before a mountain of stacked ammunition. Behind him, He Muzhi and the others were excitedly choosing weapons that freshmen like them weren't supposed to use.

Though their eyes shone with desire for those weapons, they obediently remained behind Qin Su.

Hearing that most of the footsteps behind him had gathered, Qin Su turned at just the right moment to face the remaining students.

Qin Su swept his dark eyes over them, and everyone unconsciously held their breath and waited in silence.

As his classmates waited expectantly, Qin Su said, "Follow the diagrams you receive. Move all of these to the designated location, then follow the instructions to assemble them into the final form shown."

As soon as he finished, Qin Su sent the images to every student's Optical Brain interface.

When they received the message, everyone opened their Optical Brains to look.

Before they could see and understand it, Qin Su's voice rang out again. "Understood?"

Hearing him, everyone nodded and answered instinctively, "Understood."

"Good."

Without waiting for them to come to their senses, Qin Su strode out of the storage facility.

He was going to familiarize himself with the Z-X307.

Only after watching Qin Su's figure disappear did everyone come to their senses and turn their attention to the diagrams he had sent to the group.

Before long, incredulous voices rang out one after another in the storage facility.

"Wait, once this is assembled, if it accidentally gets hit, the explosion won't just take out us and the whole Jump Point—it'll turn this entire endless stretch of water upside down! Has Qin Su... gone mad?!"

"I have no idea what Qin Su is thinking."

"Whatever the case, Qin Su must have his reasons for saying this."

He Muzhi and the others also saw the diagrams Qin Su had distributed. Their gazes involuntarily fell on the ammunition, which made up the largest stock in the vast storage facility, and they swallowed.

Whether they understood it or not, the homeroom teacher had told them to obey Qin Su's orders, so everyone did as instructed.

Inside the ship.

Anthony was hiding inside the Z-X307 with a gloomy expression when the hatch at the mech's abdomen, where the pilot fitted into it, opened for no apparent reason.

Before Anthony could react to what was happening, he was ejected from the mech like an arrow loosed from a bow.

Bang...

Anthony fell to the floor. Before he could start cursing, he saw a familiar shoe covered in machinery pass by his side.

He looked up and saw Qin Su's stern profile.

The curse Anthony had been about to utter instantly stuck in his throat. With the unapproachable air Qin Su gave off, Anthony wouldn't have dared run his mouth even if he'd had a hundred times the courage.

Qin Su couldn't be bothered wasting words with Anthony. His Optical Brain seized control of the Z-X307 and threw Anthony straight out of the mech. Qin Su put on his helmet and activated the armor, rising off the ground until his entire body fitted into the mech.

The instant the Z-X307 moved, Anthony saw its enormous mechanical foot stepping toward him. His pupils contracted, and he quickly rolled into a corner, then scrambled up and fled the ship without daring to look back.

Qin Su: "..."

He hadn't meant to step on him; he was only getting used to the mech. Still, this worked out well enough. It saved him the trouble of finding an excuse to get Anthony out, leaving him alone in the ship so no one could see him familiarize himself with the mech.

At eleven that night, after more than a dozen hours of moving things, the hundreds of students finally finished building the 'giant explosives depot' Qin Su needed on the Jump Point's enormous platform, just as he had instructed.

Looking at the finished product, stacked and bound together like a mountain, even the Class 6 students who had labored all day were deeply shocked.

"Weren't we supposed to fight only on the outskirts? Does Qin Su mean... to lead us straight into the Kisslip Tree Armadillos' lair?"

"That must be it."

"...No, please. I'm just an ordinary freshman."

Someone in the crowd posed a soul-searching question. "Who could carry this to the Kisslip Tree Armadillos' lair?" Even the spaceship they had taken here couldn't transport it.

Everyone recalled what Qin Su had done before and answered in unison, "Qin Su."

The person who had asked: "..."

It was a well-founded answer, impossible to refute.

What kind of situation would require Qin Su to lift this giant explosives depot, which looked to weigh several tons? At the thought, everyone shuddered.

Qin Su came out of the spaceship again, divided them into teams, and issued new orders.

Class (6) began standing watch in shifts.

Although everything was ready, Qin Su still prayed in secret that the unlucky "what if" would never happen.

At midnight, Qin Su spent a costly amount of health to exchange for more time in Comic World and did not return to the real world.

The first 24 hours passed safely amid Qin Su's silent prayers.

Forty-two hours left.

Qin Su silently calculated the time.

Although they were taking shifts, Qin Su stayed on the platform for almost the entire night.

Not until Viterlta Planet's sun rose and the watch changed again did the new arrivals see Qin Su return to the Rest Pod.

Qin Su said nothing, and his expression remained perfectly calm, but as time went on, the atmosphere grew increasingly tense and oppressive.

For the people of Class (6) in particular, who had discovered that they couldn't jump back or carry out their usual extermination operation, it felt like being led to the execution ground with a blade hanging over their heads, never knowing when it would fall.

Qin Su still hadn't told them anything, and they didn't dare ask. They were afraid they wouldn't be able to accept the answer, would lose control of their emotions, and end up worse off than they were now.

The next day.

At 10 p.m. in Comic World, Qin Su stood at the edge of the platform. Just as he silently told himself, Forty-six hours have passed. We only need to hold out for another twenty without anything going wrong, the water beneath the platform began to churn irregularly.

One wave after another.

Under the light illuminating the Jump Point platform, almost as bright as day, the waves began to crash against one another at random, surging back and forth and from side to side...

Waves like these were like countless

The night before, when a platinum-colored python had slowly swum underneath, the ripples on the surface had been far smaller than these.

We can't really be that unlucky, can we?! As the thought flashed through Qin Su's mind, he found his right eyelid twitching wildly beyond his control.

According to superstition, a twitching left eye meant wealth, while a twitching right eye meant disaster.

Qin Su: "..."

Qin Su righteously condemned feudal superstition in his heart. In an instant, the situation suddenly changed.

Within the field of view of his visual helmet, a huge wave rose for some unknown reason, and an enormous platinum-colored python was hurled from the churning water. It flew straight past the height of the platform and into the air, then crashed back into the water a moment later, sending up towering waves.

As the giant snake was hurled into the air, a strong reek of blood mixed with the smell of foul water and filled their nostrils.

In the instant the snake flew up, Qin Su saw a huge, jagged chunk bitten out of its middle.

When it fell back into the water, the snake broke clean in two. Then long, vertical tentacle-like things quickly churned around it, wrapping it in layer after layer and dragging it into the unfathomable depths, where a whirlpool had formed...

Qin Su: "..."

Would it kill you to wait another twenty hours before moving around?! Qin Su roared inwardly. In front of the classmates standing the night watch, he forcibly stopped himself from stepping back and stood facing the water at the platform's edge, unable to show any fear.

The sudden commotion startled the night watch. They instinctively tightened their grips on their weapons and huddled together, holding their weapons out in front as they backed away. Their eyes followed the platinum-colored behemoth as it rose and fell, and they easily spotted the upright figure standing fearlessly at the edge.

As expected of Qin Su, he didn't even react to that! As the thought crossed their minds, the watch team felt as though they had found someone to rely on. Their hearts, which had been pounding wildly beyond their control, gradually slowed, and they moved toward Qin Su, still shaken.

The force of the towering waves startled the sleeping students awake in the spaceship's Rest Pod.

On the water, the commotion continued, and the whirlpool gradually spread outward from its center.

Qin Su used his Optical Brain to adjust his visual helmet and brought up the high-powered magnification. He could clearly see that the "roots" once attached to the tree trunk had vanished.

The thing beneath the water that had devoured the python grew increasingly active. As the whirlpool expanded, the water level beneath their platform slowly fell.

It was so far away, yet merely hunting could affect the water level near the platform. It was terrifying...

Noticing footsteps behind him, Qin Su watched the movement in the whirlpool while steadying himself. He didn't forget to give orders over the communication channel in as calm a voice as he could manage. "All personnel, put on your combat suits immediately. All members of Team 1, take your weapons and pilot the battleships to the edge of the platform to await orders. Team 2, stand by where you are."

Qin Su's words brought the previously chaotic footsteps behind him to a halt.

After a while, all 136 members of Team 1 had assembled aboard the small battleships. Under Qin Su's control through his Optical Brain link, Z-X307 flew precisely out of the ship's cabin and came to a stop behind him.