Chapter 26

This was the place Qi Yue had set aside especially for Beixing.

Beixing looked up at the building in front of him, dumbfounded. "Here...?"

At the same time, Third Brother and Fifth Brother, the assassins, were holding their sniper rifles and looking through their high-powered scopes at the Class F students, all concealed beneath cloaks. They were dumbfounded.

"Wait... Why are they all wearing cloaks?! We can't even see their faces! Which one is Beixing? Fuck! How are we supposed to snipe him?"

Chapter 26

No one answered the assassins' question.

Beneath the tower, however, Qi Yue nodded and gave Beixing an affirmative answer. "That's right."

Since Beixing was a "lethal weapon" against all Esper Ability Users and Aberrants, the only danger to him came from "Old Humans who might be on the island, just in case."

The tower near the sea was the most suitable place for Beixing in all of Area F.

Even if Old Human assassins came, they wouldn't bring weapons that would cause a commotion, such as bombs. After all, they only wanted to kill Beixing; they didn't want to attract the Esper Ability Users' attention, get killed by them, and lose their lives. So, aside from close combat and long-range shooting, there was no third assassination method they could choose.

And on the tower before them, apart from the entrance door and the only two windows, one on either side, there were no other entrances or exits. It was easy to defend and hard to attack.

Old Humans would have trouble getting in, while Beixing could shoot them from a distance through the windows.

That was also why he had exchanged points for a sniper rifle, a pistol and bullets for long-range shooting, a gas mask... and other items that worked against both Aberrants and Old Humans.

If he encountered poison gas or a gasoline fire attack, Beixing could put on the gas mask and escape from the tower. After their countless previous combat training sessions, Qi Yue knew Beixing's jumping ability inside and out. Even if Beixing leaped from a tower window, he wouldn't suffer the slightest injury.

"Oh, right." Qi Yue's gaze fell on the binoculars clipped to the left side of Beixing's waist.

He reminded him, "Keep an eye on everything going on around you from the windows. When necessary, you can help classmates who need it."

The Aberrants that appeared near the tower were Fifth Level, worth one point, and not very dangerous. So, when he made his "suggestions" in the classroom, the students he assigned within sniper-rifle range didn't have very powerful Esper Abilities either. The green health bars above their heads weren't much longer than that of Zhou Wei, the squishiest of them all.

This was not only to maximize their own safety, but also so that Beixing could easily complete the "kills" and become a "hero" in the eyes of some students during the Weekly Assessment.

In dangerous situations, all emotions, good or bad, were magnified infinitely. When death came for them, the students saved by a hero descending from the sky would be grateful to Beixing.

Every item exchanged by a student was registered to that student's ID Card. So every item in a student's hands was linked exclusively to that student. When an item was used to complete a kill, the points would go to the student who made the kill, without being credited to anyone else by mistake.

Was Qi Yue telling him to pay more attention to his classmates and help them when necessary? As expected of Qi Yue, he cared about every one of his classmates. No wonder they all liked him. Having understood, Beixing nodded seriously and gave Qi Yue his word.

"Don't worry, I'll do it properly!"

He wanted to become a kindhearted person of good character, just like Qi Yue.

Qi Yue was ninety-nine percent confident in Beixing's character. He didn't need to worry about Beixing deliberately "stealing kills"; Beixing would definitely only shoot when there was genuine danger. A simple reminder was enough.

As for Beixing's aim, after training under him, a "professional coach," there was even less to worry about.

"Well then..."

A gust of wind blew against him. It was the perfect moment to turn and bid farewell into the wind, so Qi Yue seized the opportunity and said goodbye to Beixing. "See you."

The sight of his cloaked figure departing into the wind would be even more "satisfying" paired with this grim scene, blood still scattered everywhere.

Qi Yue turned without pausing and strode resolutely toward his destination. The wind that had been blowing against his back now blew into his face, making his roomy cloak snap and flutter...

His persona didn't allow for an emotion like "hesitation," no matter what he did. Decisiveness and efficiency were the manner he was supposed to portray.

He had already examined the inside of the tower thoroughly through the photos in the booklet. Even if there were Aberrants inside, they would be nothing but free experience for Beixing, a walking lethal weapon against Aberrants. Apart from Old Humans, there was nothing else he needed to worry about.

In Beixing's eyes, the sight of the tall Qi Yue turning away was dashing and decisive; even the hem of his cloak, lifted by the wind, curved with a cold severity.

Beixing felt the scene before him was extremely pleasing to the eye.

But watching Qi Yue move farther and farther away in this unfamiliar place, Beixing couldn't stop himself from instinctively following for two steps.

Even the curve of his cloak's hem as he turned had been deliberately created by Qi Yue's hand beneath it. Under those circumstances, how could Qi Yue not have heard Beixing's footsteps behind him?

Then Qi Yue, who had deliberately hidden the upper half of his face beneath his oversized hood, leaving only the part below his high-bridged nose visible, heard Beixing's hesitant voice carried on the wind.

Beixing said, "You..."

Because of the negative buff that prevented him from lying, whenever Qi Yue didn't want to answer, he would seize the initiative or "interrupt the cast."

Beixing was too easy to read. Qi Yue didn't need to wait for Beixing to speak, or even see his expression, though he couldn't see it anyway. The moment Beixing opened his mouth, Qi Yue knew what he was going to say.

"There's something I have to do myself." Qi Yue delivered the "line" he had prepared long ago.

This was his first time at the YR Research Institute. If he didn't investigate everywhere thoroughly, what would he do if someone asked about it later and he gave himself away? He had to nip that potential danger in the bud. Of course, that was only one of the reasons.

Qi Yue's inscrutable words brought Beixing to a halt.

Before Beixing could say another word, Qi Yue's cold, sharp voice reached his ears again.

"Beixing, you have things you need to do too." He had already done everything he could for Beixing. The road ahead was indeed one Beixing needed to walk himself.

Qi Yue deliberately made those two short sentences sound profoundly mysterious and stylish.

Qi Yue wasn't worried that Beixing would ask what he had to do. Because he had been isolated for years, Beixing often had a strong sense of boundaries.

"...Okay." Beixing stopped moving. As he watched Qi Yue's back, colder than the early morning wind, his gaze grew resolute.

Beixing's answer was exactly what Qi Yue had expected. Qi Yue said nothing more and walked on at an easy pace, following the "investigation" route he had drawn up from the booklet before arriving on Katebis Island.

As soon as he had learned that his Esper Ability was completely useless, Qi Yue had, between bouts of emo, set himself a goal for this trip—

All the third-level Aberrants in Area F, the most dangerous ones and worth three kill points each, could and must belong to him alone.

Only then could he keep his Level from dropping.

After all... it wasn't that he didn't want to kill higher-level Aberrants, but he was only a Class F student right now, stuck in Area F.

By normal logic, if he only killed third-level dangerous creatures during this Weekly Assessment, no one would suspect the strength of his Esper Ability.

At this point, Qi Yue not only knew where the Class F students would be staying for these five days, but also where third-level dangerous creatures appeared. In a sense, when he used the combined Esper Abilities to obscure and blur the students' vision, Qi Yue had already "claimed" every place where third-level dangerous creatures would appear. Naturally, those creatures would become prey in his bag alone.

Even if a student caught on afterward, Qi Yue had already prepared an explanation to deal with it:

He had made his suggestions with everyone's safety in mind, putting safety above all else.

All the preliminary preparations were complete; only the on-site investigation remained. What one learned from paper was ultimately superficial. Without matching the information from the booklet and photos to the actual locations, Qi Yue couldn't feel at ease. Thanks to his earlier arrangements, Qi Yue was also confident he could perfectly avoid every Class F student's sight during the investigation.

During his on-site "investigation," Qi Yue saw no Aberrants at all, only dark brown bloodstains on the ground and rotting flesh, old and new layers stuck together and dried by the wind, clinging to branches, vegetation and rocks.

"Just as I thought..."

Qi Yue, who planned to thoroughly investigate Area F from the perimeter inward, stopped in his tracks. His gaze swept pensively over everything around him as he murmured, "Exactly the same."

On the very first page of the YR Research Institute booklet was a sentence: Night and danger descend together; light is hope.

Now, under the bright sun, he hadn't seen a single Aberrant appear since he began his on-site investigation.

As Qi Yue reflected on this, he couldn't help feeling a tiny bit relieved.

He was glad it was broad daylight, when none of the Aberrants would appear. In a sense, the light was also his protective coloring.

Because... before arriving on Katebis Island, Qi Yue had been afraid of the Aberrants produced by the YR Research Institute, "neither human nor ghost and more terrifying than anything in a horror movie." To keep from slipping up in front of others, he had subjected himself to cold, ruthless "desensitization" training.

Qi Yue forced himself to leave the lights on at night and put the photos from the booklet everywhere he would see them as soon as he opened his eyes. On both sides of his bed, hanging down from the ceiling, on the bathroom mirror... places like that.

But... it didn't seem to work very well.

The more Qi Yue looked at those cold photos of things with human limbs and features, disfigured beyond recognition and twisted into living-dead, ghostly monsters, the more chilled and creeped out he felt.

But Qi Yue didn't think that was his fault. If they had been mutated animals or plants, he would have quickly overcome his fear. But those terrifying humanoid Aberrants constantly reminded him that they had once been people just like him. With that empathy, how could he, fortunate enough to remain human, not feel his scalp tingle?