Taking It Out on Others

Su Shijie woke up early the next morning. He had clearly been busy last night, yet when he woke up, he found himself remarkably energized.

He felt like he could punch a dad to death.

It was an experience he had never had before.

Ever since his soul core awakened, his recovery rate must have improved dramatically.

After washing up, Su Shijie pushed open his door and caught a rich aroma. There was the familiar mushroom soup, along with the scent of meat.

They had hunted three Spirit Beasts yesterday. Though none were Awakened Rank, they were still not something ordinary families could eat regularly.

Spirit Beast flesh contained even richer nutrients than C1 Nutrient Paste, and it also retained spiritual energy that had not completely dispersed—something Nutrient Paste could never compare to.

It was rich, tender, and juicy, and could even promote cultivation to a certain extent.

Su Shijie finished an entire wild boar leg in one go.

Bai Xinxin's ruby-like eyes widened at the sight.

"No way, how can you eat so much now? Were you possessed by a boar spirit?"

"I've been cultivating diligently, okay?"

Su Shijie let out a full belch. Being dragged around by his dad to grind levels was exhausting too, okay? Not only did he have to use spiritual energy guidance for every kill, he had to maintain high speed the whole time.

If his recovery ability had not suddenly increased so much, he definitely would not have had the energy to get up today.

"Third Brother has been working hard. If he can eat, let him eat more."

Seeing how enthusiastically Su Shijie was eating, Bai Congcong smiled and placed another large piece of meat in his bowl.

After glaring at Su Shijie and Bai Congcong, Bai Xinxin, feeling left out, hurriedly ate two pieces of meat before putting down her chopsticks.

She then began organizing her backpack and put on her Personal Terminal.

After Su Shijie gnawed through the final piece of meat, he was about done as well. He returned to his room, took out his brick-like Personal Terminal, and strapped it to his wrist. It looked like a mechanical wrist guard.

Even for their family, this Personal Terminal was not some premium item. It was rather bulky and somewhat inconvenient to wear during daily life.

Furthermore, individuals infused with spiritual energy could not normally be locked onto. It was fine to carry non-electronic weapons that could be covered by spiritual energy, but wearing a Personal Terminal could instead create an opening for someone to lock onto them through it. At least, that was the case with the ordinary models his family used.

Apparently, there were high-end terminals that could be covered by spiritual energy, but those things cost even more than an Awakening Potion.

Still, if they were going to the shelter, a Personal Terminal was indispensable, as it was essentially a pass.

The terminal itself was mainly equipped with numerous wilderness functions, such as multiple charging methods including solar power, as well as the ability to connect to satellite channels for communication and other operations when necessary.

It could even store one's personal identity and electronic wallet.

The terminal supported encryption algorithms, so it could handle transfers even without a network connection. It was quite convenient.

It was just a little bulky.

Uh, and most of the time, its satellite connection function was just for show. Out in the wild, it was mostly offline mode...

"Alright, I'll take you over today. Go gather at the entrance first. I'll bring yesterday's hides."

Su Ren had also put on his Combat Suit by then.

Though he was missing a hand and a foot, his abilities were there, so he was actually far more nimble.

Residential Zone 2 was 1.2 kilometers from the shelter. Most of the route passed through abandoned subway tunnels and was generally quite safe. Ordinary people had no problem walking it on their own.

However, since they were Advanced Class students, at least two Awakened Rank combatants accompanied them every time to prevent accidents.

Even the students themselves were issued Electromagnetic Handguns for self-defense, just in case.

After packing up, Su Shijie and his younger brother and sister passed through the narrow passageway and reached the entrance from last night.

Three or four students around their age were already waiting there.

The open gate had also seen quite a few residents leaving one after another, preparing to head to the shelter for work.

To ordinary residents, the low-probability danger along the way was like crossing the street. They did not pay much attention to it, and no one specifically followed the Advanced Class group. In fact, most ordinary residents did not even carry guns.

That was because, for ordinary people, if they truly encountered trouble, their chances of surviving were higher if they turned around and ran than if they stopped to solve it with a gun.

Still, after traveling between the residential zone and the shelter for so many years, the route itself had become very safe. There were only a dozen or so safety incidents each year, fewer than the number of people who fell while cleaning solar panels.

Besides the four students waiting at the entrance, there was also a burly man over two meters tall waiting with the three of them.

Shelter 2 had more than just this many students, but Su Shijie's class was taking their final assessment recently, while the other classes happened to be doing their work experience rotations, so they were not together.

Once this final assessment ended, their studies at the shelter would also be drawing to a close. The top fifty students would earn the right to purchase an Awakening Potion and the qualification to enter the city for further study, with different purchase subsidies depending on their rank.

The top ten could obtain one for free. Those ranked forty-first through fiftieth only gained purchasing rights and had to pay full price. Su Shijie had asked his dad to bring back the Awakening Potion from his game beforehand because at most, he would only receive purchasing rights anyway. He would have had to spend money regardless.

It was better to use the purchase rights and Credit Points he got from the game to buy one first. He could sell the purchase rights afterward for money, so he would not lose out.

When the burly man saw the three of them arrive, he grinned.

"You three little brats are always the last ones. Here, take these."

With that, he handed each of them an Electromagnetic Handgun.

No one knew how long these pistols had been in use. Their silver-white surfaces, once smooth, seemed almost polished with age, and their color had dimmed somewhat, but their performance had not deteriorated.

The pistols fired through electromagnetic propulsion, using small metal projectiles similar to steel needles. Each magazine held a hundred rounds, and they fired semi-automatically.

Their muzzle velocity could reach one thousand meters per second, but because the bullets were so light, they were only lethal within two hundred meters. To maintain accuracy, the effective range dropped to one hundred meters.

Electromagnetic propulsion produced very little recoil. Forget people like them who had some cultivation—even ordinary people could easily master them, and continuous firing was not much of a burden.

The most interesting part was that the bullets had two firing modes. One was a front-facing armor-piercing mode, while the other was a reverse-loaded fragmentation mode.

In practice, it meant removing the magazine, flipping it around, and reinserting it. In fragmentation mode, when the steel-needle-like bullets struck a target, they spread into an umbrella-like shape, shattering into fragments that rolled around inside the target's body.

Each mode was suited for different targets.

Besides inserting a magazine, they also needed to install an Energy Block. One Energy Block could provide enough power for one thousand shots.

Well, an Energy Block was really just a high-energy-density battery. The name simply sounded fancier. Once it was used up, they could spend some Credit Points to exchange it for a fully charged one at the shelter.

After checking the handguns and skillfully loading the magazines and Energy Blocks, Su Ren arrived last, carrying several beast hides, and came to stand before the group.

He reached out and patted the tall man on the butt.

"Uncle Xiong, is it your turn today?"

"Instructor Su."

Upon seeing Su Ren, the burly man visibly became reserved. Despite his imposing build, he acted like a student seeing his teacher.

"I changed shifts. I'm planning to form a team and head to Floating City tomorrow."

The last caravan had departed two days before Su Ren set off. If he waited for the next one, he would have to wait nearly half a month. But as an Awakened Rank, he indeed had the ability to form a team and travel there himself.

"Then sell a few hides for me while you're at it. Better you earn the difference than those crooked merchants."

Su Ren slung the hides of the three Spirit Beasts they had hunted yesterday over his shoulder and limped out first.

Su Shijie and his siblings, along with the other four students, followed close behind, while Uncle Xiong walked at the very back.

The forest still looked particularly gloomy during the day. Dense foliage a hundred meters overhead blocked all direct sunlight.

Only a faint glow filtered through, making it seem like a rainy day with dark clouds constantly overhead.

The residents who had already set off for work ahead of them carried lanterns that flickered here and there. It was fine outside, but once they entered the subway tunnel, they would have to rely entirely on their own light sources.

Ordinary residents did not have such strong night vision.

However, everyone had clearly grown accustomed to this environment, and the students likewise took lanterns from their backpacks.

The seven students would become the light sources.

The group traveled in a somewhat silent atmosphere until they reached a ruined subway entrance overgrown with vegetation and descended. The already dim, hazy light from outside was gradually swallowed up, leaving only the lanterns to illuminate their way, while the noises of the forest slowly faded away.

Neither the residents heading to the shelter for work nor the students spoke before entering the subway entrance. Even when crossing the street, one had to stay alert. No one wanted to become the main character in one of those few annual accidents.

There was no longer any equipment on the floor of the subway station. Only an empty expanse remained, along with an iron door that had obviously been installed later and looked completely out of place.

The iron door itself was crude and was not even locked, with only a card slot on it.

In truth, the door mainly served as a warning. If it was damaged, it meant that beasts or something similar might have entered the underground passage. If it was intact, they could be more at ease.

Su Ren opened the door, and after the group passed through one after another, Uncle Xiong closed it again.

Even though residents heading to work passed through nearby both before and after them, they still did this. The door was shut every time. That was the rule.

Only the echoes of their footsteps remained in the tunnel, along with the voices of some workers chatting farther ahead. It was clear that everyone relaxed considerably once they got here.

The rails in the subway tunnel had long since disappeared, and the walls on either side were bare, save for occasional patches of moss where water seeped through.

Once they reached this place, the students relaxed as well.

A young man with freckles and slightly dark skin came over to Su Shijie and lowered his voice.

"Brother Su, someone said Aunt Lin died this morning. Suicide."

His name was He Lei. He was one of the friends Su Shijie got along with better in the Advanced Class, and in a sense, he was also one of Su Shijie's followers.

After all, he was Su Ren's son. Even if his Advanced Class grades were average, he still had some standing.

Besides, He Lei's ranking in the Advanced Class was about the same as Su Shijie's.

There had once been another—Liu Bo, Aunt Lin's deceased son. But during this round of final assessments, the number of failing evaluations he had accumulated had exceeded the limit, so he no longer had a chance.

Then Aunt Lin committed suicide and turned into an evil spirit that gave Su Shijie a boost.

Su Shijie could not help sighing at that.

"Where's Liu Bo? Don't tell me something happened to him too..."

"No idea. No one's seen him since he was notified of his expulsion a few days ago. At first, everyone thought he was just shutting himself away and wanted to let him have some peace, but now no one knows where he is."

He Lei shared what he had learned.

"But I heard that when they found Aunt Lin's body, she'd covered the whole room in curses and left behind a suicide note. It seemed like she was cursing you..."

Evil spirits corrupted souls. They were abnormalities of the soul, so they were very different from directly devouring Spirit Beasts. After a whole night of work, Su Shijie had only absorbed the equivalent of 5% of one evil spirit.

The evil spirit had completely disappeared after Su Shijie absorbed it, while Aunt Lin's body had remained behind.

But she had turned into an evil spirit and come after him, and she had cursed him before dying. That truly caught Su Shijie off guard.

He had not done anything. Even when he played online games, he played by himself and had never dragged other students into it.

Wasn't this just taking it out on someone else...

Although the final outcome had instead benefited him, Su Shijie still felt rather uncomfortable about it...