Escort

In fact, dealing with these juvenile forms did not require Su Ming to control the mecha and launch complicated attacks. He only needed to lift a foot or swat them with a hand.

"Are you all right?"

Su Ming awkwardly asked the terrified junior students in front of him.

"I'm fine. Are you a senior?"

The short-haired junior student froze when she heard Su Ming's voice and asked in disbelief.

"Yeah. Hurry up and run."

Su Ming urged them.

"But—but where are we supposed to run? Chilami's parasites are everywhere."

The short-haired junior student asked in panic.

Su Ming found himself at a loss and then asked,

"How many people are still here?"

"A lot. The teachers and security guards who came to evacuate us were all bitten to death. There's nowhere left to hide, and we don't know where to go."

The short-haired junior student immediately replied.

"How about this? Gather everyone here. I'll find a way to escort you to a safe place."

Su Ming spoke to them.

"Okay, we'll go call everyone over right now."

The five girls immediately scattered to call for people.

Su Ming, meanwhile, activated wireless communications and called Minke and Chen Tong.

"Minke, Chen Tong, immediately bring your mechas to the front of Dormitory Building 17 to help. There are still a lot of people here who haven't been evacuated."

"There are quite a few people who haven't been evacuated here either. Wait a moment. We'll bring them over together."

Minke and Chen Tong immediately agreed.

"Fine!"

Su Ming gave a brief reply and closed the communication channel.

Before long, Minke and Chen Tong arrived in their mechas, bringing more than a dozen students with them.

"Su Ming, we're here. Why have you gathered so many people?"

Minke stopped halfway through his sentence when he saw more than a hundred surviving students gathered beside Su Ming. He was completely stunned.

Seeing so many people, Su Ming had a splitting headache as well. He helplessly said to Minke and Chen Tong,

"We can't help it. Let's get to the point first. This place isn't safe. We need to escort them somewhere secure. Where do you think we should take them?"

"With so many people, I think we can only take them to the athletic field. Everyone's over there, after all."

Minke hesitated before speaking. Although Su Ming had said earlier that the athletic field might not be very safe, they had nowhere safe to house so many people.

"Fine!"

Su Ming had no other choice either.

The three of them then shouted to the students who had gathered,

"We'll escort you to the athletic field. Everyone stay behind us and don't fall behind!"

"Okay!"

The crowd replied with great excitement. With training mechas escorting them, they should be fine even if they encountered parasites.

After Su Ming and the others gave their instructions, Chen Tong and Minke controlled their mechas to move to either side of the crowd. The three mechas formed a triangular formation and escorted the students toward the athletic field.

Along the way, one or two parasites wearing school uniforms would occasionally charge at them.

Su Ming controlled the training mecha and swatted them to death with a single slap. It was effortless.

However, the students following behind the training mecha had complicated expressions as they watched the parasites being killed. After all, those parasites had been their classmates not long ago, and some had even been close friends. For a while, the entire group fell into silence.

Time passed bit by bit as they crossed the central courtyard and headed toward the athletic field.

Just as the athletic field was drawing nearer, several parasitized rats suddenly darted out from the surrounding buildings and attacked the crowd!

"Damn it, it's a rat swarm!"

Chen Tong shouted in shock and anger.

"Stomp them to death! Don't let the rats get through!"

Su Ming's nerves instantly tightened. He controlled the mecha to charge forward, raised its foot, and brought it down, immediately crushing two rats.

Su Ming then controlled the mecha to bend down, raise its hand, and slap at the rats on the ground like he was playing whack-a-mole.

"Got it!"

Chen Tong and Minke treated the rats as formidable enemies and hurriedly caught them.

Although these parasitized rats were not as strong in combat as the humanoid parasites, they were actually more troublesome. They were too small and too fast, making them an enormous challenge for the three of them.

Su Ming held his breath and concentrated intensely, constantly reaching out to swat the attacking rats to death.

Although Su Ming's movements looked rather comical, he could clearly feel himself improving rapidly. Sure enough, actual combat was the fastest way to grow.

Before long, almost all the rats had been swatted to death. Su Ming controlled the mecha to raise its foot and crush the last straggler.

However, at that moment, the short-haired junior student and the others suddenly shouted at Su Ming in terror,

"Watch out, senior!"

Before Su Ming could react, the mecha suddenly shook violently, and its body staggered one step forward.

Su Ming was startled as well and turned his head to look.

A Chilami parasite formed from the fusion of five mutilated humanoid bodies had ambushed him. Its body had grown to four meters tall, its blood vessels bulged all over, its skin was highly hardened, and it had two heads.

The thick armor on the back of the entire mecha had several dents in it.

Su Ming slightly furrowed his brows and controlled the mecha to punch it.

The parasite was sent flying straight backward. It crashed to the ground, bounced up, and then slammed into the ground again, its entire body deformed.

Even so, it still staggered to its feet.

Su Ming controlled the mecha to walk over and knock it down again with a punch, then raised its foot and stomped straight down.

Boom!

The parasite was pinned beneath the mecha's foot, its chest and abdomen flattened. Its limbs were still struggling, displaying astonishing vitality.

Su Ming once again controlled the mecha to raise its foot and stomp down on its two heads. Black brain-like matter splattered, and it finally stopped moving.

"Are you all right?"

Minke asked Su Ming with concern.

"I'm fine. Let's hurry and escort them to the athletic field."

Looking at the dead parasite, Su Ming felt increasingly uneasy. He turned his head and swept his gaze around, only to discover that more and more Chilami were pouring in through the main entrance. There were so many of them that it was abnormal.

This meant the situation outside the school was also terrible. In other words, they were very likely in a major disaster zone.

Of course, Su Ming did not know that the Lower City beneath their school was in an even worse state. At least they were located in the Upper City, which was a key protected area.

"Okay!"

Minke and Chen Tong replied in solemn voices.

At that moment, the spacious athletic field was packed with students. Every one of them was still shaken, and many still had tear tracks on their faces.

Teachers, security guards, sentries, and more than a dozen training mechas surrounded the students, using their own bodies to form a defensive barrier.

Whenever a parasite approached, they immediately attacked with flamethrowers and firearms, killing it.

However, at that moment, parasitized rats began appearing from all directions. Their dark red eyes stared at the densely packed crowd on the athletic field, and they bared their teeth in agitation.

The rat swarm then charged frantically toward the athletic field.

"Not good, it's a rat swarm!"

Teacher Chen Yi, who was piloting a training mecha, spotted the rat swarm first and roared in shock and anger.