Borrowing Strength

Perhaps it was because Lu Bai always wore a warm, boyish smile, giving him an air of harmlessness.

That's why, when he suddenly spoke up to question them, the stark contrast inexplicably ignited a baseless rage.

It was like seeing a pushover, someone anyone could bully, suddenly dare to curse at someone.

"Oh? You have a problem with that?"

The leader in the black suit's face darkened. He walked up to Lu Bai, deliberately leaning forward to project an intimidating aura.

However, Lu Bai showed no intention of dodging. He met the other man's gaze with a smile, as if joking, and said, "Has the Survey Corps arrived already, and we're already infighting?"

"Infighting?" The leader in the black suit laughed in fury.

"Your actions are dangerous."

Lu Bai nodded as if it were obvious and added, "To put it simply, some of my good qualities, like my patience, politeness, and morals, are about to disappear."

Even as he spoke, he maintained a gentle smile, making it hard for anyone to believe he was issuing a threat.

"Then we'll wait until those fine qualities of yours disappear before we talk."

The leader in the black suit wasn't backing down.

In fact, he knew perfectly well that these Deathmatch Participants couldn't possibly cooperate.

With the Survey Corps potentially appearing at any moment, there wasn't time for them to negotiate slowly.

Using a forceful approach to mold these surviving Deathmatch Participants into a loose alliance and securing a dominant position within it was a viable option.

In other words, even if Lu Bai hadn't challenged him, he would have picked a weakling to establish his authority.

Coincidentally, Lu Bai fit the bill of being weak and easily bullied in his eyes, making everything fall into place.

Well, he held onto that thought right up until his head hit the ground.

Xiao Xueyin: "!"

Liu Yue: "!"

Yan Zhiquan: "!"

Baldy: "Boss!"

No one saw what happened.

Everyone wore a look of confusion, their memories like shattered pieces after a drunken blackout, no matter how hard they hit their heads, they couldn't piece it together.

From their perspective, Lu Bai had decapitated the leader in the black suit with a single sword strike. The process was abrupt.

Yes, abrupt.

They hadn't actually seen Lu Bai swing his sword. They could only tell it was Lu Bai who had acted by the blood staining the Eight-Sided Han Sword in his hand.

It wasn't because the speed was too fast to see. If they had to describe it, the scene was more like a stop-motion animation, and a very low-frame-rate one at that.

"What was that?" Liu Yue's words sounded like a sleep-talking utterance.

However, her question seemed to snap the bald subordinate of the black-suited leader back to reality.

He clenched his fist and swung it towards Lu Bai. As he moved, his fist gradually turned pitch black, gleaming with a metallic luster.

Unsure of what ability this was, Lu Bai didn't consider testing it.

The scene froze briefly again. Without seeing any flash of a sword, the last remaining member of the black-suited trio met the same fate, his head severed from his body.

[Ding!]

[Points +2, Current Points: 22, Current Rank: 1/45]

Seeing this, Yan Zhiquan exchanged glances with his other classmates.

Then, he clapped his hands together and laughed heartily, "Good, good, good! Well done! We've been annoyed with those three for a while now. Our team's purity has improved, shouldn't we discuss how to deal with the Survey Corps now?"

"Isn't that a bit impulsive?"

Xiao Xueyin sighed, but he didn't seem inclined to pursue the matter. He turned and called out to the surroundings, "To the remaining friends, if you also intend to settle scores with the Survey Corps, please come over here."

Lu Bai had no objections to this.

He stood in place, silently savoring the feeling of using [Flash Time].

He quietly used [Flash Time] several more times. Although the intervals were all more than a second, he could vaguely sense the danger contained within this ability.

He didn't even need to consciously count down the time before using it again.

The closer the interval between uses was to the one-second limit, the more he felt an indescribable terror.

While Lu Bai was exploring this ability, four more Deathmatch Participants gathered one after another.

They paid no mind to the two fresh corpses on the ground. It was a case of "better my neighbor's house burn than mine."

The so-called settling scores with the Survey Corps was just a high-sounding excuse. In essence, the remaining Deathmatch Participants were banding together for warmth.

After a brief chat and some awkward introductions, the Deathmatch Participants at the scene got down to business.

"Tell us, what are your plans?" a lone Deathmatch Participant asked Yan Zhiquan.

This Deathmatch Participant had the typical image of a science and engineering major: a classic buzz cut, square-rimmed glasses, a gaunt face, and a tall build. He looked like he was built according to a specific formula.

Yan Zhiquan didn't rush to speak. He turned to look at Xiao Xueyin.

The latter had already gathered his thoughts and spoke fluently, "The fact is, after the Survey Corps and the Ten Blades joined forces, their numbers hold an absolute advantage. Therefore, I don't recommend a head-on confrontation. We could try to weaken their overall strength first."

"So you're saying we should just hide?" Yan Zhiquan raised an eyebrow.

Before Xiao Xueyin could reply, a rumbling sound interrupted him.

Everyone present followed the sound and looked in its direction. It was a troop, rushing over from the direction of the settlement.

Two armored vehicles, their exteriors painted with military camouflage, led the way. Behind the vehicles followed two rows of fully armed soldiers.

A rough count suggested about a hundred people.

Seeing this troop, Xiao Xueyin said, "Perhaps we should consider enlisting the help of the natives."

The Research Center had been reduced to ruins by the explosions, making the gathering point of Lu Bai and the others, a group of over ten people, rather conspicuous.

The troop naturally headed straight for their location. The soldiers with guns behind the armored vehicles quickly surrounded them.

"Crouch down and put your hands on your heads."

Zhou Zongming jumped down from the armored vehicle and immediately noticed Lu Bai amidst the crowd. He waved at him, "You, get over here."

"What's up?" Lu Bai asked, feigning ignorance.

"What do you mean, 'what's up'?!"

Zhou Zongming looked at the ruins in front of him, anger rising within him. "What's going on? Who caused these explosions?"

"Company Commander Zhou, a group of people attempted to overthrow the temporary shelter. The explosions at the Research Center, and the attack you were subjected to earlier, were all carried out by this group," Xiao Xueyin concisely answered on Lu Bai's behalf.

Speaking of which, this Company Commander Zhou was originally on his way to gather troops to quell the unrest. He hadn't expected that as soon as he arrived at the temporary command post in the settlement, the Research Center would explode.

He made a decisive move, quickly dispatching troops and rushing back. Otherwise, he wouldn't have arrived at the scene by now.

But undoubtedly, this group of about a hundred people was already the manpower that the "front line" had temporarily abandoned their offensive operations to scrape together.