Borrowed Strength

Perhaps it was because Lu Bai always wore a warm, boyish smile that made him seem harmless.

So when he suddenly spoke up to challenge someone, the stark contrast inexplicably made people see red.

It was like watching a lackey everyone could bully suddenly dare to insult someone.

"Oh? Got a problem with that?"

The man in the black suit darkened his expression and walked up to Lu Bai, leaning forward deliberately to intimidate him.

Lu Bai showed no sign of backing down. Still smiling, he met the man's gaze and said as if joking, "The Survey Corps hasn't even arrived, and we're already turning on each other?"

"Turning on each other?" The man in the black suit laughed in fury.

"This kind of behavior is dangerous."

Lu Bai nodded as if stating the obvious, then added, "To put it plainly, some of the good things about me—my patience, manners, and morals—are about to disappear."

Even as he spoke, he wore a kindly smile. It was hard to believe he was threatening anyone.

"Then let's talk after those good qualities of yours disappear."

The man in the black suit wasn't going to back down.

In fact, he knew full well that the fighters here could never work together.

With the Survey Corps liable to appear at any moment, there was no time for them to negotiate at their leisure.

Forcing the surviving fighters into a loose alliance and taking charge through sheer aggression wasn't a bad strategy.

In other words, even if Lu Bai hadn't challenged him, he would have picked on some weakling to make an example of.

As it happened, Lu Bai looked like an easy target to him. Everything had fallen neatly into place.

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

Xiao Xueyin: "!"

Liu Yue: "!"

Yan Zhiquan: "!"

Bald man: "Boss!"

No one saw what had just happened.

Everyone looked bewildered. Their memories were like fragments left after a drunken blackout; no matter how hard they racked their brains, they couldn't piece them together.

From the others' perspective, Lu Bai had cut off the black-suited boss's head, and it had happened out of nowhere.

Yes, completely out of nowhere.

They hadn't actually seen Lu Bai swing his sword. They could only tell it was him because the Eight-Sided Han Sword in his hand was stained with blood.

It wasn't that he'd moved too fast for them to see. If they had to compare it to something, that moment had been more like stop-motion animation—stop-motion with an extremely low frame rate.

"What was that just now?" Liu Yue murmured, sounding as if she were dreaming.

But her words snapped the bald man in the black suit back to his senses.

He clenched his fist and swung at Lu Bai. As he moved, his fist turned pitch-black and took on a metallic sheen.

Not knowing what kind of ability this was, Lu Bai had no intention of testing it out.

The scene froze briefly again. No glint of a blade appeared, yet the last surviving member of the black-suited trio was just as suddenly separated from his head.

[ Ding! ]

[ Points +2, current points: 22, current rank: 1/45 ]

Seeing this, Yan Zhiquan exchanged a glance with his classmates.

Then he clapped his hands and laughed. "Great! Excellent work! We couldn't stand those three either. Now our group's a little more pure, too. So, shouldn't we discuss how to deal with the Survey Corps?"

"That was a bit impulsive, wasn't it?"

Xiao Xueyin sighed, but didn't seem inclined to press the issue. He turned and called out to everyone, "The rest of you, if you also want to settle the score with the Survey Corps, come over here."

Lu Bai had no objections.

He stood where he was, quietly getting a feel for using [Flash Time].

He secretly used [Flash Time] several more times in succession. Though he left more than a second between uses, he could still sense the danger hidden in this ability.

He didn't even need to count out the time in his head before using it again.

The closer the interval got to the one-second limit, the more he could feel an indescribable terror.

While Lu Bai was figuring out the ability, four more fighters gradually joined them.

None of them paid any attention to the two fresh corpses on the ground. Better them than me, after all.

"Settling the score with the Survey Corps" was just a respectable-sounding excuse. In truth, the surviving fighters were banding together for protection.

After they'd chatted a little and gotten somewhat familiar with one another, they finally got down to business.

"Let's hear it. What are you planning to do?" a lone fighter asked Yan Zhiquan.

He had the classic look of a science-and-engineering type: a standard buzz cut, square-framed glasses, a thin face, and a tall frame. He looked as if he'd been built to a formula.

Yan Zhiquan didn't answer right away. Instead, he turned to look at Xiao Xueyin.

Xiao Xueyin had already gathered his thoughts, and spoke smoothly. "The fact is, the Survey Corps and the Ten Blades are working together, so they have an overwhelming advantage in numbers. I don't recommend fighting them head-on. We could try weakening their overall strength first."

"So your answer is still to hide?" Yan Zhiquan raised an eyebrow.

Before Xiao Xueyin could respond, a rumbling noise interrupted them.

Everyone turned toward the sound. A unit was approaching from the direction of the shelter.

Two armored vehicles painted in military camouflage led the way. Behind them marched two rows of fully armed soldiers.

At a glance, there seemed to be around a hundred of them.

Seeing the unit, Xiao Xueyin said, "Maybe we should consider using the locals to our advantage."

Explosions had reduced the area around the Research Center to ruins, making the gathering of Lu Bai and the others stand out.

The unit came straight toward them, and the armed soldiers behind the armored vehicles swiftly surrounded them.

"Get down. Hands behind your heads."

Zhou Zongming jumped down from an armored vehicle and immediately spotted Lu Bai in the crowd. He waved him over. "You, get over here."

"What's wrong?" Lu Bai asked, pretending not to know.

"You're asking me what's wrong?!"

Staring at the ruins, Zhou Zongming was furious. "What happened here? Who caused the explosion?"

"Company Commander Zhou, a group of people tried to overthrow the temporary shelter. They were behind the explosion at the Research Center and the attack on you earlier," Xiao Xueyin replied briefly on Lu Bai's behalf.

As it happened, Company Commander Zhou had gone to gather troops to restore order. He'd barely reached the Temporary command center at the shelter when the explosion went off at the Research Center.

He'd made a snap decision and rushed to pull troops together, then hurried straight over. Otherwise, he couldn't have arrived on the scene this soon.

Still, there was no question that these hundred or so soldiers were only available because the front line had temporarily abandoned its attack.