The Gaze of Xiao Ya

The crowd dispersed, each person attending to their own duties.

Inside Fujin Hall, the sounds of heavy objects being moved, hushed discussions, and the scratching of pens recording information echoed once again.

Lin Yi was busy going through the motions of stretching his body and loosening his limbs, appearing as if he were adapting to his newly increased strength. At the same time, he slashed through the air with his staff a few times, as if reviewing the gains and losses from his previous battle.

About an hour later, the sky outside the window began to dim, and the afterglow of the setting sun painted the chaotic city in a tragic shade of orange-red.

Lin Yi felt that the time was right. Just then, he saw Chen Yu huffing and puffing as he carried a bag of flour, preparing to walk past, so he stopped his movements.

"A Yu, wait."

Lin Yi called out to him, "Give me the flour, and come with me for a second. I need a hand."

"Huh? Oh, okay!" Chen Yu was startled for a moment. He subconsciously set down the flour on his shoulder and wiped away his sweat. "Brother Yi, what's up?"

"Help me put on my armor. I'm planning to go rescue the people nearby first."

Lin Yi held the flour bag with one hand while walking toward the small lounge nearby.

After recording the video earlier, the blood-stained Qitian Battle Armor had been carefully wiped and cleaned by Ye Qingyu. Although the claw marks remained gruesome, at least the bloodstains and ash had been removed, restoring the dark metallic sheen of the armor, which now sat neatly in the corner of the lounge.

Lin Yi had also used the small half-bottle of water he had saved to give his body a quick wipe.

As for his clothes, there was nothing to change into for the time being, so he would just have to make do.

Chen Yu followed immediately, and the two worked together again to put the armor components onto Lin Yi one by one.

However, this time, their movements were significantly more proficient.

The cold Titanium Alloy Armor covered his entire body once again, and a heavy sense of security and power welled up from within.

Lin Yi took the Black Iron Long Staff handed to him by Chen Yu and weighed it; it had that same familiar feel.

Finally, he clipped the portable source energy detector onto his right ear.

"Let's go."

Lin Yi nodded at Chen Yu, pushed open the lounge door, and strode toward the spiral staircase on the second floor.

At this moment, the entrance to the spiral staircase had been tightly blocked with tables, chairs, dismantled decorative materials, and even a few heavy safes, leaving only a gap about half a meter wide on the far right, from which a sturdy rope ladder made of twisted hotel tablecloths and bedsheets hung down.

"A Yu, go tell my uncle to gather our young men, bring weapons and shields, and come over here to prepare for support."

After saying this, he leaped directly through the gap!

Thud!

With a muffled sound, Lin Yi landed steadily with his knees slightly bent. His movement was clean and efficient, not even making much noise.

After being strengthened by Life Source Energy, this height was nothing to him.

He stood up, gripped his long staff, scanned the messy First Floor Hall with eyes like lightning, and then walked toward the entrance of Hongfu Tower.

The light of the setting sun shone obliquely through the shattered doors and windows, elongating Lin Yi's shadow.

He first used his naked eyes to carefully observe the situation on the street outside, then raised his hand to lightly touch the detector on his ear.

"Beep..."

After a faint, almost imperceptible sound, a pale blue Light Screen once again covered his right eye's field of vision.

The data stream refreshed quietly.

[Right side, convenience store across the street: Life Source Energy reaction *5 (green, intensity 1-3)]

[Nearby area: Abyssal Wolf source energy reaction *6 (red, intensity 7-10).]

[Left side, about 120 meters away, bus stalled at the intersection: Life Source Energy reaction *42 (green, intensity 1-4)]

[Area around the bus: Abyssal Wolf source energy reaction *8 (red, intensity 7-9)]

[Distance, about 350 meters, around the Miniature Abyss Beast Nest: Abyssal Wolf source energy reaction *43 (red, intensity 7-13)]

Lin Yi's brow furrowed slightly.

The number of Abyssal Wolves around the nest was higher than when he had cleared it out before, and targets with an intensity of 12 had appeared; it seemed they had recalled some of the minor leader-level Abyssal Wolves.

The situation was a bit tricky.

Left side of Hongfu Tower, 120 meters, intersection.

Inside the bus, the air was foul and stagnant.

The smell of sweat, blood, and a faint, lingering stench of urine mixed together, making it almost suffocating.

All the windows of the bus were tightly closed, and the words "SOS," "Help!", and "There are 42 people here!" were written all over them in thick black marker, covering most of the glass in crooked, distorted letters like desperate cries attempting to pierce through this steel cage.

The inside of the front and back doors of the bus were piled high with all sorts of backpacks and luggage bags, stacked messily to block the doors firmly.

Forty eighth-grade students wearing matching summer camp T-shirts were mostly curled up under the seats or in the aisle, hiding themselves as much as possible below the window line, not daring to make a sound.

Occasionally, a stifled sob would break out, only to be quickly forced back as the student or their companion clamped a hand over their mouth.

Many of them still had dried tear tracks on their faces, and despair and sorrow shrouded everyone like a physical weight.

When the disaster struck, many of the children's phones briefly received messages from the outside world—some were final, panicked instructions from family, others were desperate farewells from friends, but most were nothing more than busy signals that would never connect again.

Some of them already knew for certain that their loved ones on the other end of the line were gone forever, including the young teacher who had led their group, Teacher Li.

Teacher Li's eyes were swollen and red, clearly having just finished crying, yet she still forced herself to stay strong, using her best efforts to soothe them in a soft, repetitive whisper: "Don't be afraid, children, don't be afraid... someone will come to save us, the authorities will definitely come... stay quiet and conserve your energy..."

Meanwhile, the other teacher, Teacher Zhang, was nervously peering through the cracks in the bus window, staring fixedly at the terrifying figures prowling outside.

His face was a mask of despair, and his knuckles were white from gripping the fire hammer with excessive force.

Outside the bus, there were no fewer than eight monsters covered in dark green scales.

They circled the area like the most patient of hunters, occasionally clawing at the vehicle's body to produce a teeth-grinding screech, or letting out low, threatening whimpers.

Every scrape and growl made the hearts of everyone inside stop for a split second.

"Teacher Li... Teacher Zhang..."

A pale boy wearing glasses spoke in a trembling, tearful voice, "Will... will we really be able to hold out until the authorities arrive? The video said that power and communications will be cut off soon... we have no food or water here... there are so many people needing rescue, by the time they find us, we might have already..."

He didn't finish his sentence, but everyone understood what he meant.

Dying of thirst, starving to death, or being torn apart by those monsters outside once they breached this final barrier.

Another girl with a ponytail would carefully and slowly lift her head every few minutes, peering through the gaps between the letters on the window to look at the building diagonally behind them called Hongfu Tower, only to shrink back down in disappointment moments later.

"Stop looking, Xiao Ya..." her companion tugged at her sleeve, their lowered voice heavy with despair, "There are too many comments under that video... hundreds of thousands... how could he possibly read them all... maybe, just maybe, his phone has already run out of battery and shut down..."