Seizing Points

Crackling Blazing White Lightning flashed in a dazzling glare. Mu Qing drove his fist hard into the student's chest. Lightning burst out, and the domineering force blasted his chest black.

The student's uniform had been torn to shreds. Blood sprayed from his mouth, and he was gravely wounded.

He opened his mouth, trying to shout for help and tell the two people outside to contact the other teams. There was someone powerful in this cave—and by the light of their communication devices, he had seen all three of them.

"Ugh!"

To his horror, he discovered that lightning had numbed his tongue and every inch of his body. For a moment, he couldn't even speak.

Mu Qing strode forward and knocked him unconscious with a chop of his hand.

At the same time, the two people outside immediately sensed something was wrong and tried to turn and run. Ling Fei grabbed them and hauled them straight into the cave.

As they watched in terror, Ling Fei and Jiang Yuanjie lunged at them, clamped hands over their mouths, and quickly subdued them.

After knocking the two out as well, Mu Qing stepped forward and took the Recorders from their wrists.

"One each," Mu Qing said, handing the two Recorders to Jiang Yuanjie and Ling Fei.

"Man, I thought those three would have a lot more points. They've only got a little over eighty." Ling Fei crushed the Recorder. The number on the one in his hand climbed, bringing his points to 195.

Mu Qing and Jiang Yuanjie crushed their Recorders too.

Mu Qing looked down at his own Recorder. The number kept ticking upward before finally stopping at 206 points.

Mu Qing gave a rueful smile. "I only got a little over seventy points."

Beside him, Jiang Yuanjie chuckled. "Ha! Looks like I got lucky. I got a full hundred points."

Jiang Yuanjie now had 171 points. The News Department had been routed by the force assembled by the North Campus earlier, so they hadn't had many points to begin with. He still had a long way to go to catch up with Mu Qing and Ling Fei.

"We should get out of here. The North Campus teams have been all over the area. If they realize they can't get in touch with these three, they'll probably make a move," Jiang Yuanjie said, his smile suddenly fading.

Mu Qing and Ling Fei nodded, and the three of them left the cave.

But Jiang Yuanjie ran into trouble on his way out. His enormous, hefty body got stuck again, and only with Mu Qing and Ling Fei's help did he manage to squeeze free.

There were two footprints on his backside now.

"Ow! You two really didn't hold back!" Jiang Yuanjie cried, his mouth twitching.

Mu Qing and Ling Fei both wore faint smiles.

Night had fallen completely. They could barely make out their surroundings by the light of their communication devices.

"Good thing the school didn't confiscate our communication devices. Otherwise, we'd be completely helpless at night," Ling Fei muttered, sounding annoyed.

"Yeah." Jiang Yuanjie nodded and pouted. "I could put up with not being allowed to bring food, but they even blocked the devices' internet access."

Grrr.

As soon as Jiang Yuanjie finished speaking, his stomach growled, drawing Mu Qing and Ling Fei's attention.

"What are you looking at? I haven't eaten all day!" Jiang Yuanjie looked like he might cry, his face twisted with hunger.

"Now that you mention it, I'm getting hungry too." Ling Fei rubbed his stomach.

He had burned through a great deal of Blood Qi when he broke through to Blood Qi Sixth Rank, and he hadn't gotten anything to replenish it all day.

Mu Qing's mind stirred at that.

He had noticed that he didn't feel hungry at all.

Maybe absorbing the energy of heaven and earth has also replenished my body's functions, so I don't feel hungry.

Mu Qing realized that the Purple Lightning Bamboo in his mind seemed to hold countless abilities. To discover how to draw them out, he would need to grow stronger.

Relying on Jiang Yuanjie's powerful perception, the three of them had been evading one North Campus team after another.

They made their way deeper into Lake Heart Island.

Lake Heart Island was enormous. In fact, they were still in its outer reaches, where there were relatively few beasts. The main danger was that many of the beasts there traveled in packs.

The Gray Wolf Pack Mu Qing and Ling Fei had encountered earlier was just one of the beast packs in the outer reaches. There were plenty of others, too. You had to be lucky to come across a beast on its own, like the Black-spotted Leopard.

Jiang Yuanjie had encountered very few beasts himself, which was why he had even fewer points than Mu Qing and Ling Fei.

Since most of the beasts in the outer reaches traveled in packs and few were alone, students from the various campuses had gone deeper to scout the area.

Of course, students like those from North Campus had set their sights on the other campuses instead. Stealing their points usually earned them plenty, and they didn't have to fight the savage beasts. It was the best of both worlds.

"There's another team over there. Let's go this way!" Jiang Yuanjie suddenly called out. He had no idea how many times he'd said that by now.

He led Mu Qing and Ling Fei in the opposite direction.

"Something's not right." Mu Qing furrowed his brow.

"Why are there so many North Campus students? They're all moving in groups. There must be over a hundred of them by now, right?"

Mu Qing remembered Jiang Yuanjie saying that the group he'd encountered had only numbered a little over twenty. They were a force led by an elite student with Blood Qi Sixth Rank, like Wang Haixuan.

That force often split into smaller teams to search for students from the other three campuses and steal their points.

But the farther they had traveled into Lake Heart Island, the more people they had encountered. All of them were in groups, and they attacked students from the other campuses on sight.

"That doesn't make sense," Jiang Yuanjie murmured. "When they ambushed the News Department, there really were only a little over twenty."

"Maybe those twenty-odd people who ambushed you were just one North Campus team," Mu Qing suddenly said, his expression grave.

As soon as he said that, Jiang Yuanjie and Ling Fei's expressions changed too.

Mu Qing drew a deep breath. "The teams we've encountered have ranged from as few as three people to more than a dozen. They keep about a hundred meters apart, so they can rush to help each other as soon as anything happens."

"Judging by the situation, it looks like the entire North Campus has joined forces. For some reason, they've become extremely united and are taking points from students at the other campuses one team at a time."

"That way, they don't even need to hunt beasts. They can just sit back and reap the rewards, racking up points, while the students from the other three campuses—who aren't nearly as united—get eliminated one by one!"

As Mu Qing spoke, Jiang Yuanjie and Ling Fei's expressions grew increasingly grim.

"Of course, this is just a guess..." A sharp glint flashed in Mu Qing's eyes. "But I doubt I'm far off the mark."

"Mu Qing makes sense," Ling Fei agreed with a nod. He glanced at Jiang Yuanjie. "The only reason we've been safe is your incredible perception. It lets us dodge all these teams with ease. The other campuses haven't been so lucky."

All they had encountered on the way were North Campus students. Clearly, the students in this area had already had their points taken and been eliminated.

"Something's happening over there!" Jiang Yuanjie's expression suddenly changed. He pointed in one direction and shouted, "There's one group chasing another!"

"Chasing them?"

Mu Qing and Ling Fei were startled. Then they realized that students from another campus had probably run into the North Campus team.

"Let's go take a look," Mu Qing said suddenly.

"Are you sure?" Jiang Yuanjie asked, looking puzzled.

He couldn't understand Mu Qing's thinking. They could barely protect themselves, so why go looking for that North Campus group?