Ambush Lu Li

Xu Xiao looked at Lu Li, whose expression had suddenly turned serious, and felt a little uneasy.

"Of course. You admitted in front of so many people that you killed Tian Yuhao and Chen Hao. Did you really expect them not to tell anyone?"

"That Brother Knife guy only had to ask around the school a little to learn what happened."

After saying those two sentences, Xu Xiao fell silent.

When she saw that Lu Li did not speak, she anxiously pressed on.

"What's wrong? Is Brother Knife looking to cause trouble for you over this?"

The seriousness on Lu Li's face quickly vanished, returning to his usual calm expression.

He smiled as he replied.

"No. I'm guessing Brother Knife learned about it, which is why he's being so polite to me. He used to extort me, you know. His sudden change in attitude seemed a little strange."

"But why did you move people into the girls' dormitory? I thought your whole thing was 'never turn anyone away'?"

Xu Xiao rolled her eyes and snapped coquettishly.

"Get lost! You're the one who never turns anyone away."

"I moved out because Brother Knife proposed this idea of 'men bringing women,' demanding mixed-gender teams. He said it would improve survival rates and boost morale."

Lu Li put on a look of sudden realization.

"Mm, the idea isn't wrong. It's the apocalypse now, after all. Pairing men and women really can boost morale."

Xu Xiao looked at Lu Li with a serious gaze.

"The idea itself is fine, but his methods are completely out of line. Before long, the women in his team will become playthings."

Lu Li raised an eyebrow.

He seemed to finally understand why Xu Xiao had been able to support an entire team in his previous life.

Without continuing the topic, Lu Li handed both backpacks of Origin Crystals to Xu Xiao.

"I'll leave the Origin Crystals to you. Don't let me down."

Seeing Lu Li turn and head outside, Xu Xiao asked curiously.

"You're not going upstairs? It's already dark outside. Where are you sleeping tonight?"

"I'll make do in the car for the night. Besides, I'm not one of your subordinates. Between us, it's just a transactional relationship."

Without looking back, Lu Li waved a hand and disappeared around the corner.

The knuckles of Xu Xiao's fingers tightened around the backpacks, turning faintly white.

Biting her lower lip, she muttered unhappily.

"What do you mean, 'just a transactional relationship'? You still owe me a life..."

The next second, she suddenly realized what she had said. Blushing furiously, she spat twice in the direction Lu Li had vanished.

"Who has a 'transactional relationship' with you?!"

It soon became midnight.

Outside First High School, faint footsteps echoed along the deserted streets.

Under the flickering streetlights, fully armed figures appeared and vanished one after another, moving swiftly to surround the student dormitories.

"Sister Hong, according to the coordinates provided by the 'corpses,' that kid Lu Li is beneath the dormitory building."

The speaker was a middle-aged man with a Skull Pattern tattooed on his face. He was crouched at the highest point of the teaching building, observing the Hummer in the distance through binoculars.

"Should we send a couple brothers over to take a look first?"

After a brief pause, Luo Hong's cold reply came through his earpiece.

"No need. That kid Lu Li is a little strange. Cover the area with firepower directly."

The middle-aged man hesitated slightly, then chose to obey.

He felt that using direct firepower was a bit like using a cannon to kill a mosquito.

But Luo Hong had given the order herself. As the man leading the team, he could not exactly point fingers.

Three minutes later.

Flames suddenly erupted from the darkness around the student dormitories!

More than a dozen rockets streaked toward the Hummer like lightning, trailing crimson tails of fire.

After the deafening explosions, only a burning vehicle frame remained in the open space.

The middle-aged man with the skull tattoo curled his lips into a mocking smile and said casually into his earpiece.

"It's done, Sister Hong! No matter how badass that kid was, he's been blown into an idiot by now—"

However, before he could finish speaking, the middle-aged man's pupils suddenly contracted!

The Hummer, which had already been blasted to pieces, actually opened its door!

A figure stepped down from the driver's seat, standing amid the flames and smoke as he calmly surveyed his surroundings.

"Something's wrong! Sister Hong, he's still alive! Brothers, hit him hard!!"

Gunfire thundered, crashing forward like an overwhelming tide!

The Hummer, already on the verge of falling apart, instantly erupted with sparks. In less than a breath, it was completely reduced to scrap metal.

A figure fell in response, kicking up a shower of sparks.

"Hmph, that really did it this time! Sister Hong, just like you said, this kid had some tricks up his sleeve. Good thing we didn't send the brothers in to get close..."

As Skull Tattoo Man spoke, he pulled out a cigarette and placed it between his lips.

Even an Lv.5 monster couldn't have survived a round of rocket bombardment followed by a machine-gun barrage.

Much less Lu Li, who was only Lv.0!

With the mission over, having a smoke was the most satisfying choice.

Yet he never got to take that puff.

An icy blade had somehow found its way to the man's throat, effortlessly slicing open his not-so-tough carotid artery.

A voice rose behind the middle-aged man's head, a ghostly whisper from the depths of hell.

"Indeed, it's settled..."

"Hello? Hello! What happened?!"

The constant crackle of static in her earpiece made Luo Hong furrow her brow.

Hadn't it been taken care of?

Why had they stopped talking instead?

Something seemed wrong.

Luo Hong tried switching to other channels.

Without exception, there was only silent static.

"Check the signal."

Luo Hong ordered the subordinate beside her.

"Sister Hong, the communication signal is full. There's no sound because no one's speaking on the other end."

"No one's speaking..."

Luo Hong repeatedly mulled over those three words, then suddenly chuckled.

"I'm afraid they're already dead. They can't speak anymore."

Her subordinate was startled and instinctively retorted, "No way, Sister Hong. There were fifty men who infiltrated the school. Every one of them was skilled..."

Yet the more he spoke, the more panicked he became.

The communication signal was full.

If they were alive, there was no way they wouldn't respond.

So they really were dead!

Lu Li had wiped out fifty people in the blink of an eye!!

Was he even human?

Could he be a monster wearing a human shape?!

Luo Hong nodded. The smile on her face faded into gloom.

"I still underestimated that kid... Forget it. It's almost midnight. Have the remaining men withdraw immediately! We need to consider this matter carefully."

Scattered responses came through the earpiece as the teams positioned around the school's perimeter began converging on Luo Hong's location.

Letting out a short breath, Luo Hong pinched the bridge of her nose and murmured into the air, "Even if they were fifty pigs, killing them all wouldn't have been that fast... How exactly did Lu Li do it..."

"Sister Hong, maybe it was because of his strange Talent Abilities. Should we send more people in?"

Her subordinate quietly suggested, "According to the information we received, that kid seems able to summon Blade Mantises out of thin air! Maybe he used those summoned monsters to kill our brothers?"

Luo Hong gave a cold laugh and asked the subordinate before her, who looked exceptionally shrewd but was actually rather foolish, "Even if that guess is correct, how many Blade Mantises do you think it would take to kill Old Zhu?"

The Old Zhu the woman spoke of was the middle-aged man with a Skull Pattern tattooed on his face.

Before this, he had a flawless record of taking on three Blade Mantises alone without suffering any injury.

Even taking the most conservative estimate.

Even if he had been ambushed and caught off guard, at one Blade Mantis per person...

Lu Li had taken out fifty people in an instant—he would have had to summon at least forty-nine Blade Mantises!

What a terrifying number that was!

If Lu Li truly possessed such horrifying strength, then the few of them surrounding the school were nowhere near enough.

At that thought, the subordinate suddenly felt the pressure on his entire body multiply. Even breathing became difficult.

Just then, an urgent warning suddenly came through Luo Hong's earpiece:

"Sister Hong! I saw several monsters flying toward you..."