Xiao Ya's Gaze

Everyone dispersed and went about their own tasks.

The sounds of heavy objects being carried, hushed discussions, and notes being copied once again filled Fujin Hall.

Lin Yi pretended to exercise, stretching his limbs as if getting used to his newly gained strength. He also made a few practice swings with his staff, as though reviewing what he'd done right and wrong in the earlier fight.

Nearly an hour passed. Outside, the sky began to darken, and the setting sun painted the chaotic city a somber orange-red.

Lin Yi figured it was about time. Just then, he spotted Chen Yu trudging by with a sack of flour on his shoulder, so he stopped.

"Yu, wait."

Lin Yi called out to him. "Give me the flour, then come with me. I need your help."

"Huh? Oh, sure!" Chen Yu paused, then instinctively lowered the sack from his shoulder and wiped away his sweat. "Brother Yi, what is it?"

"Help me put on the armor. I'm going to start rescuing the people nearby."

Lin Yi held the sack of flour in one hand as he spoke, heading toward the small lounge nearby.

After recording the video earlier, Ye Qingyu had carefully wiped down and cleaned the bloodstained Heaven-Equaling Battle Armor. The claw marks still looked vicious, but at least the blood and soot were gone, revealing the armor's original dark metal finish. It had been neatly set in a corner of the lounge.

Lin Yi had also used a little of the water he'd saved to give himself a quick wipe-down.

As for his clothes, he had nothing to change into for now, so he'd just have to make do.

Chen Yu immediately followed. The two worked together again, fastening the armor pieces onto Lin Yi one by one.

This time, however, they were clearly much more practiced.

The cold titanium-alloy armor covered him once more, bringing with it a profound sense of security and strength.

Lin Yi took the Black Iron Staff from Chen Yu and hefted it. It still felt just as familiar in his hands.

Finally, he clipped the Portable Source Energy Detector over his right ear.

"Let's go."

Lin Yi nodded to Chen Yu, pushed open the lounge door, and strode toward the stairwell on the second floor.

The stairwell was now thoroughly blocked by tables, chairs, dismantled decorative materials, and even several heavy safes. Only a gap about half a meter wide remained on the far right, with a sturdy rope ladder dangling through it, made from knotted hotel tablecloths and bedsheets.

"Yu, go tell my uncle. Ask him to gather some of the young guys and bring weapons and shields. Have them come and back me up."

With that, Lin Yi leaped straight down through the gap!

Thud!

He landed steadily with his knees slightly bent, his movements clean and precise. He barely made a sound.

After being strengthened by Source Energy, a drop from this height was nothing to him.

He stood, staff in hand, and swept his gaze like lightning across the wrecked first-floor lobby before heading for the entrance to Hongfu Restaurant.

The setting sun slanted through the shattered doors and windows, stretching Lin Yi's shadow across the floor.

First, he carefully surveyed the street outside with his own eyes. Then he raised his hand and lightly touched the detector by his ear.

"Beep."

After a barely audible tone, a pale blue display once again spread across his right-eye vision.

The data refreshed quietly.

[Right, convenience store across the street: life-source energy signatures *5 (green, intensity 1–3)]

[Nearby area: Abyss Wolf source-energy signatures *6 (red, intensity 7–10).]

[Left, about 120 meters away, stalled bus at the intersection: life-source energy signatures *42 (green, intensity 1–4)]

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

[In the distance, about 350 meters away, around the micro Abyss Beast Nest: Abyss Wolf source-energy signatures *43 (red, intensity 7–13)]

Lin Yi frowned slightly.

There were more Abyss Wolves around the Nest than there had been when he cleared the area earlier, and one had an intensity of 12. It looked like they'd recalled some of their minor-leader-level wolves.

This was getting tricky.

120 meters to the left of Hongfu Restaurant, at the intersection.

Inside the bus, the air was foul and stagnant.

The stench of sweat and blood mingled with the faint reek of urine, making it almost impossible to breathe.

All the bus windows were tightly shut. The words "SOS," "Help!" and "There are 42 of us here!" had been scrawled across most of the glass in thick black marker, crooked lines of desperation trying to pierce the steel cage.

Backpacks and luggage bags had been piled haphazardly inside both the front and rear doors, blocking them shut.

Forty second-year middle school students in matching summer-camp T-shirts huddled beneath the seats or in the aisle, trying to keep below the windows and stay hidden. None dared make much noise.

Every so often, someone would let out a stifled sob, only for a nearby friend—or the sobbing student themselves—to quickly cover their mouth and force it back down.

Many still had tear tracks on their faces. Despair and grief seemed to hang over them like something tangible.

When disaster struck, many of the children had briefly received messages from the outside world on their phones—frantic final words from family, desperate farewells from friends, and, more often than anything else, calls that could no longer be connected.

Some of them already knew for certain that the loved ones on the other end of the phone were gone forever. That included their young female chaperone, Teacher Li.

Teacher Li's eyes were badly swollen and red, clearly from crying, but she still forced herself to keep going, using her gentlest voice to reassure the children over and over. "Don't be afraid, children. Don't be afraid. Someone will come to rescue us. The authorities will come. Stay quiet and save your strength."

Their other teacher, Teacher Zhang, kept his eyes fixed on the terrifying figures outside, peering through a crack in the bus window.

His face was full of despair, and the hand gripping the fire axe had gone pale from squeezing it so hard.

Outside the bus were eight monsters covered in dark green scales.

Like the most patient hunters, they prowled around nearby, sometimes clawing at the bus and making a teeth-grating "screee" sound, sometimes letting out low, menacing whines.

Every scrape and growl made everyone inside feel their hearts stop for a moment.

"Teacher Li, Teacher Zhang..."

A bespectacled boy with a deathly pale face spoke in a trembling voice, nearly crying. "Can... can we hold out until the authorities get here? The video said power and communications will be cut off soon. We have no food or water... There are so many people who need rescuing. By the time they find us, we... we might already—"

He didn't finish, but everyone understood.

They could die of thirst or hunger, or the monsters outside could break through their last barrier.

Every few minutes, a girl with a ponytail would cautiously and painstakingly raise her head to peer through the gaps between the letters on the bus window, looking toward the building diagonally behind them, the one called Hongfu Restaurant. Then she would quickly lower her head again, disappointed.

"Stop looking, Xiao Ya." The friend beside her tugged at her sleeve. Her hushed voice was filled with despair. "There are too many comments under that video—over a hundred thousand. How could he possibly read them all? Maybe... maybe his phone ran out of battery and shut off."