Xiao Ya's Gaze

The group dispersed to attend to their respective duties.

Inside Fujin Hall, the sounds of heavy objects being moved, hushed discussions, and the scratching of pens against paper filled the air once more.

Lin Yi, meanwhile, went through the motions of stretching his limbs, appearing as though he were adjusting to his newfound strength. At the same time, he practiced a few staff techniques in the air, as if reviewing the successes and failures of his previous combat.

Nearly an hour passed, and the sky outside the windows began to dim. The sunset's final glow painted the chaotic city in a tragic, orange-red hue.

Feeling that the time was right, Lin Yi noticed Chen Yu struggling under the weight of a sack of flour as he prepared to pass by, so he ceased his movements.

"Yu, wait."

Lin Yi called out to him. "Give me that flour and come with me; I need a hand."

"Huh? Oh, sure!" Chen Yu paused, instinctively setting the sack down and wiping the sweat from his brow. "Brother Yi, what's up?"

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

Lin Yi cradled the flour sack with one hand and headed toward the small lounge nearby.

After the video had been recorded earlier, Ye Qingyu had helped carefully clean the blood-stained Heaven-Equaling Battle Armor. Although the claw marks remained gruesome, 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 remaining half-bottle of water to give himself a quick wipe-down.

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

Chen Yu followed immediately, and the two worked together once more to fasten the armor pieces onto Lin Yi.

This time, however, their movements were noticeably more proficient.

As the cold titanium alloy armor covered his body again, a heavy sense of security and power welled up within him.

Lin Yi took the Black Iron Staff from Chen Yu and weighed it in his hand; it felt just as familiar as before.

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 stairwell on the second floor.

The stairwell entrance had been tightly barricaded with tables, chairs, dismantled decorative materials, and even several heavy safes, leaving only a gap about half a meter wide on the far right, from which a sturdy rope ladder made of hotel tablecloths and bedsheets hung down.

"Yu, go notify my uncle. Tell him to gather the other young men, grab weapons and shields, and come over to provide support."

With that, he leaped straight through the gap!

Thud!

With a dull sound, Lin Yi landed steadily, his knees slightly bent. The movement was clean and precise, barely making a sound.

After being enhanced by source energy, this height was nothing to him.

He stood up, gripped his staff, scanned the messy lobby with eyes like lightning, and then walked toward the entrance of Hongfu Restaurant.

The sunset light slanted in through the shattered doors and windows, casting a long shadow behind Lin Yi.

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

Beep.

After the faint, almost imperceptible sound, a pale blue light screen once again overlaid his right eye's field of vision.

The data stream refreshed silently.

[Right side, convenience store across the street: Life source energy reaction *5 (Green, intensity 1-3)]

[Nearby area: Abyss Wolf source energy reaction *6 (Red, intensity 7-10)]

[Left side, approx. 120 meters, stalled bus at the intersection: Life source energy reaction *42 (Green, intensity 1-4)]

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

[Distance, approx. 350 meters, around the micro Abyss Beast nest: Abyss Wolf source energy reaction *43 (Red, intensity 7-13)]

Lin Yi's brow furrowed slightly.

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

The situation was becoming tricky.

Left of Hongfu Restaurant, 120 meters, at the intersection.

Inside the bus, the air was foul and stagnant.

The smell of sweat, blood, and the faint, lingering scent of urine mixed together, making it nearly suffocating.

All the bus windows were tightly shut, covered in "SOS," "Help!", and "There are 42 people here!" written in thick black marker. The crooked letters obscured most of the glass, like desperate cries attempting to pierce through this steel cage.

The interior of the front and back doors was piled high with various backpacks and duffel bags, stacked haphazardly to block the exits firmly.

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

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

Many of their faces were still streaked with dried tears; despair and grief hung over everyone like a physical weight.

When the disaster struck, many of the children's phones had briefly received messages from the outside—some were final, panicked instructions from family, others were desperate goodbyes from friends, but most were just 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 female teacher leading the group, Ms. Li.

Ms. Li's eyes were swollen and red, clearly from having just cried, yet she still forced herself to stay strong. With the greatest effort, she whispered soothingly over and over in a gentle voice, "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, Mr. Zhang, stared intensely through the cracks in the bus window at the terrifying figures prowling outside.

His face was etched with despair, and his knuckles were white from gripping the fire hammer too tightly.

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

They prowled nearby like the most patient of hunters, occasionally clawing at the bus body to produce a teeth-grinding screech, or letting out low, threatening whimpers.

Every scrape and growl caused the hearts of everyone inside to skip a beat.

"Ms. Li, Mr. Zhang..."

A pale boy wearing glasses spoke in a trembling, tearful voice, "Can we... can we really 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. With 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 once those monsters 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 bus window toward the building diagonally behind them named "Hongfu Restaurant," only to shrink back in disappointment moments later.

"Stop looking, Xiao Ya." Her companion tugged at her sleeve, her lowered voice filled with despair. "There are too many comments under that video—hundreds of thousands of them. How could he possibly read them all? Maybe... maybe his phone is already dead."

Thanks to "Sakura-flavored Almond" and "The Swordsman Who Likes to Scare People with a Monocle" for the tips.