"Oh." Yuejian gave a quiet acknowledgment and turned another page of his novel.
"Teacher, please stop joking! We're really going to die here!" Another student's voice was thick with tears.
"Die?"
At that, Yuejian finally deigned to raise his eyes. Yet he looked neither at the students nor at the beast tide in the distance.
He simply lifted his head and gazed fixedly at the moon overhead, a touch of poetic indifference appearing on his face.
"Then we die. Everyone dies eventually.
The moonlight is beautiful tonight. Can you feel it?
Dying under such beautiful moonlight must be pretty nice too, right?"
"???"
Everyone was stunned.
They could hardly believe those words had come from a teacher.
How on earth had this guy become a teacher?
The barrage was laughing in anger too:
"Oh, damn! Incredible! You can be a teacher like that?!"
"Is your damn romance novel really that good? You're still reading, reading, reading at a time like this!"
Bai Lili was about to speak again, but Setsuna, who had long been dissatisfied with Yuejian, stopped her. "Enough, Lili. Don't beg him! We'd be better off hoping for a miracle than begging someone like him."
Setsuna's words reminded everyone of something.
In an instant, every gaze turned toward Qiji.
Toward the figure wearing the pure white mask.
On the first day of school, when they had encountered a pack of Void Beasts far beyond what they could handle in the D-rank rift, Qiji had turned the tide and led them to victory.
Since he had managed it last time-
Could he do it again this time...?
Please!
We're begging you!
Under everyone's gazes, some desperate, some hopeful, and some clinging to a slim chance, Qiji stretched slightly.
His whole body gave a series of cracks.
Then, with everyone watching expectantly and the thunder of countless charging beasts shaking heaven and earth, Qiji took a step forward.
Just one step.
Yet it seemed to draw an invisible boundary, clearly separating the fear behind him from the torrent of destruction before him.
"Qiji..."
"Qiji!"
Seeing Qiji step out ahead of the crowd, everyone was delighted for a moment!
Of course, some of his classmates soon came to their senses and began to worry about him.
They knew Qiji was strong, but no matter how strong he was, he was still only one person!
And the pack of Void Beasts before them was already more than someone "very strong" could handle.
But before anyone could voice their worries, Qiji spoke first, laying out his instructions rapidly and clearly:
"Drop all unnecessary cargo and weight. Take only your weapons and backpacks with potions!
Run toward the rift's exit as fast as you can! Don't look back! Don't stop!
Once you reach the exit and make sure it's safe, send me a signal!"
"Qiji! What about you?!" Huomu asked urgently.
"Qiji, let's run together!" Bai Lili said as well.
Qiji didn't look back.
He glanced at the raging beast tide, now close enough for its savage outlines to be visible, and spoke in his usual lighthearted tone:
"Me? I'm staying here to stretch my muscles, of course."
As he spoke, he seemed to remember something. He took out the money pouch Bai Lili had pressed on him and tossed it in his hand.
"Boss Bai, I told you, didn't I? Once I've taken your money, I'll make sure you feel you got-
Your. Money's. Worth.
Hiring me doesn't come cheap, but that can't be helped.
After all, out of everyone here, I'm-
The. Strongest. One."
"Ahhh! Finally! Prisoner Ji is showing off again! I've been waiting in the livestream all day for this very moment!"
"That's exactly the stuff! So good! Love to see it!"
"That's the real deal, a war god for hire! You get it or not?!"
"Boss Bai: See? I told you the money was well spent!"
"But-!"
Bai Lili thought Qiji was only forcing himself to stay because he had taken her money.
She hurriedly added, "That little bit of money isn't worth risking your life over!"
Comments drifted across the screen:
"I'm dying. That little bit of money to Young Miss Bai is a fortune to Hajiqi."
"Don't question Prisoner Ji's reputation for getting the job done once he's paid!"
Looking at the beast tide now less than a hundred meters away,
Bai Lili's face drained of color. Staying behind alone to hold off such a terrifying beast tide...
How was that any different from throwing his life away?!
Chapter 29: No Passage
Ultimately, Huomu, Bai Lili, and the others only knew Qiji from that one practical assessment.
Qiji had indeed displayed terrifying, overwhelming strength then.
But compared with the beast tide before them, the pack of Void Beasts that day...
No, it wasn't even fit for comparison!
So it was only natural that they worried about Qiji.
Liuli, however, had seen Qiji's true strength, so her reaction was entirely different.
The moment Qiji finished speaking, she didn't hesitate in the slightest, quickly shedding the unnecessary items she carried.
At the same time, seeing that Bai Lili still wanted to say something, she interrupted her-
"Enough! Stop dithering! Do you want to hold him back?! Hurry up and do as he says!
If we stay here, not only will we be unable to help, we'll become a burden to Qiji.
The sooner we reach the exit safely, the sooner Qiji can get away.
Do you understand or not?!"
"But we could obviously run away together..."
"Run? Without Qiji staying behind to cover us, which of you is confident you can outrun these frenzied second-tier Void Beasts? Who?!"
Qiji sensed everyone's hesitation and chuckled, his voice carrying the absolute confidence of someone looking down on a colony of ants:
"Instead of worrying about me, you'd be better off worrying a little more about them."
The "them" Qiji spoke of naturally referred to the raging Void Beasts rushing over in a frenzy to hand him their heads.
With that, Qiji said no more.
Alone, he walked against the stream of people fleeing in panic, advancing to meet the endless beast tide!
Against the backdrop of the vast beast tide, his figure looked so slender, yet it possessed an indescribable grandeur, as though it could hold up heaven and earth.
His black clothes flapped in the night wind, and his pure white mask caught the faint light.
Just as he had taken a dozen or so steps and was about to meet the Void Beasts at the front, he suddenly seemed to remember something. He stopped and called out to Liuli, who had already run some distance away:
"Liu-"
But before the word had fully left his mouth,
Liuli, running among the crowd, seemed to understand him instantly, as though their minds were in sync.
Without the slightest hesitation, Liuli's right hand darted like lightning toward her waist as she ran-
There, a long object was tightly bound with sturdy strips of cloth.
"Catch!"
She used all her strength to hurl it toward Qiji!
The long object traced a precise arc through the air.
Without looking back, Qiji reached behind him and caught it securely, as though he had eyes in the back of his head.
It was cool to the touch, with a peculiar texture.
"Swish-"
Qiji flicked his wrist, and the strips of cloth wrapped around it fell away.
A long sword of ancient design, its blade shimmering faintly with flowing light, was revealed in full.
It was the last keepsake Kamishiro Seigen had given his younger sister, the Kamishiro Family's Echo Creation-
[The Sword of No Thought].
"Thanks."
Qiji flicked his wrist and twirled the sword.
The blade cut through the air with a low, pleasant hum, as though responding to its new master, a stronger master!
Qiji smiled slightly and nodded in satisfaction.
"A fine sword... In that guy's hands, you were left to gather dust.
I imagine you felt wronged too, didn't you?"
Hearing this, the Sword of No Thought felt that after wasting half its life, it had finally found a worthy master!
Its hum grew louder, as though it couldn't wait to offer Qiji everything it truly had!
Qiji stroked it reassuringly.
"All right, good... I'll let you shine with the light you were always meant to have."
Qiji looked at the beast tide before him and tightened his grip on the sword.
Even someone as strong as him found the sight of these countless little monsters a bit of a headache.
If he had to beat them down one by one with his fists...
Just thinking about it was exhausting.
But now, with a sword in hand, it was obviously much easier and more elegant.
Thinking casually to himself, he continued forward against the now-thinning stream of people.