The Great Spikes were finally here.
The reason Han Qingyu had spent nearly entire days holed up in their cave earlier, only moving about in the immediate vicinity, and the reason he had spent the last several days running all over the place being chased by Adubu and his men, came down in the end to his determination to claim the final reward.
As long as he secured those two metal blocks, he would have a guaranteed minimum of eighty source energy blocks. Then he could proceed according to plan, head with peace of mind to a squad garrison area to train, grow, build a team of his own, and begin hunting and expanding.
Of course, aside from not wanting a large-scale clash before the Great Spikes arrived and needing to protect Plague Chicken and the others, there was another very important reason Han Qingyu had fled from Adubu like this: he was spooked.
Think about it: just a few days ago, that guy had over twenty men with him, yet he had been scared off by you alone.
Just a few days later, with merely seven or eight more people, he had inexplicably found your hideout and dared to lead a team to raid it, ready to fight to the death and even going so far as to use a metal block to lure you into a decisive battle... If this man wasn't insane, he had to be overwhelmingly confident.
Han Qingyu guessed that Adubu was overwhelmingly confident, because from prior impressions, the man valued his own life immensely.
At the same time, it was said that their Sha'ah people had never before obtained a metal block during a trial. He had already gotten his hands on one this time; as long as he carried it out safely, he would almost certainly win immense honor and status back home...
For him to take such risks even under those circumstances, the only answer was that something was off.
When something was off, running first was never the wrong choice.
"Fuck, Old Turban finally stopped fucking chasing us."
Wen Jifei finished scouting the rear. Keeping his entire body pressed flat against the grass, he swung half a turn clockwise, panting with exhaustion as he leaned in close to speak.
During these days on the run, he had suffered the most and grown the most exhausted. Whenever they pushed for speed, if he wasn't paying close attention while running, side A would suddenly flip straight to F, and he would launch tumbling through the air like a car slamming on the brakes at high speed.
It was only thanks to Han Qingyu and Rusty Sister being fast enough that they managed to catch him most of the time.
With a blade of grass between his teeth, Han Qingyu nodded while watching ahead. "Yeah. With a lineup that strong, he's probably gone to hack at the Great Spikes by now. Even if he doesn't, continuing the chase in this situation wouldn't be wise."
He had been observing over the past few days and discovered that the extra people in Adubu's squad were generally quite strong. Not only were their degrees of fusion fairly high, but they had most likely been wearing armor for quite a few years as well.
All of this could be seen from their movement rhythm, speed, and source energy application techniques.
"Anyway, good thing we knocked his falcon down first and roasted it for dinner. Otherwise, with that thing constantly watching from the sky, we really would have had a hard time running these past few days," He Tangtang remarked from the side.
He had also run himself into a foul mood; throughout their escape, he kept asking Yin Caixin how to say "Is that falcon your daddy?" in English.
Why did he keep asking? Because even though Caixin told him every time and he cursed it out every time, after just a little while, he would forget it all over again.
Lying flat on the ground, Yin Caixin nodded. Just as she was about to speak—
"Shh."
Han Qingyu gave a warning hush as a squad of a dozen people passed not far to their flank.
The vast area before them had almost no trees, only grass and shrubs. The five quickly kept their heads low together, slowly shifting their formation and relative positions to face potential enemies—habits forged during these days on the run, a small harvest born of hardship.
Once the group had passed, Han Qingyu looked up. "Old Turban and all that don't matter right now. Put it aside for now and let's watch the Great Spikes first... Oh, by the way, swap your source energy blocks for completely full ones."
The five swiftly finished replacing their source energy blocks.
"Done... But honestly, I think this Great Spike has got to be the most pitiful one ever, right? Nearly six hundred people charging up to hack away at it." Wen Jifei activated his apparatus, shaking his head.
Shen Yixiu shook her head as she watched. "The people who can actually close in won't be that many. Besides, everyone here is a novice, and they're competing with each other. It'll probably be hard to form an effective squad attack."
"Plus, there's the Cleansing Faction lurking in hiding," Yin Caixin added.
"Right." Shen Yixiu paused. "Either way, casualties will probably be heavy."
Wen Jifei said, "Then..."
He trailed off before finishing, realizing that Han Qingyu had already begun crawling forward.
"You guys stay down here. I'm going over to take a look. Don't worry, I'll stay within your line of sight... If anything goes wrong, just run. I'm fast; I can definitely catch up."
Because of the lingering suspicion and inexplicable unease in his heart regarding the trial's arrangements, Han Qingyu had remained on maximum alert about everything over these past few days.
Just like that, he detached from the squad and crawled forward alone for several hundred meters, settling flat against the ground.
"They're here. So fast."
The warning time on the trial grounds was terrifyingly short.
Only a brief moment had passed, and the shuttle-shaped craft had already appeared. Counting this, it was the second time in Han Qingyu's life witnessing the descent of a shuttle-shaped craft... As for the first time, better left unmentioned.
*So it moves this fast in the sky?!*
Tilting his head back to gaze at the sky, Han Qingyu couldn't help marveling inwardly.
The entire process of the shuttle-shaped craft expanding from a tiny black sesame speck in the sky to the size of a jeep took perhaps less than a second.
And then.
*Boom!*
The shuttle-shaped craft slammed directly into the ground at blistering speed... instantly crushing to death seven or eight trial trainees who had successfully claimed the closest attack positions.
Dust billowed into the air, and shattered stones flew in all directions.
Han Qingyu ducked his head to take cover, thoroughly bewildered: Wasn't this thing supposed to descend slowly and silently? The last one clearly made a slow, silent descent... So had this one crashed?! Should he rush up to snatch the loot right now, then?!
He looked up. In his field of vision, the scene before him unfolded like this:
In an instant, at least a hundred people swarmed forward...
Then suddenly—*Boom!*
The sound of another shuttle-shaped craft slamming into the ground rang out.
Another one.
Less than five seconds apart, down from the sky that no one was paying attention to or guarding against anymore, a second shuttle-shaped craft came crashing down.
This one slammed directly into the charging crowd.
Instantly, at least a dozen people perished.
Then, both shuttle-shaped craft completed a rapid ejection simultaneously. Four Great Spikes leaped out, swinging their column swords in unison, and true to their customary nature, began slaughtering every living creature around them.
Chaos erupted. Before the front rank could even spread out their formation, blood was already spraying as bodies flew through the air.
In a single instant, sheer terror surged.
The truth was that no matter how many people were here, a massive gulf existed between them and the Great Spikes in individual combat power. Once they failed to form a squad attack and execute the established sequence from breaking defense to inflicting lethal damage, they could pose no real threat to the Great Spikes.
To make matters worse, four Great Spikes had appeared before them at once—a colossal accident far exceeding anyone's expectations.
It was pure chaos; everything fell apart in an instant.
Had it not been for the three-dimensional apparatus preventing trampling from being fatal, many on the scene likely would have died simply from trainees trampling one another.
Even so, the actual situation was hardly any better. Those knocked to the ground could only rely on sheer luck, praying they wouldn't be targeted by the Great Spikes' attacks and could get back up fast enough; otherwise, death was the only outcome.
The situation abruptly devolved into a chaotic massacre.
From the crash of the first craft to the second, and then to the four Great Spikes ejecting together... the scene, with human beings forming points and lines, expanded outward like an ever-widening circle.
Every expanding inch was stained with blood.
Of course, Han Qingyu believed this situation was only temporary. As long as effective squads organized in the rear and pushed forward to hold the line, things would improve.
Gathered here were the best of the youth from various nations, and there was no shortage of talent among them.
And so, under these circumstances, he made his choice and slowly crawled forward.
Chapter 136