A slender branch jutted out across the mountain trail. The soldiers simply charged right past, treating it as though it didn't exist. When the girls of the outreach troupe saw it, one ducked under, and another leaned aside to twist past.
When Nie Xiaozhen reached it, she reached out, snapped it off in her hand, whipped it through the air with a vicious flick twice in front of her, and flung it away.
In short, she was furious—so furious she was practically ready to explode.
Nie Xiaozhen came from an Azure family. Her father was a front-line powerhouse with a Grade B degree of fusion, and their family even possessed a Silver Azure Medal.
Having grown up listening to her mother tell tales of Azure heroes, and later joining the outreach troupe to travel everywhere giving science demonstrations and performances, Nie Xiaozhen had seen plenty of war heroes herself.
Most were warm and approachable. While some were arrogant, aloof, or even hot-tempered, those were merely personal quirks and didn't bother anyone... None of them was like this guy! He went out of his way to bully people.
So what if you're good-looking?! So what if you're great at fighting?! So what if you're the youngest recipient of the Gold Azure Guard in twenty years?! Unreasonable! Completely unreasonable!
In truth, if Han Qingyu had merely chased them off the sparring grounds that morning, then so be it. They would have been angry, moped for a day or two, and gotten over it. But no, he just had to come and give flowers. He just had to look right at her. He just had to give the very first flower to her.
He wore an heirloom silver bracelet on his wrist. He claimed that once the war was won, he wanted to go home for matchmaking and find a sensible girl from an ordinary family. When answering those questions, he had looked so honest and endearing.
Well, that was that! Nie Xiaozhen's heart hadn't stood a chance on the spot...
Ever since she turned sixteen or seventeen, her mother had constantly nagged her to take advantage of her post in the outreach troupe stationed at Institute 2 to find someone in research. Yet a girl just couldn't resist a war hero! Besides, hadn't her mother married a soldier too?!
Later that day, he said opportunities like this were rare and that he really wanted to see a rehearsal. There hadn't been any rehearsal scheduled recently, but Nie Xiaozhen and her teammates insisted there was. Heaven knew how hard she had prepared over the past few days.
Nie Xiaozhen simply didn't believe it—didn't believe he could watch her dance without his heart fluttering even a little.
And yet... he hadn't watched her dance at all!
He had snuck off to the back mountain instead.
Forgiving him again would make her a dog! *Hmph, if I were a dog, I'd bite him to death.*
Not far ahead, the lights at the entrance to the underground city at the former site of Research Institute 2 were already in view.
Many of the locals called the underground cavern the underground city. Although none had ever gone down, they heard it was enormous, and word was that the institute's leadership had been discussing turning it into an underground experimental zone over the past two years, feeling it was a waste to leave it empty.
Nie Xiaozhen and her teammates picked up their pace. Arriving a little late, they saw Xin Yaoqiao with several others, explaining something to the soldiers with an anxious look on her face.
Nie Xiaozhen and the girls hurried over to listen.
*A mutated giant python?! Good heavens, how could something like that be here?! And after one was killed, there are still more? The girl in full armor was dragged away, and he went in to save her—alone?*
*Serves him right! Who told him not to watch the performance and run off to the back mountain for no reason... No, forget it. Better wait until he's back safe and sound before saying he deserved it,* Nie Xiaozhen thought, while her teammates whispered among themselves.
The scene was chaotic. Several soldiers had ventured in to confirm the situation and came out reporting that the monstrous pythons were real, massive, and covered in scales...
Furthermore, considering the presence of more monstrous pythons, the tunnel Han Qingyu had entered to save her was terribly disadvantaged and extremely perilous.
The soldiers were conferring over a plan.
"Has Qingzi not come out yet?" Wu Xu grabbed Wen Jifei and asked.
Wen Jifei nodded. It had been quite a while now, and they were gradually growing worried as well.
"I'm going in," Wu Xu said, gripping Binggu and charging forward.
"Wu Xu, wait!" Wen Jifei shouted behind him. "What good will it do if you go? You just got out of a hospital bed at noon today! You haven't even recovered yet!"
Wu Xu didn't turn back.
Right then, a faint tremor came from deep within the mountain belly.
"There really are more monstrous pythons?!" He Tangtang muttered under his breath.
"Shh, that's the sound of a python slamming against a wall. From the sound of it, Qingzi and Rusty Sister should be holding their own," Wen Jifei quietly analyzed. The three of them stepped forward together to restrain Wu Xu, explaining the reality of the situation and telling him to wait patiently rather than add to the chaos.
"We can't let the soldiers go in either. If those pythons are down there, regular soldiers will probably just throw their lives away, and they might even block Qingzi and Rusty Sister's way out," Wen Jifei muttered before stepping up to communicate with the squad.
His method of communication was simple: he recounted Han Qingyu's combat record to the soldiers.
***
Han Qingyu wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. He had been slammed into the wall by python tails more than once or twice. In particular, the two strikes from the horned pythons had left him in excruciating pain with his internal organs jolted, his vital energy and blood thoroughly thrown into turmoil.
Drawing a breath, he estimated in his heart that Rusty Sister should have reached the outside by now... assuming she was alright.
Han Qingyu began trying to find a way to break away.
Right at that moment, a monstrous python hooked its upper body onto a protruding ledge on the wall and whipped its massive tail at him once more. *To hell with you!* Han Qingyu thought. *I might be wary of those two horned bastards, but why would I be afraid of you?! I'll butcher you!*
Firing up three source energy turbines, Han Qingyu vented the frustration and anxiety pent up in his chest. He caught the python's massive tail as it swung wide, hauled on it with all his might, and pivoted around his own body in a sweeping arc from right to left—*whoosh, slam!*—battering the python's body heavily into the stone wall.
That was the impact faintly heard outside moments ago.
With that strike, the giant python happened to hook onto a rock on the other side. Meanwhile, the rock beneath Han Qingyu's feet gave way, sending him plummeting. He instinctively held tight to the python's tail, never letting go... Then his expression froze, and his eyes suddenly lit up. Finding a foothold and bursting into full momentum, Han Qingyu bounded a few paces up toward the tunnel entrance.
The still-dazed python felt the tug and couldn't comprehend it either. *Why is he holding onto me? Where is he taking me?! He...*
Han Qingyu had already backed sideways into the tunnel.
Gripping the python's tail with both hands, he hauled backward with all his might.
The python clamped onto the rock, refusing to let go for dear life.
Left with no choice, Han Qingyu drew his blade and slashed wildly at its tail several times. The wounds weren't fatal in the short term, but the python let out a shrill hiss, released the rock, and went limp and feeble.
And just like that, backward, its entire body was hauled into the tunnel by Han Qingyu.
Given its size and current position, it couldn't turn around.
*Plugged!*
Han Qingyu dragged the python backward as he crawled for a stretch, stabbing it repeatedly as he moved. After a while, judging it was about done, he let go, curled into a ball to turn himself around, and began crawling at top speed toward the other end of the tunnel.
This way, if the remaining four pythons wanted to pursue him, they would have to bore their way through the mountain, and at that pace, they would never catch him.
***
"Why haven't they come out yet?"
"Yeah, and the noise stopped too."
"..."
The girls' chattering finally reminded the soldiers guarding the cave entrance that a group of outreach troupe members was still standing behind them. Since mutated giant pythons were present, they should have been evacuated immediately.
"Hey, why are you still here?! Go! If a python comes charging out..." The soldier broke off and pointed toward the depths of the cavern.
He froze.
Footsteps.
A bloodstained figure, carrying an iron-armored body horizontally in his arms, appeared in the darkness... and gradually grew clearer.
He had returned...
Nie Xiaozhen and her teammates exchanged glances.
Seeing this scene, it seemed impossible to stay mad at him.
Han Qingyu had caught up with Rusty Sister in the final stretch of the tunnel. At the time, she had still been inside, on the verge of losing consciousness.
"Qingzi?!" Wen Jifei and the others spotted them from afar and thought Han Qingyu and Shen Yixiu were putting on an act. Feigning an anxious shout, Wen Jifei secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
After all, in their eyes, Rusty Sister had just been swinging a monstrous python around like a club.
"Don't be too envious," Wen Jifei even found time to joke with Xin Yaoqiao beside him. "He'd carry Tangtang or Wu Xu the exact same way... Why not just consider joining our squad?"
*I'd love to,* Xin Yaoqiao thought, *but I can't.*
As he drew near, Han Qingyu looked strained, calling out in a weak yet frantic voice:
"What are you staring for?! Come take her! Rusty Sister..." His voice choked up.
Only then did Wen Jifei and the others notice that blood was dripping from the corner of Han Qingyu's mouth as well, and Rusty Sister's arms were hanging completely limp and lifeless.
"What... what happened to Rusty Sister?!" Several of them rushed forward to take her from his arms.
"She's badly injured! Quick, Qiaoqiao, take her to a doctor! Keep her alive no matter what!"
Xin Yaoqiao nodded, took the armored figure, and sprinted away like a gust of wind. He Tangtang and Liu Shiheng hurriedly rushed after her.
Having handed her over, Han Qingyu's body swayed. He gave his head a violent shake to stay conscious. Just as he was about to report the situation inside to the soldiers, he glanced aside and saw the large crowd standing near the entrance.
"What are you all doing here?!" Han Qingyu roared.
"We..." Nie Xiaozhen tried to answer.
"Leave! Get out of here, don't just stand there!"
"...They're here. Run!" With that warning, Han Qingyu turned back, drew his blade, and shouted to the garrison soldiers rushing forward, "Call in top experts, fast!"
The other four pythons came tunneling through the mountain.
Though delayed, they were hardly slow, and the rumbling within the rock was already terribly close.
Once they broke through, nearly everyone here would die. He had drawn the beasts out, and on top of that lay his thirst to avenge Rusty Sister, along with a burst of pent-up anxiety, self-blame, and rage. Han Qingyu stood firm in the breach.
Even long afterward, Nie Xiaozhen would still remember that as they fled that day, she glanced back over her shoulder just as soil and stone burst outward from the wall, followed by the colossal head of a monstrous python lunging through.
He surged to meet it, kicking off the wall with a single step while roaring, "Spear!"
The other man hurled the black spear straight toward him.
Leaning back, Han Qingyu caught the spear behind him with his right hand, whipped around in a lightning-fast spin, and with a furious roar drove the long spear straight into the python's maw, pinning it back into the wall.
Nie Xiaozhen was dragged along by her teammates, heart in her throat, until the wind rushed past not far away and a masked figure flashed by like lightning...
Institute 2's S-grade supreme combatant, God Lü, Lü Moyi, had arrived.
Only then did they finally breathe a sigh of relief, their hearts settling at last.
Chapter 175