In the classroom, the homeroom teacher Fang Hao said, "Those who sign up aren't going out of the school to fight those monsters to the death. You'll be forming teams to protect the school—"
Even the army that had come to provide support under orders had been wiped out, and the Patrol Bureau in Shangyuan City was at its wits' end, struggling to cope. Under such circumstances, how could they, as teachers, possibly lead their students out of the school just to throw their lives away?
Being able to hold the school as best they could was already good enough.
When Fang Hao finished, Huang Tian spoke up. "Teacher, I'll sign up."
For him, staying in the classroom served little purpose. He didn't need anyone to protect him. Outside, on the other hand, he could observe the situation around the school.
As soon as he signed up, someone immediately followed suit. "Count me in too!"
It was his deskmate, Li Guanglin.
Huang Tian glanced at him. The latter grinned smugly, rolled up his sleeve, and flexed his not-particularly-solid muscles. "I've trained, you know!"
With two setting the lead, six more quickly volunteered. Just as only one place was left, the class president Liu Qingya raised her hand. "Teacher, I want to sign up too—"
Fang Hao shook his head. "Let me make this clear first: I'm not looking down on girls. But girls generally have less stamina and endurance than boys, and less strength, so they're not suited to defensive work. For now we only need boys. If we need more hands for logistics later, you can sign up then—girls are more careful by comparison, after all."
Having said that, he added, "Besides, you're the class president. While we're patrolling the school grounds, you need to keep order in the class, look after everyone's moods, and not let them get worked up. Try to keep everyone calm."
Liu Qingya had been somewhat dejected, but at this she perked up considerably. "I understand!"
"Mm." Fang Hao nodded in satisfaction.
Just then, another boy volunteered. With ten now gathered, Fang Hao said, "Since everyone's here, let's go."
Saying this, he stepped down from the podium, pushed the door open, and went out. Huang Tian and the others followed him toward the open ground downstairs.
"So many people—" In the corridor, Li Guanglin glanced at the open ground below and saw it packed with a dark mass of people. He was a little surprised.
At that, Fang Hao said, "Ten from each class comes to about three hundred. Add the school's security guards and teachers, and it's just over three hundred."
As they spoke, the group had already reached the open ground downstairs. Under the guidance of the academic affairs director, Luo Xiong, they found their places. About ten minutes later, all the volunteers from every class had gathered.
Next, the principal took the stage and said a few words to boost morale. Then the logistics department began distributing weapons—though calling them weapons was a stretch; they were simply using whatever was on hand: fire axes, iron rods, wooden clubs, and the security guards' riot forks and shields. There were too many people and too few weapons, so they had to make do.
Huang Tian took a fire axe; the thing had decent lethality. As for a shield, he didn't take one—there was no use in it. All the standard-issue shields were with the security guards, and even those weren't very sturdy. The remaining shields had been hastily fashioned from desk tops. They were awkward to hold, and there weren't many of them.
"Whew~"
Gripping an iron rod in his hand, Li Guanglin only then suddenly grew nervous and let out a long breath.
The other students were no better off. Both excited and nervous, they also felt a fear of the unknown. Some were even trembling slightly.
Clap, clap. Fang Hao clapped his hands and said to the nine, "We've been assigned to guard the main gate together with the main force. We'll set out shortly."
Of the three hundred-odd people in all, the most were assigned to the main gate and the back gate. Next were the sections of the school's perimeter wall, where each stretch needed some people to guard it. Then came the patrol teams, who had to move about inside the school to keep any nimble fierce beasts from slipping through the "defense line" into the campus and harming others.
"Guarding the main gate is good. With so many of us, those beasts won't dare attack on their own." Li Guanglin analyzed it with an air of expertise.
The few around him nodded. Whether people or beasts, most bullied the weak and feared the strong; faced with the larger force, they rarely attacked first. This was exactly why the school's principals and teachers had gathered the students. They didn't expect these untrained students to accomplish much—they just needed them to temporarily scare off some of the fierce beasts.
"Tweet!" At a short, not-very-loud whistle blast, the three hundred-odd people on the open ground all sprang into motion, heading for various parts of the school.
Among them, the largest group was the one guarding the main gate, with just over a hundred people. It also had the most security guards, equipped with the best weapons—riot forks, shields, and the like.
After following the crowd for a while, they reached the main gate. The Experimental High School's main gate wasn't large. A retractable gate was shut tight, blocking the entrance. Facing the gate was Beicheng Avenue, and the street was completely empty. Though it was afternoon and the sunlight blazed, the silence was enough to make one's heart run cold.
Li Guanglin drew a light breath. "The streets used to be packed with people. Now—it's like a ghost town."
Fang Hao said, "Most people have holed up at home, doors and windows shut tight. Unless they're running low on food, they basically won't come out."
Li Guanglin nodded, then suddenly asked, "Teacher, suppose we brought our phones. Can we use them now?"
Fang Hao was taken aback, then said helplessly, "Of course you can. Who's checking phones at a time like this? Besides, it's a good thing you brought them. Call your parents and let them know you're safe."
Li Guanglin was instantly delighted. He fished a phone out of his pocket and said cheerfully, "Good thing I was smart and brought the one I'd hidden in the inner lining with me."
Seeing this, a student raised his hand. "Teacher, I brought a phone too, but I left it in the dorm. Can I go get it?"
"Yeah, mine's in the dorm too—" Several students raised their hands and spoke up.
Fang Hao raised a hand to stop them. "It's not a good idea for us to just leave here now. But I'll go ask Director Luo."
He turned and made his way through the crowd to ask Luo Xiong. The latter caught on at once, thought for a moment, and gave a few words in reply. Then Fang Hao returned. "You can go get them, but you'll have to go in batches—you can't all clear out at once. Also, roommates can help bring each other's."
The students all happily agreed. In such a tense environment, having a phone on them eased a great deal of anxiety.
Before long, the first wave of students ran off to the dormitory building to fetch their phones—
As for Huang Tian, he simply sat down where he was, quietly absorbing the spiritual energy between heaven and earth. At the same time, he distilled the method of drawing in and absorbing spiritual energy into a system and simplified it, so that ordinary people of average aptitude and comprehension could learn it.
Time passed, and the sun gradually sank.
Screech! A Patrol Bureau vehicle suddenly pulled up at the school's main gate, and six patrol officers quickly ran out, each wearing a bulletproof vest and equipped with a firearm and a shield.
"The patrol officers are here!" someone in the crowd shouted in relief.
At that moment, security guards, teachers, and students alike all breathed a huge sigh of relief. Luo Xiong had someone open the school gate, stepped forward, and gripped the lead patrol officer's hand, overcome with excitement. "We've finally been waiting for you!"
The leader said politely, "My surname is Liu—Liu Yang. I've been ordered to lead a team to protect your school's teachers and students. I really should have brought a few more people, but right now, all across the city, schools big and small, factories, residential communities, and the like all need manpower. We simply can't spare any more—"
Luo Xiong held his hand tightly and shook it gently. "I understand. It's enough that you've come. Now we can all feel at ease—we have someone to lean on."
Liu Yang gave a solemn salute to Luo Xiong and to the teachers and students craning to look. "Please rest assured—we'll stand at the very front and protect everyone to the best of our ability!"
The teachers and students didn't cheer, afraid the noise would draw the beasts, but every face was lit with excitement.
Liu Yang lowered his hand and said to Luo Xiong, "Please fill me in on your school's current situation."
Luo Xiong nodded repeatedly. "Right now our school has mustered three hundred students, plus the security guards and teachers—"
The two quickly conferred. When their talk ended, Liu Yang said a few words to the patrol officers he'd brought, and two of them took up their weapons, left the main gate, and ran toward the smaller back gate—
The sky soon darkened. Liu Yang and Luo Xiong conferred, then began arranging for the teachers and students to rest in shifts while the rest kept watch.
The teachers and students of Class 1, Senior Year 3—Huang Tian's class—were in the first group to rest. After a quick dinner they turned in, and at four the next morning they returned to the main gate.
Fortunately, the temperature wasn't low at that hour, so keeping watch outside wasn't cold. Apart from Liu Yang's patrol officers and a few teachers who stayed alert the whole time, the dozens of others quietly bowed their heads over their phones—reading the news or replying to messages from family and friends.
"Sss—look at this!"
Suddenly, a student from Class 1, Senior Year 3, gasped, sucking in the cold night air, and forwarded a video to the makeshift group chat.
Li Guanglin opened it and his eyes went wide. He turned to Huang Tian, but seeing that the latter seemed to be resting with his eyes closed, he decided not to speak. Unexpectedly, Huang Tian suddenly opened his eyes and turned his gaze toward him. "A really powerful mutant beast has shown up?"
"Yeah, very—very strong. It's insane. I'm starting to doubt I'm even living on New Star anymore." Li Guanglin handed over the phone, his expression grave.
Huang Tian took the phone and opened the video. In the footage, beneath a bright moon, a giant ape over ten meters tall stood on the empty street, roaring at the sky.
When the roar ended, it reached a furry hand into the middle of the street, closed it around a car as though picking up a building block, then straightened up, swung its sinewy, knotted arm in a full circle, and hurled it!
The car shot into the air and slammed with a boom into a high-rise!
Countless shards of glass burst outward. The whole building caved in deep from the impact. The car suddenly exploded, roaring flames shot up, and thick smoke rolled skyward like a dragon, engulfing the building in an instant!
At the sight, the giant ape pounded its chest in excitement and threw back its head with a bellow of delight. The long howl rolled over the city like a thunderclap, setting off the alarms of every car and electric bike along the whole street at once—
The video was very short and ended there, but there were a great many comments.
"Have all the world's beasts mutated at once? How can there be a monkey over ten meters tall?"
"This is the strongest mutant fierce beast anyone's seen so far. But I heard some people have seen a dragon, and a giant eagle bigger than a passenger jet. Who knows if it's true."
"No wonder the whole world is in chaos. With terrifying fierce beasts like this around, unless you bring out heavy weapons like missiles, there's no easy way to deal with them."
"Missiles still have to hit, though. Take this monkey in the video—don't let its size fool you, I bet it's pretty agile too. A missile coming down might not even hit it—"
"Sigh. Why did a perfectly good world suddenly turn into this? Where are we even supposed to go from here?"
After watching for a moment, Huang Tian handed the phone back to Li Guanglin, deep in thought.
This ape's strength is probably at the late first rank. The Great Change has lasted barely a day, and a fierce beast this powerful has already appeared. And judging by the comments, it's not an isolated case. The odds that someone is hiding behind the scenes, steering the situation, have risen again. Still, it's not my concern. I'll simply proceed according to my plan.
With that thought, he went on concentrating and absorbing spiritual energy. The intangible spiritual energy surged swiftly into his body, drawn by his mind.
In the blink of an eye, three hours passed.
The sky grew fully bright, and the Great Sun shone over all. A trace of golden radiance fell on Huang Tian. His breathing was even, his face calm, like a still, quiet pool. After a long while, he slowly opened his eyes, the glow mirrored in his pupils and making them all the more brilliant.
Half a day and a night of cultivation, and he had finally broken through another minor stage, stepping into the mid first rank. He felt a tangle of emotions, not quite satisfied. Given ample resources, his cultivation could have been faster still. Unfortunately, he currently had not a single cultivation resource on him. Though New Star's spiritual energy was gradually thickening, for now it still could not meet his cultivation needs.
Besides, being able to progress this "fast" was mainly thanks to the lingering effect of the spiritual water he'd absorbed the day before. Otherwise, relying on the spiritual energy absorbed over this past day alone, there was no way he could have broken through.
Resources—he could forget about things like elixirs and potions. But those fierce beasts, now—perhaps their flesh and blood would be of some use? And the plants that had absorbed the spiritual water might have become spirit plants; consuming them should boost cultivation speed too, no?
As he pondered, his expression suddenly shifted. He had faintly caught the sound of cries for help. He rose, moved to a higher vantage point, and looked into the distance. At the far end of the street, less than a hundred meters from the school, a husband and wife were fleeing for their lives with a child of seven or eight. Behind them came five evil hounds, each as large as a wolf.
The evil hounds could plainly have run them down and bitten them to death at once, yet they deliberately rushed and then slowed, toying with their prey. Their eyes were full of a chillingly human mockery.
"Run! Run!" One hand dragging his wife, the child clutched in his arms, the man ran for all he was worth, teeth clenched.
But perhaps he had spent the last of his strength—his legs buckled, and he pitched forward. The instant he fell, his mind went blank. Instinctively he clutched the child tight and shielded the back of its head with his right hand, while he himself slammed into the ground. His face was scraped bloody, and more blood gushed from his nose.
His wife was nearly yanked off her feet too. She barely steadied herself, then, tears streaming down her face, half-knelt beside him and tried to drag him up so they could run on together.
From the corner of his eye, the man saw two of the evil hounds padding slowly toward them, and his heart turned to ice. Struggling to his feet, he shoved his wife and the child away. "You two go first! There's a school up ahead—lots of people there. These brutes won't dare go in!"
With that, his face flushed crimson, and he bellowed hoarsely at the five evil hounds, "Screw your grandmother! Come on—come and bite me to death!"
One of the evil hounds gave a low growl and sprang forward. The man's eyes went red, and he braced to meet it—but the very next second, a shrill whistle of wind rose by his ear!
"Thunk!"
A fire axe flashed past his side in an instant and buried itself in the evil hound's neck. In that instant, flesh and blood sprayed everywhere, the vivid gore blooming like a flower!
Driven down by the surging force, the evil hound was flung backward, tumbling, and crashed to the ground with a thud. It gave a single whimper and died.
As the man stood frozen in shock, the blustering wind carried over a calm voice.
"It was a bit far—a hundred meters. Took me a full four seconds."
Whoosh—
A youth strode past him, walked up to the slain evil hound, and unhurriedly reached out to draw the fire axe from where it had bitten deep into the neck. Fresh blood dripped from the edge of the blade—
Chapter 255