When Guan Tong and Shi Jingyi arrived at the industrial park gate, there were already more than thirty ard soldiers and several armored vehicles parked at the entrance.
They had set up temporary machine-gun positions at the gate and were wiping out many nearby living dead.
A man who looked like a squad leader stepped forward when he saw Shi Jingyi and said, "Hello, the Commander asked us to escort you back. Please get in the vehicle."
Escort...
Guan Tong glanced at Shi Jingyi, wondering what other identity she might have.
"Thanks, but there's no need to escort us," Shi Jingyi said. "We can get back on our own."
"But... alright."
The squad leader did not insist. Shi Jingyi turned to Guan Tong and said, "Co with ."
Guan Tong followed her a short distance to the left of the gate and noticed an ordinary white car parked by the roadside.
Shi Jingyi used her fingerprint to unlock it, opened the door, and said, "Where are you headed? I'll give you a ride."
Guan Tong wanted to say he could walk back, but considering the ard soldiers and the man with the curved blade, he thought riding with Shi Jingyi for a while would be better.
Shi Jingyi looked at Guan Tong sitting in the passenger seat and smiled, "Do you still want to keep that motorcycle helt on while in the car?"
"......"
Guan Tong took off the helt. His clear face surprised Shi Jingyi a little. Although the helt's visor was transparent, it still created a layer, and the dim lighting inside the industrial park had blurred his features earlier.
"I didn't expect you to be so young. You must have been in high school before the disaster, right?"
"Senior year," Guan Tong said. "If it weren't for the Doomsday Rules, I'd have already finished the college entrance exam and been waiting to go to university."
"That makes sense, it's already August."
Shi Jingyi started the car and asked, "Where do you want to be dropped off?"
"Just drop
at South Avenue and Xiuming Road."
The car drove off. Perhaps because an ard convoy had cleared nearby living dead along the way, Shi Jingyi drove for a while without encountering any.
Guan Tong understood why. After he had crushed the Matriarch Converter, this area—though he did not know exactly how large it was, but certainly including all of Yunhua City—would not have newly spawned living dead.
Without new conversions to replenish them, the existing number of living dead would quickly be mopped up by ard forces. After all, Yunhua, as one of the major cities, had abundant official military resources deployed.
"Aren't you curious why the soldiers let us go?" Shi Jingyi suddenly asked.
Guan Tong was, of course, curious. Even though he and Shi Jingyi had fought side by side, their relationship wasn't close enough for him to ask directly.
Now that she brought it up, he nodded. "I am curious."
"Because I'm about to beco one of the academy's instructors," Shi Jingyi said. "You should know about the Mind Power Developnt Academy."
"Of course I know."
Guan Tong was rather surprised. Shi Jingyi looked only a few years older than him, probably in her early twenties, yet had been invited to teach at the academy.
But thinking of the unique way she used Mind Power...
"The academy invited you to teach? To instruct how to use Mind Power to strengthen the body?"
"Yes." Shi Jingyi nodded. "The trick lies in circulate qi. Treat Mind Power as a kind of internal 'qi' and operate it to drive the body."
"Sounds a bit profound. Can everyone learn it?"
"Not really," Shi Jingyi said. "It's complicated, requires certain talent, and most importantly, patience. But you know this era—there aren't many people with enough patience."
"..."
Indeed. After months under the Doomsday Rules, the philosophy of imdiate gratification had beco mainstream. No one knew if they would die under the next rule, so rather than exhaust themselves worrying, many preferred to enjoy whatever day they had.
"But even if only a few can learn it, it raises their survival chances, so my teaching would be aningful."
Guan Tong nodded. He admired Shi Jingyi's outlook and also understood why the soldiers had let her go and even offered to escort her.
From the official perspective, soone like Shi Jingyi—with such rare talent and willingness to teach others—would be one of the era's most valuable assets and deserved protection.
"The academy opens on August 10. I’ll probably leave for Yong'an in a couple of days," Shi Jingyi said, glancing at Guan Tong. "Do you plan to attend the academy?"
Guan Tong shook his head. "Not for now."
"Really? That's a bit surprising. With such a powerful gun item, your Mind Power should et the admission standard."
"eting the standard doesn't an I have to enroll."
"True."
"I don't think a place like the academy suits ," Guan Tong said. "In this era, sitting through classes every day feels strange."
"Hahaha." Shi Jingyi laughed a few tis. "Yeah. Once I teach what I need to teach, I'll leave too."
The car had reached Xiuming Road. Shi Jingyi parked and said, "The academy will likely record and upload all classes online. If you're interested in how I circulate Mind Power, you can watch my online lessons later."
"I will." Guan Tong said, then got out of the car.
He was genuinely interested. Regardless of talent or whether he could learn it, he would definitely check it out.
"Then, Guan Tong. Live well. See you another day."
"Goodbye, Shi Jingyi."
Guan Tong watched Shi Jingyi's car drive off, thinking the whole trip had been full of ups and downs.
Without Shi Jingyi, he guessed he could have still killed the Matriarch Converter using the Shadow, but his Mind Power might have been nearly exhausted after the battle.
If that had happened, encountering that special squad later would have been extrely troubleso.
Guan Tong still didn't know who they were. But they had coordinated well. Four of them were willing to stand aside holding Fast-burning Sticks while the squad leader, the curved-blade man, eliminated the living dead, and there was no sign of envy in their eyes...
That was undeniably strange.
Who would volunteer to play the supporting role? If it were Guan Tong, he certainly wouldn't accept being a tool—holding a Fast-burning Stick to control living dead movent so others could kill them and collect Ascension Coins.
Yet the four showed no resistance or displeasure... which ant either they weren't normal people or they didn't need to worry about collecting Ascension Coins.
Coupled with the ard soldiers assisting them... Guan Tong felt the identity of these people was obvious.
"Is it a special squad funded by the authorities?"
If so, everything made sense.
Not caring about Ascension Coins would be because the governnt supplied them; the soldiers' cooperation would stem from orders from higher-ups.
"From what the curved-blade man said, their squad was heading straight for the Shrieker—the Matriarch Converter. They were furious because I beat them to it..."
Guan Tong frowned. If a similar rule ca up again, he would do the sa thing. He wouldn't give up pursuing his own gains just because of competition with an official squad.
"But if sothing similar happens again, I won’t have Shi Jingyi to back
up. I'll have to rely on myself."
Guan Tong made a silent resolution. After receiving the reward for this rule, he would further strengthen himself from a combat perspective. His goal was to be able to handle even an official squad calmly.
He checked the ti: exactly noon. Twenty-one hours remained on the rule, so it wasn't ti to go back and wait yet.
Although killing hundreds of living dead and one Matriarch Converter would surely yield an impressive recorded reward...
After the confrontation with the official squad, Guan Tong's sense of insecurity had increased. So while he still had substantial Mind Power, he planned to hunt more living dead. Even one extra Ascension Coin would be worth it.
With that thought, Guan Tong put his motorcycle helt back on and strode forward.
Ti ticked away. The 24-hour rule period quietly passed amid the ebb and flow of howls...
Reviews
All reviews (0)