Among the thirty or forty people who stood out, there were young teaching assistants, elderly professors, ordinary students, and strong members of the boxing club. Their combat capabilities varied greatly, but they shared one common trait: a high level of awareness. Since there was no retreat, no escape, the only way out was to fight with everything they had. Fear, apprehension – everything was completely cast aside!
"Fuck! Let's go all out!"
"Don't look at this old man being skinny; during special times, this old man was the bravest Red Guard!"
"So what if they're insects! What's there to be afraid of! Back in the village, I used to catch insects and roast them every day!"
"Xiao Lan, don't hold me back! At a time like this, if I don't stand up, who will protect you?"
The group of thirty or forty shouted one after another to bolster their courage, standing at the forefront of the crowd, directly confronting the twenty-odd Acid Bugs. They either swung fire axes, wooden swords, steel pipes, baseball bats, or picked up chairs, iron buckets, wooden planks to hurl at the insects. For a moment, the two sides were locked in chaotic combat!
The attacks from the human side were not entirely ineffective. The barrage of "hidden weapons" hit two or three more Acid Bugs, stunning them and destabilizing their flight. Several fearless boys and security personnel roared and charged forward, desperately striking the Acid Bugs with fire axes and baseball bats!
"Screech!"
Acid Bugs lacked the hard carapace of beetles, possessing only a layer of oily, soft skin, making their defense very low. Coupled with the extreme sharpness of the fire axes, a security guard left a bowl-sized wound on an Acid Bug with one swing.
Haha, looks like Acid Bugs are quite easy to deal with! After taking that axe blow, the Acid Bug should be dead or crippled!
Before the security guard could rejoice, the wound sliced open on the Acid Bug suddenly sprayed a pillar of green blood!
The blood pillar sprayed onto the security guard's face. He froze for a moment, only feeling an intense pain that seemed to burn his soul assaulting his pain nerves. The next moment, a hole melted through his face, from his nose to the back of his head, completely gone, leaving only the edges of his head. His entire face retained only the forehead and chin; eyes, nose, mouth, even the brain – completely dissolved!
"Thump!"
The security guard, whose facial features were almost entirely corroded away, died utterly. His powerless body collapsed to the ground. Only then did people realize – Acid Bugs indeed weren't strong and could be easily injured, but their wounds would spurt blood!
Their blood, like their acid, possessed terrifyingly corrosive effects. If it accidentally touched the skin... the consequences were unimaginable!
Compared to the security guard hacking at the insect with a fire axe, the three students hitting the insects with baseball bats seemed much safer. After all, the baseball bats didn't break the insects' skin. Even though the bats' killing power wasn't high, they were enough to bruise the insects black and blue. The funnel-shaped mouthparts of two Acid Bugs were even bashed until they bent, almost snapping off!
Among the crowd, a girl from the Kendo club was very clever, knowing how to seize opportunities. Spotting a chance, she suddenly thrust her sword towards an Acid Bug!
Fast! Ruthless! Accurate!
Even though it was merely a wooden sword, if it hit the Acid Bug's eye, it could still inflict astonishing damage!
"Pop!"
With a crisp sound, the wooden sword pierced the Acid Bug's eye membrane, bursting the eyeball. It drove straight in, finally penetrating the Acid Bug's warm brain matter. The Acid Bug died with its brain pierced before it could even scream!
When the Kendo club girl pulled out her wooden sword, she found its tip had already been corroded full of holes. If her thrust had been slightly slower, the completely corroded sword tip likely wouldn't have been able to pierce the insect's brain!
In the first exchange, two Acid Bugs were killed, three or four heavily injured, and four or five lightly injured. This result seemed quite considerable, but the real situation was not so optimistic!
"Scree screech!"
The Acid Bugs were no vegetarians. The acid they sprayed was also extremely fast. Instantly, over a dozen boys closest to the Acid Bugs were hit. They didn't even have time to scream before their bodies melted away, leaving only pools of stinking pus!
"Everyone, don't be afraid! At worst, we'll be heroes again eighteen years later! If one person can't handle it, then several people attack together!"
"Ah! Revenge, revenge! All my good friends are dead! I must drag an insect down to hell with me!"
Witnessing over a dozen people melt away from the acid further stimulated the polarized emotions of the crowd. Some who had already stepped forward were scared witless and dared not fight anymore, but others who hadn't stepped forward initially, now threw caution to the wind and rushed out to fight the insects desperately!
The scene was extremely chaotic, and the battle between the two sides entered a white-hot stage. In just over ten seconds, nearly thirty to forty people had been corroded to death by the Acid Bugs, while on the Acid Bug side, three were killed and five or six heavily injured.
Overall, the Acid Bugs still held a significant advantage. After all, they could fly. Even if slow and low, they were much more agile than humans. Moreover, their attack method was too fatal, too terrifying, far more dreadful than even laser guns.
The situation became increasingly unfavorable for the human side. More than half of those wielding simple weapons had died. Those without weapons were useless even if they wanted to resist. Were they supposed to fight the insects with flesh and blood?
That was simply preposterous!
At this time, the insects had completely destroyed the defensive line organized by those "martyrs" and began charging towards the crowd hiding behind. Those delicate girls screamed repeatedly, their faces streaked with tears, almost on the verge of mental collapse.
"Don't you dare harm my classmates! If you want to harm someone, come at me first!"
At this moment, standing at the very front of the crowd, only the quick-sword Kendo girl remained. Her hair was messy, her delicate body trembled slightly, her round face slightly pale, yet her entire being emanated a sharp aura like that of a mighty army, full of heroic spirit.
In an instant, this Kendo girl's head felt hot, her blood seeming to boil. A strange torrent spread through her body, growing hotter and hotter, impossible to suppress. She suddenly gripped her wooden sword tightly, all her thoughts immersed in it. Then, her gaze sharpened, and she swung her sword!
"Swish!"
An ordinary sword strike, yet it stirred up terrifying air waves! The wooden sword actually created a visible ripple of air!
What was that?
Sword Qi?!
Could it be the legendary Sword Qi?
The Kendo girl didn't understand why she could unleash Sword Qi either, but its power was quite astonishing. It actually sent an Acid Bug five meters away flying back, crashing into the white screen on the hall's podium. Splat! The Acid Bug burst into a pulp of flesh, corroding a large round hole in the wall.
"Huh? Killed another insect?"
The Kendo girl was surprised by her own feat, but how could the Acid Bugs give her a chance to remain surprised?
Immediately, three Acid Bugs rushed towards her, their hideous, disgusting bodies coiling and uncoiling, clearly brewing acid. They had locked onto their target; the target of their spray was undoubtedly the Kendo girl – having killed two Acid Bugs consecutively, the Acid Bugs probably hated her to the bone!
The Kendo girl's body stiffened, her face paling further. Even though she was brave and skilled with the sword, she was ultimately still a young woman in her prime, only twenty years old. She was truly scared, wishing she could turn and flee. But a sharp sense of justice resided in her heart; she would rather die than evade certain things.
"Then let me die... Anyway... this must just be a dream. When I wake up, everything will be fine..."
The Kendo girl forced a smile onto her lips, even though students behind her were yelling for her to dodge quickly. But what use was that? Targeted by three Acid Bugs, there was simply no way to dodge.
The three Acid Bugs stopped coiling their bodies. Clearly, they had finished brewing the acid. All they needed was to open their mouths and spray, and the Kendo girl would turn into pink bones... No, there wouldn't even be bones left; even bone powder would melt away, truly leaving no trace!
Just as this girl who had comprehended Sword Qi was about to perish in the acid, a sudden change occurred—
"Idiot! What are you spacing out for!"
A gender-neutral, yet very pleasant and melodious voice suddenly rang out. Following that, a red shadow crashed towards them, full of momentum, sharp and imposing, like a towering mountain pressing down.
"Protect... protect... beautiful... female..."
The red shadow's speed wasn't fast. By the time it arrived, the Acid Bugs probably would have already corroded her!
But as the red shadow moved, it picked up five or six baseball bats and threw them all out at once. With extremely good luck, it actually hit the bodies of those three Acid Bugs, causing them a slight moment of stiffness!
"Octopus, well done! I'll treat you to beetle brain hotpot later!"
Taking advantage of the Acid Bugs' stunned state, a white figure suddenly darted out from behind the red shadow. Its running speed accelerated dramatically, reaching the three Acid Bugs in the blink of an eye. Then the white figure leaped, jumping a full meter and a half high!
"Swish swish swish!"
While in mid-air, the white figure pulled out a gleaming longsword from nowhere, swung it three times consecutively. The sword flashed like lightning, cutting through the void. The trajectory left by the blade was so magnificent, so intoxicating!
It even... scattered flakes of six-sided white snow in mid-air, a hint of romance amidst the cruelty.
"Ah, don't use a blade..."
The Kendo girl instinctively screamed. She knew very well that if you cut an Acid Bug's body with a knife or axe, you would definitely be splashed by insect blood, which was no different from seeking death!
However, the Kendo girl was immediately unable to speak further, because she only heard three crisp thuds as things hit the ground. Then she stared blankly at the insect corpses lying on the floor, covered in a thick layer of ice!
Heavens... what is that?
Are my eyes deceiving me?
Are those really Acid Bug corpses?
But why aren't the Acid Bugs spurting blood?
Ah, it's because the Acid Bugs are already frozen!
The person is fast, the sword is faster... the white figure just swung the blade, and the Acid Bugs froze and fell from the sky?
That was three whole Acid Bugs!
In the entire hall of over five hundred people, sacrificing more than forty just to luckily kill three or four...
But that white figure, the gains from that single instant, already matched the results achieved by the desperate struggle of those forty-plus sacrifices...
So strong...
Not only the Kendo girl found it incredible, but even the unarmed boys and girls hiding behind watched dumbfounded!
Who was that white figure?
Striking as fast as lightning, sword light swift as the wind, killing insects as easily as chopping vegetables! Watching him kill three insects, everyone felt an unusual sense of thrill!
Satisfying! Cathartic!
The crowd, constantly bullied by the insects like drowning dogs, suddenly saw the insects being instantly killed like slaughtering chickens. Naturally, they felt extremely gratified!
"It really is you... Ran, Ran Hongxia..."
That white figure was naturally Li Jiayu. After he and the Dark Octopus jointly killed the three Acid Bugs, he landed back on the ground. He was just about to turn around and continue engaging the remaining ten Acid Bugs when he suddenly gasped, his expression incredibly strange!
Saw her again!
This mortal enemy from his past life, who hunted him for three whole years, this idiot woman whose brain was hopelessly stupid, whose sense of justice overflowed to the point of absurdity!
"It's you... how do you know my name..." The Kendo girl named Ran Hongxia met Li Jiayu's ice-blue eyes for a moment and asked, stunned.
"I can't be bothered with you! Go kill insects! Seeing you annoys me!"
Li Jiayu curtly threw out a sentence, leaving Ran Hongxia hanging, then beckoned the Dark Octopus and engaged the remaining ten Acid Bugs!
To be precise, there should be fifteen, but five were already heavily injured and not much of a threat. They just needed to deal with the ten Acid Bugs properly.
If it were only Li Jiayu alone, it would be extremely dangerous. He might have had to fight while retreating, definitely not facing them head-on. But paired with the behemoth Dark Octopus, it was different; they could totally clash head-on!
"Die for me!"
Cold light flashed. Hyorinmaru struck like an angry dragon's lightning, incredibly fast, instantly cutting the nearest Acid Bug in two. The Dark Octopus was not to be outdone either. It twisted its nine tentacles, picking up chairs, axes, baseball bats, etc., from the ground and smashed them fiercely at the Acid Bugs in mid-air. Its strength was immense, and its accuracy was quite considerable, actually managing to suppress five or six Acid Bugs!
"Screech!"
An Acid Bug flying higher sprayed a mouthful of acid towards Li Jiayu. Li Jiayu, observing all directions, had already noticed. He rolled sideways, but just then, another Acid Bug shot concentrated acid at him from an extremely tricky angle. Li Jiayu probably wouldn't be able to dodge in time.
"Hmph, luckily I have Hyorinmaru!"
Li Jiayu's eyes were sharp, his hands quick. He held Hyorinmaru horizontally across his chest, using the blade body to block that stream of acid. If it were ordinary metal, not only would it be corroded, but the splashing acid would also sprinkle onto his hands and chest through the blade; blocking would be the same as not blocking. But Hyorinmaru was different; any liquid approaching it would instantly freeze!
Quickly getting up, he saw a soccer ball lying near his feet!
"Soccer ball? Which idiot brought a soccer ball as a self-defense weapon... But perfect!"
Li Jiayu rejoiced inwardly and kicked the soccer ball hard. The doubled strength was very powerful. The kicked soccer ball spun rapidly, tracing a magnificent arc, accurately smashing towards an Acid Bug in mid-air.
"Bang!"
The Acid Bug, hit by the ball, suffered a huge impact, its head dizzy. It could no longer control its flight and fell from the sky. Li Jiayu charged forward like a cannonball, delivering another sword strike to the falling Acid Bug!
The icy insect corpse split into two!
This was already the fifth Acid Bug to perish under his blade!
Li Jiayu's figure flickered again, rushing towards another Acid Bug.
Nearby, the Dark Octopus was also heavily injured. It had already been besieged by Scythe Beetles and Venomous Spiders in the sixth-floor classroom, covered in wounds, and had lost three tentacles. Now, although it was suppressing six Acid Bugs by throwing things, it was already running out of strength and had been sprayed with several mouthfuls of concentrated acid!
"Hiss!"
Black smoke rose from the Dark Octopus's body. However, its surface had a layer of slippery mucus. It was unknown what this mucus was made of, but it could significantly reduce the effect of the Acid Bug's acid. So, the acid only left fist-sized wounds on the Dark Octopus, instead of corroding it completely like humans.
But even so, it still made the Dark Octopus's eyes turn red with pain!
The people behind also felt their hearts jump, praying that this terrifying-looking monster wouldn't fall – in fact, they were filled with curiosity about this unknown monster, the Dark Octopus. Could there really be an octopus in this world that could speak human language?
And this octopus actually helped humans?
If it were peacetime, this octopus would definitely become the most watched animal by humans, right?
Obviously, now was not the time for "Animal World." Having suffered so much pain, the Dark Octopus naturally had to counterattack. Seeing the Acid Bugs spraying acid so happily, it also moved its mouthparts, brewing for two or three seconds, finally spitting out a large blob of black juice!
The black juice sprayed onto an Acid Bug. That Acid Bug paused, then went berserk, screeching incessantly, its eyes red as it pounced on the nearest companion!
Li Jiayu watched in amazement. He really didn't know the mutated Dark Octopus also had ranged attack skills!
Moreover, this skill was too effective! It actually had a "confusion" effect! Hitting one insect effectively neutralized two temporarily. The situation of being outnumbered was instantly alleviated!
Just like that, under the combined efforts of Li Jiayu and the Dark Octopus, and under the dumbfounded gazes of everyone present, in less than a minute, the ten intact Acid Bugs and six heavily injured Acid Bugs met a tragic end, all wiped out!
In the classroom, under the dim light.
Over five hundred people watched Li Jiayu, slightly panting, standing proudly with his sword. Their gazes all changed.
Respect, admiration, shock, fervor, and some complex emotions...
Their gazes were as hot as flames, as if looking at a deity descended upon the mortal world.
Even Ran Hongxia, who had been rebuffed by Li Jiayu earlier, looked at him with surprise, filled with solemnity and admiration.
She really wanted to know... how this white-haired, white-eyed man, impossibly handsome yet cold as frost, did it. Didn't he feel fear? He desperately protected everyone, bravely fought the insects; he was a radiant hero!
When did the vast Xijiang University hide such a super master?
And at this moment, almost everyone wanted to know—
Who is he?