"What is this? It looks so beautiful, like red jadeite..." Ran Hongxia blinked her beautiful eyes, curiously looking at the Insect Crystal in Li Jiayu's hand, letting out a sigh of admiration.
Many others also looked at the Insect Crystal with doubt, their faces filled with shock and amazement.
Everyone had seen plenty of ordinary gems and jewelry on TV or in jewelry stores, nothing surprising. But that Insect Crystal was completely different from ordinary gems. Not only was it exquisitely clear and pure as ice, but most incredibly, it also emitted a faint, hazy brilliance, forming a membrane of light, shining brightly in the slightly dim hall.
"Insect Crystal. Dug out from the Red-Crested Beetle's brain after killing it."
Li Jiayu said indifferently. Looking at Ran Hongxia's delicate and refined face standing before him, a wave of annoyance surged in his heart again. He almost reflexively wanted to raise Hyorinmaru and stab her!
Damn woman!
Watch me stab you to death!
Ugh... calm down, calm down... Although I was hunted miserably by Ran Hongxia in my past life, forced to kneel and beg for mercy several times, even slandered by her as a pervert, almost having my 'little brother' kicked off, even having one of my tender 'balls' burst by her!
If Big Sister Xiao Wanqing hadn't helped heal me later, I probably would have been turned into a eunuch by her directly in my past life!
However, everything has started over. If nothing unexpected happens... I shouldn't be hunted by this idiotic woman again in this life...
Wait, if she dares hunt me again, I'll send her to hell right now!
Better look on the bright side... Although Ran Hongxia is annoying, her potential is unquestionable.
In the past life, Ran Hongxia was almost the most dazzling rising star in the southern provinces, known as the "Divine Firmament Sword Saint." Her strength ranked in the top hundred in Tianchao. She was always a super expert fought over by major factions. Even after Li Jiayu advanced to Dark Grand Summoner, she still possessed seventy percent of his strength, extremely terrifying. If Li Jiayu got close to her, he'd be dead or lose a layer of skin!
She was simply a genius in the way of the sword! Her mind wasn't necessarily smart, her limbs weren't particularly developed, but her comprehension of the sword path was something Li Jiayu had only seen in her!
During life-and-death battles with her, several times he was clearly about to kill her, but she would often achieve sudden enlightenment mid-battle, transforming in dire straits, her swordsmanship reaching a higher level. Finally, unleashing great power, she would beat Li Jiayu until he fled miserably!
Therefore, if wanting to rapidly increase the team's combat power in a short time, Ran Hongxia was undoubtedly the best choice.
As long as Ran Hongxia stopped having her righteous fits and viewing Li Jiayu as a thorn in her side...
"How is that possible? Such an ugly insect actually forms such a beautiful crystal in its brain matter? Besides... what benefit is there for them to form such a large crystal in their heads?"
Ran Hongxia's clear, innocent eyes were full of surprise. She lifted her hand, wanting to take the Insect Crystal from Li Jiayu's palm to examine it closely, but feared being too forward and refrained.
"How would I know what benefit it has for them? Those insects aren't Earth creatures; naturally, you can't measure them with Earth's common sense... Anyway, you just need to know that Insect Crystals can help you increase your strength!"
"Not from Earth? How do you know? I heard them say someting about your foresight, is it real?"
Seeing Ran Hongxia's watery eyes gaze wave-like, staring intently at him, Li Jiayu couldn't help but turn his head away in annoyance, saying stiffly:
"Whether it's real or fake has nothing to do with you! Anyway... just listen to me, don't worry about the rest!"
Damn it! Every time she looks at me... down there starts to ache faintly! What a miserable psychological shadow!
"Okay..."
Ran Hongxia pouted slightly, responding dejectedly. Actually, she felt quite wronged inside – this arrogant and unreasonable guy was truly incomprehensible. I'll tolerate you for a few days first!
Seeing Ran Hongxia deflated, Li Jiayu thought he would feel slightly relieved, but for some reason, he felt listless, as if bullying an idiot woman like her gave him no sense of accomplishment. So, he stopped wasting words and said:
"Take it, hold it in your palm."
"It's so light, completely weightless. Uh, then what?" Ran Hongxia obediently did as told, taking the Insect Crystal from Li Jiayu's hand. The moment their fingers touched, she felt Li Jiayu's fingers were frighteningly cold, cold as snow. She couldn't help but shiver.
"Then... close your eyes, open your mind, guide your mental energy to focus on your palm, try to connect with the Insect Crystal... Slowly, you will feel the energy of the Insect Crystal, and finally, the Insect Crystal will turn into a warm current flowing into your body."
"This... are you kidding? I'm not a hypnotist or magician; how would I know how to guide mental energy?" Ran Hongxia looked troubled, afraid she couldn't do it and would be laughed at.
"If I say you can do it, you can do it! Why doubt so much? After the cosmic storm swept through the human body, it already caused subtle changes in everyone's bodies, especially a Sword Saint like you with excellent aptitude! Guiding mental energy is as simple as eating for you!"
"You're not me, how can you be so sure I can do it? Besides... such a large crystal, how can it possibly merge into the body?"
"Less nonsense! As long as you don't have a pig's brain, you can definitely do it. Insect Crystals aren't matter, but condensations of life energy. So, apart from the protective layer wrapped around it, it's weightless. The biological energy inside the Insect Crystal is very pure and can be 100% absorbed by the human body."
The people nearby listened, clicking their tongues in amazement. If what Li Jiayu said was true, then Insect Crystals seemed very precious. After all, from the perspective of current scientific means, energy that could be 100% directly absorbed by the human body seemed undiscovered.
At the same time, their expressions were also strange. Everyone wasn't stupid; they could naturally see Li Jiayu was very unfriendly towards Ran Hongxia. Although not overtly malicious, they could instinctively feel Li Jiayu's strong aversion to her, otherwise, he wouldn't speak to her in such a harsh tone.
However, what puzzled everyone was that Li Jiayu seemed to know Ran Hongxia very well. Why did he keep calling her Sword Saint, praising her excellent aptitude, even giving her such a precious thing as an Insect Crystal instead of using it himself first?
"Okay... I'll try my best."
Ran Hongxia quickly gathered her thoughts, closed her eyes, and tried hard to do as Li Jiayu instructed.
In less than a few seconds, Ran Hongxia's fist tightly gripping the Insect Crystal began to emit a faint red light from the gaps between her fingers. Even the back of her snowy hand turned a brilliant coral red in the dim hall.
A gentle warm current flowed in her palm, warm, smooth, like being tickled by a feather, tingly yet somewhat comfortable. Then, the warm current followed her palm, flowing into her meridians, and then the heat rapidly spread along her limbs and bones throughout her body. The next moment, she felt as if her bone marrow was burning, hot, actually breaking out in a slight fragrant sweat despite the cold wind blowing from outside.
The entire process only lasted about ten seconds. Ran Hongxia had already finished absorbing it; the Insect Crystal in her palm had long since disappeared. She suddenly opened her eyes, her face showing pleasant surprise. She felt her arms filled with strength, wishing she could immediately find a master and exchange a few sword moves fiercely.
"Whoosh!"
Ran Hongxia gripped the wooden sword with both hands and swung it. It actually created a whistling sound, full of power! Both speed and strength had increased significantly compared to before!
"Incredible! Just one Insect Crystal doubled my strength..." Ran Hongxia murmured, looking at Li Jiayu somewhat incredulously. The onlookers who witnessed Ran Hongxia absorbing the Insect Crystal also clicked their tongues in amazement, their eyes instantly becoming extremely fervent.
"Goes without saying! Insect Crystals are practically the new energy source for human evolution! To survive in this cruel new era, Insect Crystals are indispensable strategic resources!"
"Then if I absorb a dozen Insect Crystals, won't my strength increase tenfold? By then, I can probably withstand that red beetle just with strength alone, right?"
Hearing this, the students were moved, their breathing quickening involuntarily. Even Xiao Wanqing in Li Jiayu's arms couldn't help but tremble slightly, her thoughts racing.
Insect Crystals!
Good stuff! Just one can double strength! Doesn't that mean... humans becoming supermen is no longer a dream?
Kill insects, strengthen oneself... Heavens, this is amazing! Some boys who loved reading comics and playing games couldn't help but fantasize. This new era had produced a real-life leveling journey!
As long as they strive to survive, occasionally kill some insects, get some crystal drops, hone skills, eventually achieve fame, transform into supermen, make the world tremble...
Thinking of the excitement, some boys' breathing quickened, their hearts surging uncontrollably!
Li Jiayu looked at those excited, eager boys, pursed his lips, and poured cold water on them:
"Ran Hongxia, you're really naive enough... Tenfold strength? Wake up, silly girl! Do you think Insect Crystals are omnipotent? Only the first absorbed Insect Crystal has the greatest effect. Subsequently absorbed crystals of the same type will have diminishing effects. When you absorb the second one, it probably only increases by 0.8 times. The third might be 0.5 times. This depends on aptitude and constitution. For a genius like you, the decrease is slower, maybe you can absorb a dozen or so. But for ordinary people, four or five is likely the limit, and absorbing the first one might only increase strength by 0.7 times. Even if they max out on Red-Crested Beetle crystals, they'd barely increase strength by twofold..."
Pausing, Li Jiayu saw everyone still looking blank and sneered:
"Listen clearly, what I'm talking about... only refers to your arm strength! Arm strength isn't your whole body strength. Your waist strength, leg strength, etc., haven't increased at all. If you want to increase leg strength, you still need to kill enough Leaping Black Insects, Spring Corpse Worms. Only with their Insect Crystals can you run farther, escape faster... Furthermore, there are crystals from evolved Corpse Toxin Spiders, i.e., evolved Venomous Spiders, which can improve immunity and provide inherent poison resistance. Only with this kind of crystal can you survive in the increasingly harsh new era... As for those that improve blood oxygen capacity, cell activity, elemental affinity, mental recovery, thinking speed, there are also very many. Even crystals that change gender! Male to female, female to male, or hermaphrodite crystals exist! Only things you can't imagine, nothing Insect Crystals can't do!"
The more Li Jiayu spoke, the more engrossed the male students became. Although they also gleaned much information from his words, knowing the variety of insects would be very complex and they would inevitably face great danger, they were still agitated amidst excitement and fear – What is a crisis? A crisis is danger and opportunity coexisting!
When they learned that killing insects not only meant survival but could also strengthen themselves, driven by potential benefits, they would muster slightly more courage to face the insects!
However, what Li Jiayu said next greatly discouraged them:
"You think too simply, don't you? Really think every insect drops crystals? Let me tell you, trash like Venomous Spiders and Acid Bugs are just the bottom-tier garbage! But even this kind of garbage has already pushed you to your limits, making you flee in terror! If one Dark Feather Thunder Eagle came, you'd probably be fighting to kill yourselves first!"
These words from Li Jiayu reminded the students again of the victims melted into yellow turbid corpse water by the Acid Bugs' strong acid. They felt like a bucket of cold water had been poured over their heads, extinguishing most of their earlier excitement. They could only swallow the bitter saliva dryly.
...Really? Venomous Spiders and Acid Bugs are already terrifying enough, but they're actually just considered cannon fodder among insects?
Facing Acid Bugs already requires three or four boys willing to die to even have a fighting chance... Then what about facing higher-level insects?
That's a gap that quantity cannot make up for! Like the Red-Crested Beetle, even a dozen ordinary people are useless against it. Its body is hard as stone; without special weapons, you can't harm it at all!
And according to Li Jiayu, there seem to be many, many monsters far more powerful than the Red-Crested Beetle...
Heavens, how can we possibly fight that? Everyone wants to kill monsters and level up, but if you can't even hurt the monsters, even get instantly killed by them, what's the point of leveling? Might as well buy a town portal scroll, go home, hide, and be a coward for the rest of your life!
Li Jiayu swept his gaze, sharp as a knife. Those cowardly boys who didn't dare step forward during the Acid Bug attack earlier, even trembling far behind, felt scalded by fire and quickly lowered their heads, not daring to meet his eyes.
"Heh... a bunch of cowards! According to some boring person's statistics... in the first stage of this insect disaster, thirty percent of boys will be afraid of death, only knowing how to escape like ostriches. These people usually won't achieve anything, either dying early for reincarnation or being directly captured as slaves. Anyway, no one cares about your life or death... Additionally, fifty-five percent of boys will perform average, considered barely qualified survivors. Usually cautious, but lacking ambition, living day by day. Only when pushed to a dead end will they know how to resist. This type of boy is the most numerous, the grassroots figures of the apocalypse, nothing worth noting... The remaining fifteen percent of boys are the truly qualified ones in the apocalypse. They have courage, know how to strive, know how to resist. In the new era, only these fifteen percent of boys are qualified to level up. Think about it, out of twenty people, only three... Hehe, this ratio might be a bit small. Converting it, in a class of thirty boys, only four or five can adapt to survival... And if it's girls, mm, then it's even lower! Terrifyingly low! Know how many? Less than five percent! Meaning, between two classes, probably only one girl is qualified for the chance to level up... The remaining ninety-five percent of girls will either be tortured to death or eaten. Anyway, their end will be very miserable. As for words like 'rape,' 'gang rape,' 'rape then kill,' I won't say them; you can experience it yourselves."
Speaking up to here, the entire hall fell silent, completely quiet. Only the sound of panicked heartbeats and Li Jiayu's voice echoed in the hall, along with faint screams from the twelfth floor.
Many people's faces had turned pale... By this time, they no longer needed to doubt whether Li Jiayu's words were true or false. Because the various miracles Li Jiayu had shown, his great achievement in killing the Acid Bugs, and even his knowledge of the secret of Insect Crystals, were already enough to convince eighty percent of the people – especially amidst this insect disaster with extreme lack of security, people tend to believe others more easily.
"Oh, almost forgot to tell you one thing, lest you still harbor eager fantasies... Mm, garbage like Acid Bugs and Venomous Spiders don't have Insect Crystals, so risking your lives to kill them is useless... Heh, want to level up? Sure, go challenge monsters at the level of Red-Crested Beetles. Aren't some male students very fond of playing high-difficulty action games? Don't they love teaming up with friends to raid dungeons and fight big bosses? What? Fighting bosses in the real world makes you completely chicken out?"
"Li Jiayu! Stop talking... If you keep talking like this, it'll dampen their will to survive too much... You should say some encouraging words; that would be beneficial for them!"
Xiao Wanqing, silently releasing Holy Light in Li Jiayu's embrace, suddenly frowned, her pretty face showing displeasure. She bit her lip and said dissatisfiedly. Clearly, she felt Li Jiayu was spreading panic. If he continued, probably eighty percent of the students would lose their courage.
"So what?"
Li Jiayu sneered and shrugged:
"Those whose courage gets worn down by just a few words are all weaklings. Better off dead, saves food. The apocalypse is like waves washing sand... Weaklings might survive today, but they won't survive next year's today... Principal Xiao, you're still using peacetime values to educate us college students. Don't you think you're outdated? Since you're an educator, you should understand that teaching people how to be human is far more important than teaching them knowledge! Right now, I am teaching them how to live like a human in the apocalypse, not like a dog!"
"You... you're just twisting words..."
Xiao Wanqing's expression changed. She wanted to argue with Li Jiayu, but seeing his serious face, not joking, she understood he was serious. At the same time, she could still see the pools of yellow corpse water not far away, still hear the faint screams. Her heart couldn't help tightening.
At times like this... shouldn't I, as the principal, be encouraging everyone, leading everyone to stand up...
But why... do I faintly feel that everything Li Jiayu is doing is actually right?
"Alright! Since Principal Xiao has spoken, I won't discourage you anymore... Oh, you guys moved quite fast, already brought over the frozen corpses of the Acid Bugs from the other halls? Okay, thanks, you can go rest now."
At this time, Li Jiayu could be considered fully recovered stamina-wise in Xiao Wanqing's embrace. He originally wanted to linger a bit longer in Big Sister's warm embrace, but the churning killing intent in his heart had almost reached its boiling point. He wasn't a lecher, nor was he some ninth-rate idler indulging in gentle comforts, but a battle-hardened expert tempered by an era of blood and fire!
Gently pushing Xiao Wanqing away, Li Jiayu walked up to the Dark Octopus, patted its head, and shouted deeply:
"What are you still standing there stunned for? The corpses of seventy or eighty Acid Bugs are right in front of you! Hurry up and dig out their brain cores for me! Quickly recover your stamina and wounds, I still need your help!"