Chapter 101
Before entering the South Ward, Luo Shizhen rarely had the chance to come face-to-face with a Bizarre. His Qi essence was naturally far more ostentatious than he was; Eternal Day had tested it before, and every time they encountered a Bizarre, before Luo Shizhen could even process what was happening, his Purifier Qi essence would become so incredibly excited that it couldn’t wait to flood the entire area.
But ever since encountering Fenghuang, perhaps because it had been startled by the High-Rank Bizarre, his Qi gradually learned how to restrain its aura and allow itself to be controlled by Luo Shizhen.
The reason Eternal Day had agreed to let Luo Shizhen go to the South Ward was because they discovered that when a Bizarre was slain by Luo Shizhen’s own hands and he went to purify its pollution, the one that gradually grew stronger would be Luo Shizhen himself, rather than just his Qi essence alone.
In other words, as long as Luo Shizhen kept slaying Bizarres, his physical body’s rate of strengthening would sooner or later catch up to his Qi essence. They wouldn’t have to worry that he would one day fall into a prolonged coma because his Qi essence grew too powerful for his body.
At this moment, Luo Shizhen restrained his Qi essence as much as possible, gripping his long blade as he repeatedly hacked at the red Bizarre.
This red Bizarre didn’t possess much intellect; it was more like a creature born from a muddled, malicious intent.
It had intelligence, but not a lot.
Thus, when faced with the young Guardians’ onslaught, it simply assessed their ranks, and upon finding that they weren’t as powerful as itself, it dove straight into combat mode without ever considering that this might be a trap.
Hacking the Bizarre to pieces with another strike of his blade, Luo Shizhen didn’t even bother to wipe the sweat from his brow. He just stood where he was, watching as it began to recondense once more.
Cheng Yunshao stood a short distance away from the battlefield, controlling his puppet to fight while simultaneously observing this Bizarre.
“It has already regenerated thirteen times. If this keeps up, our stamina will be drained completely.”
Xiao Shan dodged the Bizarre’s razor-sharp claws, skillfully melted a roadside vehicle into a metal wall, and teamed up with Lu Qiujin to temporarily trap it.
Luo Shizhen panted softly.
Even though the battle was growing increasingly intense, he remained exactly as he always was, completely unfazed and un-irritated by the Bizarre’s constant resurrections. In fact, even at a moment like this, he still remembered—
“Big Brother, remember to note down the license plate number! We still have to compensate the car owner!”
Xiao Shan waved the license plate in his hand: “Right here.”
Lin Ke, who was keeping his head down to examine himself from behind: “? You guys use cars to fight a Bizarre and you still note down the license plate?”
“Yeah, otherwise when Eternal Day’s logistics team processes the compensation claims, it’ll be a massive hassle, and the car owner will have to provide all sorts of evidence and proof.”
Taking advantage of the Bizarre being temporarily trapped, Luo Shizhen took the license plate from Xiao Shan’s hand, pulled out his phone, snapped a photo, and uploaded it.
“For us, saving the license plate is just a small gesture, but it can save Eternal Day a massive amount of workload and allow the car owner to get compensated much sooner.”
Lin Ke: “…If I were the owner of these cars, I’d absolutely kneel down and kowtow to you guys!”
Having lived as a low-sequence Awakener for so long, Lin Ke understood both the mindset of ordinary people and the perspectives of Awakeners and Guardians.
Word was that the higher an Awakener’s rank, the worse their temper became; young Awakeners might just be volatile, but older Awakeners were downright cold.
This seemed to have become an inherent trait among Awakeners.
Even someone who originally had a fairly good disposition would gradually develop a peculiar temper after awakening, becoming irritable, short-fused, and emotionally distant.
Lin Ke could understand this; after all, Awakeners were also prone to pollution, and once contaminated, they would endure severe, persistent pain. Who could possibly maintain a good mindset while in constant agony?
But Squad 1 was somewhat different. Even though Chu Xiao and the others still looked like they weren’t to be trifled with, compared to the high-rank Awakeners Lin Ke had occasionally encountered in the past, they possessed far more humanity.
Yes, humanity.
They would find each other an eyesore, they would bicker and fight, but they would also huddle together to eat self-heating hotpot.
And now, they even remembered to save the license plate numbers of the destroyed vehicles while fighting a Bizarre, purely to make it convenient for the owners to receive compensation.
Was it because a Purifier was in the squad?
While Lin Ke was letting his mind wander over various random thoughts, the hairs on his back suddenly stood on end. He instinctively spun around, only to find the red Bizarre standing a mere meter away, staring at him coldly.
Before he could react, the Bizarre lunged at him violently, opening its cavernous mouth.
It was a literal cavernous mouth—when opened wide, it was actually larger than its own face.
“Ah!”
Lin Ke used to be just a makeup artist and possessed virtually no combat skills. Faced with this situation, his instinctive reaction was simply to raise his arms in front of his face.
He had absolutely no time to think about why the trapped Bizarre had suddenly appeared right in front of him; his mind was screaming a frantic alarm: I’m gonna die, I’m gonna die, I’m gonna die!
If it had been before, Lin Ke wouldn’t have been too terrified, since the others would definitely be focusing their full attention on him as the bait.
But now, the battle had reached a fever pitch, and everyone’s attention was fixed on the heavily fortified metal walls.
With the Bizarre launching a sudden ambush on him, the others simply didn’t have enough time to react!
It wasn’t until a loud bang echoed that Lin Ke realized he hadn’t been hit.
Lowering his arms blankly, he saw Luo Shizhen shielding him.
Luo Shizhen hadn’t become completely relaxed about Lin Ke just because his ability had advanced to a high sequence like the other teammates had.
With his one-track mind, he remembered that Lin Ke was the bait who required protection when they formulated the plan, and even now, he still firmly believed so.
The young man clenched his back teeth slightly from the sheer exertion; this Bizarre possessed immense strength, making it quite difficult even for him.
But fortunately, his own strength was also massive.
The long blade in his hand managed to lock perfectly between the red Bizarre’s claws, pinning it dynamically in place.
“Are you okay?”
The young Purifier, who usually looked a bit naive, turned his head slightly. His hands were trembling uncontrollably from the sheer output of force.
Yet his tone remained perfectly calm as he asked that single question.
Lin Ke stared blankly at his dependable back: “N-no, I’m fine.”
At this moment, he HTML felt as though Luo Shizhen was radiating light.
“It can actually teleport!”
Xiao Shan and the others rushed over to reinforce him, but the moment the red Bizarre was slain, it rapidly regenerated once more.
Even Chu Xiao was growing exhausted from the fighting: “This won’t do. If this keeps up, we’re all going to be ground down to death.”
Rong Nian was also incredibly irritable. There was no water in this combat environment, and as a member of the Siren sequence, the prolonged high-intensity combat was making him feel as though he was about to dehydrate.
Shielded in the rear, Lin Ke suddenly noticed a distinct fragrance emanating from these young Guardians.
Just a single sniff left his spirit completely re-energized.
When he smelled Luo Shizhen’s fragrance before, he felt that smelling it for a long time was somewhat intoxicating.
But now, he smelled a fragrance coming from Chu Xiao and the others.
Lin Ke: “…”
He felt an inexplicable sensation, as if he had swallowed a stone.
This was absolutely not an olfactory perception that belonged to his original human self.
He looked down at his own cracked hands—which looked identical to the red Bizarre’s—and his mind suddenly cleared.
“It’s emotions!”
“It’s devouring your negative emotions to regenerate!”
Rong Nian almost slipped up: “Then we’re done for. Our negative emotions are enough to feed eight of these Bizarres!”
His ability allowed him to perceive other people’s emotions, and even during peacetime when they weren’t fighting, his teammates were already gloomy enough.
Now, everyone was driven to extreme frustration by the battle, and the negative emotions on their bodies were surging upward in waves.
No wonder this Bizarre simply couldn’t be killed. If this continued, it would still keep resurrecting even if they fought for three days and three nights.
Cheng Yunshao gritted his teeth: “This is bad.”
Humans were born with all kinds of emotions; even a small child would generate negative emotions just from not getting snacks, let alone Awakeners, whose natures made them uniquely prone to harboring dark thoughts.
This wasn’t an emotional issue; it was pure science.
Lin Ke, however, fixed his gaze entirely on Luo Shizhen.
The young man’s body was spotlessly clean, completely devoid of that murky aura.
“Shizhen, you don’t have any negative emotions on you.”
Luo Shizhen was currently pursing his lips, contemplating which part of the Bizarre he should strike next, when he suddenly heard someone call his name: “Huh?”
He naturally didn’t have any negative emotions; his mind was entirely occupied with clobbering the Bizarre.
Just like when he was a child, as long as he focused on one task, absolutely nothing else could enter his mind.
“The Bizarre can’t devour your emotions to resurrect! Shizhen, are you confident you can take it on solo?”
Luo Shizhen pondered seriously for a moment and nodded: “I can give it a try.”
These words sounded quite impressive.
But his very next sentence was: “Stand back. If I can’t handle it, come save me.”
Lin Ke: “…”
Ah, this kid truly was as grounded and pragmatic as always.
Every member of Squad 1 except Luo Shizhen stepped back, continuing until Lin Ke told them to stop.
Facing the Bizarre before him, Luo Shizhen charged forward once more.
Lin Ke was significantly more nervous than the others; after all, he had always believed that Luo Shizhen’s direct combat power shouldn’t be that strong.
But Chu Xiao and the others were far more composed. Having fought alongside him in the South Ward for so long, they understood Luo Shizhen’s true capabilities better than anyone.
He might not have been the strongest at the absolute beginning, but his rate of improvement was undeniably the fastest.
After several rounds of fierce combat, Luo Shizhen dropped his blade.
Lin Ke: “Ah…”
Deprived of his weapon, Luo Shizhen still had his bare fists.
Lin Ke: “Ah!”
The Bizarre opened its cavernous mouth to bite him, so he reflexively grabbed its arm, opened his own mouth, and bit right back.
Lin Ke: “Ah?! Ah?!”
Chu Xiao wore an expression of absolute, cringing agony.
He was all too familiar with this scene; when Luo Shizhen fought as a child, he always resorted to biting.
Once, when he thoroughly provoked Luo Shizhen, Luo Shizhen had bitten him too, though they were stopped by the teacher. Grandma Luo had scolded and corrected him countless times before he finally managed to break the habit.
Evidently, Luo Shizhen had completely lost himself in the heat of battle.
The white Qi body that had been concealed all along could no longer remain hidden after its host’s bite, leaking out a trace of its aura.
The red Bizarre’s murky vision suddenly faltered, a flash of pure terror flitting through its eyes as it attempted to spin around and flee.
Seizing this window of opportunity, Luo Shizhen brought his blade down in a swift arc.
The blade was coated in his Qi essence, which was gleefully devouring the acquired pollution like an open buffet.
Luo Shizhen smacked his lips slightly.
Strictly speaking, this Bizarre was composed entirely of pollution; though it appeared to have a physical manifestation, when he bit down, it turned directly into pure pollution.
Although he had essentially bitten empty space, at that moment, Luo Shizhen felt an overwhelming sense of profound satisfaction.
The sensation felt exactly like he had just devoured a magnificent feast.
And right now, he wanted to keep eating.
Luo Shizhen turned his head to look at his teammates. His body was panting heavily from the intense exertion, and his clothes were clinging tightly to his skin.
“Beautifully done!!”
“Shizhen!! You’re absolutely amazing!”
His teammates’ praise made him beam with genuine happiness.
However, his sense of smell seemed to have grown even sharper.
Catching a delightful scent, Luo Shizhen looked toward the distance: “I want to keep fighting. Are you guys coming?”
The squad members, who were similarly completely drained of strength, responded: “…We’re in!”
The bootleg red Bizarre weakly raised its hand: “Count me in too. I can mimic that Bizarre from earlier and scratch people with my claws.”
Having reached an agreement, the group of young people—who had been awake since 3:00 AM—sprinted toward a single direction under the golden rays of the morning sun.
Sui An remained stationed on a tall tree, tracking their retreating figures as his brow furrowed slightly.
—That was the direction of the East District.
Chen He’an was currently fighting there.
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