Chapter 91: First Squad
Having confirmed that the “fruit” could clear pollution without needing to be driven by a Purifier, the next step was to determine once again how to make the fruit multiply. If it were a matter of being full, Luo Shizhen had been filled to the absolute brim by Hua Yi’s pollution, yet it only left him in a drowsy, half-asleep state; the tree showed no intention of bearing fruit again. That left only one possibility: pollution directly from an Anomaly. It was only after swallowing the pollution left behind by the Fenghuang that the tree’s growth had been triggered.
“I want to join a Guardian squad and fight the Anomalies!”
He immediately told Sui-laoshi of his decision. The young Purifier hadn’t realized that he was gradually becoming much more decisive. In the past, he only knew to listen to his teachers and copy his classmates’ behaviors. But now, without anyone guiding him, Luo Shizhen had made his own choice.
Watching the child’s growth and listening to his excitement-filled speculations, Sui An nodded without hesitation.
“I’ll arrange it for you.”
A fledgling had grown its feathers and wanted to fly out of the nest; how could anyone stop him?
Yet Luo Shizhen wasn’t a High-Rank after all, and he hadn’t even finished school. Compared to his past self, he had grown remarkably well, but compared to other Guardians, he was still rather green. If Luo Shizhen only viewed himself as a support class, that would be fine. He wouldn’t need to fight; he would only need to be shielded behind his teammates, doing his best to clear away a portion of the pollution whenever they encountered it. That would be enough.
But both Sui An and Hua Yi could see a familiar, burning battle intent in Luo Shizhen’s eyes. This required careful planning.
If he wanted to participate in actual combat, it wouldn’t be as simple as just being protected behind his teammates. Luo Shizhen needed a deep rapport with his team. If the gap in their ranks was too vast, cultivating that rapport would be entirely impossible. After all, the tier of Anomalies fought by High-Rank Guardians could easily obliterate a green, tender Guardian who hadn’t even reached Rank 5. At his current stage, he needed teammates of a similar age to fight alongside him, honing his combat experience through battle after battle until he entered Rank 5.
Cheng Yunshao keenly picked up on this point immediately. This was their greatest opportunity to avoid being separated for the time being.
“Didn’t a massive contagious Anomaly outbreak just happen in the East District? Let’s submit an application to the school and form a squad ourselves,” Cheng Yunshao suggested. “We won’t join the first echelon; we’ll fight in the second echelon. This way, we can polish our combat skills, steer clear of High-Rank Anomalies, and test whether the growth of the Qi body’s fruit relies on purifying Anomaly pollution.”
Chu Xiao caught on as well and chimed in immediately, “Exactly. Rather than letting Shizhen join an unfamiliar team of peers, we might as well form our own squad.”
Xiao Shan, Lu Qiujin, and the others promptly voiced their support as well.
Hearing this, Luo Shizhen was also tempted. He wasn’t afraid of separation, but if they didn’t have to part ways, that would obviously be for the best. The young Purifier instinctively looked toward Sui An. Though he didn’t say a word, anyone could see the intense expectation in his bright black eyes.
Hua Yi had already dressed, returning once more to his tightly wrapped, elegant, and strictly upright appearance as a Guardian. The young men’s thoughts were practically written on their faces. Hua Yi’s gaze swept across Chu Xiao and Xiao Shan. He could tell that the biggest reason Luo Shizhen wanted to stay and form a squad was because of these two.
Was there anything special about them?
Hua Yi first looked at Chu Xiao. A green, tender little cub.
Then he looked at Xiao Shan. A young man who wasn’t yet strong enough.
After arrogantly sweeping his gaze over the two, Hua Yi withdrew his eyes. Although he felt these young men looked like they couldn’t take a beating at a glance, he still scrapped his original plan of having Luo Shizhen choose an established Guardian squad in this district. Generally speaking, young Awakeners of this age weren’t allowed to determine their own squads.
But facing Luo Shizhen, Hua Yi didn’t say anything to object. The boy had already managed to construct his own novel offensive methods and purification techniques as a Purifier. Despite his youth, Luo Shizhen already possessed the capability to make his own decisions.
Unlike Hua Yi, Sui An didn’t scrutinize the other young men. Instead, he said naturally, “You can apply to Eternal Day to form your own squad.”
“However…”
The consistently lazy and calm man looked at the deeply expectant Luo Shizhen, uncharacteristically hesitating for half a second.
“The number of Anomalies in the East District is too vast, and you don’t have much combat experience. You can switch to a different district.”
“Alright, Sui-laoshi, we’ll consider it carefully.” Luo Shizhen was very receptive to advice. He let out a yawn, but because he could group up with his companions again, he was exceptionally excited, so this bit of drowsiness didn’t matter at all.
In the car heading to Eternal Day, the young men sat together. The atmosphere wasn’t particularly harmonious, but it could be considered semi-passionate as they discussed which district to choose, whether to name their squad, and how to coordinate during combat. The latter wasn’t too difficult for them; back when they were posing as con artists and living in the villa, everyone except Luo Shizhen spent most of the early days beating each other up. Luo Shizhen had been responsible for breaking up the fights.
Through that constant brawling and mediating, the young men had accumulated a massive amount of rapport. At the very least, the moment someone made a move, the others could roughly guess what move would follow without even needing to glance over.
“The number of Anomalies in the East District is indeed immense. We don’t have the experience to fight large hordes yet, so it’s best if we start in the South District where the numbers are lower.” As always, Cheng Yunshao stepped into the role of military strategist, pulling up a map of Luoxia City’s four districts online to analyze it.
Luo Shizhen joined in with a deadpan, serious face.
Sitting in the front, Hua Yi cast a glance back. Though still so green, the young Purifier had already fully entered the mindset of a Guardian. He was trying his best to maintain a solemn expression, a condensed resolve gathering in the depths of his eyes as he discussed tactics with his companions and how they planned to deploy on the battlefield in the future.
In the eyes of a High-Rank Awakener, this scene was somewhat amusing yet incredibly endearing. When fighting Anomalies, tactical battlefield deployments were virtually useless. The moment they locked horns with the Bizarre, Guardians would quickly discover that the lessons taught in textbooks offered only negligible help. Guardians could only thoroughly master their own abilities, hone their personal combat styles, and forge a seamless rapport with their teammates through real, relentless combat time after time.
Hua Yi was well-accustomed to young Guardians engaging in armchair strategy at the start. Who hadn’t been young once? He had seen it too many times to care.
But today was an exception. Through the rearview mirror, his eyes kept drifting back to Luo Shizhen, who was pursing his lips as he earnestly analyzed the strategic situation in the South District and attempted to run drills on team coordination. The corners of Hua Yi’s eyes curled up slightly with unconscious amusement. Why hadn’t he noticed before that these green, tender young people filled with wild imaginations were actually quite entertaining?
“I want him.” His gaze remained fixed on Luo Shizhen’s silhouette in the rearview mirror. “He will join the Zhadao squad.”
Sui An was leaning back in his seat, appearing to rest with his eyes closed. Hearing this, he merely offered a faint smile.
“Zhadao doesn’t suit him.”
Hua Yi raised an eyebrow. “If Zhadao doesn’t suit him, then your Silver Cocoon does?”
Sui An’s voice remained flat and unbothered, retaining his usual lazy tone. “Zhadao’s strategic layout is only suitable for guarding a single city or a dozen cities. But his growth trajectory is aimed toward protecting an entire nation, or even an entire world.”
Hua Yi gritted his teeth. “I can change Zhadao’s combat style.”
“You can’t.” Sui An opened his eyes and looked at Hua Yi. “Your Devour ability is uncontrollable. Every time you fight, you have no choice but to lure the Anomalies to a deserted area. Such a style might suit the Fire and Ice elements, but it doesn’t suit Luo Shizhen, who possesses the Purification ability. He will go much further; Zhadao’s path doesn’t suit him.”
Hua Yi wanted to argue, but what Sui An said was an undeniable fact, leaving him with no choice but to shut his mouth coldly.
“It seems you’ve long thought this through.”
He asked, “But why didn’t you let them go to the East District? Their instructor is there; fighting there would only make them progress faster.”
Sui An slowly closed his eyes again, masking the depth within his gaze. “This is internal school business.”
Hua Yi: “…”
Is being an instructor that big of a deal?
But taking another glance through the rearview mirror at the young Purifier leaning against Chu Xiao, Hua Yi’s expression gradually softened. Zhadao’s path indeed wasn’t suitable for Luo Shizhen to stay long-term.
But what if it were just a temporary deployment?
Though there had never been a precedent for a Purifier rotating into a High-Rank Guardian squad for deployment, Luo Shizhen—who had managed to think of separating his Qi body to purify the world—might just be the exception.
Eternal Day’s policy regarding Purifiers had always been to provide twelve-tenths of support whenever ten-tenths was requested. They had previously found it strange that this newly awakened Purifier was far too honest, never demanding anything from Eternal Day, and had even been consistently diligent in purifying Awakeners—even clearing hordes of ordinary people while on a single mission.
Now that he wanted to form a squad to better research the current challenges of pollution, there was no way Eternal Day would stop him. If it weren’t for Sui An, the Watchman, being there, they might have hesitated slightly. After all, a squad composed entirely of ungraduated students sounded incredibly dangerous. Guardians did frequently sacrifice themselves in battles against the Bizarre, but meaningless sacrifice carried no value.
However, with Sui An, the Inspector, present, it was an entirely different story. Having a powerful elder by their side was like activating a resurrection cheat in a video game. They might end up covered in wounds during their growth, but with Sui An watching over them, death was absolutely out of the question.
The squad application report was quickly approved, and First Squad was officially established. The group changed into their combat suits and arrived at the South District’s Anomaly combat point.
“By the way, why name it ‘First Squad’?” the Eternal Day member leading them asked curiously. “Is there any special meaning behind this team name?”
Only two people had participated in choosing the name.
Cheng Yunshao explained, “‘One’ represents the greatest, but since we are still young and it might take a long time to become truly powerful, I added the word ‘Small’ to balance it out, finally landing on First Squad. That was my train of thought.”
Luo Shizhen said sheepishly, “Because this is the very first squad I’ve ever joined, so I thought First Squad sounded nice.”
Cheng Yunshao: “…”
Your reasoning isn’t wrong either. ‘One’ represents the beginning; the first squad is the starting point.
Luo Shizhen scratched his head. He had originally thought of it very simply, but for some reason, after Cheng Yunshao translated it, it instantly sounded incredibly complex. Fortunately, he had a mild temper and didn’t mind, simply nodding along with a silly chuckle.
Sui An stayed in the rear, letting these young people muck around on their own. The guide sent by Eternal Day was highly experienced in teaching young Guardians. For the first wave, he led them directly before a horde of Tier 2 Anomalies. No matter how much training these young Guardians had received at school, when they actually faced a real battle, they inevitably found themselves a bit frantic and clumsy. However, they were also quick learners.
The only wildcard was this Purifier. A Purifier who was supposed to be strictly guarded behind his teammates had actually taken up an offensive position, which deeply worried the guide. He had already prepared himself to intervene, planning to pull Luo Shizhen out the instant the boy fell into a losing position.
To his surprise, Luo Shizhen charged faster and harder than anyone. He indeed lacked the experience to fight multiple Anomalies simultaneously, but he possessed plenty of experience plowing fields. If you didn’t know what to do, just charge straight ahead.
Under the guide’s dumbfounded gaze, the young Purifier gripped his long knife, his Qi body closely attached to the blade, and sliced open an Anomaly’s torso with a single strike. Of course, the Anomaly didn’t die. After all, Anomalies weren’t human; even without a body, they could survive perfectly fine.
Any other young Guardian might have frozen for a moment before reacting, but Luo Shizhen didn’t freeze at all. He delivered another swift strike, cleanly severing the Anomaly’s head from its body, while simultaneously reaching his hand out to suck down the pollution roiling over it.
The guide: “…”
This is a Purifier? Since when are they this fierce??
Yet Luo Shizhen didn’t think he had done anything exaggerated. He was highly adept at simplifying things. No matter how much preparation they made before a battle, to him, fighting Anomalies boiled down to: charge over, kill, absorb the pollution, and done.
As the pollution was sucked down, Luo Shizhen narrowed his eyes in pure contentment. Sure enough, he was thrilled to see that the tree formed by his Qi body was growing once more. This trick worked!
The gaze he cast toward the remaining Anomalies instantly grew several degrees hotter than before.
Recommended Reads
![Enemies on a Narrow Road [Esports]](https://beereads.space/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/enemies-on-a-narrow-road-214x300.jpg)
