The Intensifying Touchpoint

Xu Gaoxuan’s eyes shimmered with a blue light, like the clear, deep ocean.

Nothing could obstruct his gaze. The sprawling city-village contact point unfolded before him in all its false splendor.

“Except for one district and another, every district has a General-grade dragon.” His gaze swept from the central district to the outermost edges. The districts assigned to the Extreme Fist Association’s small teams had already been completely purged of dragon spawn.

Zhuang Bu, his muscles as sculpted as a statue, carried a General-grade dragon corpse in each hand. He stood atop a small mountain of dragon carcasses, laughing loudly. The members of his small team looked up at him with admiration.

District Y was the responsibility of a team formed by two high-ranking members of the Student Council and a member from the Shanchuan Province. The battle was still ongoing but nearing its end. The General-grade dragon had been killed by the Student Council Vice President, while a yellow-haired freshman from Shanchuan Province, whose ability resembled the Scorch Fruit, was wreaking havoc among the dragon spawn with his ability to turn his body into flames.

Apart from that, the situation in the other districts was also looking good. Even the districts that had General-grade dragons were progressing well. In fact, because those districts had General-grade dragons, most of the soldier-grade dragons from other areas had been drawn away. The outermost districts had actually completed their purge earlier and were now sending reinforcements inward. In short, the entire city-village contact point was in excellent shape. At this rate, the whole area would be cleared in at most another half hour.

“There are no King-grade dragons,” Xu Gaoxuan murmured softly. The recent behavior of the General-grade dragon in the central district—its continuous roaring at the sky—had surprised him. Fearing unexpected changes, he had scanned the entire contact point.

“It’s a good thing there are no King-grade dragons. This is a city-village; the population is too dense.”

Above them, the combat class teacher Shi Yuanzheng interjected casually. “It is him.”

Xu Gaoxuan nodded. He withdrew his gaze and looked back down at the area where the situation was most tense.

Even with two small teams totaling six people, only five were combat-effective. In Xu Gaoxuan’s view, only Yun Ning and Wen Erya among them could actually break through the General-grade dragon’s defense and injure it. The tree spear attack from the C-level freshman had been impressive in power, but it was clear that her energy consumption was high. Added to the fact that she had already summoned so many plant soldiers, even as a C-level, after such expenditure, her inner energy must be nearly depleted. Whether she could fire a second shot was doubtful.

Xu Gaoxuan’s insight was indeed sharp; he saw through Huang Xiu’s situation at a glance. Indeed, her reason for sitting atop the locust tree giant and not coming down had nothing to do with showing off. It was entirely because her energy was depleted, leaving her limbs weak and movement difficult. After all, those alien plants didn’t come from nothing—she had cut her hands many times to create them.

‘This time, I really don’t have a single drop left,’ Huang Xiu thought, feeling the nearly dried-up ocean of energy inside her. A bitter smile crossed her face. This contact point was far more challenging than the monster campus one. Even as a C-level with high innate energy density and at the Mercury rank, she had exhausted herself to achieve crowd control. As a result, in the current battle, aside from throwing the last tree spear with her remaining energy at the beginning, she couldn’t intervene. She could only watch helplessly.

“Damn it. When facing Golden-rank opponents, the quality of my alien plants is still lacking.” Through this battle, Huang Xiu had already sensed her shortcomings. Ordinary plants, even after being alienated, were still too weak. They were fine against opponents of the same rank, but against slightly stronger enemies, they were utterly useless. In the current fight, the locust tree giant she sat on could intervene, but due to its slow movements, it only got in the way and served as a target for the General-grade dragon.

‘I need higher-quality alien plants, or continue to increase quantity to achieve a qualitative change.’ Huang Xiu thought of two directions for enhancement: one focusing on quality and the other on quantity. She couldn’t judge which was better for now, so she would have to find the most suitable path through practice in her university life.

As Huang Xiu pondered, the battle grew more intense. Three figures dashed across the street, shattering the old brown sidewalk tiles under their feet. Every time fists, feet, claws, and blades clashed, dull thuds echoed through the street. In this boss fight, Yun Ning and Wen Erya were undoubtedly the absolute main forces. Only the two of them could engage the General-grade dragon in close combat. Huai Nannan, with her special ability, could even support them. As for Wei Xing, she couldn’t get involved at all. Although her attack and defense were up to par, her agility was insufficient. She could only watch alongside Huang Xiu and Ying Zhiyu, cheering for Yun Ning and the others in their hearts.

“You have to do your best!” Ying Zhiyu was praying inwardly when she suddenly heard a woman’s voice behind her, sounding somewhat surprised and uncertain. “Something seems wrong.”

She turned around and saw Huang Xiu sitting atop the locust tree giant, her expression solemn. Ying Zhiyu’s heart skipped a beat. “Sister Xiu, what’s wrong?”

“Don’t you feel it?” Huang Xiu closed her eyes. “The concentration of energy in the air is slowly increasing.” She had just noticed that her energy recovery rate was different from before—slightly faster. After a brief sensory scan, she discovered this.

“Is that so?” Ying Zhiyu closed her eyes and tried to sense it. But her innate energy concentration was barely B-grade, and her sensory acuity was nowhere near Huang Xiu’s level. After Huang Xiu pointed it out, she thought she felt it, but then doubted whether it was just her imagination.

“Will an increase in energy concentration cause any problems?” Ying Zhiyu asked curiously.

“I don’t know,” Huang Xiu shook her head, a hint of worry in her eyes. “Generally, the closer you are to the contact point center, the higher the energy concentration. Now that the concentration in this peripheral area has suddenly increased, it’s probably not a good sign.”

“Senior, is this detector actually useful?” Outside the contact point, Fang Miaoging crouched on the ground, looking utterly speechless. In front of her was Senior Mo Xuan, also crouching, drenched in sweat, having fiddled with the device for nearly half an hour. Half an hour ago, with his enticing and persuasive words and actions, he had painted her a grandiose picture that could choke a person. That had ignited Fang Miaoging’s ambition to work together with him and start something great. But now, looking at this detector—its surface full of cracks, resembling an iron Rubik’s Cube that had been on for ages without any response—she suddenly felt that this senior named Mo Xuan might be too unreliable.

Problems with new machines under development were common, but at least it should turn on! And not even knowing where the problem was!

“Junior, don’t worry. It’s just a simple glitch. I’ll fix it in no time.” Mo Xuan was sweating profusely as he tinkered with the detector, but after a while, it still didn’t respond. Frustrated, he threw aside all pretense of senior composure, stood up, and gave the detector a kick.

*Thump!*

The detector slid a few centimeters.

“Senior, you…” Fang Miaoging was at a loss for words.

Seeing the growing suspicion in his junior’s eyes, Mo Xuan quickly came up with an excuse. “This instrument is very delicate, so during transport…”

Before he could finish, the detector suddenly vibrated and emitted a humming sound. The puddle of sewage on the ground trembled, sending out concentric ripples.