Forward, Stay Alert!

“Watch out!” Huang Xiu grabbed Chi Xue’s arm and yanked her aside.

A ping-pong-sized fireball spiraled out of the darkness, landing exactly where she had stood. It left a black scorch mark on the ground.

“Sorry, sorry!” From afar, the Control Bureau special ability user who had slipped up was startled and apologized repeatedly.

Huang Xiu paid no attention to that. She pulled Chi Xue along as they ran, shouting loudly: “If you’re going to shoot, aim for the tail or the main rotor shaft! Hitting anywhere else is useless!”

The surrounding gunfire was explosive and the wind howled, so Chi Xue barely managed to yell back: “I’ll try again?”

“Don’t bother! You can’t shoot it down!” Huang Xiu refused mercilessly. The most important thing now was to break out quickly. Besides, the attack helicopter was still far away; they didn’t need to worry about it for now.

Rat-a-tat-tat-tat! The hand-cranked machine guns on both sides of the helicopter spat fire. Tracer rounds formed two orange chains that gradually contracted from the street toward the dormitory, like a net. The street surface was pockmarked with craters from the barrage, sending gravel and mud flying everywhere. Faced with such massive destructive power, even the hot-blooded special ability users had to temporarily avoid the edge. Thus, the special ability users who had already charged onto the street were forced back by the bullet chains.

“Anyone here a long-range ability user? Come with me and blast that chopper down!” Outside the dormitory building, a tall, thin male student from the Control Bureau was shouting at the top of his lungs, his face red. On his outstretched hands, each held a blazing fireball the size of a ping-pong ball.

“I’m in!”

“Count me in!”

No one was willing to sit idly by and lose this competition. A large number of special ability users with ranged abilities stepped forward. The Control Bureau, the Conquest Bureau, the Special High School, and Tiandu University—under the huge threat, they chose to cooperate. Ice cones, fireballs, water spheres, cards—various strange objects were hurled into the distant sky.

Whoosh! Sensing the danger, the attack helicopter immediately tilted its nose up and pulled away sharply, dodging most of the attacks. The remaining ranged attacks hit its underside but caused little damage.

At the same time, Huang Xiu tried to minimize her presence, sprinting along the diamond-shaped shadows cast by the buildings. She arrived at a narrow alley at the diagonal corner of the dormitory complex. The alley was cramped and pitch-black, with only the moonlight from the horizon faintly illuminating the few inches at the entrance and exit.

Huang Xiu crouched at the front, peering in from the entrance. Several trainees lay sprawled haphazardly inside. Seeing this, her heart sank. Clearly, they weren’t the only ones who thought of escaping this way; others had thought of it, and so had the garrison troops. So… should they change routes?

She had her mutated plants shield her front, ready to dodge bullets that might come from across the alley. She slowed her pace and glanced back. In the distant battlefield, the attack helicopter hadn’t been destroyed by the combined fire of the four organizations’ special ability users. Instead, it had climbed to a height where most users couldn’t reach it, continuing to strafe with its machine guns, trying to drive the institution’s users back near the dormitory.

Amid the hail of bullets, the rumbling sound of tank tracks crushing rubble came from both sides of the dormitory. Two armored tanks emerged simultaneously from the left and right. Creak… The tank barrels elevated, as if aiming.

Seeing this spectacle, Huang Xiu’s eyelids twitched. Well, that settled it—she no longer had to agonize over whether to change routes! Even if the alley was full of ambushes and dangers, it was still better than facing the strongest land weapon humanity had created!

“Zhong Zimei, you take the front! Push forward with my mutated plants! Wen Zhan, stay close to me—if something goes wrong, use Shadow Walk to get us out!” Huang Xiu issued three commands rapidly. “As for A Rou and Xiao Xue, you’ll have to manage on your own!”

With that, she waved her right hand and ordered the mutated plants to charge down the alley.

“Move, move! Get going!”

She shoved Zhong Zimei, who had run up, to the front, then grabbed Wen Zhan’s hand and followed into the alley. Seconds after the five entered, the tanks on both sides had adjusted their angles.

Bang! Bang! Two thunderous roars echoed from the distant left and right streets. The immense recoil jolted the tanks backward. Thick white smoke billowed from the barrels, dispersing into the air, adding a whiff of gunpowder to tonight’s competition. Two military-green shells spiraled through the sky and crashed onto the open ground in front of the dormitory.

“Holy crap!”

“What the hell!”

No one had expected Guang Hongfang to actually fire the cannons, so by the time the tank shells landed among the crowd, most people hadn’t reacted.

“Gulp…” The nearest to the shells was the tall, thin male student who had slipped earlier with his fireball. Staring at the shell before him, cold sweat poured down his forehead. His ability [Fire God] offered no protection. At this distance, if the shell exploded, he would surely take a casualty slot.

“Wait… it hasn’t exploded yet. Could it be a dud?” Or maybe just to scare them? His mind raced. The shell still hadn’t detonated. The tall, thin student tremblingly opened his eyes. He saw the fallen shell suddenly split open. A thick white smoke poured out. Then, carried by the wind that another special ability user had summoned earlier, it spread rapidly across the battlefield.

The student was too close to hold his breath; his nostrils fluttered as he inhaled a bit of the smoke. It had a very natural fragrance. Instantly, his head grew dizzy, his limbs went weak, and even his thoughts seemed to grind to a halt like a rusty spring.

Thud… He collapsed limply to the ground, snoring as if fast asleep. His fall was like a starting signal. The institution’s special ability users on the battlefield fell like dominoes, one after another, depending on their distance from the shells. In moments, more than half of the users were asleep.

“Guang Hongfang, aren’t you going too far?” In the secret monitoring room, Qiu Ziming, the leading teacher from the Control Bureau, voiced his condemnation. “Using detonators to blast the dormitory, deploying attack helicopters and tanks—this is a competition, not a war!”

“Exactly…” Many other leading teachers from different institutions nodded in agreement. They all felt this competition had gone a bit too far.

“Too far? What is too far?” Guang Hongfang laughed heartily. “I am the head instructor for this military training. My word is the rule.”

“If using tanks and choppers counts as too far, then you might as well take your people back now! Don’t stay here getting in my way!” He stood up, his fleshy face squeezing his narrowed eyes, making him look sinister and vicious. Many said Guang Hongfang had a bad reputation. One reason was his disregard for rules; another was his naturally villainous appearance.

“This military training is no game. It’s a full-force drill for the activation of the [Shushan] virtual realm. I don’t need flowers that need to be handled with kid gloves even in a competition.” Guang Hongfang sneered. “In the coming month, I will only go further. You’d all better prepare yourselves mentally.”

“So, will the subsequent [Shushan] virtual realm expedition depend on the performance of these trainees?” A female teacher from the Special High School suddenly asked.

“Well, who knows!” Guang Hongfang laughed. “If someone performs exceptionally well… maybe?”

“Push forward, stay alert!” In the alley, Huang Xiu held Wen Zhan’s hand at the rear, with Chi Xue and Jia Qianrou ahead. At the very front were Zhong Zimei and the mutated plants. This was their formation. Chi Xue and Jia Qianrou were responsible for using their abilities to deal with any garrison troops that might appear. Zhong Zimei and the mutated plants served as frontline tanks. Huang Xiu had clearly divided the roles, but it couldn’t be helped. The alley was long and narrow, hard to turn around in. If ambushed, they would likely panic and collide with each other.

The six special ability users lying in the alley—three piled haphazardly together, two near the exit, and one near the entrance—clearly showed that they had panicked, some choosing to flee and others to attack head-on. Learning from their mistake, Huang Xiu resolved from the start to force their way through, even if ambushed.

“No abnormalities… Wait, there are rats. Move.” Zhong Zimei suddenly shouted from the front.

“Help! I’m being targeted by rats!”

Hold on, this is a battlefield! Huang Xiu controlled the mutated green beans to trap the rats aside. They continued advancing. The alley was only about twenty meters long, and they had covered most of it. Amid the darkness, the light at the alley exit was enticing and conspicuous, giving one an illusion of wanting to run out and embrace the light. It was human nature to fear darkness and crave light. Huang Xiu forced herself to suppress the urge to run, turning back every few steps to watch for garrison troops that might block their retreat. At the same time, several stronger mutated plants circled around her, also on alert.

Bang! Two more cannon blasts came from outside the alley. The tanks had fired again! Huang Xiu’s heart jolted with the sounds, her eyelids twitching slightly. Suddenly, several figures appeared at the alley’s entrance, exit, and on the rooftops of the buildings on both sides. The garrison troops had seized the moment when the five were distracted by the cannon fire and launched an attack!

Crack! Several flashbangs rained down from above like a storm. At the same time, the garrison at the exit and entrance opened fire. With a thunderous roar of gunfire, a dense hail of bullets swept toward the five.

Humans might get distracted, but mutated plants did not! The bullets were blocked by the plants. At the rear, the mutated plants had already used their bodies to shield Huang Xiu and Wen Zhan the moment the ability users appeared. After the first volley of bullets, the flashbangs landed in the middle of the group, at waist height.

Jia Qianrou’s eyes suddenly glowed white, and her right hand grasped empty space. She activated her ability [Telekinesis]. The falling flashbangs halted in midair beside their feet, as if caught by an invisible, gentle hand.

“Go!” Jia Qianru flicked her right hand upward. The flashbangs flew rapidly toward the rooftops.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Several blinding flashes erupted on the buildings above, starkly visible in the deep night.

Chi Xue drew her bowstring, aiming through the gap between the mutated plants and Zhong Zimei at the garrison at the exit. Head… or chest?

Whoosh! A metal pellet slipped through the gap, hitting a soldier’s bulletproof vest dead on. The ceramic plate inside clinked and cracked. The immense impact made the soldier stagger backward involuntarily, his firing pausing slightly. The suppressive fire on the five momentarily weakened.

“Charge!” Zhong Zimei had already used her ability to convert all her agility and strength into constitution. With her powerful physical endurance and recovery, even if hit by a stray bullet that pierced the mutated plant defense, she was fearless. Instead, she charged forward with even fiercer steps, pushing the frontline.

Meanwhile, at the rear of the group, Huang Xiu was not so lucky. A stray bullet pierced through the mutated plants and struck her lower abdomen. The hypnosis round’s power was not as high as expected; the bullet embedded in her flesh and stopped immediately, with even the tail of the bullet exposed. The pain was also less severe than she had anticipated, far less than the sting of cutting her own hand with a knife. First, a warmth spread in her abdomen, then a sharp pain accompanied by a burning sensation. After that, all feeling disappeared. Her entire abdomen went numb, as if anesthetized; touching it felt like touching a piece of smooth dead flesh.

Huang Xiu knew the drug in the hypnosis round had taken effect. Her brain began to grow drowsy, and her eyelids felt like lead weights. Sensing their master’s anomaly, the mutated plants instantly became berserk, charging forward without regard for bullets.

“Damn it… I can’t fall here!”

Slap! Huang Xiu slapped herself hard. The fiery sting helped her barely regain some clarity. But she found that everything before her eyes was receding. The walls on both sides twisted and distorted like crumpled paper. The stars in the sky lost their light and faded away. The entire world plunged into an endless darkness.

Huang Xiu turned her head. Wen Zhan’s eyes glowed with intense white light, her expression focused, teeth chattering, cold sweat beading on her forehead. Yet her right hand still tightly gripped Huang Xiu’s.

“Sister Xiu, I’ll take you out,” the socially anxious girl said. Having noticed that Huang Xiu was hit, she overcame her fear and anxiety and activated her ability [Shadow Walk].

Now, the two were traveling through the shadow world. Carrying a human, especially a special ability user, was a tremendous burden for Wen Zhan. She could feel her own virtual energy draining at an alarmingly fast rate.

“How… so fast!” Wen Zhan’s face turned pale. Previously, she had tested her limit—three trips carrying a person would exhaust her virtual energy and leave her powerless. But at this rate, not to mention three trips, even this one might not be completed. Could it be… A bead of sweat the size of a bean fell from her forehead. She suddenly turned to look at Huang Xiu, realizing the problem. Sister Xiu was S-class; her virtual energy far exceeded that of others at the same level. So carrying her was a much heavier burden than carrying others!

“What’s wrong?” Huang Xiu asked urgently, still under the effect of the hypnosis. She already understood their situation. At this moment, she was using her ability [Senluo] to direct the mutated plants to help Jia Qianru and Chi Xue break out.

“I can’t go on…” Wen Zhan panted heavily. “Sister Xiu, my virtual energy is almost drained. I can only take you this far. Afterwards…” Her voice grew weaker, and before she could finish, the surrounding endless darkness began to peel away like layers of paint. The pitch-black sky with sparse stars appeared, along with buildings of uniform shape and colorless exteriors. A gentle breeze carrying the smell of gunpowder brushed her face, and distant gunfire and explosions sounded.

Huang Xiu realized she had emerged from the shadow world. She noticed her right hand was empty, missing the soft touch. She looked beside her. The girl with a green bun was curled up on the rubble, eyes closed, breathing steadily. She had fallen asleep from fatigue due to severe virtual energy depletion.

Looking around, behind them was a simple two-story building with no bullet holes on the ground or walls. Several brown flowerpots were arranged in the yard, planted with vegetables. In short, it was peaceful.

What…?

Huang Xiu staggered to her feet, about to follow the connection with her mutated plants to help Jia Qianru and the others. At that moment, the [Senluo] connection instantly vanished, leaving only one—Huang Xiaoxian’s. At the same time, the distant gunfire abruptly ceased. It was over. Jia Qianru, Chi Xue, they had lost… Despite her fatigue and stiffness from the hypnosis, Huang Xiu immediately understood.

Damn it. Fury and frustration revived her mind a little, but helplessness and confusion flooded in. With the help of her five dormmates, she had barely escaped the encirclement around the female dormitory. Now she was alone. Could she still carry out the original plan to go to the Cave Mountains? Could she… do it alone?

Huang Xiu leaned against the wall, momentarily unsure where to go. After a moment’s hesitation, she made a decision. She walked quickly to the corner of the yard where the flowerpots were.

“Sorry, unknown vegetable-growing expert. I’ll compensate you after the competition,” Huang Xiu muttered to herself. These cabbages, Chinese cabbages, and pumpkins were so fresh and vibrant, grown in pots in the Gobi Desert. They clearly took a lot of care. But right now, she urgently needed some mutated plants for protection. The heavens had dropped a feast before her, and she couldn’t refuse.

She opened her palm, the stinging pain from the cut dispelling the last trace of weakness in her body. She swung her right hand, scattering droplets of blood. The vegetables and fruits in the flowerpots instantly glowed red, like warning lights in the pitch-black night.

“Come on, let’s make some trouble together!” Huang Xiu murmured, turning toward the yard exit.

Crack, crack… The sound of flowerpots breaking echoed behind her as one mutated plant after another emerged from the darkness.