On the main road spanning from the teaching buildings to the dormitories, a ten-meter-tall giant was striding through the campus.
Each colossal footfall sent ground-shaking tremors through the earth.
Huang Xiu sat perched on the giant’s shoulder.
Leveraging the giant’s long strides, she reached the vicinity of the dormitories in less than half a minute.
“That scream earlier, I recall it being somewhere nearby,” she murmured, scanning her surroundings from her elevated position.
“Wait.”
Huang Xiu’s gaze sharpened, spotting numerous sturdy monkeys chattering excitedly as they gathered in the distance.
These monkeys wore the school uniforms of First High, and they seemed to be encircling… a person?
Many of the monkeys noticed the commotion behind them, turning their heads back curiously, some scratching their heads, others their armpits.
With their turn, a small gap appeared in the monkey horde, revealing the scene within in its entirety.
It was a girl, her clothes torn to shreds by the monkeys, clutching her head and trembling uncontrollably, her face etched with an indelible despair, her body covered in gaping, bloody claw marks.
“Agui! Charge!”
Reluctant to use the Mutated Ironwood, Huang Xiu feared accidentally harming the girl.
Her face turned ashen as she enunciated each word: “Crush every single one of these wretched monkeys for me!”
“Understood!”
The Osmanthus Tree Giant, sensing its master’s fury, widened its pupils-less, brown eyes to their absolute limit.
Shielding Huang Xiu with its right hand, it let out a roar, leaped high, and descended like a meteor, landing with a thunderous crash.
The immense impact shook the ground, kicking up clouds of dust several meters high.
The sound-activated lights in the adjacent dormitory building immediately flared on.
The startled monkeys scattered like a swarm, scrambling on all fours, a sight that precisely what Huang Xiu had intended.
With a mere thought, the Mutated Ironwood whizzed forth, launching several sharp spikes directly at the nearest monkeys, which resembled athletic students as if they had been training.
These sharp spikes, imbued with powerful kinetic energy, possessed unparalleled destructive power, injuring upon touch and killing upon impact.
Several monkeys, too slow to dodge, met a gruesome splat, half their bodies obliterated.
Intestines and blood clots splattered across the ground.
Her nose twitched faintly as Huang Xiu caught the acrid stench of fresh blood, making her stomach churn.
“Violating curfew, kill her, kill her!”
The monkeys, numerous in their ranks, saw their companions fall and charged forward, their eyes blazing red.
The Osmanthus Tree Giant bent slightly forward, shielding Huang Xiu with its right hand, and swept its left hand through the monkey horde, flattening several with effortless ease, like swatting flies.
The charging horde of monkeys was instantly decimated.
It was then that these school uniform-clad monkeys finally understood they were no match for the human before them.
Their eyes filled with terror, they scattered, chattering, some hiding in wall corners, others atop nearby street trees, and some even shoved their heads into the sewers, revealing their trembling half-bodies and bristling short tails.
In mere moments, only a handful of monkeys remained.
Even so, not a single monkey truly fled; instead, they trembled and chanted.
“Violating curfew regulations, violating curfew regulations!”
It seemed Huang Xiu, by violating the curfew, was their designated prey to be executed.
“These monkey students are far weaker than those pig-headed teachers,” the pretty young woman observed it all with a cold gaze.
Having always possessed excellent comprehension, she was beginning to grasp the true nature of this illusory realm—a dog-eat-dog animal school.
Those who violated school rules had to be punished, and rank was a symbol of strength.
A rigid hierarchy existed between students and teachers.
‘Does this mean, if this illusory realm truly merges with the real world, that school positions will henceforth be determined by the size of one’s fist?’
Huang Xiu shook her head vigorously at the thought; wouldn’t that just be a real-life version of Crows Zero (TL Note: A Japanese manga and film series, ‘Crows Zero,’ known for its delinquent high school setting and gang fights.)? How terrifying!
As the Osmanthus Tree Giant continued to swat down monkeys, one suddenly leaped forth from the horde, seizing the opportunity to grab the giant’s heel and scrambling up its leg.
Even when the Osmanthus Tree Giant tried to block it with its hand, the agile monkey swung deftly to evade.
For a monkey, climbing was instinct.
In a flash, it reached the giant’s abdomen, looked up, and immediately spotted Huang Xiu sitting safely on its shoulder.
This was the most beautiful human female it had ever seen.
Foul-smelling drool began to drip from its mouth as its eyes blazed red, howling, “Violating curfew regulations! I will defile you!”
At that moment, Huang Xiu also noticed this distinctly different monkey.
It was clearly more intelligent, and its school uniform differed from the others—the words “Student Council President” were embroidered on its chest.
Even though she was still largely unaware of her own femininity, Huang Xiu was incensed by its words.
‘Want to defile me? What kind of f***ing thing (TL Note: A highly vulgar Chinese slang term, similar to ‘what the hell’ or ‘what kind of f***ing thing are you.’) are you?’
Her anger turned into a mocking laugh, a smirk playing on her lips, revealing sharp canines between her soft, pink lips.
“You idiotic bastard, go to hell!”
“A-tada!” The monkey shrieked, scrambling upwards on all fours along the rough bark.
It leaped, pouncing towards Huang Xiu, its hideous face and every strand of blood-stained fur visible.
Yet the young woman remained utterly fearless.
—Even if her body was too weak to move, even if the Osmanthus Tree Giant couldn’t hit this abnormally agile monkey.
For the first plant she had mutated had already arrived on the battlefield.
“Don’t hurt Master!” A soccer ball-sized green humanoid leaped several meters high from the ground, extending its left leg and bending its right, employing what could only be described as a ‘rider kick’ to send the monkey flying.
The monkey shrieked as it landed, a tiny, spiky footprint marring its crimson face.
The surrounding monkeys wanted to gather and look, but dared not, only scratching their ears and cheeks nervously from a distance.
The chubby little green humanoid floated gracefully down before Huang Xiu, wiping its spiky thumb across its nose.
“Hoo-yah! Huang Xiaoxian, reporting for duty!” it screeched.
Huang Xiaoxian… this mutated cactus had actually given itself a name.
No one knew where it had learned such a thing.
Huang Xiu felt both amused and bewildered, sensing a difference in this mutated cactus before her.
She wondered if it was because this cactus was the very first plant she had mutated upon her initial awakening.
Not only could it exist independently of her for extended periods, but the void energy within it was no less potent than the void energy within the Osmanthus Tree Giant she currently rode.
However… this cactus named Huang Xiaoxian seemed to have shrunk considerably since their last encounter.
The young woman’s face held a hint of curiosity as she extended a hand towards the cactus, a hand that was much fairer and softer than before, yet noticeably smaller.
She wanted to caress the tiny cactus but was wary of being pricked by its spines.
After all, getting pricked by a cactus was quite painful.
Thus, after a slight hesitation, Huang Xiu merely gently poked the chubby, lucky doll-like cactus.
This caused it to stumble forward a few steps with a surprised ‘Ayaya!’
“Master?” It tilted its head, turning around, its bright green eyes blinking twice, filled with confusion.
‘This fellow is quite adorable.’
Huang Xiu smacked her lips, then commanded, “Deal with them for me!”
For these agile creatures, the Osmanthus Tree Giant was indeed somewhat clumsy.
The nimble cactus was a far more suitable choice.