Huang Xiu had no idea just how dire the situation in Ying City had become.
Yet, she understood that if one found themselves in peril with no hope of rescue, self-preservation was the only recourse.
She was not one to sit idly by and await her demise.
Even when faced with utter desperation, she would strive to seize a sliver of hope, especially with so many innocent students, utterly unconnected to the Void Realm (TL Note: A dangerous alternate dimension or realm of monsters common in web novels), swept up in this catastrophe beside her.
“Everyone, follow me! I’ll lead us out!”
Huang Xiu instructed the girls to form three lines, then, leading the charge atop the Osmanthus Tree Giant, she spearheaded their desperate push towards the school gates.
The Cactus, meanwhile, brought up the rear, providing a defensive cover.
First High School boasted an expansive campus, featuring not only a basketball court and a gymnasium but also a football field meticulously covered with artificial turf.
This had always been a source of pride for the students and staff of First High, yet at this very moment, Huang Xiu found herself despising the sheer size of the campus.
Perched atop the ten-meter-tall giant, her gaze swept over the crowns of countless roadside trees, searching for the school gate; the brown name-stone, usually prominent, was now deeply shrouded in darkness, barely discernible.
“Don’t be afraid! Stay with me!” Huang Xiu cried out, her voice raw and hoarse.
The students here were on edge, their nerves stretched to the breaking point; even the slightest mishap could trigger utter pandemonium.
And pandemonium, she knew, meant casualties.
Thus, Huang Xiu continued to shout, relying on her authority to instill confidence in the students.
‘So dry!’ Huang Xiu thought, her lips parched and her delicate skin cracked and peeling from dehydration.
She swallowed with difficulty, the thick saliva doing little more than carrying away the last remnants of moisture from her mouth, utterly failing to wet her throat.
“Cough, cough.” Huang Xiu gave a few silent, shallow coughs, not daring to let the students hear her struggle.
The Osmanthus Tree Giant advanced slowly, one deliberate step after another, yet its immense stride ensured their pace remained far from sluggish.
‘The Osmanthus Tree Giant is running low on Void Energy,’ Huang Xiu mused, her heart growing increasingly anxious as the school gate drew nearer.
Mutated plants relied on Void Energy for their actions; once their internal reserves were depleted, they would revert to their original forms.
Following the previous skirmish, the Osmanthus Tree Giant’s Void Energy was already dwindling.
At this critical juncture, losing the Osmanthus Tree Giant would leave them as vulnerable as fish on a chopping block, entirely at the mercy of their enemies.
Even if Huang Xiu herself managed to escape, she feared that barely one in ten of these students would survive.
‘There’s only the last bit of Void Energy I just recovered…’
Huang Xiu bit her lip hard, tirelessly channeling the Void Energy she had managed to recover from her own body into the Osmanthus Tree Giant.
‘It should hold out!’ the young woman thought, her pretty face as pale as plaster on a wall.
Cold sweat incessantly streamed down her forehead.
At this moment, she clung to consciousness solely through sheer, indomitable willpower, refusing to succumb to unconsciousness.
“So tired, so cold!” Huang Xiu murmured, and a wave of bewilderment washed over her.
She was so utterly exhausted, yet… why was she still persisting?
‘How strange…’ the young woman mused inwardly. ‘If it were just me, I surely wouldn’t be struggling this much.’
Or even if she only protected a few close individuals, she wouldn’t be in such a desperate state.
So what did these students have to do with her, truly? Why were they worth expending every last ounce of her being to protect?
Was she addicted to playing the hero?
Was it guilt?
Or perhaps, did she simply want to show off in front of the other girls, to finally experience a moment of glory that her ordinary former self had never known?
Huang Xiu bit her lip, questioning herself inwardly, and at last, the answer surfaced.
Ah, men remained boys until their dying breath—and even transformed, she remained a boy until her very end.
In her ordinary life, she had once yearned to shine brightly, to become a Prometheus who sought fire for humanity—even if the cost was her own life.
Thus, within her, there still lingered, a remnant of that unique spirit of male self-sacrifice.
Even her transformation had failed to extinguish it.
Huang Xiu suddenly laughed. “Even if my body has changed, my gender shifted, I am still me, the same me I was before.”
In that instant, the fear she had harbored regarding her transformation completely vanished.
‘Yes, so what if I transformed? So what if I changed my appearance? What is there to fear? I am who I am!’
‘As a grown man—why was I being so indecisive, so sentimental, agonizing over all those trivial matters from before?’
‘Changing gender simply means changing the way I live my life.’
‘After all, I’m destined to become a transcendent being, a protector of humanity!’
Having reconciled everything, Huang Xiu felt a sudden lightness course through her body.
From a body that had been utterly drained, unable to squeeze out another drop of Void Energy, new reserves suddenly began to well up, continuously regenerating.
In an instant, these reserves filled half her being, effectively suppressing the profound weariness that had gripped her.
The pallor of her face gave way to a healthy flush.
“What’s happening to me?” Huang Xiu wondered, clenching her fist in confusion.
She could feel her total Void Energy reserves increasing, and her physical constitution seemed to be strengthening in tandem.
This enhancement, however, was a gradual process, not immediately apparent.
A strange conjecture bloomed in her mind, and she whispered to herself in disbelief, “Could it be… I’ve had a breakthrough?”
Closing her eyes slightly to sense her body, she could perceive a viscous, mercury-like white ocean composed entirely of Void Energy.
She recalled that the Mercury Stage followed the Adult Insect Stage.
‘It truly seems I’ve broken through…’
The young woman’s expression grew peculiar as she recalled Professor Yuan’s personal visit, intent on taking her as a disciple.
It seemed she truly was an extraordinary genius.
She had harbored this thought before, but her past self had been far too ordinary.
Having grown accustomed to a life of ordinariness, Huang Xiu simply couldn’t believe that she possessed such exceptional talent as a transcendent being.
Snapping back to reality, she saw the school gate was now almost upon them, and the apprehension in Huang Xiu’s heart eased slightly.
She stood up, no longer sitting on the Osmanthus Tree Giant’s shoulder.
“Almost there!”
Huang Xiu encouraged the girls, as the Void Energy within her flowed from her feet into the Osmanthus Tree Giant’s body.
‘Out of power, are we? Time to recharge, then, and add another twenty!’ (TL Note: A common internet slang phrase used to humorously imply ‘recharging’ or ‘powering up’ when one’s energy or resources are depleted.)
A faint smile touched the young woman’s lips; she could sense her newfound strength, knowing she was considerably more powerful than before.
‘Hmph!’
‘If that Pig-Headed Teacher dared to show its face now, I’d kick it into an instant pork shop!’
“Keep up!” Huang Xiu called out, but then, a swift dark shadow suddenly emerged from behind, rapidly closing in.
The shadow was massive, moving on all fours, covering ten meters with a single leap, its lithe body stretching gracefully through the air.
The young woman’s pupils contracted; her sharp gaze pierced through the darkness, clearly discerning the form of the shadow.
It was, astonishingly, a tiger wearing a suit!
This tiger was terrifyingly robust, its body rippling with slabs of sinewy muscle, as if cast from steel.
Its tail, hanging behind it, was as thick as a bowl, and with a casual swipe, it sent a swath of roadside trees crashing down with splintering cracks.
Huang Xiu wasn’t the only one who noticed the pursuing tiger; several girls at the rear of the group had also spotted it.
Their faces contorted with abject terror, they abandoned all semblance of formation, bolting forward with every ounce of their strength.
They knew they couldn’t outrun the tiger, but they only needed to outrun their friends.
Such was the grim thought that festered in their minds.
Huang Xiu paid no mind to the actions of those few girls; everyone had the right to survive.
‘I have to stop it!’ Though she had no idea where this tiger had come from, Huang Xiu knew that at this very moment, she had to act.