Lin Feng looked at the high school girl before him and saw a reflection of his own delusional phase from middle school—always fantasizing that one day he would gain a Superpower and save the world…
Perhaps it was precisely such a naive notion that could sustain such fearless courage.
Unfortunately, Liu Yueqi was still too weak right now. He had returned the Thousand Slash Saber to her not only so she could help him swing it and accumulate Damage for his Stacked Blades to use as a backup…
…but also with a slight intention of cultivating her. Either way, it was no loss to him. He might even get an unexpected reward later on—a cheap combatant.
After all, no normal person would choose to engage Zergs in close combat. A method of Upgrading that involved licking blood from a blade's edge—just thinking about it was dangerous.
So, for the time being, Lin Feng refused.
"We'll talk after you have your Superpower Awakening. Right now, you can't even handle a few high-Level Worker Zergs. What could you possibly use to protect me?"
"Sorry, but I'm not interested in being your babysitter."
With that, Lin Feng jumped directly out of the window, bending his knees to land steadily on the tenth floor.
With a powerful Physique of 35 points at Level 7, a jump from the three-meter-high rooftop was no sweat.
The woman following behind Lin Feng smiled.
"My name is Chen Yanyan, Lin Feng's personal assistant."
"Do your best, girl. If you want to stay by Brother Feng's side, maybe your aunt needs to try harder than you do…"
With that, she also jumped down. However, Lin Feng was below to catch her, so she was unharmed.
Liu Yueqi stood alone on the rooftop. After a final look around, she took a deep breath, bidding a final farewell to the place where her dream had come true.
Then she grabbed the cloth rope and slowly descended.
The scene in the corridor stunned everyone.
Even the worldly Qin Hu was shaken by the scene before him. He couldn't imagine how such powerful firepower, equivalent to an entire squad, could have been unleashed here.
Wiping out the hundred-plus Worker Zergs that formed the corpse pile before them would have been difficult without two coordinated rows of more than ten soldiers laying down crossfire.
And yet, in the entire dormitory building, only the young man named Lin Feng had a pistol.
When he asked the teachers and professors beside him, they all turned their gazes toward the small group who had just come down.
Lin Feng brandished the shiny black pistol in his hand.
"Hm, mine is pretty powerful."
Qin Hu nodded and said no more. His own squad had many Superpower Awakeners. Some could breathe fire, some could accelerate in an instant, but the most common ability was Physical Enhancement.
However, he had heard that a few snipers had awakened a special ability that allowed them to imbue their Power into the bullets they fired, giving ordinary ammunition the might of a Grenade Cannon, or even greater.
'Perhaps Lin Feng is one of those lucky few.'
'With him around, the escape ahead will be much safer.'
Enduring the foul stench from the Zerg corpses, Qin Hu called to the people behind him. They used the broken Back Armor plates as shovels to dig through the pile of bodies and clear a path.
Lin Feng naturally joined in. Since most of them had been killed by the Divine-level Pistol's bullets, the Red-Armored Beetle corpses were a pulpy mess with no salvage value, making it easy to dig a path wide enough for one person to pass.
Qin Hu took the lead, gun raised. He aimed at a few Red-Armored Beetles at the end of the corridor, taking them out with a single headshot each.
Following behind him, the group finally felt a sense of security.
Having failed to get help from Lin Feng, Liu Yueqi returned to her aunt's side. Meanwhile, Lin Feng brought up the rear with Chen Yanyan, guarding against any pursuing Red-Armored Beetles.
Soon, the group that had run down ten floors in one go was panting from exhaustion.
To their relief, while there were a few giant Zergs in the hallways, there was no sign of any Red-Armored Beetles outside the dormitory.
However, upon seeing this, Qin Hu showed no joy. Instead, his brows furrowed even more tightly as he turned and urged the eleven survivors behind him.
"Hurry up! Stop dawdling! This isn't a good sign."
"The noise of the helicopter can drive away the Worker Zergs outside, but it will attract the even more terrifying Soldier Zergs!"
Seeing Qin Hu striding quickly toward the parking lot, the others came to their senses. They immediately abandoned the idea of looking for food and hurried to follow the soldier.
Of them all, Zhang Xuan ran the fastest. He stuck close behind Qin Hu, struck up a brief conversation, and then led Qin Hu toward his car.
'The guy is smart; he knows who to latch onto.'
Liu Yueqi watched Liu Ruojiao struggling to keep up and sighed softly. She grew increasingly certain that if the two of them continued to follow Zhang Xuan, they would ultimately be doomed.
'That guy isn't thinking about Aunt at all. All he cares about is saving his own skin.'
As they reached the car, her aunt climbed into the back seat, panting, and waved to her.
"Yueqi, hurry!"
Zhang Xuan had already started the car. He stomped on the gas, and with a ROAR, the car shot out of the parking lot as he barked impatiently:
"Get in the car already! What are you dawdling for!"
Liu Yueqi had wanted to get into Lin Feng and Chen Yanyan's car, but when she saw her aunt in the back seat, she sighed and ran to climb into Zhang Xuan's new car.
With everyone aboard, Zhang Xuan couldn't wait. He stomped the gas and sped out of Hai City University, heading out of the city in the direction Qin Hu, in the passenger seat, was pointing, completely ignoring the other teachers and professors behind them who were just starting their own cars.
Lin Feng and Chen Yanyan returned to their Land Rover. Luckily, only the roof rack had been damaged on the way over; the chassis and engine were fine. Chen Yanyan started the car without issue and followed close behind.
Along the way, there was no sign of the Red-Armored Beetles from before.
But they hadn't gone far when several cars suddenly shot out from an intersection. Among them was a bright yellow school bus, packed with survivors.
They were heading in the opposite direction from Lin Feng's group. The cars screeched to a halt, facing each other in the middle of the road. If the bus driver hadn't reacted quickly and wrenched the wheel, he would have crashed head-on into Zhang Xuan's car, which was unable to brake in time.
After the cars stopped, someone from the other group shouted anxiously:
"How did you all come from that direction?!"
"What about that helicopter from before?"
"Did the rescue team arrive?"
A series of questions came from the school bus.
'So these were survivors drawn by the helicopter.'
Zhang Xuan poked his head out, extremely impatient.
"Gone! They're all gone!"
"Follow us now! We have a Federation soldier in our car who can show the way and lead us to the main force!"
"Hurry up and get out of the way! Let us lead!"
After speaking, he laid on the horn to urge them on.
The school bus driver saw Qin Hu in the passenger seat holding a gun, wisely shifted into reverse, and made way for the cars in front.
However, in that brief moment of delay, several gigantic black Zergs suddenly appeared on the road behind them. They were over three meters tall, as big as small vans, and as fast as the wind.
Behind them followed a large red tide, so dense that a closer look revealed it was the entire Red-Armored Beetle Swarm that had disappeared earlier.
Three giant black Zergs, at the head of a Red-Armored Beetle Swarm…
Charged straight toward the convoy!
Through the rearview mirror, Lin Feng was the first to notice the situation. He quickly stuck his head out the window and used Hawkeye to lock onto the high-speed black Zergs.
'These must be the Soldier Zergs Ding Chenghai was talking about!'
But they weren't just black; they had yellow stripes like bees. Their appearance, however, was anything but cute and small. With vicious fangs and bodies covered in spikes, they looked utterly ferocious.
They moved on four sharp, rapidly twisting limbs. Flanking a pair of vertically-opening, pincer-like Giant Mandibles, they also had a pair of long, waving, and incredibly sharp stingers.
'A giant Zerg with multiple ways to attack!'
Under Lin Feng's focused gaze, the Identification of its Attributes quickly appeared:
[Black Spine Zerg, Lv. 12/19]
[Life Value 120, Physique 60, Spirit 6]
[Basic soldier unit of the Zerg Race, responsible for guarding the nest and clearing out enemies. Extremely high Attack Power, extremely fast movement speed. A perfect biological weapon.]
After reading the data, Lin Feng took a deep breath.
'They're finally here!'
'The truly threatening species of the Zerg Race!'
'The main force of their assault on humanity—the Black Spine Zergs!'
Following a scream, everyone snapped their heads back and saw the menacing Swarm behind the convoy, along with the three large Black Spine Zergs!
The fear of death made every driver slam their foot on the gas, gunning their engines as they raced out of the city.
Chen Yanyan followed closely behind Zhang Xuan's car, successfully rushing out of the intersection before the school bus driver could turn and cut in.
But the few sedans at the back were not so lucky!
Their cars weighed just over a ton and were thin-skinned vehicles made in the Neon Country. Under the impacts and bites of the Black Spine Zergs, they were quickly torn to scrap. The teachers inside died horribly in the grip of the Giant Mandibles, some torn in two at the waist!
No one caught by the Black Spine Zergs was spared.
After they finished off their enemies, they didn't even stop to feed but continued to pursue the fleeing convoy of survivors.
They moved at speeds of up to seventy miles per hour and could even leap over abandoned vehicles on the roadside, making them even faster than the convoy, which had to change lanes!
In their pursuit of the human convoy, the three Black Spine Zergs had now separated from the Red-Armored Beetle Swarm, making them incredibly conspicuous on the road.
Watching them get closer and closer, Lin Feng swallowed. On a straight stretch of road, he kicked open the already broken sunroof and stuck out the top half of his body.
When he raised his pistol, the school bus driver behind him wisely changed lanes to get out of his way.
Lin Feng took a deep breath and slowly raised his gun.
He would use Hawkeye's motion tracking to attempt a long-range shot from the moving vehicle.
This would be his first time directly facing a Black Spine Zerg!