A sudden blare of the alarm made Zhong Yun and Odin exchange a look, a flash of shock in both their eyes.

Odin leaped up and dashed out the door. In the hall, Liu Ming and the delicate-looking girl were peering blankly outside.

The alarms shrieking above the school grew more desperate. They had participated in the evacuation drills last semester and knew that this pattern—two long sounds followed by one short—was only sounded in moments of extreme danger.

"Fourth," Liu Ming asked, "what happened?"

"I don't know," Odin’s face was grim. "But we had better get out of here, now."

Just then, Zhong Yun emerged, carrying that massive trunk of his. "Second, Fourth, contact the Boss immediately. Tell him to meet us at the West Gate right away." Saying this, he strode toward the exit.

Stepping outside, he sensed only one person following him. He spun around and roared at Liu Ming and the girl who were still frozen in place, "What are you waiting for? Hurry up and follow!"

Zhong Yun had, after all, commanded an entire fleet and led several major battles; his furious command carried an innate authority. Startled, Liu Ming and the girl instinctively trailed after him.

"What in the world is going on?" Odin, having just finished his call, struggled to keep pace behind Zhong Yun. Although Zhong Yun was hauling that enormous case, he moved with brisk, effortless speed, appearing lighter than the three empty-handed people behind him.

"A group of terrorists has breached the school. They are killing everyone on sight," Zhong Yun’s expression was dark. He had just received a report from Xiao Ling, corroborated by photos taken from the Mars showing that nearly all of Keton had descended into chaos, with atrocities unfolding in every city.

"Impossible!" The three following him gasped in unison. Liu Ming exclaimed, "What about security? The police? What kind of terrorists are this brazen?"

"The police station has already fallen," Zhong Yun said, his lips tightly pressed, his face like iron.

Along the way, many people looked up at the sky in bewilderment. Living in an age of peace, their sense of impending crisis was alarmingly low.

However, seeing the four figures of Zhong Yun’s group rushing urgently in one direction, a few quick-witted individuals instinctively followed. This, in turn, spurred more people to join the burgeoning procession.

In less than ten minutes, the group of four had swelled into a massive crowd exceeding fifty people, surging toward the West Gate. More people were joining continuously along the route.

The vast majority in the crowd had no idea what was happening; they were driven purely by herd mentality. When the alarm sounded, leaving them confused, seeing a large group moving past naturally prompted them to join the flow.

The influx of these people gave Zhong Yun a headache. Such a large contingent would absolutely draw the attention of the brutes. He wasn't naive enough to believe he could save all of them.

Xiao Ling’s intelligence indicated that the assailants who had stormed Keton Academy numbered close to fifty thousand, dispersed throughout the grounds. Even if Zhong Yun could clone himself, he couldn't save everyone.

Even the West Gate, where the number of assailants was lowest, hosted over three thousand of them.

Save who I can, Zhong Yun thought. Ultimately, he wasn't so cold-blooded as to ignore the lives of ordinary people.

"Ever fired a particle gun?" Zhong Yun asked without turning back.

Odin paused, instinctively glancing at the case several times larger than Zhong Yun. "Practiced for a while."

Zhong Yun lifted the case with one hand, opening a small hatch on the side with the other. He retrieved a particle rifle the length of a forearm and passed it back.

Odin instinctively took it, but couldn't help swallowing hard, staring blankly at the case. Inside, it was packed full of every kind of weapon imaginable.

Did the Third guy rob an armory? he couldn't help thinking.

"Second?" Zhong Yun pulled out another one and handed it to Liu Ming, who was equally stunned.

Finally, Zhong Yun drew out a weapon as thick as an ordinary person's torso, gleaming with cold black light. Holding the miniature arsenal in one hand and aiming the bulky gun with the other, the sight was indescribably formidable.

Those following behind saw this spectacle and felt the whole look was incredibly striking. Even now, they hadn't grasped the true danger.

"Prepare to fight," Zhong Yun suddenly roared, tossing the case onto a thick branch of a large tree ahead. His pace accelerated, and he drifted with an uncanny speed to the corner of a nearby structure, pressing his back against the wall.

"If you don't want to die, get down!" Zhong Yun bellowed, then agilely spun around, opening fire with the fully charged automatic particle rifle he’d just assembled.

Before him, a column of several hundred brutes was charging aggressively in their direction, barely two hundred meters away.

Aiming at the mob, the muzzle of the automatic particle rifle spewed particle beams like a raging storm, sweeping toward the assailants.

The brutes at the forefront bore the brunt. Struck by the highly penetrative light particles, one man was flung airborne, his body tearing in half mid-air under the terrifying impact, scattering into fragments of flesh and blood rain, interspersed with chunks of meat.

The scene was brutal and visceral.

Immediately following, waves of strangely dressed brutes tumbled down like dry wheat stalks under the barrage of particles. Shrieks of agony filled everyone's ears as they died.

When the last brute fell, Zhong Yun ceased fire, held the rifle, and closed his eyes. In the span of barely ten seconds, over two hundred people had died by his hand.

He didn't look at the hellscape he had created. He turned, retrieved the case from the tree branch, and silently swapped the energy cell in the automatic rifle for a new one.

"Let's go," Zhong Yun said without turning back, continuing his march forward.

Odin followed without hesitation. He clutched the weapon tightly, the sweat making the grip slick. If the particle rifle hadn't featured excellent anti-slip design, he wouldn't have been able to hold on.

Though the building blocked his view, he could guess what had transpired. As they passed that spot, he dared not look back, staring fixedly at Zhong Yun’s retreating figure through gritted teeth.

Liu Ming couldn't restrain himself. A single glance was enough; his face instantly drained of color. He grabbed the girl, who was also about to look, pulled her head fiercely into his embrace, and rasped, "Don't look."

Staring straight at Zhong Yun’s back, in that moment, he felt his roommate was utterly foreign. Perhaps he had never truly known this man he shared quarters with.

A retching sound came from behind, tickling his own throat and churning his stomach. He knew someone had looked at that spot, and the thought of the bloody carnage made a lump rise in his throat.

"Ah—" It was the girl’s scream.

"You murderer!" An angry voice called out from behind them.

Zhong Yun ignored it and kept walking.

In the end, the group shrank back down to the original four. Having witnessed such a terrifying sight, no one dared follow. In their eyes, Zhong Yun had transformed into a bloodthirsty maniac.

The four walked in silence for about three minutes when Zhong Yun suddenly stated, "Prepare for battle."

Odin and Liu Ming quickly took cover behind trees. The girl remained cradled in Liu Ming's arms, seeming unusually docile, perhaps sensing the urgency.

Just as they hid, half a bald head appeared from the woods opposite. Seeing Zhong Yun carrying the enormous case, the bloodshot eyes flashed with a predatory gleam, like a beast spotting prey, and it walked toward Zhong Yun, panting heavily.

"Awooo—" A voice that was both human and beastly ripped toward the sky. It suddenly accelerated, lunging straight at Zhong Yun.

Mid-pounce, its body seemed to strike an invisible force, sending it flying sideways. It rolled several times on the ground before stopping. On its grotesque face was a charred, gaping hole that had pierced clean through its entire skull.

Zhong Yun turned; Odin was still holding his gun raised, his body trembling slightly.

"Good shot," Zhong Yun gave a thumbs-up.

To hit that brute’s head while it was mid-leap demonstrated truly exceptional marksmanship from Odin.

Zhong Yun walked over to the corpse and examined it closely. This brute was oddly dressed, sporting a striking yin-yang hairstyle. Its physique didn't look particularly robust, yet Zhong Yun had sensed an explosive reservoir of power radiating from it. This body shouldn't possess such strength.

Too bad there was no time, otherwise he could have had Xiao Ling run a diagnostic scan. That beast-like cry had triggered a specific suspicion in his mind.

Leaving the corpse behind, Zhong Yun led the three behind him onward. He didn't walk in a straight line but weaved and skirted around large concentrations of brutes. However, if they encountered stragglers or small squads, he dispatched them casually.

After changing the energy cell five times, Zhong Yun maneuvered near the vicinity of the Club. For some reason, he suddenly thought of Weiwei and Wenzhu; he wondered if they were inside the Club right now.

"Let's go take a look," Odin's voice came. After taking down several groups of assailants, he had finally adjusted; at least his gun hand wasn't shaking anymore.

Zhong Yun looked at him with slight surprise; how could he read his thoughts?

"Go." Hesitation was impossible now. If they could meet Weiwei, her combat skills would make escaping much easier, he reasoned, making his decision.

The four cautiously approached the Mechanist Hobby Club. Strangely, the closer they got, the more brutes they encountered. Zhong Yun closed his eyes and used his remote sense, immediately recoiling in shock.

His expression then grew deeply serious. He set down the case, opened it, donned his environmental suit, clipped the Ion Shocker Blade to his belt, and stuffed row after row of energy cells into the suit's various pockets.

"Wait for me here. I'll be right back. Watch these things," Zhong Yun finished, putting on his helmet, gripping the automatic particle rifle and the small particle cannon.

"Be careful," Odin said solemnly, watching him.

"You must come back safely," Liu Ming grabbed his hand and squeezed it hard.

Zhong Yun made a victory sign and left without looking back.

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