What was that? You want to know which Ability I picked? You're whining about how I left all of you on a cliffhanger? Too bad. I'm going to continue leaving you guys in suspense, heh.
Reading through the various Abilities in the Evolution Tree must have taken up more time than I had expected, because by the time I was done and I dismissed the holographic screen, I saw that my friends were picking themselves up and getting ready to leave.
"Everyone okay?" I asked, playing the part of the concerned leader. Everyone answered in the affirmative, signaling that there were no major impediments.
"Let's go home," Lou Qian said. The rest nodded eagerly.
"I can't wait to wash up," Nian Qing complained, checking himself over and grimacing. "That time spent in the sewers was disgusting."
"Agreed." Pang Fei nodded heartily. "We should hurry. The sooner we get back and clean ourselves, the better."
"What are you guys, girls?" Lei Shu scoffed. "Look, even Lou Qian isn't whining about the sewers and filth, yet you guys are behaving so femininely."
"To be fair, cleanliness and hygiene are important," I pointed out. "Even evolvers have to take care not to fall sick, otherwise we'll suffer from infections."
"I actually could use a bath too," Lou Qian admitted with a smile, causing Lei Shu to jolt. She shrugged. "What? Just because I don't say it out loud doesn't mean I don't mind being dirty. It's just as Feng Zhi Ming says – taking care of one's hygiene is important."
So we hurried back, or so I thought, but our smartphones rang incessantly when we were about halfway back to District 4.
"An emergency call?" Lou Qian raised an eyebrow. "I wonder what happened?"
"Only one way to find out," I said. Then I picked up the smartphone and swiped the screen, tapping my finger on the green button. "Team Rat Extermination, reporting in."
"Say what?" Xiao Zhang's features twisted into surprise when he heard my voice. "Team Rat Extermination?"
"That's the mission we took on, sir. It's not meant to be a permanent name, anyway."
"Oh, okay." Xiao Zhang shook his head and sighed. He cleared his throat and took on a dignified posture. "Good work. I've seen the satellite signals and I want to confirm if your mission is a success and if you're on your way back to District 4 now."
"Yes, sir. Mission confirmed a success. You might want to send scouts or drones to check if there's any Cyclops Rats left, but otherwise they should be completely exterminated."
We would have done it ourselves, but there were other evolvers better suited for that role. Evolvers or mechanical drones, the latter ensuring that we didn't have to risk human lives to investigate enemy territory.
"Yes, we plan to dispatch them shortly," Xiao Zhang confirmed. "However, I'm contacting you now because of an emergency. You happen to be the closest team available, and we need you to rescue an evolver squad from class 3."
"Class 3 again?" I asked with a frown. It seemed that I was having frequent contact with class 3 over the past week or so.
"Yeah. Their entire squad was almost wiped out by a wave of zombies. We need you to rescue them. Apparently there's a warrior-class mutant mixed in there with them. You should hurry before there's no one left to save."
"Give us the coordinates and we'll go immediately." The words were barely out of my mouth when a new holographic screen was projected from my smartphone, appearing next to the floating window displaying Xiao Zhang's face. It was complete with a map and an icon that marked the last known position of the class 3 squad. Fortunately, satellite imagery was continually updating their location, and they appeared to be stationary at some abandoned station. I nodded, noting the huge number of red icons surrounding the station, and the pitifully blue ones. Red equaled enemy, blue equaled evolvers. This didn't bode well. "Thanks, we'll be on our way."
Switching off my smartphone, I turned to my party with an apologetic expression.
"Sorry about that, but I'll have to ask more from you guys. If you want to head back first, I don't blame you. I'll be going to help class 3."
"What are you talking about?" Pang Fei demanded. "Of course we're going with you!"
"Yeah, we can't just leave fellow humans to the mercy of zombies," Lei Shu agreed, cracking his knuckles. "The extermination of the rats earlier is just a warmup. I'm ready to pummel some zombies!"
"I'm in too," Nian Qing said.
"We should hurry," Lou Qian agreed, already turning away as she consulted the window on her smartphone. "We don't know how long class 3 can hold out for."
Thankful that no one had any objections, I nodded and began running in the direction of where class 3 was.
Currently, the survivors of class 3 had their backs to the wall. Most of them had been killed. The only survivors were Lisa and a couple of students, along with their instructor – a man named Cole.
Cole gritted his teeth and waved for his remaining students to get behind him. He swung his axe and hacked apart the zombies, slicing them to pieces, but he was slowly being overwhelmed by their sheer numbers. Not to mention the imposing form of the aberrant in front of him. It swung its claws, gouging out a huge chunk of concrete. One of the students of class 3 screamed before she was pulverized by its deadly appendages.
"I told you to get behind me!" Cole yelled. Blood dripped from his axe as he tried to make his way toward the aberrant, but a crowd of zombies stood in his way. He gritted his teeth and gathered his evolution energy to physically reinforce himself, but he was only able to cleave apart a few zombies in front of him. A few pounced on him from behind, but he shrugged them off, ramming the haft of the axe against them and breaking their bones.
Even as they fell, they moaned and continued to claw at him, grasping his ankles. He snarled and stomped on them, crushing hands and dislocating joints.
"Instructor Cole!"
"Lisa, stay back! Heal the injured!" Cole commanded. The blond evolver gulped and crouched down next to a few of her wounded classmates, her hands glowing with white and golden energy. The cuts slowly mended and blood trickled back, leaving damp red stains, but they remained largely unconscious.
Then a large shadow was cast on her. Lisa looked up and screamed, seeing that the aberrant had chosen to directly go for her. It must have recognized that she was the main pillar behind the dwindling force of class 3, and that if it eliminated the healer, they would have no hope left. It was accompanied by a couple of zombies, who reached out for her, and she shrank back, unable to suppress her fear.
"AAAAAAAAH!"
Cole tried to tear away from the zombies he was engaging, cursing that he wasn't gifted with an ability that allowed him to kill multiple zombies at once. His ability was strong, near invincible in one against one fights – something the aberrant found to its cost, judging from a single broken limb that dangled uselessly from its arachnid-like abdomen, oozing ichor. That was why it had chosen not to confront him directly.
However, it would take him some time to clear the overwhelming numbers of zombies. They couldn't hurt him, but he could only take down a few of them at a time, and the aberrant planned to capitalize on that.
Fortunately, Cole was suddenly free when lightning and icicles rained down upon his surroundings, electrocuting and freezing the zombies. A few of them were impaled, their bodies jerking and going into spasms as they were fried by lethal electricity.
From above, Lei Shu and Lou Qian descended, twirling their weapons. Lei Shu's staff flashed out while Lou Qian slashed them apart with her scythe. Within moments, dozens of zombies had fallen, their heads cleaved apart or pulverized, their brains bubbling as deadly currents flowed through them.
Lisa was still screaming, which drew Lei Shu and Lou Qian's attention, but before the two zombies could reach her, I yanked her back with one arm. Raising my other hand, I fired with my pistol, shooting both zombies in the head. Adjusting my aim, I cocked my right hand upward to blast the approaching aberrant in the head, splitting apart its carapace and causing it to howl in pain.
My arm still around Lisa's waist, I pulled her away to safety while still firing. Once I placed her down, I then kicked off the ground and launched myself at the aberrant. Drawing my other gun with my left hand, I drilled the thrashing aberrant with volleys of dual bolts, riddling its cracked chitin with cauterized craters.
Then I kicked it in the head, sending it sprawling on the ground. Before I landed, Lei Shu yelled something at me.
"Zhi Ming! Take this!"
I dropped both of my guns and spun around to grab the sword that he tossed toward me while he continued to whirl his staff about with his other hand. Seizing it, I then twisted around in midair and swung the sword to cleave the aberrant apart, splitting its head down in the middle and sending ichor spraying upward in a geyser.
Landing on the ground, I flicked the noxious fluids away from the sword I borrowed from Lei Shu and turned toward a stunned Lisa.
"Are you all right, Lisa?"
"Yes, thank you. Feng Zhi Ming, right?" She accepted my hand and allowed me to pull her back to her feet. As usual, I felt my breath blown away by being in such close proximity to the goddess of Fourth Evolver Academy, but I tried not to show it. Instead, I nodded.
"I know you!" One of the wounded shouted. They were formerly lying on the floor, but Nian Qing had used his wood techniques to ferry them away from the battlefield, bearing them to safety. "Aren't you Lou Qian's useless childhood friend?" He then scratched his head guiltily. "Ah, sorry, I didn't mean it like that."
"He's not my childhood friend, and he's not useless. What the hell are you talking about?!" Lou Qian glowered at the guy who spoke up.
"Uh, I think I heard of him. Isn't he the 'trash' with white dusk potential who Fan Kai mentioned? The toad who wanted to eat swan's meat by confessing to Lou Qian, who is a genius with purple soul talent?" Another of class 3's students asked.
…what the fuck? Did I just got transported to the world of Extraordinary Evolution or something?
"If he's trash, then what are you guys, who need him to save you?" Pang Fei stormed furiously. "Stop talking nonsense or I'll kick your asses! I don't care how hurt you are! I'll teach you a lesson for spreading rumors about our boss!"
"S…sorry! That's what Fan Kai said! We don't know anything! And now we know it's not true!" The guy hurriedly raised both his hands.
"Who the hell is Fan Kai?" I demanded. Lou Qian cursed under his breath.
"A so-called genius in class 1 who has been harassing me. I rejected him so many times, but he refuses to give up and continues to confess to and pursue me. He's an annoying, persistent stalker."
"Huh? Okay, so what does that have to do with slandering me?"
"How would I know? You should ask him."
Whatever questions I had would have to wait. Cole was rushing toward the remnants of class 3. "Lisa! Everyone! Are you all right? I'm sorry I came late. You didn't get hurt, right?"
For some reason, Cole was unusually concerned about Lisa. I suspected that they didn't just have a simple teacher-student relationship.
"Instructor Cole is Lisa's uncle," Pang Fei explained to me in a whisper when he saw my confusion. I nodded slowly, finally understanding.
"I'm fine," Lisa assured Cole. She clung to my arm and introduced me to her uncle. "Classmate Feng arrived just in time to save me."
"Yeah, well, Principal Xiao Zhang sent us your coordinates, so we rushed over as quickly as we could."
"Are you hurt, Uncle…Instructor Cole?" Lisa approached him to check on his wounds. She was already using her healing techniques, but he shook his head and brushed her off with a laugh.
"You know my ability. These fodder aren't able to hurt me."
"You really know how to show up in the nick of time, huh?" Lou Qian asked, glaring at me. I frowned.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing," she replied with a huff, her arms folded.
"Students of class 4," Lisa spoke up, taking a step forward. She bowed deeply. "Thank you very much for rescuing my class and Uncle Cole."
"No, it's nothing. We should all help each other, especially in times like these." I fiddled with my glasses awkwardly.
"You guys from class 4 aren't bad," Cole said, glaring at his students. "I wish my students from class 3 have as much backbone as you."
"We just got lucky," I said.
"Now you know how good we are, eh?" Pang Fei puffed his chest out. Lei Shu grinned.
"We'll beat you guys in the next academy tournament if you don't buck up!"
Only Lou Qian was cold, looking away with her arms folded. She sighed impatiently.
"Should we go now? Your mission is done, right? We've only be assigned to rescue you guys, so this is as far as we accompany you."
"Well, you just took care of our mission for us," Cole said with a laugh, gesturing at the carcass of the aberrant. For my part, I was eying my Kill Count, which had gone up to 52. Not bad. I would have to spread some into my stats while ploughing the majority into unlocking the next Ability along the evolution path.
"We get the credit, right?" Nian Qing asked eagerly. Cole nodded.
"Yeah, I'll take care of that when we get back. But what do you say we return to District 4 together? Safety in numbers and all that."
"I don't mind," I began as I glanced at my friends, and none of them seemed to have any objections. Not even the aloof Lou Qian, who simply nodded quietly. Turning back to Cole, I lowered my head slightly. "Then we'll be counting on you then."