Zhang Yi and his two companions arrived in the hallway where the battle between Liang Yue and the black monster had reached a fever pitch. Scattered across the ground were numerous steel needles, all glinting ominously in the dim light. Zhang Yi, wearing cut-resistant gloves, picked up two of the needles and stored them in his spatial storage for later study.
"Fatty, take action!" Zhang Yi gave a signal to Xu Fatty.
Following the command, Xu Fatty stepped forward, directing his powers towards both Liang Yue and the black monster. Suddenly, cracks appeared around the icy corridor, causing Liang Yue's pupils to contract as she quickly retreated. In the next moment, a massive collapse of ice and snow occurred above, sealing off the entire corridor.
The black monster vanished, leaving a huge mass of ice and snow between it and Liang Yue, making it impossible for her to pass. Liang Yue trembled with anger, glaring at Zhang Yi and Xu Fatty. "You!"
Xu Fatty quickly hid behind Zhang Yi, who, with a mischievous smile, rested his right hand on the trigger of his gun. "No need to thank us. We're all humans; helping each other is the right thing to do!"
Liang Yue was so furious that she could barely contain her rage. She raised her Tang sword, pointing the blade directly at Zhang Yi's face. "Do you know what you've done? I was just about to defeat that monster! This was my last chance—if I miss this, the next time it won't fall for the same trick!"
She had staked everything on this final battle, burning through all her physical energy for a desperate fight to the death. If she couldn't kill the monster this time, the only outcome would be her and her students being picked off one by one by the cunning creature. She hated Zhang Yi with every fiber of her being!
Zhang Yi, however, looked innocent. "Oh? Is that so? I just wanted to help you out, in case you lost to that monster." He pointed towards Yang Xinxin in the classroom. "If it weren't for your student being worried about you and begging me for help, I wouldn't have bothered."
Liang Yue was shaking with anger, her eyes filled with a murderous glare aimed at Zhang Yi. "You bastard!" She charged at Zhang Yi, moving with a speed that rivaled the black monster's.
Seeing her attack with lethal intent, Zhang Yi quickly dropped his smile. "For such a beautiful woman, it's a shame that you look so awful when you're angry!" he muttered as he raised his Desert Eagle.
"Bang!!" The powerful recoil shook Zhang Yi's shoulder, but the bullet, enhanced with his powers, was deadly. Despite whatever reason Liang Yue had for attacking him, Zhang Yi would defend himself.
In a split second, Zhang Yi witnessed something that left him stunned. The bullet was sliced cleanly in half by a flash of light, leaving bullet holes in the walls on either side. Liang Yue had actually cut the bullet in half with her sword!
A top-tier practitioner of Iaido could slice through a tennis ball traveling at 820 kilometers per hour, but Liang Yue, enhanced with special powers, could even cut through a bullet! In an instant, Liang Yue was right in front of Zhang Yi, her sword poised to strike.
Zhang Yi grinned. This was the moment he had been waiting for! A dimensional door opened in front of him. Liang Yue sensed danger but was moving too fast to avoid it.
"Swish—"
Liang Yue vanished into the dimensional door. Zhang Yi counted to two before opening the door again, releasing her. Staying too long in that dimension could be fatal. Although he had interfered with her plans, he felt a bit guilty—after all, she was Yang Xinxin's teacher. But after only two seconds in the other dimension, Liang Yue collapsed to the ground, utterly exhausted.
"What… was that just now?" Liang Yue gasped, her eyes filled with terror. She had already depleted most of her energy fighting the monster, and days of insufficient food and mental fatigue had left her barely able to stand.
Zhang Yi shrugged. "I was only trying to help, and you drew a sword on me? You're really hard to understand." As he spoke, he approached Liang Yue and snatched her beautifully crafted Tang sword. "To prevent you from getting angry again, I'll keep this dangerous thing safe."
He smiled as he spoke, admiring the sword that could cut through bullets—clearly a top-quality weapon, and now it was his. Liang Yue glared at him with such intensity that she looked ready to devour him.
"You… you… give me back Dragon Cry!"
Liang Yue, seeing her treasured sword—more precious to her than life—snatched away, nearly fainted from rage.
"Alright, alright, don't get so worked up. It's bad for your health. Someone help your teacher to rest," Zhang Yi instructed the other students, who hurried over to assist Liang Yue. Leaning against a wall, she was too weak to stand and could only glare at Zhang Yi with a mix of anger and helplessness.
"What exactly are you people? And why are you here?" she demanded.
Zhang Yi looked towards Yang Xinxin and replied, "I was entrusted by her family to bring her out of here."
"Leave?" Liang Yue and the other students exchanged hopeful glances.
"Can you take us with you?" one of them pleaded. "This place is too dangerous. You saw that monster—it's already eaten hundreds of people from our school. Please, take us too! My dad will reward you handsomely, I swear!"
"My dad's the head of the XX Bureau!"
"My dad's the director of the XX Department!"
Zhang Yi grew impatient. "I'm only here to take her. The rest of you need to find your own way out."
The students became increasingly desperate. "We can't reach our families! Please, help us. We'll repay you; we won't let you go unrewarded!"
Liang Yue, realizing that Zhang Yi and his companions were extraordinary—perhaps elite fighters if not superhumans—tried another approach. "Judging by your condition, you're living well, with a good home and plenty of food. Could you be kind enough to save these children? They are the hope of our nation's future!"
The students looked at Zhang Yi with hope, but his response was only a chuckle. "The hope of the nation? Are you saying that the children of high-ranking officials and wealthy families are the hope, while those from ordinary families are not? I don't see any particular superiority in you—just arrogance."
Zhang Yi shook his head with a cold smile. "Since you're so excellent, you can surely survive on your own. Sorry, but I'm just an ordinary guy, and I can't save you 'elites.'"