Who left their last words here?

Chapter 129 "Actually, they weren't here for you..."

The squad behind the man formed a seamless black wedge shape, perfectly aligned like a precision instrument.

The twelve people were like twelve parts of a machine, exuding an impersonal, cold aura of war.

They were all wearing tactical helmets, with masks and black goggles completely covering their faces, creating a chilling atmosphere.

They were also wearing matte dark gray combat uniforms, a color that effectively absorbed light, making them appear as twelve blurry shadows in the flowing fog.

To be precise, this silent team escorting the man deep within the school really seemed like a group of tacitly coordinated ghosts!

They all wore the Bauhinia flower emblem on their chests, but unlike the leader, their Bauhinia flowers were made of sharp steel thorns.

"Something's wrong..."

Bai Zhou keenly sensed the anomaly and, taking advantage of the other party's continued exploration in the fog, immediately turned around and changed direction.

A group of 13 people, able to swagger around the school like this without being devoured by students and teachers—they undoubtedly possess strange and unpredictable methods that Bai Zhou is unaware of!
In particular, the unfathomable man in the suit who was leading the group sent a clear warning to Bai Zhou's spiritual sense as a chosen one.

Danger! A direct confrontation is not advisable!
Fortunately, Bai Zhou's school uniform gave him a much clearer field of vision than others, allowing him to spot them first.

"clatter……"

Bai Zhou decisively took a detour and headed in another direction.

But before he could take more than a few steps, he heard a piercing buzzing sound in his ears again.

"Again?"

Bai Zhou looked up and blinked twice in a daze.

"Buzzing—"

Appearing deep in the mist, heading in his direction, was a dense cluster of tiny black dots.

Only upon closer inspection can one discover that those small black dots are all drones carrying enchanted weapons!
Not only that.

"Crunch! Crunch!"

Below the drone, a swarm of robotic dogs came rushing towards them, a vast, dark mass like a tidal wave.

Each of the crimson-eyed mechanical dogs was equipped with a dark, enchanted submachine gun on its back; the cold barrels were as eerie as their eyes.

"Are aliens attacking?"

"Why didn't the aliens attack the federal administration building first, but instead bombed the school first?"

Bai Zhou cursed and swore, but his legs moved faster than his brain could make a decision. He turned and ran.

Behind those robotic dogs, there was even a group of more than a dozen living people wearing heavy blast armor and "pig nose masks"!

Where did all these people come from?

Why did they suddenly launch a full-scale attack and encirclement...? Is it a coordinated attack from within and without those three extraordinary beings?
There were people all around, and Bai Zhou realized that he probably wouldn't be able to escape now.

at this point……

"Boom! Rumble—"

So, with a blank expression, Bai Zhou returned to the vicinity of the turbulent battlefield once again.

Here, fierce blizzards howl and swirl, the principal's folding knife battles the celestial phenomena, fights against flames, and clashes with knights.

"..."

Although the distance had increased considerably, Bai Zhou still felt unsafe.

After thinking for a while, he went back into the teaching building and squatted in a corner to think about his next move.

"Senior, where have you been?"

Girl No. 9 noticed Bai Zhou's disappearance, and even as soon as Bai Zhou left the teaching building, she noticed some indescribable changes around her.

This doesn't seem to be an illusion. Or rather, ever since she stood beside "Senior Zhou," her destiny and avenues have become quite active. In terms of secret techniques, many problems that she couldn't understand before seem to have been solved immediately.

Although the underlying principle is unknown, this strange feeling is addictive, making No. 9 subconsciously want to get closer to "Senior Zhou".

When Senior Zhou disappeared, she felt an emptiness in her heart again...

"Someone's coming! Someone's coming!"

Number 42, who had been staring out the window, suddenly trembled with the fat on his face. He pushed up his thick glasses and stared intently at a mysterious unit that was slowly emerging from the depths of the mist.

"Yes--"

As the figure of this mysterious force gradually became clearer, Number 42's pupils suddenly contracted, as if he had seen something extremely terrifying.

His gaze, through his glasses, was fixed on the bauhinia flower encircled by steel on the chests of the squad members.

"It's [Iron Thorn]!"

Number 42's lips were trembling, and the words he whispered made the other two jump.

"The Iron Thorn Squad! The Iron Thorn Squad from the Bauhinia Group?!"

"Isn't this area under FZDC's control? What are they doing here?"

"I don't want to see them..."

Mentioning "Bauhinia Group" and "Iron Thorn" seemed to terrify the three people on the 9th, and their intense reaction far exceeded Bai Zhou's expectations.

Bai Zhou remained silent and expressionless on the surface, seemingly uninterested in their conversation, but in reality, he had been eavesdropping intently.

"Bauhinia Group..."

Bai Zhou had always paid close attention to this mysterious figure who had inexplicably put him on the wanted list throughout the city and had been silently standing behind the major.

Soon, from the fragmented information provided by Number 9 and others, Bai Zhou pieced together, for the first time, a glimpse of the Zijing Group in his mind...

In Tinghai City, the Zijing Group's reach extends everywhere. The various products people use for daily shopping and entertainment, the communication networks they use, the vehicles they ride, and even the food and medicine they buy... all likely have shares in the Zijing Group behind them.

—On the other side of the world, to ordinary extraordinary people, the Bauhinia Group is an even more enormous behemoth that covers the entire Listening Sea!

Wild extraordinary individuals, when they first come into contact with the extraordinary and mysterious, generally believe that they are unique and can do whatever they want.

But what followed was an invitation from official organizations to have tea with you, telling the extraordinary person that you are not special at all.

They'll say we can easily find countless scoundrels like you. From now on, you'll be under our surveillance. If you dare to leak even the slightest information about extraordinary individuals to ordinary people, you're dead!
Then, the extraordinary individuals who proclaim themselves law-abiding citizens will be greeted with warm welcomes from giant companies like the Bauhinia Group the moment they return home.

He thought he had become an extraordinary person, and that these wealthy conglomerates were insignificant, and that he could "borrow" money from them at will...

But who knew that on the other side of the world, the giants were still giants!
The Bauhinia Group will first send a business development representative dressed in a bespoke Armani suit to enthusiastically and almost obsequiously present the newly born extraordinary individual with an irresistible sponsorship agreement, using money unimaginable to ordinary people to buy out the rights to develop and research subsequent abilities.

They help extraordinary individuals grow, providing them with all the resources they need for spiritual practice, in exchange for nothing more than verbal loans, daily blood draws, and regular checkups.

As for those who refuse...

Extraordinary individuals like Number 9, who crave freedom yet are burdened with many concerns, would find themselves in a rather precarious situation if they rejected the offers extended by the Bauhinia Group and other powerful entities.

Not only are they ostracized by the entire mysterious world, but even their ordinary lives on the surface of the world are affected. They inexplicably become untrustworthy accounts, blacklisted and refused service by a bunch of companies, making it impossible for them to move an inch.

Zijing Group did nothing—

It simply doesn't provide those who refuse access to any of the group's products and services, including clothing, food, housing, and transportation.

Such a domineering conglomerate naturally has no shortage of enemies.

—The Iron Thorn Squad was born for this purpose! The sole purpose of this squad is to use the most advanced technology and tactics in Tinghai City to confront, suppress, and even capture those extraordinary individuals who defy common sense.

Their power stems from their team, like a precisely operating killing machine, constantly roaming the dark side of Tinghai City, reaping countless extraordinary individuals.

No wild extraordinary individual has not heard of the [Iron Thorn] team, and no wild extraordinary individual is unafraid of being surrounded by a group of gray-clad men with iron thorns printed on their chests in the middle of the night!
These lackeys of the tycoons are like the natural enemies of the extraordinary; their methods are extremely bizarre and incomprehensible.

But one thing is certain: their appearance means bloodshed and carnage. Every pore of their bodies reeks of blood, and the oppressive feeling they exert on these extraordinary individuals at the bottom is self-evident.

"Are these my future enemies...?"

Bai Zhou appeared expressionless, but inwardly he was rolling his eyes.

The major had long been at odds with him, but he never expected that there was such a monster standing behind the major who hadn't even made a move yet.

If they were to attack me, wouldn't they probably send over a level 5 monster right away?

—But it's not like they haven't put in any effort at all, just like now.

Bai Zhou narrowed his eyes slightly as he sized up the group, his gaze especially fixed on the man in the suit who was leading them.

This is an area surrounded by FZDC, how could the Bauhinia Group possibly interfere?
Don't tell me you just happened to be passing by.

If a dog can't smell poop, why would it come over on its own?
What's going on here? Others might not understand, but Bai Zhou certainly does.

These unexpected guests... are either reinforcements called by the major, or people cleaning up his mess; in any case, they are definitely related to the major!

The person is not good!
Just as Bai Zhou was pondering this.

The man in the suit who was leading the group glanced at the battlefield briefly, frowned as he looked the principal over for a while, and then turned his gaze to the teaching building.

"not good!"

The three people on the 9th noticed the man's gaze and were so frightened that they quickly crouched down by the window, covering their heads.

Especially the tallest and most muscular man, number 31, in order to keep half of his head out of the way, simply lay down on the ground in fear, in a comical posture.

"He...he...he's looking over here!"

"That man must be a big shot from the Bauhinia Group!"

"Don't notice us, don't notice us..."

The three of them muttered to themselves, trembling with fear.

But the man in the suit never paid any attention to them.

He merely gazed at Bai Zhou from afar, then slowly revealed a sinister smile:

"An abnormal individual...possesses the potential to grow into the king of lust?"

"I trust Lao Han's judgment; this anomalous individual is of great research value!"

As he spoke, he glanced again at the fierce battlefield, which seemed like a reappearance of a myth, curled his lip with an ambiguous expression, and raised his hand to beckon to the squad beside him:

"It's not our turn to fight on that battlefield yet."

"Let's take advantage of this free time and go! Capture that anomalous individual!"

"Crash-"

The guns were cocked, and the silent, ghost-like [Iron Thorn] squad responded, flowing like water towards the teaching building.

"coming……"

Bai Zhou frowned slightly, his fingertips twitching as he lay by his legs, preparing to pull something out.

"Boom!"

At the same time, a thunderous echo came from another direction.

A group of dark figures appeared in the gray fog; the mechanical army that Bai Zhou had seen before had arrived at the edge of the battlefield.

The dozen or so people following behind the mechanical legion appeared and disappeared in the mist, looking to Bai Zhou like mages who commanded the undead.

"These people, wouldn't they also..."

Bai Zhou's heart skipped a beat, and he suddenly had a bad feeling.

Sure enough, not long after, a gaunt man stepped forward and stood at the forefront of the many mechanical dogs, surveying the battlefield. He soon found himself facing Bai Zhou, who was standing by the building in a school uniform.

Then, he saw the [Iron Thorn] squad rushing towards the white boat.

The gaunt man seemed to fly into a rage, muttering something under his breath before raising his hand and waving it away—

"Rumble, rumble—"

The mechanical legion set off, a dense, overwhelming formation of drones swooping directly towards the white boat.

"no……"

"Do these people have some strange thoughts about me?"

Bai Zhou shivered, his left hand immediately reaching for the short stick at his waist. The hidden purple-gold saber also hummed at his waist, its cold blade piercing his thigh.

However, what Bai Zhou didn't expect was—

The three people number 9 beside him were reacting much more intensely than he was...

"Oh no! They're really coming towards us!"

Upon seeing the [Iron Thorn] squad rushing towards the teaching building, Girl Number 9 let out a low shout as if her hair had been pricked up.

She immediately turned her head sharply, glared at the two people beside her, and demanded in a stern voice:
"Tell me quickly! Have you done something wrong recently?"

"Otherwise, how would the Bauhinia Group have managed to capture us all the way to the Reflection Ruins Realm?"

The chubby boy, number 42, immediately raised his hands and shouted that he was innocent:

"I'm innocent, sister! You know me... I'm even afraid of mice, how could I dare offend those monsters!"

"Big sister, what should we do now?"

The muscular man hurriedly pulled a buzzing chainsaw from his backpack, though it offered him no sense of security whatsoever.
"Now that things have come to this, is there any way we can escape? We seem to be surrounded..."

The three explorers anxiously discussed their next move.

"Well, actually—"

A sudden whisper from the side interrupted the three's anxiety.

Bai Zhou, who had been standing in the corner, watched the three people pacing anxiously with a cold eye, blinking his eyes with a strange expression.

He finally couldn't hold back and spoke up:
"Actually, they weren't here for you..."

As he spoke, Bai Zhou raised his hand and pointed out the window to the special forces that were rushing towards him across the parade ground like arrows released from a bow.

And a vast army of mechanical soldiers covering the mountains and plains.

"I think--"

Faced with the three people's blank and dazed gazes, Bai Zhou sighed softly:

"They must have come looking for me."

(End of this chapter)