Chapter 142: A loophole?
The next day.
On the highway leading to Qinghai City, a civilian bus was speeding. Inside, there were parents accompanying students. They were dressed simply, ordinary working people, and they were the ones who had carpooled together for this trip.
Only they would choose a crowded bus potentially susceptible to attacks. If there was even an Intermediate Stage Warrior, they would have already driven their children there themselves.
“Gugu—”
Some avian monsters passed by, letting out strange calls, which made these ordinary people panic. An Old Woman was frightened and started yelling. Her daughter looked around with embarrassment, repeatedly apologizing.
As if disturbed by these sounds, a Middle-aged Man, an Old Smoker, sitting in the front row, suddenly stood up and shouted coldly:
“What are you afraid of? With our Fox Hunters squad here, so what if monsters get in!!”
Beside him, another Enchanting Woman, acting as the “good cop,” gently nudged the Middle-aged Man next to her and said with a smile to everyone in the bus:
“Don’t worry too much, everyone. Our captain is as strong as Captain Liu from the city’s Exorcists! An Advanced Stage Warrior!”
She paused, then her gaze swept over the crowd like a queen, saying with great pride: “Our squad is the city’s top-ranked team! Rest assured, we even have records of hunting War General Level monsters.”
They actually didn’t really want to take on jobs like this, but seeing that the government offered subsidies, and now they couldn’t hunt monsters freely outside the city, they decided to go along with it.
Upon hearing this, the citizens felt much more relaxed. They forced themselves not to look out the car windows—
Pale white magic arrays rose along both sides of the road. Some small monsters clung to them, staring at the car with dim eyes, looking a bit creepy.
“Giggle…”
Leaning on the windowsill with one hand, Su Jiu sat in the leftmost seat, watching silly anime with E Huo, chuckling softly behind her hand.
Because a student of a similar age was sitting next to her, her laughter was somewhat reserved.
“This Jiu really works on my ice-elemental Avatar. Even at the War General Level, I can still feel the fluid in my body being constantly nourished.”
As if done, she occasionally opened her wine flask and took a sip of the wine sent by Lord Liu Yue, causing her face to flush slightly.
She hadn’t felt this relaxed in a long time. Being a War General Level herself, she could protect herself in front of a Battle King. It was rare to be able to relax for a while.
“Roar!”
Another strange bird cry. Su Jiu’s gaze shifted from her phone to the outside. Looking at the monsters outside, she found them a bit strange and muttered softly:
“This is not right… Although I encounter monsters when I take the highway, there are definitely not this many.”
She could feel that as the car drove further, the monsters became more and more dense, and their eyes revealed a kind of craving—like her own craving for blood.
They seemed to regard the people inside the car as food!
The Girl next to Su Jiu, seeing Su Jiu’s Hanfu attire, didn’t recognize her identity. After all, she had only revealed herself a few days ago, and she wasn’t wearing the black JK uniform with roses.
Then, the Girl looked at the wine flask in Su Jiu’s hand with curiosity and asked, “Classmate, aren’t you afraid looking at the monsters outside?”
Su Jiu turned to look at her and smiled, “There are protective arrays, they can’t get in, and these monsters don’t seem to have any rank.”
She paused slightly, pulled up her sleeve, revealing her fair fingers. The red roses on her fingernails faintly emitted a soft stream of light.
“Besides, even if they break in, don’t we have members of the Fox Hunters squad? Monsters like these Gugu Birds and Mischievous Monkeys, I can defeat them with a wave of my hand.”
“Wow, you can defeat monsters with a wave of your hand? Are you a student from Class A? You seem so amazing! But shouldn’t Class A have left already?”
The Girl looked at Su Jiu with a serious expression. She didn’t have much talent for cultivation, being a student from the later classes. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have been in a vehicle without teachers escorting them.
“Yes, I’m a student from Class A, but I was delayed due to some matter…”
Su Jiu said with a faint smile. Before she could finish, “Beep beep!” The bus suddenly braked hard, forcing everyone forward. Even the Middle-aged Man, who had been very arrogant, was no exception, as he had been standing.
This sudden braking sent him face-first onto the steps.
“Roar~” A low monster growl came from the road ahead.
Gently pressing her fingertips against the seat in front, Su Jiu easily stabilized herself. She frowned and turned her head slightly.
Her gaze passed through the glass to the creature the size of an ox. Her expression was one of surprise and confusion: “Dark Nighttiger? How did it get in?”
Her gaze fell beside the Dark Nighttiger, looking at the trail of blood on the ground, where she could faintly see some torn clothing. Her gaze gradually became serious—before them, someone had been killed.
Was this part of the military’s array trials, or an accident at some gap?
“What the hell are you driving like that!?” The Old Smoker man, holding his head, quickly got up, grabbed the driver by the collar, and yelled.
Despite having his collar pulled, the driver pointed at the Dark Nighttiger in front with panic and stammered, “A monster got in! A really big one…”
“A big tiger—a very big tiger!”
“How… how could this happen? Why did the highway’s array fail?”
Following the driver’s words, the students and parents inside showed fearful expressions. They looked at the massive body in front of the bus, their voices beginning to tremble.
“Captain, it’s a Dark Nighttiger. It must have gotten in because of a loophole that appeared in a certain gap.”
The Enchanting Woman from before casually pulled the Old Smoker’s sleeve. Her gaze fell on the Dark Nighttiger, and she didn’t seem too concerned.
After all, a monster like the Dark Nighttiger, at the Intermediate Stage Warrior level, was a piece of cake for their squad.
The Middle-aged Man, the Old Smoker, glanced out the window, threw the driver down, cursed “Bad luck!”, then swung his arms and got out of the bus, grinning as he prepared to fight the Dark Nighttiger. He chuckled:
“Little kitty, I’ll have a go at you.”
The Girl next to Su Jiu looked at the figure of the Old Smoker and asked nervously, “You think he can go down alone? Such a big tiger, it should be quite difficult?”
“He’s an Advanced Stage Warrior. Such a small monster is easy for him.”
Su Jiu glanced at it, smiled softly, then looked away, and under E Huo’s resentful gaze, turned the video back on.
Upon hearing the words “small monster,” the Girl’s mouth twitched slightly. How could this girl in Hanfu be so much like “Shockwave”?
This big tiger could swallow her in one bite!
But she saw that the Middle-aged Man in front of the bus was indeed suppressing the big tiger, and the tiger’s limbs were broken by his axe, forcing it to flee in a hurry.
Immediately, the Girl was slightly shocked. It was just as Su Jiu had said; Class A did have some foresight!
“What’s that?”
Suddenly feeling the light dimming, Su Jiu looked up, suddenly opened the window, and looked up at the sky. Her expression instantly froze, and she muttered to herself:
“Carrion Crows? What happened up ahead? What’s going on? Even if people keep dying, it shouldn’t…”
She saw dense flocks of black crows, rushing towards the road ahead as if they were going to a fair.
It was just like going to the cafeteria for a meal…
