Chapter Thirty-Eight: Raven Swarm
The next day, inside the tent.
Su Jiu sat in front of Bai Qianyu like a doll, still wearing her mid-length JK uniform. Her tights were designed to allow her to carry a dagger and engage in combat with monsters without tearing.
Holding her locked phone, she puffed out her cheeks and watched Bai Qianyu, who was behind her fiddling with her long hair, and quietly muttered, “Just tie it into a ponytail, why make it so complicated?”
“If I don’t tie it up, it’ll be hard to wash off the grass later,” Bai Qianyu smiled, picking up a black rose hair tie from her wrist and carefully gathering Su Jiu’s green silk hair piece by piece.
The gentle movements made Su Jiu feel very comfortable, even more comfortable than after a haircut and wash…
“Ao.”
Hearing this, Su Jiu slightly lowered her head and looked at the black leather shoes on her feet, her two full calves dangling back and forth. She secretly thought, “What a virtuous little Bai… It seems the novel didn’t mention who she married, maybe…”
“Alright! You can check it yourself on your phone!” Bai Qianyu gently patted Su Jiu’s head and smiled with satisfaction.
“Huh?”
Snapping back to attention, Su Jiu took her phone and looked at the elf-like girl in the video. She was slightly stunned. She was bad at dressing up… She never expected the difference to be so big?
The girl in the phone had a delicate, flawless face the size of a palm. Her three thousand strands of green silk were gently tied up over her shoulders, leaving only a shorter lock of hair draped over her back.
A pair of willow eyebrows curved like crescent moons, yet a hint of aloofness was tinged at the tips. The black bow on her chest and the two on her hair echoed each other, how could “cute” possibly describe it?
“Little Bai, you’ll be following me directly on this training camp…” Su Jiu took a few more admiring glances before turning around and speaking with a serious expression. Before Bai Qianyu could object, she slowly stood up and walked towards the tent entrance, blocking the light. She paused and then softly said,
“There have been traces of a large monster appearing nearby. It’s very likely… artificial. After all, this has been a safe zone all these years. The probability of a large monster appearing after the military’s sweeps is very low.”
“Okay.”
Bai Qianyu nodded slightly. She now generally trusted Su Jiu’s words. Then she asked, “What about your younger brother? He’s in Liu Lin’s team.”
“I sent him a text. A coward like him usually won’t get into any trouble,” Su Jiu said with a smile, then walked out of the tent. “Let’s go, Sister Liu and the others are rushing us. Contact me by phone if anything comes up.”
Su Jiu walked past the gazes of girls who wanted to hug her. Why were there only girls?
It was because Su Jiu’s extremely cold demeanor hid an eccentric heart. Those boys were afraid that if they even looked at her, they’d end up like Corrupted Flesh Crow yesterday…
“Quiet!”
Soon, Su Jiu appeared alone on the small hillside. She scanned the six formations of students ready to spring into action below and slowly said, “The demon-hunting team has detected the shadow of a large monster appearing nearby. If you are scared, you can follow the demon-hunting team now.”
“A large monster? Can we really deal with something like that?”
“I’m out, my life is more important.”
As soon as these words were uttered, discussions erupted below. Within half a minute, some people began to withdraw. The class leaders of those students showed more or less displeased expressions. They looked enviously at Su Jiu’s team on the far side.
The remaining largest team was Su Jiu’s “Beautiful Girl Team.”
The reason was simple: Su Jiu was strong!
Su Jiu waited for another minute, confirming that no one else had stepped out from below. She even specifically glanced at her silly bird of a brother.
To her surprise, he was still in Liu Lin’s team, standing right behind her. His body was almost pressed against her. Yet, Liu Lin only gently pushed him away.
No wonder that brat replied with “Don’t worry, older sister, I can take care of myself.” So, with a beautiful woman accompanying him, who wouldn’t be flustered?
Then, Su Jiu blinked her eyes open and closed, and her clear voice called out, “Training starts! Go find monsters and defeat them with the skills you learned in class!”
Bai Qianyu didn’t delay either. She shouted to her team below, “We are following Su Jiu’s team. Everyone obey her arrangements.”
At first, some of the boys had interesting expressions. Being with a bunch of girls, that was great! But when they met Su Jiu’s icy gaze, their faces instantly turned pale.
Let’s forget about flirting with girls…
“We’ll head west along the river, that way we’ll encounter more monsters and it’ll be easier to score.” Su Jiu shouted, then let Bai Qianyu’s team merge with hers. “The boys are responsible for carrying things and conserving energy for combat. The girls will use knives and fire to lead the way! Students with Avatar skills should stand further out to protect those within the circle.”
Su Jiu hadn’t spent more than a year reading so many wilderness combat books for nothing. While Lin Liu’er and the other four groups were still sweating profusely, she had already organized her team of over thirty people in a well-ordered manner.
Liu Hong saw this and didn’t say much. Instead, she suggested that the remaining four groups also merge, but many of these people were young and energetic. Like Lin Liu’er, they lacked Su Jiu’s imposing presence and couldn’t control them.
“Instructors, don’t worry. These are just low-grade monsters, we can easily kill them.”
“Bai Qianyu, I didn’t expect her to be so timid, actually going to latch onto Su Jiu. I’m afraid by the time monsters are killed, Su Jiu will take all the credit.”
The four teams set off like a spring outing, even chatting and laughing, with some even boasting about how they showcased their skills when surrounded by wolves last time.
Liu Hong could only helplessly signal her team members to quietly follow behind them. She had already reported the appearance of a large monster to the Education Bureau early on, but there had been no response to this day.
…
Next, Bai Qianyu, as the leader, led a group of beautiful girls through the sawgrass. Students with fire attributes directly cleared the path ahead.
Su Jiu remained at the rear of the team to prevent any monsters from snatching away this group of piglets.
After an unknown amount of time, the team had traveled for about an hour. Bai Qianyu had also led the charge in killing some unranked monsters. Everyone stopped to rest near a river.
“The monsters peeking around are increasing. This is already the central area of the safe zone,” Su Jiu said, activating her vertical pupils and looking around from the back. Her vision pierced through the sawgrass, meeting pairs of red pupils. “We haven’t seen any other teams yet, but monsters are appearing frequently.”
Vaguely, black shadows of streaming light flashed by at high speed, their movements as swift as lightning in the night sky, startling some students.
There was no need for Su Jiu to say anything. Bai Qianyu extended her finger, and five black claws suddenly grew on her hand. She leaped forward and shattered the black shadow.
Then, she frowned, lifted it with her dragon claws, and said to Su Jiu, “It’s Corrupted Flesh Crow. Why are there so many Corrupted Flesh Crows? We’ve killed at least five or six on the way.”
“More than that… Could a raven swarm have taken a liking to us?”
Su Jiu shook her head, her gaze shifting to a withered tree not far away. From a distance, the tree appeared very full and dense, but when Su Jiu looked with her vertical pupils, it was easy to see that those were not leaves at all, but densely packed Corrupted Flesh Crows hanging upside down.
“A raven swarm? How is that possible? I remember from class that they don’t dare to attack groups of people rashly, they only eat carrion or something.”
A girl wearing glasses heard them and quickly checked her phone to refute them.
“There are no droppings of large animals nearby, so they shouldn’t be very high-level monsters.”
Su Jiu glanced at her without speaking, then slowly crouched down, pulled out the dagger from her leg, and scanned the surroundings with a blank expression.
Bai Qianyu’s face suddenly changed drastically as if she had thought of something. She shouted loudly, “Monsters are attacking! Everyone prepare for battle!”
They eat carrion. If they died, then… would they become carrion?
