100 meters behind the King Beast.
“Give me your sidearm. Her plasma gun is too heavy for me to use.”
Mu Liuli was quickly tying Xin Yao to Lin Yu’s back so he wouldn’t have to worry about her while driving.
Upon hearing his request, she was about to hand it over. To her surprise, he wasn’t asking; he was informing her. He reached out and pulled the gun directly from the holster at her waist.
After taking it, he even expertly checked the ammo, flipped off the safety, and chambered a round. Once he was sure it was ready to fire, he tucked it into his pocket.
Mu Liuli stared intently into his eyes. The expression she saw there left her confused. They had barely spoken more than two sentences to each other normally, yet now he was filled with the firm certainty one only showed a close acquaintance.
“What are you standing there for? Go. As we discussed, save them and stall the King Beast. You can do it now,” Lin Yu urged when he saw her dazed expression.
“Oh, right.”
Just as she turned to leave, Lin Yu’s voice drifted from behind her again. This time, it lacked the previous sharpness and was instead tinged with a hint of concern.
“Be careful. You can do this.”
Her eyes flickered, and she bit her lower lip, whispering, “Why did you kiss me just now?”
“I’ll tell you when you get back.”
“Okay…”
Watching her figure recede alongside the Rift Beasts, Lin Yu gripped the sidearm in his hand.
His history with Mu Liuli had started because of Xia Yanran.
After entering Dome Academy, Mu Liuli gradually stopped hiding her strength as a power user. This led to a problem: Xia Yanran, who had previously been her equal, suddenly realized she was completely inferior. She couldn’t catch up at all.
Vanity and a desperate need to win caused inevitable impatience to take root in Xia Yanran. At the end of the day, she was just an ordinary girl, and she had often taken her frustrations out on Lin Yu during that time.
Lin Yu hadn’t taken it to heart then, his thinking still stuck in old habits. It wasn’t until a field exploration mission that the time bomb buried in his heart finally exploded.
Ignoring all warnings, the rash and impulsive Xia Yanran had alerted a Rift Beast swarm. If Mu Liuli hadn’t been there, not just the two of them, but their entire squad would have perished.
The price was that Mu Liuli had to protect those unawakened classmates while killing monsters, resulting in her being severely injured. Afterward, the academy gave her a major demerit out of respect for Qin Wuyue.
Qin Wuyue had also given her a harsh scolding and demanded that she apologize in person. She was told not to return until Mu Liuli forgave her.
Lin Yu had accompanied her back then, and it was in Mu Liuli’s home that he accidentally discovered those dolls.
Because of Xia Yanran, his interactions with Mu Liuli became more frequent. He remembered that back then, he had used the same blunt attitude he just had, snatching a doll she was cradling in her arms.
‘Wake up! Dead is dead. What’s the point of holding onto these! Would your parents want to see you like this?’
Lin Yu always felt that Xia Yanran and Mu Liuli were two extremes that shared a common core.
Xia Yanran seemed to naturally lack initiative. Once the motivation driving her thoughts disappeared, everything she did was purely based on momentum. When she stopped, she simply stopped.
Mu Liuli, on the other hand, actively refused to move forward. She didn’t want to do anything. If she could, she would stay in her own little kingdom forever, motionless.
He hadn’t known Lan Lan back then, but he suspected the Chief had seen through this as well, which was why she had forcibly recruited Mu Liuli into the Hunter Squad—to give her a reason to keep living.
*Roar!*
A roar from the distance interrupted Lin Yu’s memories.
As the saying goes, many ants can topple an elephant. No matter how strong a King Beast was, it was still a carbon-based lifeform.
Right now, its Command Trait was being fully subverted by Mu Liuli. Every subordinate it called was just another enemy. Its forward progress had been completely blocked by ordinary Rift Beasts.
By now, it was less than 200 meters away from the radiation range of the Black Tower. It was close enough to touch.
Dense swarms of Rift Beasts covered the King Beast’s entire body. Under Mu Liuli’s control, its four tentacles were receiving special attention.
It looked as though they were about to be bitten off simultaneously, but the King Beast suddenly seemed to go mad. Ignoring the provocations of the ordinary Rift Beasts, it began charging toward the Black Tower.
‘Damn it, how is this possible!’
Lin Yu’s eyes widened. This wasn’t how it was supposed to happen.
Based on years of human research, it was established that the Rift Beast species had a strict hierarchy. A superior held absolute dominance over a subordinate. If a subordinate committed even an unintentional offense against a superior, the only result was being crushed to death.
Many such cases had been observed on the battlefield. If an ordinary Rift Beast accidentally bumped into a high-level one, it would be torn apart and eaten by its peers within 1 second. This rule had never changed.
Therefore, logically, this King Beast should never have moved a step forward until it had slaughtered every one of these ordinary Rift Beasts.
Yet the current situation… it was as if it had received a death order from above.
Lin Yu was anxious, but the vehicle beneath him had been pushed to its limit. His speed couldn’t increase by even a fraction.
“Give… your power to me.”
The howling wind rushing past his ears didn’t drown out the weak voice.
Lin Yu looked to his side. Those words revealed that the woman hadn’t lost consciousness; she was simply so exhausted she didn’t even have the strength to open her eyes. Her lips were pale, and there wasn’t a hint of color on her face.
“Your physical condition… you’ll die.”
Unlike Mu Liuli, Xin Yao was truly seriously injured. The power boost from Frequency Resonance would cause her body to collapse first.
Xin Yao forced herself to raise her voice. “Where’s that momentum you had when lecturing Little Liuli? Stop dawdling and hurry up! *Cough, cough*…”
Fresh blood leaked from the corner of her mouth and dripped onto Lin Yu’s shoulder.
“…What do you want to do?” After a moment of silence, Lin Yu spoke with a heavy heart.
“Use… a vacuum to pull it back.”
Lin Yu instantly understood her plan. This woman’s ability was controlling air currents. If he boosted her ability, she could create a vacuum zone in the air, using atmospheric pressure to push the King Beast back.
He gripped the handlebar with one hand and took Xin Yao’s hand with the other, reaching forward.
Xin Yao glanced at the sadness on the young man’s face and joked, “No need to kiss me. Even though my husband passed away, I don’t want to betray him.”
“There’s no need…”
“Heh…”
There were many meanings in that light chuckle, but there was no time to analyze them now.
Lin Yu took a long breath, focusing his gaze ahead. “I’ll watch the intensity of my output. You… don’t push yourself too hard either. Stay alive, or Liuli won’t be able to take it.”
The corners of Xin Yao’s mouth curved into a faint arc. It was a smile that had let go of all obsession with life, leaving only a serene sense of relief.
Lin Yu carefully guided the remaining power within her body. An unnatural flush quietly climbed onto her deathly pale cheeks, and color slowly returned to her lips.
The appearance of this vibrant color didn’t bring vitality. Instead, it made her look like a candle about to burn out, bursting with its final bit of light—piercing, hot, and carrying a fleeting, tragic beauty.
“I’ll try.”
As her words fell, the wind began to flow in reverse.