Chapter 48: I'm Done Playing—It's Time to Take Off!

Ji Boxiao seemed to have heard the most ridiculous joke in the world.

“So you’re saying you can outrun us? Don’t you think a bit too highly of yourself?”

Lin Xiao couldn’t be bothered to explain—it was a waste of breath.

They’d been chased by spirit beasts for quite some time now, and many in the group were already exhausted. A lot of the students present hadn’t trained their bodies beforehand, and after running for so long, it felt as if their lungs were about to explode. If it weren’t for the sheer willpower to avoid elimination, most of them would have given up by now.

Zhou Zhi was one of them. If Lin Xiao hadn’t been dragging him along, he’d have collapsed on the ground and refused to get back up.

“Huff… Brother Xiao, maybe you should just leave me here. I really can’t go any further.”

“Stop it. I’m not leaving you behind.”

“But the people assigned to protect us won’t let the spirit beasts hurt us. It’s not like we’re in any real danger.”

“That may be true, but I think you can still hold out a bit longer. Let’s see how it goes. Unless we’re truly desperate, I don’t want you to be eliminated so easily!”

Shen Yao watched the two of them and couldn’t help but feel speechless.

“Honestly, before you judge others, shouldn’t you take a look at yourself first?”

She wasn’t just making baseless remarks—right now, Lin Xiao didn’t look any better off than Zhou Zhi. His clothes were already soaked with sweat. From the moment they encountered the spirit beasts, they’d run a long distance, and Lin Xiao was still carrying extra weight. Even back in the nursing home during his training, he’d never run this far.

Lin Xiao, however, didn’t mind. He knew where his limits lay. He could still keep going for now, and he didn’t want to lose this opportunity to train himself. When he truly couldn’t go on, he would discard the weights.

“Don’t worry, I can hold out.”

Seeing Lin Xiao’s confidence, Shen Yao didn’t try to persuade him any further—after all, she was still feeling perfectly fine. Before her awakening, she had trained regularly, so this amount of exercise was nothing to her.

There were quite a few others like her—those who had awakened beastification or other close-combat powers had all seen a boost in their physical strength. Though they were tired, they could still keep going. Most of the elemental awakeners, however, were at their limits. The wind and lightning types were faring a bit better, since their abilities enhanced their speed. Ji Boxiao and Chu Ran, for example, were having no trouble at all.

But Liu Ruyan was a different story. If Ji Boxiao hadn’t been helping her, she would have been eliminated long ago.

At that moment, the spirit beasts closed the gap with the group once more.

This time, some finally couldn’t keep up. The five at the very back were completely spent, and could only watch as the spirit beasts drew closer and closer.

At first, they weren’t too worried, assuming it was just the normal elimination process. They knew that in this secret realm, experts were protecting their safety. Someone would surely rescue them.

But soon, they realized something was wrong. The spirit beasts kept drawing nearer, and not a single expert appeared to save them.

“What the hell is this? Somebody, help me!”

“This isn’t what I signed up for!”

……

One fire-type student struggled to his feet and tried to escape, but in his panic fell flat on his face. He squeezed his eyes shut, accepting his fate.

As the five braced themselves for what they thought was the end, the pain they expected never came.

When they finally opened their eyes, they found themselves in a strange place, with no spirit beasts in sight.

“Did I die and go to heaven?”

They were all still shaken, but realized they’d been saved—though the experience had been a bit too intense. One water-type awakener had even wet himself from fright, and wished he could find a hole to crawl into.

The others didn’t laugh at him—they were in no state to. Murong Yu stood not far away, quietly watching them. Zhou Wei had asked him to intervene, and he was more than willing to take on the task.

Only someone as powerful as Murong Yu could so effortlessly save everyone at the last moment, even in such a dangerous situation. He’d gone to great lengths to let these youngsters experience the feeling of death—a lesson that would help them grow in the future.

How to soothe their traumatized hearts, however, was not his concern; there were others who would handle that.

The spirit beast horde, meanwhile, showed no sign of stopping just because those people had vanished. After all, they weren’t running by choice, but because the one driving them was far too terrifying.

Murong Yu had rescued the eliminated students at the critical moment, but those still fleeing had no idea. As far as they were concerned, those students had been swallowed by the spirit beast horde.

A few others who were about to give up thought that if the others had been rescued, they too would just quit. But when no rescue appeared, the students—though already at their limits—found a second wind, each one running even faster than before.

……

Shen Yao looked calmly at the gasping Lin Xiao and Zhou Zhi.

“Are you sure you two don’t need any help?”

Lin Xiao wiped the sweat from his forehead and waved her off. “No need, I’m fine!”

Shen Yao thought Lin Xiao was just being stubborn. They’d been the first to run and had been in the lead, but thanks to Zhou Zhi—and Lin Xiao slowing down—they’d been overtaken by Ji Boxiao and the others.

Ji Boxiao, seeing Lin Xiao’s stamina flagging, couldn’t help but smirk.

“Ha, I’m surprised you’re still hanging on. For an F-rank loser, you’ve done well to last this long. But this is as far as you go. I hope you survive.”

With that, Ji Boxiao surged past Lin Xiao.

Lin Xiao scoffed. This guy clearly wanted him dead as soon as possible; to be mocking him at a time like this—did he think Lin Xiao was a pushover?

Glancing back at the rapidly approaching spirit beasts, Lin Xiao knew he couldn’t keep going at this pace.

He immediately began to take off his clothes. Shen Yao clapped a hand over her eyes—though whether she peeked at Lin Xiao’s physique through her fingers, only she knew.

“Ugh! Pervert! What good is stripping at a time like this?”

Lin Xiao was speechless. He was only taking off his clothes to shed the weights—how was that being a pervert?

He quickly removed his weighted vest, hand and leg straps, and, seeing that no one was watching, stuffed them into his spatial ring. Since entering the nursing home, he only ever took off the weights to shower.

At that moment, Lin Xiao felt lighter than ever before.

He looked at the exhausted Zhou Zhi, hoisted him onto his shoulder, and set off. Zhou Zhi wasn’t exactly light, but compared to the weights Lin Xiao had been carrying, he was nothing.

With no time to put his shirt back on, Lin Xiao flashed Shen Yao a grin.

“I’m done playing around. I’m about to take off—care for a race to see who’s faster?”