137: Chapter 137 Mayor Xia... has gone missing...

The Northern Ruins Wasteland Zone is more remote than the Abandoned City to the south.

The off-road vehicle made a U-turn in front of the Defense Bureau. Instructor Qin Feng slammed on the gas, the engine roared, and the vehicle bolted directly toward the north of the city.

After driving for twenty minutes, the vegetation on both sides of the road began to thin out, and the soil on the ground shifted from a grayish-brown to an unnatural dark purple.

Instructor Qin Feng slowed the vehicle down and tilted his chin forward.

"We're here."

The northern Wasteland Zone was a forest area, and the scent of pollution was very strong.

Lu Cheng pushed the car door open and stepped onto the ground, his boot sole crushing a piece of purplish stone.

About thirty meters ahead, a group of Pollution Beasts were lying in a first-floor storefront of a residential building. There were a little over ten of them, not very large, and they all appeared to be at the mid-stage of the Source Gathering Realm.

"Move out." Instructor Qin Feng drew his short blade.

"I'll handle it..."

A cold wind condensed around Su Wan. This time, the number of enemies was so small that Lu Cheng didn't need to intervene.

Su Wan cleared out all the exotic beasts by herself.

It took less than a minute.

Instructor Qin Feng didn't say anything this time, just sheathed his short blade back at his waist with a slightly helpless smile on his face.

Suddenly, Instructor Qin Feng's terminal sounded an alarm...

"What happened?" Lu Cheng leaned in.

Instructor Qin Feng didn't answer and turned the terminal screen toward the four of them.

Several emergency alerts popped up on the screen...

They were all reports of large groups of Polluted Exotic Beasts discovered from the suburbs to the Wasteland Zone...

"This isn't right." Instructor Qin Feng's voice sank.

Instructor Qin Feng's terminal vibrated again.

This time, it was a message sent personally by Xia Yunchi.

"Instructor Qin Feng, take the four kids and return to the city immediately. I will lead the team to handle the pollution outside the city personally; this pollution is not right."

After reading the message, Instructor Qin Feng looked up at the four of them.

"Mayor Xia has personally ordered us to return to the city immediately."

"But..." Xia Xi wanted to say something.

"No buts." Instructor Qin Feng interrupted her, his tone brooking no argument.

"Since Mayor Xia is personally stepping in, it means the situation is more complex than what we see."

He turned and walked toward the off-road vehicle, pulling the door open.

"Get in, we're going back."

The atmosphere in the car on the way back to the city was much gloomier than when they arrived.

Xia Xi gripped the handle of her great hammer, her fingers tapping on it unconsciously.

When the off-road vehicle drove into the urban area of Rong City, the atmosphere on the streets was clearly different from usual.

There were several more armored vehicles from the Defense Bureau on the main road, and Defense Bureau members in black training uniforms had set up temporary checkpoints at intersections.

There were fewer pedestrians on the road, and the occasional few who passed by were walking very quickly.

Instructor Qin Feng drove the car to the entrance of the Defense Bureau and stopped.

"You guys hand in the mission here; I need to go report to Mayor Xia immediately."

He opened the door, looked back at the four of them before leaving, "The mission reward has already been transferred to your school account. You all worked hard today."

"Instructor Qin, take care of yourself." Lu Cheng waved his hand.

Instructor Qin Feng nodded and walked quickly into the Defense Bureau building.

The sun had risen to the top of the sky. The midday sun shone on the steps of the Defense Bureau, compressing their shadows into a small clump beneath their feet.

"I'm hungry." Xia Xi put away her great hammer and patted her stomach. "I didn't eat anything when we left this morning."

"Me too." It was rare for Qian Shuying to take the initiative to speak.

Lu Cheng took out his terminal and checked the time. Ten past twelve.

"Find a place to eat?"

Su Wan nodded.

The four of them walked along the main road from the Defense Bureau entrance toward the city center.

There were fewer people on the street than usual, but the commercial area in the city center was still operating normally.

The shops on both sides of the road were open, with various goods displayed in glass windows, and loudspeakers were playing discount promotion advertisements.

Rong City Commercial Plaza, fourth floor.

The four of them found a restaurant by the window and sat down.

Xia Xi flipped through the menu, ordered four dishes and a soup, then pushed the menu to the side and leaned back in her chair, letting out a long sigh.

"This mission was so exhausting, mentally exhausting..."

The three of them nodded; no one expected such things to happen...

After the food was served, Xia Xi was the first to use her chopsticks, picking up a piece of braised pork and stuffing it into her mouth. Her cheeks bulged halfway, and she mumbled, "I'm starving."

Lu Cheng also picked up his chopsticks and was just about to pick up some food when his terminal suddenly vibrated.

He looked down at it.

High school class group chat.

The number of messages was jumping up at a speed visible to the naked eye—3, 7, 15, 28...

It exploded.

Lu Cheng opened the group chat.

The top message was sent by Ma Dachun.

"Holy shit!!! Lu Cheng, you didn't even say anything when you got back!!! That's so uncool!!!"

Even the punctuation marks started at three.

A row of messages followed immediately below.

Chen Wu: "@Lu Cheng, I've already reached 1.3 in the Extreme Realm, what about you?"

Chen Li: "How was the selection for that Navigator Academy? What does it feel like after getting in? @Lu Cheng"

Chen Li added another message: "You didn't get eliminated, did you? I heard the elimination rate at that place is exceptionally high..."

Messages came one after another.

"Did Lu Cheng really come back? I just saw Instructor Qin's car on the street."

"Holy shit, for real?"

"Brother Lu!!! Come out and talk!!!"

"Is he afraid to come out? Could he have really been eliminated?"

"Don't talk nonsense. What was Brother Lu's level back then? How could he possibly be eliminated?"

"Then make him say it himself."

Lu Cheng looked at the messages constantly refreshing on the screen and twitched the corner of his mouth.

Xia Xi leaned over and took a look: "Class group? So lively."

Lu Cheng scrolled through the chat history. "Our principal has been promoting the Navigator Academy quite a bit since we left. These guys all know how outrageous that academy is now."

Qian Shuying put down her chopsticks: "They're almost at the martial arts exam, right?"

"Yeah." Lu Cheng calculated the time. "Less than a month left."

He thought for a moment, typed a line of text in the input box, and sent it.

"I'm back to execute a mission, and I'm going back tonight. As for me~ I'm already at the Source Gathering Realm. Everyone, keep working hard, don't let me leave you too far behind~"

The group chat was silent for a full three seconds.

Then...

"Holy shit!!!!"

"Source Gathering Realm?!?"

"Are you fucking kidding me?!"

"Only a month!!! Jumping from the Extreme Realm to the Source Gathering Realm in one month?!?"

"Brother Lu, did you eat some kind of immortal pill?!?"

"It's fake, I don't believe it. @Chen Wu, didn't you say he was at most at the peak of the Extreme Realm?"

"How the fuck would I know! Lu Cheng, come out and explain clearly!"

Ma Dachun sent three messages in a row: "Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit!!!"

"Charles, I'm convinced!!"

"Lu Cheng, you're not human!!!"

Chen Li asked: "Is that academy really that fierce?"

Lu Cheng smiled.

These guys don't know that life at the Navigator Academy is completely different from a regular high school.

60% of the students who entered are already at the Source Gathering Realm, and the rest are all compressing their blood and energy, ready to break through at any time.

If he told them that he was ranked first in points at the academy, these guys' jaws would probably drop to the floor.

Never mind, I won't discourage them.

Lu Cheng chatted with his classmates in the group for a while, asked about their martial arts exam preparations, and asked if there was any new gossip at school.

The atmosphere in the group was incredibly lively, even the few classmates who usually didn't speak much bubbled up.

Xia Xi was eating next to him, occasionally peeking over to look at the chat content.

Lu Cheng was typing to reply to Chen Wu's question...

Then his fingers suddenly stopped.

The warning from Seeking Good Fortune and Avoiding Bad Luck suddenly shot from his spine to the top of his skull, making the entire back of his head go numb.

Lu Cheng stood up abruptly, his chair sliding backward and hitting the table behind him, making a bang.

Xia Xi was startled: "What's wrong?"

"Something's about to happen."

Lu Cheng had just finished saying these four words...

Boom!!!

At the end of the corridor outside the restaurant, the ground exploded.

The blast wave, wrapped in gravel and concrete fragments, poured in from the entrance. The bowls and dishes on the dining tables were shaken, jumping up, and glass cups fell to the ground, shattering everywhere.

The diners in the restaurant stood up, screaming. Some were knocked to the ground by the blast wave, and some were hugging their heads and shrinking into the corners.

Then that aura surged over—the aura of pollution.

Someone inhaled a breath of it and immediately collapsed to their knees, their face turning blue, retching violently.

Lu Cheng's pupils constricted.

There was something in the dust.

Several figures riding pollution monsters crawled out from the cracks in the ground.

They were larger than humans, corrupted crawlers with six legs, their shells covered in protruding pollution crystals. When their mouthparts opened, the saliva dripping onto the floor tiles caused the tiles to be corroded into smoking pits.

The ones riding on top were humans.

Black robes, hoods covering most of their faces, and the exposed skin of their palms was covered with black rune patterns.

Those runes were squirming under the skin like living creatures.

Lu Cheng remembered the patterns on those clothes; they were personnel from the Black Seed...

"They're all at the Meridian Opening Realm."

Su Wan's voice sounded from beside him, her sword already unsheathed.

The Cold Soul Sword Cloak was wrapped around the sword blade, and the surrounding temperature dropped suddenly by several degrees.

Four of them.

Everyone's aura was at the Meridian Opening Realm.

The pollution monsters they were riding were at least at the Meridian Opening Realm.

Lu Cheng took a deep breath. He had to resolve this as quickly as possible, otherwise, there were so many people in the mall...

Holy Dragon Armament, release.

Golden-white dragon scales emerged from the surface of his skin, the phantom of the dragon soul spread its wings behind him, and the Holy Dragon Force Field expanded outward with him as the center.

The tables and chairs in the restaurant were pushed outward by the force field, scraping against the floor and making a harsh, grating sound.

He turned his head to look at Xia Xi and Qian Shuying.

"Xia Xi, Qian Shuying, go evacuate the people."

Xia Xi shouldered her great hammer and nodded.

"Leave it to us."

She turned and rushed toward the restaurant entrance, shouting as she ran: "Everyone, go to the emergency exit! Don't crowd! Evacuate in an orderly manner!"

Qian Shuying followed behind, the Geng Metal Tiger Pattern lighting up, and Source Power bloomed as golden-white electric arcs on the surface of her skin.

She kicked open the door to the emergency exit and stood at the entrance, guiding the crowd to rush out.

Lu Cheng and Su Wan stood side by side.

In the corridor opposite, four Black Seed personnel jumped off the backs of the pollution monsters.

The pollution monsters growled low and crawled toward the restaurant, their six legs crushing the broken bricks and glass shards on the ground. The corrosive liquid from their mouthparts dripped all the way, burning a smoking trail into the floor tiles.

The Black Seed personnel in the lead raised his hand and lifted his hood.

His face was covered in black runes. Those runes extended from his forehead all the way to his neck, then burrowed into his collar, like some kind of parasitic organism crawling on his skin.

He grinned, revealing teeth stained gray by the pollution liquid.

"The uniform of the Navigator Academy... interesting."

His voice was hoarse, as if his throat had been scraped by something.

"What a pity."

He raised his hand, and a mass of black pollution Source Power condensed on his palm, rolling like viscous asphalt.

"So young, and you're going to die here."

Lu Cheng had no intention of wasting words.

"Dragon Rage."

His aura surged instantly.

"Drifting Dragon Rending Shadow."

His figure flashed, leaving only an afterimage in place.

Three seconds, the golden-white light flashed four times between the four Black Seed members.

Puchi, puchi, puchi, puchi...

Four soft sounds almost overlapped.

The four Meridian Opening Realm Black Seed members, along with the corrupted crawlers beneath them, didn't even have a chance to react before they all stiffened in place, then collapsed with a crash, their auras extinguished.

Instant kill.

Lu Cheng landed, the dragon scales slowly retracting, and immediately sent a message to Instructor Qin Feng.

[Lu Cheng: Polluted Exotic Beasts and Black Seed personnel have appeared in the city. What is going on?]

Instructor Qin Feng replied extremely quickly: Rong City has suffered a large-scale invasion by the Black Seed, and battles are breaking out in many places across the city.

Black Seed invasion?

This bunch of scum, who always hide their heads and tails and only dare to act in the shadows, actually dared to directly launch a full-scale attack on a county-level city?

Instructor Qin Feng immediately sent another message: And... Mayor Xia has also lost contact with us now...