Chapter 249

Chapter 249: Chapter 246: "I Also Want to LiveThe group hesitated in their steps.

Behind them, a white torrent surged relentlessly toward them.

Trees toppled, branches and leaves fluttered around, and the thick scent of blood seemed to flow tangibly toward them.

Dong Xue trembled all over, violently grabbing the collar of Zhuang Guo beside her.

"— The rope bridge, where is the rope bridge?" Her eyes were wide open, filled with terror, "Didn’t you say there would be a rope bridge here? We’ve run all the way here, forsaken other paths, only to see a cliff ahead—how do you expect us to escape!"

Zhuang Guo was also stunned at that moment. His somewhat rigid eyes shifted slightly, and his mouth was open, but he could not say anything.

He remembered that when he was brought here, there was still a bridge...

When exactly had this bridge... been severed?

He seemed to have foreseen the forthcoming conclusion, his whole body trembling, and fear gradually climbing up.

Looking at the people in white lab coats, covered in fresh blood and continually emerging from behind, he violently tore off Dong Xue’s hand and trembled as he ran toward the cliff.

The white creatures enclosed them in a circle, gradually enveloping the group and sealing all their paths of retreat.

Although they knew there was no way forward, the group was forced to run toward the cliff, until they burst out of the forest.

Mo Yan burst out of the forest, facing the full blast of the afternoon sun, but felt only coldness in his heart.

Before him was a weedless plain.

Beyond the plain, there was a cliff with an almost vertical cross-section.

"Whoosh— Whoosh—"

The world seemed to turn gray and white.

Below the cliff, intense sounds of water striking against each other could be heard, indicating a turbulent river whose waves could smash bones to pieces.

The life-saving rope bridge, unknowingly severed by someone beforehand, dangled beneath the cliff, half hanging on the rock face and half submerged in the turbulent river water, swaying like autumn leaves about to fall.

The cliff on the opposite side was at least two hundred meters away from their side, a distance that could not be jumped across by any means.

The group, looking at this chasm-like distance, slowly turned back.

Behind them, the blood-red eyes of the white creatures appeared intermittently among the shadows of the trees, fully sealing their retreat.

"Big brother," Mo Yan spoke, "These white creatures... evidently have a leader."

"Hmm," Su Ming’an said, "Otherwise, they wouldn’t have sealed our exit routes in advance like this."

Otherwise, they wouldn’t have been completely forced to this cliff edge, with no other path to take.

"Then, big brother, what should we do now?" Mo Yan’s tone was filled with helplessness.

Mo Yan glanced at Zhuang Guo, who was crouching on the ground shivering, and Dong Xue, who was standing by, panicked and helpless, then his gaze turned to Su Ming’an.

He saw that, even in such a desperate situation, his elder brother’s gaze remained as calm as ever.

... As if he wasn’t worried at all that they would die here.

The white creatures on the other side were inching closer, the afternoon’s brilliant sunlight casting on their white lab coats, highlighting the bright, shiny layer over the still wet, fresh blood.

Behind them, there was the cliff akin to a dead end, the bridge already cut off, leaving them no way to retreat.

"Break through." Su Ming’an was already in Full Concentration, rapidly recovering the mana points he had lost.

His mana points had gradually recovered to over 600, and he still had one chance left for Spatial Displacement.

Running alone was not an issue for him, but carrying Dong Xue would be difficult.

If he wanted to forcefully break through in this surrounded state while carrying Dong Xue, he would need to switch to Bright State.

His sanity was still at 60 points, switching to Bright State would...

Try it first, and switch back if the state feels wrong.

He entered into the five seconds of transition time.

"We clearly can’t go back; I’ll break through from the right side where there are relatively few enemies, probably just a dozen or so," Su Ming’an said.

"Wait, wait a moment——" Zhuang Guo suddenly looked up.

His face still bore the marks of scratches from branches, with sweat and blood mixed together, making him look extremely disheveled.

"What about us? We abandoned everything to flee with you," he stammered, his whole body trembling, his emotions growing more agitated, his voice echoing on the cliff’s edge, overpowering the roaring tide.

"You can follow us," Mo Yan said as he wiped off fragments of leaves from the sword, already preparing for the breakout.

"You move so fast; how could I possibly keep up..." Zhuang Guo cried out in despair, suddenly realizing something.

His eyes momentarily fixed, he stared at Suzune, who was still on Mo Yan’s back, as if she were some treasured gem.

He suddenly reached out to grab Suzune.

"Whoa——!"

Suzune had not expected Zhuang Guo to suddenly make a move on her; her waist was violently seized and pulled down as Zhuang Guo seemed about to throw her off the cliff.

"What are you doing!"

Mo Yan swiftly turned around, swatting him away with his sword; Zhuang Guo, already weak, was pushed back several steps and plopped down on the ground.

Zhuang Guo had just sat down when he suddenly stood up:

"Why does she get to live just because you’re carrying her!" he almost screamed, his face bloodied and visibly desperate: "—Can’t you carry me? Why can’t this spot be mine? Why do they get to survive with you, while I must become expendable cannon fodder? I want to live too——"

He spoke, seemingly about to grab Suzune again, desperate to snatch that sliver of hope for survival.

Su Ming’an frowned as he watched this scene.

The Bright State had already transitioned completely, unexpectedly without issues, his SAN value still very stable.

He grasped his sword, took a step forward, and was about to cut off Zhuang Guo’s hand.

For someone who was just a burden, he would rather have them die right here on this cliff.

"Swish——!"

Zhuang Guo’s head, eyes wide open, suddenly flew off, bringing with it a streak of fresh red blood.

Su Ming’an slowly lowered his sword, somewhat surprised by the scene.

In front of him, Mo Yan, with one hand on his sword, had eyes cold enough to pierce bone.

Mo Yan’s sword, without the slightest hesitation, slashed horizontally, cutting through Zhuang Guo’s neck with supreme precision, severing the head as if he had practiced it countless times.

The head fell to the ground, rolling halfway, leaving a long trail of blood.

Mo Yan’s hand holding the sword trembled slightly, the blade like a mirror shivered, a line of blood shook off to the ground, almost like a permanent mark.

"Brother, let’s prepare to break out," Mo Yan said.

His face bore neither smile nor flattery; after beheading Zhuang Guo, his stature didn’t tremble at all, as if he were accustomed to such scenes.

Su Ming’an heard the system’s voice, a follow-up prompt for his side mission.

"Hold on a moment," Su Ming’an said. "It seems someone wants to chat with us."

He had long noticed the white oddities halting their motions.

They seemed to be waiting for someone.

Otherwise, the commotion they had caused here would have been enough to make the whole group of oddities swarm over.

Typically, this would be a pre-battle cutscene, and it’s better to watch it; there might be clues.

As Su Ming’an’s words fell, the surrounding white oddities parted, and a person walked out from among them.

He likewise wore a white lab coat and a thick mask, but as he approached the group, he took off his mask, revealing a delicate face.

Xia Luoyang.

The person whom Su Ming’an had once thought was Xia Luoyang now stepped out from among the people.

For some reason, upon seeing this person, Su Ming’an subconsciously relaxed a bit. Perhaps because, during the last instance reset, Xia Luoyang had indeed helped him quite a lot and had protected him several times.

This counted as one of the few decent people on Earth.

In contrast, Mo Yan and the others immediately became wary, showing no sign of relaxation towards this first-day teacher.

"So this time, you chose this method?" Xia Luoyang, having removed his mask, looked at Su Ming’an.

"What?"

"Escaping... I see, it might also be a good route," Xia Luoyang said. "But, it wastes the surgery I did for you."

Su Ming’an quickly recalled the phrase from the start of the instance, "The surgery was very successful."

"I seem to have forgotten many things," said Su Ming’an.

"Yes," Xia Luoyang smiled at him.

Behind him, white creatures slowly gathered, the chainsaw in their hands flashing with a cold light.

"...If you hadn’t forgotten so many things, you might not have chosen the escape route," Xia Luoyang said. "This time, you have sealed your own way out, Xia Luoyang."

"You’ll help me, right?"

"Unfortunately," Xia Luoyang spread his hands. "I am a Teacher from White Sand Paradise. There are some rules that even I cannot defy."

"Boom—!"

Bright red numbers floated up from Xia Luoyang. He stood amidst the ripples in the air, his eyes filled with deep regret.

"...you still chose to attack me." He spoke softly. "The worst decision."

"—Follow me!" Su Ming’an instantly shouted.

He had just tentatively sent a spatial vibration towards Xia Luoyang.

But clearly, it had no effect.

He decisively carried Dong Xue and rushed toward the right side.

Xia Luoyang’s strength was probably not much different from Flax’s, and on a normal day, he could have worn him down, but now, there were still about forty white creatures behind Xia Luoyang.

With Dong Xue as a liability, he couldn’t engage in full combat.

Consuming five occupation points, Ming appeared by his side,

The moment Ming appeared, his hands were empty, eagerly eyeing the Sword of Yarman in his hands.

Su Ming’an suddenly realized and quickly took out anfrom his backpack, tossing it to Ming.

This weapon had been with him for a long time; since it was of White Level quality, it wasn’t worth much money, and had always laid in a slot of his backpack, never expecting it would come in handy at this time.

"What garbage..." Ming caught the exceedingly heavy iron rod with one hand, whispering.

"I’ll find you a new weapon later, use this for now," Su Ming’an said, not minding him as he directly rushed to the area on the right where there were the fewest people.

"Mo Yan, follow behind me and break through!" He didn’t look back, just shouted, focusing his gaze on a weak spot among the white creatures, his attention becoming increasingly concentrated.

The tide of white creatures had already clearly shifted towards him—they were going to encircle him!

As enemies rushed towards him, he took a deep breath, readying himself for the assault.

This time, it was possibly the toughest group battle since the start of his World game.

Even fighting against Mizushima Kawa Sora and his gang in the Fourth World hadn’t taxed him as much.

As an electric baton struck towards him, he ignored it, slashing his sword directly at the attacker’s throat.

And his opponent showed no sign of dodging, his blood-red eyes full of ferocity as he aimed the stun baton without altering his course, clearly intending to go down together.

"Clang!"

A metal rod reached unexpectedly from the side, striking the white monster’s arm with precision. With a mere quiver, the stun baton was swiftly tossed aside.

Ming’an held the rod with one hand, his posture looking utterly effortless.

At the same time, Su Ming’an’s sword blade had also instantaneously reached the monster’s throat!

A "ding-dong" sound nearby, Su Ming’an knew he had leveled up, but right now, he didn’t even have the time to glance at his points panel.

The sword blade was quickly withdrawn, and blood spurted out as the huge body of the opponent fell forward; Su Ming’an stepped on the ground with his left foot, his figure swiftly moving to the right, bypassing the corpse, with another switched-on chainsaw approaching from the front right.

While Ming dealt with an enemy to the front left, Su Ming’an had to fend for himself against the one opposite.

Before the chainsaw reached him, he kicked the abdomen of the person in front, seizing the moment of their imbalance to slash his long sword sideways, instantly severing the saw-wielding right hand.

Blood splattered before his eyes, yet he had no chance even to catch his breath.

He was here to break through, not specifically to kill enemies. As the opponent’s chainsaw hit the ground, he ran towards the inner part of the forest.

A blazing white halo flashed before his eyes.

From the front left, front right, and directly right, sounds of electrical arcs crackling could be heard, and looking around, it was all a white torrent, with pairs of eyes radiating a bloody light watching him.

Other monsters had already surrounded him, forming a white circular arc.

He stood in the center, surrounded by leaping blue electrical waves.

Dong Xue was on his back, laughing foolishly.

"Xia Luoyang... you really came to rescue me..." She laughed, her head leaning on his back, seemingly unafraid of such a scene.

The sounds of slicing the air instantly closed in.

Su Ming’an promptly picked up Dong Xue, who was behind him, and before she could react, he suddenly lifted her with both hands and, with a powerful thrust, threw her forward like throwing a stone.

"Xia Luoyang—you—" Dong Xue was thrown high into the air, only centimeters away from a raised stun baton, which frightened her into distorting her scream.

The Blood Gem pendant around her neck rose with the wind, flashing with beautiful light.

Su Ming’an looked up.

The next moment, a white cross light emanated around him.

Blue electrical arcs flickered in his field of vision, and his previously stable san value seemed to be slowly decreasing.

In the Bright State, he could feel the dark corners of his field of view expanding, and the scenery in his eyes began to turn red.

The last Spatial Displacement.

He focused intently on the spot where Dong Xue was landing.

The next moment, a burst of white light appeared, and he accurately appeared below her, catching her fiercely and landing on a tree branch.

Below, a surging white tide was moving towards him.

He looked behind, Mo Yan had also just landed on a tree branch behind him, still carrying Suzune on his back.

Honestly, Mo Yan’s combat power was beyond his expectations.

"Big brother, what do we do now...?"

"Ming is covering our retreat," Su Ming’an said. "Follow me."

He didn’t think there was anything wrong with his route.

After all, it wasn’t time for despair yet.