Pretending to be a genius starts with the civilization advancement assessment.

Chapter 36 Xiaoya's Gaze

The crowd dispersed, each returning to their assigned duties.

The sounds of moving heavy objects, whispering discussions, and copying notes filled the Fujin Hall once again.

Lin Yi was pretending to stretch his body and loosen his muscles, seemingly adapting to his newly increased strength. At the same time, he also made a few stick moves in the air, as if reviewing the gains and losses in the previous battle.

About an hour later, the sky outside the window began to darken, and the afterglow of the setting sun painted the chaotic city with a tragic orange-red hue.

Lin Yi felt that it was about time, and just then he saw Chen Yu carrying a bag of flour, struggling to walk by, so he stopped.

"Ayu, wait a minute."

Lin Yi called out to him, "Give me the flour, come with me for a second, I need your help."

"Huh? Oh, okay!" Chen Yu was taken aback for a moment. He subconsciously put down the flour on his shoulder and wiped his sweat. "Brother Yi, what's up?"

"Help me put on the armor. I'm going to rescue the people nearby first."

Lin Yi carried the flour sack in one hand and walked towards the small rest room next door as he spoke.

After the video was recorded, Ye Qingyu had helped to carefully wipe and clean the blood-stained "Qitian Armor". Although the claw marks were still ferocious, at least the bloodstains and ash had been removed, restoring the dark metallic color, and it was neatly placed in the corner of the lounge.

Lin Yi used the small half-bottle of water he had saved to wipe his body.

As for clothes, there's nothing to change them with for now, so I'll just have to make do for the time being.

Chen Yu immediately followed, and the two worked together again to put the armor pieces on Lin Yi one by one.

This time, however, his movements were noticeably more practiced.

The cold titanium alloy armor once again covered his entire body, giving rise to a profound sense of security and power.

Lin Yi took the black iron staff handed to him by Chen Yu, weighed it in his hand, and felt that familiar sensation.

He eventually clipped the portable energy detector to his right ear.

"gone."

Lin Yi nodded to Chen Yu, pushed open the door of the lounge, and strode towards the spiral staircase on the second floor.

At this point, the spiral staircase entrance was completely blocked by tables, chairs, dismantled decorative building materials, and even several heavy safes, leaving only a gap of about half a meter wide on the far right, from which a sturdy rope ladder made of hotel tablecloths and sheets hung down.

"Ayu, go and inform my uncle, and have him call a few of us young men to come over with weapons and shields to provide backup."

After saying that, he jumped down through the gap!
Bang!
With a muffled thud, Lin Yi landed steadily with his knees slightly bent, his movements clean and swift, without making much of a sound.

After being enhanced by source energy, this height is nothing to him.

He stood up, carrying a long stick, his eyes sweeping across the messy first-floor lobby like lightning, before striding towards the entrance of Hongfu Restaurant.

The rays of the setting sun slanted in through the broken doors and windows, lengthening Lin Yi's shadow.

He first carefully observed the situation on the street outside with his naked eye, then raised his fingertip and lightly touched the detector on the side of his ear.

"di"

After a barely audible sound, the pale blue light screen once again covered his right eye's field of vision.

The data stream is being refreshed quietly.

【右侧，街对面便利店：生命源能反应*5（绿色，强度1-3）】    【附近区域：渊狼源能反应*6（红色，强度7-10）。】

[Left side, approximately 120 meters, a bus stopped at the intersection: Life Energy Reaction *42 (Green, Intensity 1-4)]

[Area around the bus: Abyssal Wolf Source Energy Reaction *8 (Red, Strength 7-9)]

[In the distance, approximately 350 meters, around the miniature Abyss Beast's lair: Abyss Wolf Source Energy Reaction *43 (Red, Intensity 7-13)]

Lin Yi frowned slightly.

There were more Abyssal Wolves around the lair than when he had previously cleared them out, and there were even targets with a strength of 12, which seemed to indicate that some of the smaller Abyssal Wolves had been recalled.

The situation is somewhat tricky.
-
120 meters to the left of Hongfulou, at the crossroads.

Inside the bus, the air was foul and stagnant.

The smell of sweat, blood, and a faint odor of urine mixed together, almost suffocating.

All the bus windows were tightly closed, with "SOS," "Help!" and "42 people here!" written crookedly in thick black marker, covering most of the glass like desperate cries trying to pierce through the steel cage.

The inside of the front and rear doors of the bus were piled with all kinds of backpacks and luggage bags, which were stacked up haphazardly and blocked the doors.

Forty eighth-grade students, all wearing matching summer camp T-shirts, mostly huddled under the seats or in the aisle, trying their best to hide themselves below the window line and not daring to make too much noise.

Occasionally, suppressed sobs could be heard, but they were quickly suppressed by her companions or herself.

Many people still had wet tear stains on their faces; despair and sorrow enveloped everyone as if they were a tangible reality.

When disaster strikes, many children's phones briefly receive messages from the outside world, such as family members' last panicked instructions, friends' desperate farewells, or busy signals that can no longer be connected.

Some of them already knew for certain that their loved ones on the other end of the phone had disappeared forever, including the young female teacher leading the group, Ms. Li.

Teacher Li's eyes were swollen and red, clearly from crying, but she still forced herself to stay calm and, with all her might, gently reassured them again and again, "Don't be afraid, children, don't be afraid. Someone will come to rescue us. The authorities will definitely come. Keep quiet and conserve your energy."

Meanwhile, another male teacher, Mr. Zhang, nervously peered through the crack in the car window at the terrifying figures lurking outside.

His face was filled with despair, and even the hand gripping the fire hammer had turned white from the excessive force.

Outside the vehicle, there were eight monsters covered in dark green scales.

Like the most patient hunters, they lingered nearby, sometimes scratching the car body with a sickening "sizzle," and sometimes letting out a low, threatening whine.

Every scratch and growl made everyone in the car's heart stop for a moment.

"Teacher Li, Teacher Zhang"

A pale-faced boy wearing glasses whispered in a trembling voice, his voice choked with sobs, "Can...can we hold out until the authorities arrive? The video said the power and communications will be cut off soon. We have no food or water. So many people need rescue. By the time they find us, we...we might already be long gone."

He didn't finish his sentence, but everyone understood what he meant.

They will die of thirst, starvation, or have their last barrier breached by the monsters outside.

Another girl with a ponytail would carefully and very slowly raise her head every few minutes, peering through the gaps in the letters on the car window at the building called "Hongfulou" diagonally behind her, and then quickly shrink back in disappointment.

"Stop watching, Xiaoya." Her companion tugged at her sleeve, her voice low and filled with despair. "There are just too many comments under that video, hundreds of thousands. How could he possibly read them all? Maybe his phone is dead or shut down."

　Thank you to "Cherry Blossom Flavored Almond" and "The Swordsman Who Likes to Wear a Monocle to Scary People" for their donations.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)