Popularity is everything; I play a super genius

Even if the car occasionally wobbled and disturbed his reading of the novel, he would still lazily grumble at him.

……

"Why should we be working ourselves to the bone down here while he's enjoying himself up here?!"

"Exactly! What kind of teacher is this!"

Many students were seething with anger, wondering how the academy could have allowed such a person to become their teacher.

Aside from the fact that the teacher leading the team was extremely unreliable and almost provoked public outrage, the mission itself went relatively smoothly.

As the sun began to set, the group stepped into the last rift passage of their journey.

The sky inside the crevice darkened much faster than the outside world; before long, all light had vanished into darkness.

After traveling for most of the day and constantly dealing with rugged terrain, the trainees were already exhausted.

The caravan's men and mules had reached their limit.

The caravan owner suggested a rest, so the group dispersed to survey the terrain, following the camping procedures recommended in the textbook.

Luckily, they found a natural narrow valley nearby.

The entrances and exits on both sides of the valley are narrow, "skyline" terrain.

The two walls were steep and sheer, as if cut by a knife, and only a sliver of light could be seen when looking up.

Passing through the entrance and exit, the interior is a relatively open flat area, like a natural haven.

It is undoubtedly an excellent place that is easy to defend and difficult to attack.

Even if they are suddenly attacked by virtual beasts, they will still have a perfect advantage in terms of terrain.

Tsukimi, engrossed in reading a novel, seemed to only then realize that the group had stopped.

He frowned and said, "Why are you resting? There's only one more stretch of road left. Let's finish it and hurry up and get off work."

Hearing this, who had been holding it in all the way, she rolled her eyes and finally couldn't take it anymore:

"Teacher! We've been traveling all day, we're so tired!"

"Tired? I haven't even complained about being tired, but you bunch of young people are already saying you're tired?"

These words made even Qi Ji's lips twitch.

Unexpectedly, there was someone even more shameless than him in this class.

Not one to back down, he immediately chimed in with a sarcastic remark: "Laoyue, you've been on the road all day, of course you're not tired."

Tsukimi was taken aback by his words and turned her gaze to Saki: "What did you call me?"

"Old Yue, didn't you say that on the first day of school—because I'm irresponsible, you don't have to call me teacher anymore~"

Saki Jū mimicked a phrase in a sarcastic tone, and it was remarkably similar.

The comments section was hilarious:

"There's someone in Class 8 who's a skilled ventriloquist!"

"Hilarious! But to be fair, Hajime looks more like a teacher than him!"

Tsukimi stared at Saki for two seconds, then suddenly laughed, thinking that this masked brat was actually quite to his liking.

Normally, he might even share his favorite romance novels with Saki.

But now—

He looked up at the brightly colored moon above the crevice and sighed.

"But as expected, many times, even when you're tired, you can't stop."

He clapped his hands and raised his voice slightly.

"Rest is cancelled, let's keep going!"

As soon as everyone sat down and took out their rations, they heard this and began to complain.

Tsukimi ignored all of this: "This is an order—if you don't want to die."

Upon hearing what Laoyue said, Qiji instantly realized something.

His expression tightened slightly, and then his ears twitched as he intently listened for the subtle sounds carried on the wind.

A moment later—

"Watch out! Be on alert!!!" he shouted a warning.

The moment the words fell!

"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!"

In the distance, a muffled, thunderous roar approached.

Immediately afterwards, the ground beneath their feet began to tremble violently, and rubble tumbled down from the rock face!

Everyone suddenly looked up—

It's not an earthquake!

In the distance, through the valley entrance, one could vaguely see more and more crimson beast eyes emerging from the darkness.

It's a virtual beast!

Countless Void Beasts have gone berserk!

Rushing forward like crazy!

Head towards them!

'How could this be?!'

Looking at the spectacular, even somewhat exaggerated, scene before him, Saki frowned.

He had read the plot summary of the first season countless times; it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say he knew it by heart.

This escort mission was just a brief scene in the script, and there shouldn't have been an accident of this scale at all!

The next moment, the nose under the mask of the saki-saki twitched slightly.

A faint, strange aroma, like a mixture of sweet, bloody scent and burning spices, filled the air.

Combined with the abnormal crimson in the eyes of those virtual beasts, Qi Ji instantly understood everything.

It's the "Red Heat Incense" of the Kamishiro family!

Combined with their unique mental resonance, they can stimulate the beasts, causing them to enter a short period of frenzy.

Their strength has increased dramatically, and they are fearless in the face of death!

This is a scene that never appeared in the original storyline, but now it's unfolding before our eyes...

So, without a doubt, this change—

Simply because he killed Seigen Kamishiro!

His intervention caused the plot to deviate unexpectedly, triggering a chain reaction!

"This is a little troublesome."

"But only slightly."

Saki was glad that he had participated in this mission.

Otherwise, wouldn't we be missing out on such a great opportunity to show off?

……

……

Chapter Twenty-Eight: The Strongest Among All

In the distance, the horizon trembled.

Countless blood-red eyes merged into a surging, burning crimson in the dim light.

With deafening roars and thunder, the horde of beasts surged toward them!

The sheer number of them was overwhelming, impossible to count!

It was as if all the void beasts in the rift had been gathered here by some kind of power.

Such a display has completely exceeded the strength that a Class D fissure should have!

The practical assessments that were a bit too advanced in the past seem child's play compared to today's.

Under the dual stimulation of the drugs and the echoes, these virtual beasts became even more ferocious and troublesome than usual.

If the last assessment was a difficult mode, then this time, the students of Class 8 are facing a completely hellish dungeon!

Two weeks have passed since the last practical assessment, and new students in Class 8 have been gradually awakening and responding, with their strength improving to varying degrees.

But in the face of such a catastrophic beast tide, this improvement is a drop in the ocean.

The difficulty of the task far exceeded what the members of Class 8 could handle.

Of course, this so-called "class of eight" does not include Saki.

For Saki, it was like a level in easy mode that became slightly more challenging.

After the initial surprise, Saki quickly returned to her usual composed and at ease demeanor.

However, the rest of the students in Class 8 were completely panicked.

Fear gripped their hearts!

How could this be...?

How could so many virtual beasts appear all at once!

I'll die, won't I?!

In this critical moment where death seemed to be imminent, everyone inevitably and subconsciously turned their gazes toward Tsukimi-sensei.

Because he was the only adult among everyone present who possessed power.

Although many students in Class 8 have awakened their echoes, they are still just a group of fifteen-year-old children.

"teacher--!"

"Tsukimi-sensei—!"

Everyone turned to look at Tsukimi.

However, Tsukimi simply continued reading the novel, seemingly engrossed in the story, oblivious to the world around her.

Everyone's expression changed: "Tsukimi-sensei, you...you must stop looking! It's come to this!"

"Tsukimi-sensei, you'll step in, won't you?"

Hearing the increasingly noisy sounds, Tsukimi picked at her ear with her little finger with some impatience, her gaze still fixed on the pages of the book: "Make a move? What do you mean by making a move? Why should I make a move?"

"Isn't this your responsibility as a teacher?"

"responsibility?"

Tsukimi seemed to have heard something extremely ridiculous and boring.

"I've said this since the first day I brought you here—"

I'm an irresponsible person, so don't have any expectations of me.

As he spoke, he even went so far as to complain about the crowd with a sense of self-righteousness:

"Moreover, I specifically emphasized this before I set off: get to the destination in one go, without any delays along the way."

If you exclude the time spent setting up camp and resting, the situation wouldn't be this bad.

People always have to pay the price for their mistakes...

As the horde of virtual beasts drew ever closer, Bai Lili grew anxious:

"Teacher! I know you said all this to train us! Those who respond will eventually stand on their own and can't always rely on others!"

But this situation has clearly gone beyond the scope of exercise! It's a life-threatening accident!

According to the "Academy Faculty Code of Conduct" and the "Echoes Wartime Regulations," supervising instructors are obligated to protect the safety of trainees!