Openly wielding firearms (10)
At this moment, the live projection of the training ground connects the perspectives of every student, constantly switching between countless suspended projection screens. Most students are still unfamiliar with the country and its people, awkwardly observing everything in front of them.
Few people are willing to actively learn a less commonly taught language. The Pingyi language course in Cornunos has only about thirty students, and even fewer at the String Light Academy.
Looking at the students who could only communicate with the NPCs through body language, Arno Beria laughed awkwardly a few times: "It seems that the students' academic studies need to be strengthened."
The official from the Education Bureau sitting opposite him took an elegant sip of tea, his expression arrogant and inattentive: "I don't see any need to popularize the language of a small country. In a few years, Pingyi may not even exist anymore."
The person sitting next to the official nodded in agreement and pointed, saying, "If we didn't send people over every year to maintain it, this place would have long become a no-man's-land overrun by pollutants."
The teachers sat a little further away from the officials in the center of Pinne, but the hearing of the superhumans was better than that of ordinary people.
Yelü Qi lowered his voice in dissatisfaction: "If it weren't for them... that place wouldn't have become like this."
The terminal screen floated in front of Weston. He placed his robe beside the chair, revealing a white shirt and black trousers underneath. His eyes had a faint bluish-black tint, and his blue eyes were narrow and cold.
He didn't comment on Yelü Qi's words. On the screen in front of him, Shu Ningmiao was walking through the streets and alleys of Pingyi, holding a plastic spoon in one hand and an ice cream in the other.
A well-mannered and elegant young lady should not be eating while walking in the street, and Weston found that she was completely different in public and in private.
However, it was something else that truly caught his attention.
Shu Ningmiao's screen wasn't as smooth as the others'; it flickered violently from time to time, interspersed with black screens, which was quite strange.
The audio in Shu Ningmiao's broadcast also flickered and often stopped abruptly, so among the hundreds of monitoring angles, very few teachers focused their attention entirely on Shu Ningmiao's team.
In this exercise on supernatural abilities, one student who was usually inconspicuous received a lot of attention and anticipation, simply because her supernatural ability was made all the more special by the setting of the simulation.
This girl named Erici has the superpower of "light".
Like Wei Shengqianheng, she possesses the "purification" type of ability, but she is not a support type, but a special type.
Her special ability, "Light," can not only purify states, but also seems to have an effect on the mind, pollution, and some minor ailments.
Given this, is she able to purify the "polluted body"? To confirm their suspicions, many people were watching the progress of Erice's team from outside the screen.
Yelü Qi and Weston were looking at the same screen. Half of their opinions were based on pure combat strength, with Yelü Qi favoring Shu Ningmiao. The other half was based on his personal feelings—he admired Shu Ningmiao's efforts.
"You also think she'll be the one to finish the mission the fastest?" Yelüqi stroked his chin. "I've looked at her usage records in the training ground. Dealing with T6 difficulty contaminated entities shouldn't be difficult for her."
Weston stared intently at the screen, scoffing at Yelüqi's words. It was just some students playing around, yet Yelüqi was getting nervous about who would win or lose.
What he really cared about was the flickering screen in front of him.
The combat simulation system should not have such a low-level anomaly. Why does Shu Ningmiao's screen always have abnormal flickering? What is interfering with it?
His cold gaze swept over the group of people at the research center. The researchers present were having a lively discussion with the principal about the prospects of the combat simulation system. The atmosphere was harmonious, and no one thought there was anything wrong with the broadcast.
Even if someone notices it, they'll think it's just a minor problem with the screen.
Weston withdrew his gaze, then suddenly crossed his arms and looked into the distance: "Didn't the Envoys come today?"
Logically speaking, the Public Security Bureau, the Education Bureau, and the user should all be present today to ensure the safety of the first demonstration of supernatural abilities.
However, the Cornunos campus is widely recognized as the safest place in Pines, and the security personnel were only there for show; no one was surprised that no one came.
“I heard that the messenger sent Zhao, but that kid has never been very reliable.” Yelü Qi looked around: “Sure enough, he hasn’t arrived.”
"Is this also a privilege of No. 1?" Weston whispered, his mocking laugh piercing Yelü Qi's ears.
"That's just the kind of person he is."
Yelü Qi was not as slow-witted as his robust physique suggested; he quickly sensed the irritation hidden beneath Weston's sarcasm: "You think there's a problem with the scene?"
“No.” Weston raised his index finger slightly, palm up, and the screen moved in the direction of his finger. He enlarged the screen a little, making the occasional black screen in the picture more obvious.
Seeing this, Weston's expression darkened further: "I think there's something wrong with the system... Alright, don't go looking for them anymore, those idiots won't admit their mistakes here."
——
Shu Ningmiao took a deep breath, and after Wei Shengqianheng finished eating, they carefully inquired about clues about the pollutant from each NPC in the streets and alleys.
Although the mission conditions have been unlocked, it is obviously unrealistic to wait for the contaminants to come to us in the city. There are very few examples of people who can get through the protective wall into the city, and even the towns closest to the sea are rare.
Otherwise, how could tourists from other countries come to Pingyi for tourism?
Asking questions with specific keywords is obviously much more efficient than before. When you ask residents directly about the "pollutant," they respond.
Shu Ningmiao obtained a lot of information about the pollutants.
The pollutant, as the name suggests, is a new species that emerged from the mutation of Pingyi after it was contaminated by experiments.
Some of the mutated species are just like the ingredients she used to eat in the cafeteria, with only slight changes in taste.
However, some species undergo mutations that completely destroy their original DNA and morphology, greatly enhancing their aggression and danger, and are therefore classified as "polluters".
This is something that won't be mentioned in textbooks. Pollutants are not respectable things, and ordinary people who live in Pines their whole lives and occasionally travel don't need to know about them.
According to the residents, Shu Ningmiao learned that many pollutants are photophobic, which is why they hadn't encountered any of these things on their way from the beach.
She also saw other students from String Light Academy on the street, but since they weren't in the same group, she didn't bother to strike up a conversation.
After making inquiries from various sources, Shu Ningmiao decided to leave the protective wall and continue her investigation in the direction indicated by a parts seller in the city.
The boss said that when he was delivering goods between two towns last time, he saw traces of pollutants, which scared him so much that he stepped on the gas and rushed through the protective gate, for which he had to pay the municipal management office nearly a month's income.
Before going out, Shu Ningmiao felt that she should make full preparations, because there would be nowhere to rest once she was outside the protective net, and she could not go out empty-handed.
Her idea was simple: where there are cities, there are shops; where there are shops, you can buy things. Although students are prohibited from bringing any weapons into the simulation system for superpower practice, it shouldn't be against the rules to buy weapons after entering, right?
Even if they have superpowers, it's always good to have weapons.
Shu Ningmiao strolled around and found a shop selling iron swords on the street.
The sword was handmade by a craftsman in Pingyi. It is probably a kind of local handicraft. If you give the craftsman more money, he will not refuse to sharpen it.
Shu Ningmiao wrapped the weapon in cloth and carried it on her back. She was still wearing the student uniform of Cornunos, so no one could tell that she was carrying a sword on her back.
Someone who didn't know better might mistake her for carrying some kind of musical instrument.
Shu Ningmiao tilted her head and asked Wei Shengqianheng, "Do you want a sword? We only have swords here."
After all, this is just a craft shop, not a weapons shop.
Wei Shengqianheng shook his head. Although he didn't seem like the type to wield weapons, Shu Ningmiao couldn't help but guess: "What do you, um... clergy, use to fight? Scepters?"
She clenched her left fist and tapped her right hand, imagining Wei Sheng Qianheng swinging his scepter to hit someone: "Strike a weapon?"
Wei Shengqianheng turned around, looked at her calmly, and actually smiled softly.
A chill suddenly ran down Shu Ningmiao's spine. She stopped arguing with him about these useless things. Her only requirement for Wei Shengqianheng was that he stay put and not use his supernatural abilities recklessly.
Once I passed through the protective wall again, the world seemed to quiet down again, returning to its desolate state.
The surrounding area was filled with black soil, which was different from ordinary black soil. It looked infertile and nutrient-poor, like garbage discharged from a sewer.
Looking around, all you see is a vast expanse of black, while the bright white of the sky clearly delineates the boundary between heaven and earth.
According to a tourist brochure she bought in a shop in the city, 80 percent of the land on the island of Pingyi is barren black soil like this, while the city only occupies 20 percent of the island's area.
Once you're outside the protective wall, it's no different from wilderness survival.
Shu Ningmiao and Wei Shengqianheng walked in the direction the boss pointed for about ten minutes. The sky was still bright, and she began to hesitate about whether to wait there until night.
The mission had a 48-hour deadline, meaning they only had two nights. They had spent almost a night searching for clues in the city, and it was just dawn when they emerged from the protective wall.
If we wait until evening, we'll waste too much time and it's not safe at all.
Shu Ningmiao wanted to complete the task first; she wanted to be number one.
Pingyi also has pollutants that are not afraid of light, so the difficulty might be a bit greater. However, given the overall difficulty of T6, Shu Ningmiao is still willing to give it a try.
They walked a little further and saw even more burned ruins. Unlike the previously flat and unobstructed black soil, abandoned beams and roof ridges had collapsed, and intertwined steel bars had sunk into the black soil, blocking most of their view.
Shu Ningmiao became more alert. The tall, broken walls formed large, dark shadows, which were very concealed, and there might be something dangerous lurking in those shadows.
Wei Shengqianheng stared at the ruins before him, then suddenly knelt down and gently scooped up a handful of black soil.
Shu Ningmiao couldn't help but say, "Are you a child? Don't touch things randomly. The soil here might be problematic, just like the seawater."
He turned his head and looked up at Shu Ningmiao's face. Her long eyelashes trembled slightly in the wind, creating a strange beauty: "Do you know why the soil here is black?"
"Pollution," Shu Ningmiao said casually. "What else could it be?"
“It’s because of Pandora.” He glanced at her, a smile appearing in his eyes, then turned to look ahead and said in a calm tone, “The experimental base that Pinheis established in Pingyi was officially named the Third National Research Center, and its main research focus was on the application of Pandora.”
Shu Ningmiao's usually lively expression gradually quieted down. She squatted down like him, turned her head to look at him, and met his deep, dark gaze, as dark as a deep pool, as if it absorbed all the dazzling light.
"So why did it get polluted later?" Shu Ningmiao asked, her eyes filled with the look of someone listening to a story.
“I don’t know.” Wei Shengqianheng spread his fingers, letting the black soil slide down his slender fingers through the gaps: “But I know that these soils and the ocean contain varying levels of Pandora, making them extremely flammable.”
"So you knew all along." Shu Ningmiao glared at him.
Wei Sheng Qianheng did not answer; his phoenix eyes were slightly closed, and a sound of something breaking through the air came from the wind.
Shu Ningmiao instantly lowered her head and turned around, drawing the iron sword from behind her with lightning speed. The sword made a low humming sound as it was drawn due to the high-speed vibration.
She grabbed Wei Shengqianheng's shoulders and pushed him backward.
The next moment, a very fast whooshing sound came from not far away, as if something was crawling on the soil.
Shu Ningmiao's grip on the sword hilt tightened suddenly. She saw a monster lying prone twenty meters away.
Besides "monster," Shu Ningmiao couldn't think of any other word to describe it. In front of her stood a monster three or four times her height, its entire body pure white, with four pairs of pure white wings folded on its back.
This pure white monster was far removed from the "polluted entity" she had imagined.
Seemingly sensing Shu Ningmiao's gaze, the monster that had been lying prone on the ground slowly straightened up, its wings unfurling as it moved, almost blotting out the sky.
The monster's body had three thin, long arms attached to each side, and its legs seemed to have been severed in the middle, dragging on the ground, supported only by the two lowest arms.
It can stand up... and it's humanoid! Shu Ningmiao felt a sense of panic and confusion, and slowly backed away.
The pollutants she imagined were at most chickens with a dozen or so wings, fish that could run on the ground, or monkeys with two heads.
It even had a human-like face. When it stood up, the long, snow-white hair that had covered its back fell onto its arms, like a dense spider web. It looked pure white, yet it was so terrifying.
—That face was covered with vertical eyes, pupils like those of a cold-blooded animal, all staring at the two of them.
Shu Ningmiao felt her palms were icy cold from being soaked in cold sweat. From the moment she saw this monster, she had a vague feeling that it was something she could not defeat.
Its arms, though thin, were as flexible as snakes, almost like vines extending from its body, twisted and eerie, their terrifying aura assaulting all her senses.
Should we run?
The school probably wouldn't set a level of difficulty that they couldn't handle in their current situation, and Shu Ningmiao was unsure what to do.
If all the contaminants are like this, will she have to back down every time?
What is the point of participating in supernatural ability practices?
She took a deep breath, held the sword horizontally in front of her, and comforted herself that failure would at worst mean losing the connection, and she couldn't give up without doing anything.
Shu Ningmiao held her breath, pressed her lips together, and listened intently to the strange sounds of the monster's movements, which seemed to be the heavy dragging of its severed leg on the ground.
She grew increasingly uneasy, and lunged toward the monster with her sword in hand. But she saw the white monster suddenly stop moving, slowly raise its head, cover its face with its uppermost arms, and let out a series of hoarse cries.
Its voice is very strange, as if many people are talking at the same time, sounding like an old man and a child, a man and a woman, and when mixed together, it sounds like a boy whose gender is indistinguishable.
Shu Ningmiao's stray hairs were blown about by the monster's roar, and she could barely open her eyes in the aftershocks of the sound.
——
Outside the system, Weston suddenly stood up, and using Pandora's control, he moved the projection screen that was suspended in the air in front of him to the platform in front of everyone.
"This is not something that should appear at T6 difficulty."
His voice was so cold that it stunned everyone present. Everyone looked at the screen he had moved over and saw the pure white pollutant on the screen.
The young man whom Weston called Yulu, the police officer who had previously helped Weston suppress all the students' voices, leaned close to the screen and suddenly spoke: "How could something like this appear! Judging by its size... it's at least a T1 level contaminant."
Upon hearing his words, many people stood up.
The snow-white pollutant was kneeling motionless on the ground, wailing.
One of the researchers slowly began, "It has no tendency to attack."
Weston commented: "It can also be understood as building up strength."
The researcher raised his voice, staring at him with displeasure: "So what? It's probably just a data entry error, and the image of this contaminant was accidentally inserted. It's a minor issue."
“Yes, it’s a minor issue.” Weston gave him a dismissive look. “I didn’t expect you guys to make such a basic mistake.”
"That wouldn't be any bigger mistake than the one you made."
“I can fix mistakes.” Weston wasn’t bothered at all and retorted, “What about you?”
“Although I would like you to correct the system’s erroneous data, you don’t seem to be qualified right now.” The researcher’s smile widened, pausing deliberately on a certain title: “Weston, Professor.”
Although it was somewhat inappropriate, Yelü Qi felt a sense of relief when he saw that his relationship with his former colleague was just as bad.
"That's enough." Yu Lu lowered his voice and said calmly, "What do we do with this student now?"
The researcher shrugged, looking indifferent: "If the system can't correct itself, then let her come out on her own. At most, it'll just be a concussion."
"This can't be done," Yu Lu said in a deep voice. "It's unfair to her grades."
“Results—” the researcher exclaimed, spreading his hands in a dramatic gesture.
The research center's representatives insisted on preventing Weston, who had already been expelled, from interfering in modifying the system. Weston stood aside, watching the officials arguing heatedly, completely unsurprised.
So far, everything has unfolded exactly as he expected.
Officials who pass the buck, former colleagues whose vanity far outweighs their talent, and leaders who are aloof and indifferent are the norm in the world he has witnessed.
He looked at Arno Beria, their principal of Cornunos, who was also a shrewd and cunning businessman. In such situations, he was usually the one to ease the tension, but now he was sitting in front of the screen, propping his arm up and quietly observing the scene.
"Alright, alright." Arno Beria clapped his hands to get their attention: "The contaminant is gone. It was a close call. Stop arguing. It's inevitable that there will be some harmless mistakes on the first time we've put this into practice. We should be more forgiving."
They looked at the screen again and found that only Shu Ningmiao, who was warily observing her surroundings, remained on the screen; the snow-white monster had vanished without a trace.
The researcher, who was being besieged by the crowd, deliberately pulled out a chair next to Weston and sat down again, raising an eyebrow smugly: "Looks like we don't need the teachers from Stringlight Academy to steal the spotlight, do we?"
The teachers and officials present all thought to themselves, "Thank goodness the system corrected itself automatically."
Shu Ningmiao didn't think so at all. She had never seen other pollutants, so she couldn't compare their strength. She thought this monster was a T6-level pollutant.
The mission objective of "kill at least three Corrupted Beings" is still hanging above my head, with the time limit constantly decreasing.
She gritted her teeth, turned around, grabbed Wei Shengqianheng, who seemed to be frozen in fear and remained silent, and chased after the direction the monster had flown away.
That's right, the monster flew away.
After its inexplicable wailing, it suddenly spread its four wings and soared into the air, flying away in the opposite direction, completely ignoring them.
Shu Ningmiao wasn't slow, but she was carrying a child with her, so she could only watch helplessly as the white figure disappeared into the horizon.
She was almost disappointed when she heard Wei Shengqianheng suddenly speak up behind her: "Look ahead."
In the ruins not far ahead, a black, broken pillar was stuck upright in the soil. On it lay a monster with a wide-open mouth and a mouthful of fangs, resembling both a cow and a deer. Its body was covered with dirty purple scales, which seemed to be stained with some liquid and shimmered with an eerie light.
To be honest, this looks more like the pollutant she imagined.
The pillar isn't tall, and she can climb it, but climbing it will definitely disturb the pollutant above—it's better to just disturb the pollutant and let it fly down on its own.
Just as she drew her sword and gathered her strength, Wei Shengqianheng suddenly grabbed her wrist from behind, whispered a "shh" to her, and shifted his gaze slightly.
Shu Ningmiao followed his gaze and looked through the pillar beneath the contaminated body, where she saw several blurry shadows.
Their position was blocked by the pillar, so the people over there probably hadn't noticed them yet. Shu Ningmiao held her breath and quieted down, and could hear their voices.
"Are we really going to play this?"
"This must be the contaminant. I thought I'd have to ask around in the city forever, but I didn't expect to unlock the conditions right away by encountering the contaminant." Someone lamented, "I should have never gone into the city."
"Did you even think before you spoke? How can you trigger the quest event if you don't enter the city?"
"I need to touch him first before I can transfer the damage to him," a familiar voice said softly.
"Ugh... How disgusting! How can I get it off? Is it sleeping?"
Shu Ningmiao pressed down on Wei Shengqianheng's hand and slowly moved it away: "He's an acquaintance."
She didn't mean to reminisce when she said that.
The group on the other side of the pillar were still whispering and discussing their strategy when suddenly a deafening explosion rang out overhead, abruptly ending their conversation as they all looked up.
An iron sword flew out of nowhere and cleaved straight into the center of the broken pillar, embedding itself halfway into the pillar. With a loud "bang," it almost shook the entire pillar, and the shattered part exploded into a pile of rubble and dust, which splashed everywhere.
Eric raised his hand to shield his face from the oncoming dust, and couldn't help but cough.
The contaminated creature, which had been lying prone on the pillar, was startled and fell off the pillar as it swayed. It then charged towards them, howling and crashing into them.
They hadn't even discussed their strategy yet, and faced with the sudden attack, their minds went blank, and they all stood there dumbfounded.
The contaminant opened its blood-red maw, from which black pus flowed.
Just then, a figure used the iron sword stuck in the broken pillar as a fulcrum to jump onto the spot where the contaminated creature had been sitting, and also pulled out the iron sword.
She quickly jumped down from the pillar, landing right on the contaminated creature.
The instant she pressed down on the pollutant's head, Shu Ningmiao freed one hand, wrapped it around the pollutant's long neck, and gripped it tightly.
The short scream was cut short by the tightening arms.
Shu Ningmiao raised the iron sword in her hand and plunged it hard into its head. With a "thud," the iron sword quickly sank into the flesh of the contaminated creature, and the tip of the sword protruded from its jaw, piercing straight through.
She drew her sword and cleanly plunged it into the monster's neck from the front, severing it completely.
Red blood mixed with black viscous liquid dripped from her arm. The monster collapsed to the ground with a thud. Shu Ningmiao looked up through the rising dust, her gaze piercing through the hazy gray and landing coldly on them.
She had beautiful features, yet she looked more like a monster than a monster herself.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
