Evolution - Chapter 59
Chapter 59
The look on her face was just begging to be punched.
The squad leader, coming to his senses, saw the bodies of his two subordinates and was provoked like this yet again. His rage boiled over, and he drew his gun and fired.
The two of them turned and ran, disappearing around another corner in a flash.
This was a race for their lives! If they were too slow, not only would they expose themselves to enemy fire, but they could also be caught in the blast.
After they had led the squad leader and his four or five men on a mad dash through the cave tunnels for about half a minute, the micro-bomb she had planted at a key corner, set with a one-minute delay, detonated violently!
A muffled shockwave rolled in from behind them, the ground trembling slightly. The faint screams and wails of those caught in the blast could be heard. The squad leader’s eyes turned red with hatred.
He fired relentlessly while shouting for backup on their comms channel.
Gu Changge ran ahead, following Ji Changqing’s directions to make sharp turns and avoid potential lines of fire.
Ji Changqing hadn’t fired a single shot. She just kept these five men at a distance, always leaving behind an afterimage at a corner to fuel their passion for the chase.
Their timing was perfect. Just as they emerged from their chosen exit, about ten people poured out from each of three different tunnels behind them.
Ji Changqing sighed dramatically. For the sake of her own skin, she decisively pressed the button to request assistance. “Brother, how many hits from these energy guns can our trusty protective shields take?”
If only they were ordinary firearms. You’d just have to endure six shots, thirty at most. No more than that.
Energy guns were just insane. The energy stones embedded in them basically guaranteed eighty to a hundred continuous shots.
Gu Changge sprinted ahead, leading the way for this stretch, while Ji Changqing covered their rear.
He heard the wind whistling past his ears and the “sizzle” of energy blasts hitting nearby objects. His nerves were stretched to the breaking point, and after just a short while of running, beads of sweat were already forming on his temples.
“It can take a close-range hit from a handheld mini-cannon. For energy guns, one or two hundred shots should be fine, right?” he said, uncertain.
“Isn’t that a bit of a wide range?” Ji Changqing prompted Gu Changge to veer left by fifteen degrees as she sidestepped nimbly, barely dodging a blast. The energy beam struck a rock ahead with a “sizzle,” boring a deep hole into it. The intense heat then caused a layer of the rock to crumble into dust, which was carried away by the wind.
She shivered. It even dealt secondary damage. Her small frame was definitely not as hard as a rock.
She twisted around, raising her gun as if to aim. The relentless pursuers behind her immediately jumped to evade her line of fire, and all thirty or so of them raised their guns and sprayed fire in her direction.
The beams from the energy guns practically formed a net.
Ji Changqing snorted, pushed off with the tip of her toes, and leaped into the air, just barely avoiding the web of gunfire. She spun in mid-air and casually fired a few shots toward the positions of her pursuers as she remembered them.
While the people behind her were busy dodging, she slipped away after Gu Changge, who was already far ahead, not even bothering to check the results of her attack.
The two of them had been running nonstop for nearly half an hour since leaving the caves. In the eyes of their pursuers, these two audacious characters were being suppressed by their superior firepower, forced to flee in a panic without any sense of direction.
Unexpectedly, upon reaching a narrow pass, Ji Changqing raised her voice and yelled, “Brothers! I’ve brought them to you! Get ’em!”
Gu Changge nearly slipped—the closest ambush point was still a good half-hour’s run away.
Her yelling was so convincing, even he almost believed it.
The pursuers’ attention was immediately diverted. They slowed down, half-believing and half-doubting, and cautiously scanned their surroundings. But catching the two thieves was more important. They hastily sprayed a circle of fire around them and, seeing that Ji Changqing and her companion had used the opportunity to gain a significant lead, couldn’t help but curse inwardly.
“After them! They’re trying to scare us!”
Ji Changqing and Gu Changge led the thirty-odd people on a lightning-fast chase toward the start of the ambush line.
Gradually, the group of thirty-odd people spread out. Combined with Ji Changqing’s occasional bluffs, they were now stretched into three separate groups.
The squad leader was in closest pursuit. His goal was clear: he had to kill that psycho, Ji Changqing!
She dared to provoke him and had even gotten several of his brothers killed.
“We’ll chase them first. The brothers behind us should be able to catch up quickly by following the trail.” He gritted his teeth. “If we can’t catch them, you know what the boss will do to us.”
Ji Changqing told the story of “The Boy Who Cried Wolf” many times.
The relentless space pirates would first slow down, skeptical. Then, upon realizing they’d been bluffed and tricked, they would fly into a rage, redouble their efforts, and chase after her, determined to kill her.
Then the cycle would repeat.
And repeat again.
…
After three or four bluffs, the space pirates were furious. They stopped listening to her bullshit and even stopped using their guns—mainly because energy stones were too damn expensive to waste on her. They brandished their melee weapons, howling as they chased her, vowing to slice her into a thousand pieces to appease their hatred.
Gu Changge commented grimly, “At this point, even if we split up, I think they’d still choose to chase you down and kill you!”
Her methods were just too infuriating! She’d drawn all their aggro, and it was impossible to shift.
Ji Changqing glanced at him. “Alright, let’s begin!”
Gu Changge sent the prearranged signal. Ji Changqing yelled at the top of her lungs, telling the “wolf is coming” story one more time, shouting for her brothers to make their move.
The space pirates behind them paid her no mind, continuing their relentless pursuit. As they ran, a shout came from the rear: “Holy shit! There really are people!”
Everyone turned to look. The two pirates at the very back had been intercepted by four students.
“Alright, two of you from the back go help them. Finish off those little bastards quickly and catch up.”
Seeing the last two turn back, the rest of the group didn’t stop, continuing their massive pursuit of Ji Changqing.
Meanwhile, the four who had been left behind grinned menacingly as they advanced to take care of the four little bastards.
Suddenly, a dozen laser beams shot toward them. The four pirates were startled and jumped back to evade, scattering in an instant. Realizing something was wrong, they were about to draw their guns when figures blurred before their eyes, and several people charged at them aggressively.
Only then did the four space pirates snap out of it. Holy shit, they really did have an ambush! And they were so cunning, showing only a few people to lure the main group away, then all popping out for a group beatdown!
Twenty students. Five against one.
The four exchanged glances. While tangling with the aggressive but inexperienced students, they slowly tried to move closer to each other, hoping to regroup and provide mutual support.
This group of students were all level seven. The space pirates were three peak level eights and one level nine, yet the longer they fought, the more alarmed they became.
They hadn’t expected that, despite their inexperience, the students’ ability to learn and adjust their rhythm was extremely fast. Although they lacked seamless coordination, their objective was crystal clear and singular.
Five people: four focused on one limb each, while the fifth attacked from the head to the torso.
Although their attacks were monotonous and dull, they weren’t so weak that they could be crushed in one blow. The students just kept hammering away at them, pinning them down and preventing them from regrouping.
It was like being stuck with taffy—clinging, impossible to smash or tear off. It was an incredibly frustrating fight.
As time went on—and no one who could get into the Fourth Military was an idiot—the five-person teams started to develop a rhythm. Their combined attacks instantly grew more powerful. Eventually, the weakest space pirate was swarmed by five students who locked down his limbs while another mercilessly pummeled him until he was half-dead. Then, they deftly tied him up and tossed him aside.
Two stood guard while the other three went to support the other teams.
By the time all four space pirates were subdued, nearly all twenty students were injured. But their injuries couldn’t stop them from grinning foolishly.
They’d never experienced taking down someone of a higher level so easily!
They really had Ji Changqing and Gu Changge to thank for running these guys ragged for over an hour.
They weren’t so carried away that they lost their heads. After tying up the pirates, they searched them for their belongings, then sent a signal to summon the teammates responsible for transporting prisoners.
Finally, they quickly cleaned up the battlefield, removed any traces of the fight, and quietly moved the ambush point a short distance forward.
Ji Changqing and Gu Changge led the way, with over thirty space pirates in hot pursuit. They ran for nearly six hours straight, and most of the ambush points they left behind them had yielded results.
As expected, after sending out about three hundred men, the space pirates sent no more reinforcements. What no one knew was that of those three hundred-plus men, apart from the twenty or so still stubbornly chasing Ji Changqing, the rest had been slowly ground down and swallowed up by the students along the long ambush line. Using human-wave tactics, the students had paid the price of nearly four hundred rescue requests to eliminate this group.
As Ji Changqing and her companion approached the starting point of the 【Asura Field】, they still had nineteen tails.
In the distance, they saw someone else frantically running toward the 【Asura Field’s】 starting point from another direction, with a dozen or so people in hot pursuit.
Ji Changqing only glanced over before looking away, preparing to play a big game with the little tails behind her!
Beside her, Gu Changge let out a surprised “Huh?” “Isn’t that the Annoying Ghost? Why does he look so pathetic? Hahaha, serves him right!”
Ji Changqing glanced down at her own dimming defensive shield, then at the even dimmer, flickering shield on He Qingzhi. Then she looked at the people chasing him—the energy beams were familiar, but their attire was different.
“He’s being hunted, Gu Changge!” This wasn’t some final battle for points at all!
Gu Changge’s face fell. How could everyone’s luck be this bad during the assessment? They’d run into one group of pirates, and now there was another?
In a flash, he remembered the small golden sphere. A chill went down his spine. Maybe this group belonged to the original owner!
Just then, Ji Changqing pulled her most audacious move yet. She changed direction, veering away from the ambush point, and charged toward He Qingzhi amidst a cloud of dust, yelling, “Brother, I’ve brought reinforcements! Get them! Don’t be a coward!”
She had Gu Changge hand over the “treasure” and said in a low voice, “You take him and run to the ambush point. Quick!”
Gu Changge pressed his lips together but didn’t hesitate. He rushed to He Qingzhi’s side—who was already exhausted but holding on by sheer willpower—grabbed him, and ran.
Ji Changqing monitored the distance between the two groups. While executing some flashy footwork, she finally put her long-idle energy gun to use. Relying on her shield to take another wave of hits, she gestured grandly at the space pirates behind her and yelled, “Charge! Take them down!”
And plunged headfirst into the group pursuing He Qingzhi.
She opened fire first, instantly enraging the other party, and shot mercilessly in their direction.
The relentlessly pursuing space pirates: “???”
No, we’re not with her!
But even if they weren’t allies, the other side was attacking them. They couldn’t just take it; they had to fight back!
But after one exchange of fire, both sides recognized each other.
For He Qingzhi’s pursuers, compared to weakling students, the space pirates who had stolen their lifeblood naturally generated far more hatred!
For the space pirates, recognizing the guards of the person they’d robbed, they knew this matter could not be resolved peacefully. It was a fight to the death. They had to go all out!
The intensity of the firefight between the two groups suddenly escalated!
Meanwhile, after Gu Changge handed the hot potato to Ji Changqing, with her drawing all the aggro, he and He Qingzhi successfully escaped the battle.
He Qingzhi was on the verge of collapse. He gripped Gu Changge’s hand tightly, using his strength to stumble forward. As soon as they were out of the battle and in a slightly safer place, he gasped for breath and used the last of his strength to push Gu Changge away. “Go! Get out of here!”
Gu Changge was displeased. “Annoying Ghost, what’s wrong with you? We put aside our differences to save you…”
He Qingzhi finally caught his breath and cut him off decisively. “They’re from the Empire! They have at least one warship, and they’ve blocked all communications in this area. Rescue signals can’t get through! Some people have been waiting for rescue for over twenty-four hours!”
He stared fiercely at Gu Changge. “Don’t worry about me! Go find people! At least ten thousand students have fallen into their hands!”
In his eyes, there was disgust, fear, and self-loathing, but burning even brighter was hatred.
As if the words were difficult to say, He Qingzhi choked out his last sentence: “They’re using an upgraded version of the banned drug N128.”
Gu Changge froze.
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