Chapter 53 : Chapter 53
Chapter 53
On Monday, Ji Qing stood aboard the ship heading toward the island.
The sea wind carried a biting chill. There were no seabirds playing over the waters they passed, only wave after wave striking the ship. The ship’s rumbling passage felt oppressive, and the sea itself was as silent as death.
Leaning against the rail on the deck, Ji Qing quietly observed the distance.
The team discussion on Saturday had gone smoothly. All three of them understood that their team could not remain on the outer ring, and Liu Mu had even investigated the Lord of the island in detail.
With a serious expression, Liu Mu said, “The town’s archival records are pretty unclear. But the Hunter Guild compared the aberration traits of the Lord with those of the island’s Aberrants, and there was no similarity between them. In other words, the Lord came from somewhere else.”
“Somewhere else?” Ji Qing asked.
“Yeah. It probably drifted over from another island or from the mainland,” Liu Mu said heavily.
“Just thinking about it is enough to make your skin crawl. I really can’t understand why the school would take on this commission.”
“Mm...” Ji Qing murmured.
“Because if they don’t deal with it soon, Xicheng will disappear,” You Xingluo said with a soft sigh.
After returning to the dormitory, You Xingluo had investigated the matter as well. He discovered that Xicheng’s annual financial reports were heavily inflated. Xicheng had developed through the fishing industry, but now that marine pollution had worsened, fishermen had to sail farther and farther out before they could catch schools of fish that had not been contaminated.
The fall of the transfer port had only accelerated Xicheng’s decline.
Xicheng currently had a permanent population of over ten million.
Compared to Yancheng, it was only a rather remote coastal city, but the burden that the influx of those ten million people would place on the surrounding towns could not be ignored.
Xicheng could not be allowed to perish.
Even if it truly was headed toward decline, it still had to hold on until the Federation had the ability to resettle the remaining ten million-plus people. Its decline had to be slow, gradual, and almost imperceptible.
“So... that’s why they’re holding the Team Competition?” Liu Mu looked troubled.
He could understand Xicheng’s difficult situation, but he could not understand the school’s decision. If the situation truly was this dangerous, why send students like them?
Even though the Lord had already been eliminated, could the school guarantee that a second Lord would not appear?
The school could not guarantee that at all.
“Because they’re short on people.” You Xingluo’s tone was remarkably calm. “The most recent Black Tide was only half a year ago. The Federation simply doesn’t have enough manpower to redeploy right now.”
Then he added in comfort, “There’s no need to be nervous. These are things we were always going to have to face sooner or later.”
Whether it was getting promoted to Class S or graduating from high school, these were all things they would inevitably have to face on the road to growing up. Farther down the line, even harsher realities might be waiting for them.
Ji Qing tilted his head back and gazed at the clouds drifting across the sky, then suddenly let out a soft sigh.
The ease of the Individual Competition was already becoming nothing more than a passing illusion. What still stood before Ji Qing was the same cruel, oppressive wasteland world. Suppressed, Ji Qing thought to himself: It all felt like a dream.
He had genuinely liked what he had seen and experienced during the Individual Competition.
Successfully pranking Shao Huayu had felt incredibly satisfying, though Ji Qing would not do it again. He and Shao Huayu were classmates and allies, but they were not close friends. Their relationship was nowhere near good enough for that sort of joke.
“I think I can see the island.”
“Where?”
“Are we finally getting to shore? I’m about to die from this ship ride.”
A sudden commotion broke out around him. Ji Qing turned his head and saw that the students were all gathering on the starboard side of the deck. At the sight, Ji Qing straightened up and walked over there as well.
The Team Competition venue, the transfer port for the fishing boats, the important harbor of Xicheng... that island, which had existed only in virtual projections before now, had finally appeared before Ji Qing’s eyes.
They would be spending a week on that island.
At that moment, Ji Qing felt nothing at all.
Whatever feelings he might have had had already been digested on the way here. Ji Qing silently warned himself: Don’t think about Xicheng’s safety, or where the Lord came from...
For the students, this was only a competition.
Since it was a competition, then he would compete properly. Once Ji Qing returned to school, he would still have the matter of the World Book to deal with. The task given by the Dawn Society was certainly more urgent than the safety of any town.
Ji Qing had never been a saint who grieved for the fate of the world.
Since there was no turning things around now, the only thing to do was handle what he could. His state of mind was still nowhere near lofty enough to “deeply empathize with the humans of the wasteland world.”
A gust of sea wind brushed through Ji Qing’s hair, and the smell of salt and fish instantly filled his nose.
After one final look at the island, Ji Qing turned around and went to meet up with his teammates. The school had assigned rooms on the ship according to the team roster, so Ji Qing had been able to stay in the same room as You Xingluo and Liu Mu.
Liu Mu had gotten seasick not long after boarding.
He had never traveled by ship before, so he had been quietly staying in the room this whole time. As for You Xingluo, he simply did not want to go out today. He had already walked around the ship yesterday.
When Ji Qing returned, Liu Mu was checking the firearms they had brought with them.
The moment the school announced that firearms would be allowed, he had gone out and bought plenty of ammunition, which would make it easier for him to provide long-range support later. As for You Xingluo...
He blinked innocently at that and demonstrated through his actions that his Exemption from Competition in the Individual Competition had not been granted for nothing.
When Ji Qing pushed the door open, he happened to hear the conversation between the two of them:
“You don’t even know how to use a handgun?” Liu Mu asked.
“No,” You Xingluo answered.
“You don’t have a single means of self-preservation?”
“That’s right.”
To stop Liu Mu from asking any more questions, You Xingluo solemnly declared, “No need to ask about anything else, because I’m an idiot who can’t do anything except Prophecy.”
“...” Liu Mu fell silent.
This was the first time he had ever encountered this sort of situation. In the past, even the peers Zhou Que looked down on had learned at least some close-combat skills. How had it become different in You Xingluo’s case?
Seeing that, Ji Qing could not hold it in any longer. “...Pfft.”
He could understand Liu Mu’s conflict.
Because everyone Liu Mu had dealt with before belonged to Shao Huayu’s circle. And what kind of person was Shao Huayu? He was the kind of genius who could suppress an entire era. Naturally, anyone who crossed paths with him would also be among the very best of their generation.
You Xingluo was also a genius, but his abilities were far too lopsided.
Because of the rarity of Prophecy, Seers followed an entirely different set of rules from combat-focused ability users. And within the Seer community, You Xingluo was an undisputed genius.
Ji Qing smiled and suggested, “Then why not try learning?”
He still remembered the fatal dead end awaiting You Xingluo.
Winter break was just around the corner, and You Xingluo would soon be returning to Central City. No, that was not quite right... there was still one winter break practicum ahead of them, though its timing had not yet been determined.
Which meant Xie Chang’an would not be able to go back to the orphanage either?
Ji Qing secretly found that amusing, but on the surface he maintained his usual gentle tone as he asked, “Did you ever learn to use guns before?”
“A little, I guess,” You Xingluo said calmly. “After the elders discovered that I had absolutely no talent for it, they hurried to stop me. After that, I just focused on learning other things.”
“Hm?” Ji Qing was inwardly startled.
Was that really something you could just stop learning halfway? Weapons and close-combat skills were not like musical instruments or other hobbies. They could become ways to save your life later. How could someone simply decide not to learn them?
Ji Qing felt that You Xingluo’s family was a little strange.
After thinking it over, he felt it might be because of the Seers again. Compared to other S-rank ability users, S-rank Seers were much easier to manipulate, but You Xingluo was already the clan head...
Suppressing the unease in his heart, Ji Qing chuckled softly. “Maybe you were just too young back then. It should be easier to understand now. Learning more is always a good thing.”
“I can teach you,” Liu Mu hurriedly added from the side.
He was genuinely worried about what would happen to You Xingluo after they reached the island. As far as he was concerned, the only one in their team with real combat strength was Ji Qing, and Liu Mu did not have much confidence in himself.
“I can give it a try,” You Xingluo said with a smiling squint. “But you’re not allowed to call me stupid.”
“Fine,” Liu Mu said seriously with a nod.
“While you’re at it, teach me too,” Ji Qing said, his gaze drifting toward the cool-looking sniper rifle nearby as he asked modestly, “I’m not very good with firearms either.”
Liu Mu: “...Huh?”
His pupils shook. “Wait, seriously?!”
Only then did Liu Mu realize that he had boarded a doomed ship.
The three of them had successfully formed an absolutely magnificent makeshift team, one so wildly improvised that it was practically like sending chicks fresh out of the ivory tower to compete in life experience against seasoned professionals.
And so, before the ship reached the island, all three of them chose to remain holed up in their room.
As Ji Qing and You Xingluo humbly kept asking questions, Liu Mu’s worldview was shaken again and again.
He suddenly realized that he could actually count as combat strength too. It was only because the two people he had teamed up with before were too outstanding that he had never had much room to contribute.
The feeling was strangely subtle.
Liu Mu could not help pausing what he was doing and falling silent on the spot.
“Hua Yu and the others really are impressive,” You Xingluo said, glancing at him before letting out a sigh of his own. “But even so, you still shouldn’t forget your own strengths.”
He focused seriously on assembling the gun in his hands.
But as he worked, he discovered that he could no longer put it back together. Staring at the chaotic spread of metal parts across the table, You Xingluo cast a curious glance at Ji Qing’s side.
Ji Qing had already finished assembling his and was now in the middle of taking it apart again and putting it back into the case.
You Xingluo came to an instant realization. “Looks like I’m better suited to being an idiot.”
“Don’t give up that quickly!” Liu Mu protested at once. “It’s normal not to assemble it properly the first time. There’s no need to compare yourself with a genius.”
You Xingluo countered, “Am I not a genius too?”
“Well... in this area, you really don’t have any talent.”
“Oh,” You Xingluo said unhappily.
Though he had already known that.
Lowering his head, You Xingluo examined the metal parts in his hands, the light in his eyes shifting uncertainly. The black, unyielding iron carried a biting chill when he touched it.
He really had noticed it... the elders’ veiled intentions...
But choosing not to learn had been You Xingluo’s own decision. He knew very well that the dead end awaiting him in the future was not something these techniques could protect him from, but...
He tapped a fingertip lightly against the gun barrel, and his eyes sparkled.
Boys had always liked weapons, and he was no exception.
The ship reached shore soon enough.
The three of them stood on the sandy beach of the island with their packs on their backs. Quite a few students were already scattered across the beach. Since there were so many students, they had been divided into several batches.
Shao Huayu and the others were on one of the later ships.
Ji Qing had submitted the team application very early, so it was perfectly normal that they had not ended up on the same ship. Thick clouds covered the sky, and waves big and small rolled across the sea.
It would probably start pouring soon, Ji Qing thought.
After one last glance in the direction the ship had come from, he turned to the other two and said calmly, “Let’s move first. It’ll probably rain soon, so we need to find somewhere to take shelter.”
Naturally, both of them agreed.
But as they walked toward that unknown stretch of forest, You Xingluo murmured softly to himself, “I wonder if we’ll be able to run into Hua Yu and the others smoothly...”
The Team Competition was said to last a week, but once the travel time there and back was excluded, they really only had four or five days.
Within those four or five days, it would be quite difficult to run into people who had disembarked in a different batch from your own. Yet You Xingluo was unusually confident about it, because—
Their destination was the same.
Every team with members from Class S would, without exception, head toward the deepest part of the island, and they would meet there.
Let them meet at the peak.