Chapter 30
Chapter 30: Huaxia's No.1 Romantic And Yekaterina
"You're…a Huaxia Nation person?"
Kujo pressed her hand against the wound on her thigh, eyes complex as she studied the scruffy middle-aged man before her.
In the Savage Realm, the power of rules made all languages mutually intelligible.
Whether it was the Huaxia tongue or the Sakura tongue, whatever reached the other party's mind would automatically convert into their native language.
"That's right."
The middle-aged man took a drag of his cigarette, the flame illuminating that face of his—one etched with stories.
"My name is Lu Shiyan."
"Or…you can call me by another name."
He blew out a smoke ring, the corner of his mouth curling slightly upward.
"Huaxia's No.1 Romantic."
Upon hearing that ID, Kujo and Hoshino's pupils contracted simultaneously.
Rank 9 on the Newcomer Leaderboard!
"Now, for safety's sake."
Lu Shiyan turned his palm upward, his tone hardening.
"Hand over your guns first, cheaters."
"O-okay! I'll hand it over right now!"
Hoshino had always been timid to begin with—the moment she heard the other party was a top-ten ranker, where would she find the nerve to resist?
She caved at lightning speed, hands fumbling as she unhooked the P90 submachine gun hanging around her neck and tossed it over.
"Hoshino! You coward! I must have been blind to decide to save you!"
Kujo barked sharply.
As a descendant of a prestigious family, her pride would not allow her to bow her head to a Huaxia person.
"All foreign nationals are enemies! Especially Huaxia people!"
Kujo's eyes turned wild. She raised the handgun in her hand and aimed it directly at Lu Shiyan!
"And what if I don't hand it over?!"
Staring down that black barrel, not a single trace of Lu Shiyan's smile changed—he didn't even blink.
"Heh heh…"
"As expected, a dog never stops eating filth."
Lu Shiyan reached up and pulled the cigarette from the corner of his mouth, gently flicking the ash.
"Sakura Nation people will never change that ingratitude buried deep in their bones."
The instant those words fell.
Hum!
An invisible magnetic field pulsed and erupted!
Kujo felt as if her handgun had suddenly come to life, emitting a wrenching sound.
Crack!
Right before everyone's eyes, the gun barrel was bent 90 degrees by some unseen force!
"What?!"
Kujo went pale with shock.
Before she could even react, Lu Shiyan flicked his wrist.
Whoosh!
A scalpel flew out, shooting straight for Kujo's brow!
"Take responsibility for your own stupidity."
The breath of death washed over her. Kujo didn't even have the chance to close her eyes.
And yet.
Ding!
At the very instant the blade was about to pierce skin, a slender, fair hand reached out from nowhere and caught the throwing knife with perfect steadiness.
The blade edge sliced through the glove, but failed to harm that hand even slightly.
"Lu, we can't kill her yet."
The white-haired girl from Su Nation spoke calmly: "Otherwise, 'that person' will come looking."
Lu Shiyan froze for a moment, then slapped his own forehead. The killing intent on his face vanished in an instant, replaced by an expression of mild exasperation.
"Ahh, look at my memory—nearly forgot about that bastard."
"Sorry about that, Yekaterina, middle age makes a man impulsive."
Watching the man who had been so decisively lethal just a moment ago now grinning and apologizing shamelessly, both Hoshino and Kujo were completely dumbfounded.
‘That's way too fast a mood swing, isn't it?’
Yekaterina returned a graceful smile.
"No, Lu, you weren't wrong."
"It's this woman who brought it on herself."
With that, Yekaterina slowly crouched down and looked at Kujo, who had collapsed on the floor.
"Since we can't kill her, let's at least teach her a lesson."
She narrowed her eyes, then extended her fingers and pressed them directly into the bloody crater the Vacuum Round had blown open in Kujo's thigh.
Then, she twisted hard!
"Aaaaahhh!!!"
A piercing shriek echoed through the corridor. The pain drenched Kujo's entire back in cold sweat instantly.
"Enough noise."
Yekaterina's brow furrowed slightly. With a backhand chokehold at Kujo's throat, she squeezed her into unconsciousness.
Thud.
The world went quiet.
Kujo passed out with her eyes rolled back.
To the side, Hoshino was trembling in the corner, scared out of her wits.
She knew—she absolutely could not defy these 2 people, or whether she'd live to see tomorrow would be a real question.
Fearing something only makes it come sooner.
After dealing with Kujo, Lu Shiyan turned around, strode over to Hoshino, and extended one finger to tap the cross emblem on her combat uniform.
"Little girl, what's your ability?"
"I…I…"
Hoshino stumbled over her words, tears swirling in her eyes: "My ability is…B-Grade【Healing Light.】"
"Oh? A healer, huh."
Lu Shiyan gave a satisfied nod: "Good, come with me."
"Then…then what about Kujo-sis…?"
Hoshino pointed at Kujo, unconscious on the floor, and asked weakly.
Yekaterina rose to her feet, wiped the blood from her gloves, and said coldly.
"If you do something wrong, you should be punished."
"She can only stay here and leave it to fate."
"If she's still alive by tomorrow morning, only then will she have earned the right to come up to the second floor."
Hoshino didn't dare refuse, but out of fear of the monsters, she still tremulously asked one more question.
"Um…are there monsters on the first floor?"
Upon hearing this, Lu Shiyan deliberately lowered his voice to be menacing.
"There are."
"And…they're not weaker than the one outside."
"If you want to stay here and feed the monsters alongside her, that can be arranged~"
"Huh?!"
The color drained from Hoshino's face instantly, and the tears she'd been holding back finally spilled over.
"I…I understand! I'll go with you!"
"But you have to let Kujo-sis come upstairs tomorrow!"
At this point, as if trying to summon her own courage, she actually mustered the nerve to speak her most fierce words in her most timid voice.
"O-otherwise! I'll kill myself with her right in front of you!!"
"Hmph!"
She even sniffled hard.
Someone who didn't know better would have thought she was throwing a tantrum at an elder.
"Pfft…hahaha!"
Lu Shiyan was immediately tickled by her pitifully adorable display, and couldn't help reaching out to ruffle her head.
"You're a funny one. You don't look like a soldier at all."
"Threatening someone with suicide? Does your Kujo-sis even know she's supposed to die alongside you?"
Off to the side, Yekaterina also pressed her hand to her forehead with mild exasperation.
"Alright, Lu, stop teasing her."
"The first floor is temporarily a 'Safe Zone'—that foolish Sakura Nation woman probably won't die."
"Mmm……"
Hoshino puffed out her cheeks, only now realizing she'd been played for laughs.
But she also let out a sigh of relief, and at the same time recalled the information the 2 of them had let slip during their earlier exchange.
For some unknown reason, it seemed there was a certain rule here—people couldn't just die carelessly, or something terrifying would be drawn to the scene.
"Hmph!"
Hoshino gave an indignant huff, lowered her head, and followed along behind the 2 of them.
The 3 of them made their way up the dim staircase to the second floor.
The air here was thick with the smell of moldy books and stale blood.
Lu Shiyan pushed open the door of a classroom with a sign reading Class 3, Year 3.
"Come in, new school medic."
When Hoshino stepped nervously into the classroom, the scene before her left her completely stunned.
In this eerie middle school surrounded by monsters, there were actually this many people!
11 of them, no less!
And…
They all looked young, wearing tattered black stand-collar uniforms and sailor uniforms—clearly students!
To be precise, they were Transmigrator students from Sakura Nation!
5 girls and 6 boys, each huddled in their own corner of the classroom.
All of them carried wounds to varying degrees—some bandaged with strips of torn cloth, some still seeping blood.
Every single face was in terrible shape, eyes blank with numbness and despair.
Looking at these fellow countrymen of the same blood and tongue—
Hoshino's mind instantly flashed back to the white bones at the school gate, and then to the way Sato and Ikeda had died horribly just moments ago.
‘Could it be…?’
‘…those people had all died not long ago?’
"Urgh!"
The massive psychological shock sent her stomach lurching, and she couldn't help doubling over in a dry heave.
"Hey hey hey!"
Lu Shiyan pinched his nose in disgust and waved his hand.
"Don't throw up in here! If you need to vomit, go outside!"
Just then.
The students in the classroom noticed Hoshino.
More precisely—they noticed the Sakura Nation combat uniform she was wearing.
That was their country's military uniform!
The next second.
There was none of the "fellow countrymen meeting far from home, both moved to tears" scene Hoshino had imagined.
"It's you!!"
A male student with his head wrapped in bandages shot to his feet, an agonizing hatred and rage erupting in his eyes.
He went berserk, snatching up a rusty iron stool from beside him, and came charging at Hoshino without a second thought!
"You bunch of goddamn murderers!!"
"How dare you come back!!"
"I'm going to kill you!!"
"Wh-why?"
Hoshino was completely at a loss, frozen in place with fright, even forgetting to dodge.
Clearly, compared to these 2 foreign nationals, she was one of their own people—so why was she being called a murderer?
The instant before the stool was about to crash down on Hoshino's head—
A large hand seized the male student's wrist.
Lu Shiyan stopped the rampaging student with one hand, brow furrowing.
"Let go of me!! Mr. Lu! Don't hold me back!!"
The male student struggled desperately, tears bursting from his eyes.
"I want revenge!! I'm going to kill these damned liars! Murderers!"
"It's all because of them!! All because of these bastards…"
"My little sister died because of them!!!"