"Yeah."
Shanyang also frowned. "It’s been four months. We’ve basically been fighting our way here without stopping. Could it be that the other squads have all failed? Or maybe... they’re trapped somewhere along the way?"
Hearing this, Zou Yun grinned, his tone filled with a natural sense of pride.
"What’s so strange about that? You think the other squads have a freak like our Brother Qin?"
He stated bluntly, "This mission is supposed to be about senior students leading new ones, but our squad’s composition is on a completely different level from theirs! We have two experienced seniors, plus a monster whose strength is just unreasonably freakish, and while we’re at it... they brought along a new student like me who can at least hold his own."
Upon hearing this, Shanyang and Pang Chen exchanged a look and couldn’t help but nod with wry smiles.
His words were crude, but he wasn’t wrong.
"It’s true."
Gazing at Qin Feng’s back, Shanyang remarked with sincere admiration, "Junior Brother Qin Feng’s strength can no longer be measured by common sense. His data panel says his life force index is 110, but from what I’ve seen these past three months, his terrifying physical constitution is comparable to a young Starry Sky Giant Beast. His raw explosive power and speed are absolutely more monstrous than even veteran powerhouses with a life force index of 130!"
"That’s right."
Pang Chen added, "Not to mention his Control Realm killing techniques, which amplify his terrifying physical advantages exponentially. One spear, one Mechanical Lord. That kind of decapitation efficiency is the fundamental reason we’ve been able to tear through everything in our path."
"The other squads don’t have this kind of setup."
Zou Yun concluded, "They have the standard lineup of two senior students leading two new ones. For them, it’s good enough if the new students don’t drag them down; there’s no way they could have someone like Brother Qin become the spearhead of the entire team. They most likely have to resort to a slow and steady positional advance. Facing an endless Mechanical Sea with that strategy, it’s perfectly normal for them to be worn down and surrounded."
Qin Feng heard their discussion and praise.
But he didn’t say anything, merely checking the various parameters of his power armor in silence.
After three long months of continuous high-intensity combat, even he felt a deep-seated exhaustion.
"Rest for half an hour. Replenish your energy and stamina."
Qin Feng turned and gave the order to the three of them. "After half an hour, we’ll head toward the other entrances to check on the situation. If they’re really trapped, we’ll help them if we can."
"Understood!"
The three responded in unison, immediately sitting down on the spot and seizing the opportunity to rest.
Half an hour passed in the blink of an eye. At Qin Feng’s command, the four of them set off on time, rushing at full speed toward the northern entrance, the closest one marked on their map.
「Meanwhile.」
In the northern corridor area, a full fifty kilometers from the core district.
A steel torrent composed of tens of thousands of Holy Beetles and hundreds of Immortals had completely sealed off a narrow pass.
And in the center of that encirclement, four battered power armor suits, their lights dim, stood back-to-back in a teetering defensive circle.
The HUDs of three of the power armor suits were already flashing a piercing red light, indicating that their energy was about to be depleted. Their movements had also become noticeably sluggish and weak.
As for the red power armor at the core of the formation, its condition was even more dire.
Its entire left arm had been severed clean at the shoulder joint. At the ghastly stump, countless wires and energy conduits were exposed like torn nerves, constantly flickering with dangerous sparks.
The owner of this power armor was none other than the captain of that squad—Qin Lan.
At this moment, she was gripping a nearly depleted light sword tightly with her remaining right hand. Her pretty face was deathly pale from blood loss and excruciating pain, but her eyes remained as sharp as a blade.
Half a day earlier, their squad had run into a well-planned ambush.
A scorpion-shaped "Annihilator-class" Mechanical Lord, wielding a massive Energy Scythe, had burst from underground and launched a fatal sneak attack on the weakest new student in the squad.
To save the new student, who was frozen in terror, Qin Lan hadn’t hesitated, using her own body to shield him.
As a result, although she successfully saved her teammate, her power armor’s left arm, along with her own entire left arm, was instantly severed and vaporized by that terrifying Energy Scythe.
Severely injured, she could no longer lead the squad in a high-mobility breakout.
They missed the optimal window for retreat and were ultimately trapped here by the endless mechanical army.
Running on fumes.
This was the most accurate description of the four of them.
If this continued, in less than ten minutes, the only fate awaiting them was to be completely submerged and torn to shreds by the steel torrent.
"Senior Sister Qin, it’s all my fault!"
The new student who had been saved said, his voice thick with tears and self-reproach, "If it weren’t for me... if I hadn’t been so careless, you wouldn’t have..."
"Cut the crap!"
Qin Lan cut him off with a sharp rebuke. Her voice was somewhat weak from blood loss, but her Will was as solid as steel. "Maintain the Battle Array! Every second we hold out is another second gained!"
Despite her words, a cloud of despair had already enveloped everyone’s hearts.
Just then, a colossal roar, distinctly different from all the other explosions on the battlefield and filled with a domineering, brutal force, suddenly erupted from outside the encirclement!
BOOM—!