"You're awake?"
Hearing Li Jiayu speak, everyone was overjoyed, as if they had suddenly found their backbone. Especially Xiao Wanqing and Ran Hongxia, who knew Li Jiayu had died and revived, were uncontrollably excited, filled with immense relief!
"Mm... this time was really dangerous, almost didn't wake up..."
Li Jiayu glanced gratefully at Xiao Wanqing. Although luck played a major part in this revival, if Xiao Wanqing hadn't held him, stirring Li Jiayu's will to live, making him subconsciously realize there were still many people to protect, that he couldn't leave behind endless regrets once more, the outcome might have truly been uncertain.
"You guys go out first. I'm fine now, just want to rest properly. Just let the Principal stay and talk with me."
Li Jiayu's tone was still that indifferent to the point of coldness. He paid no heed to the fact that others had worried about him all night, unceremoniously issuing an order to leave. Chu Xiang and the few male students obediently didn't dare disturb him. Ran Hongxia, however, was choked speechless by Li Jiayu—this arrogant, smelly boy, just because he's a little stronger, would treating people nicer make him pregnant?
Always so nice to Aunt Xiao, she's already a married woman, you have no chance! If you want someone to talk to, why not me? I still have many things I want to ask you...
Ran Hongxia opened her mouth, but seeing Li Jiayu not even glance at her, she finally walked out of the utility room resentfully, closing the door behind her. She also spread the news of Li Jiayu's stable condition, causing all the teachers and students on the thirteenth floor to burst into cheers. Jiang Feng, the vice president in charge of food management, specifically distributed breakfast early to everyone: a bottle of fruit juice and five custard pies each!
Regardless of how people outside were crying tears of joy for someone, inside, Li Jiayu had already shakily stood up, staggered to the window, took a deep breath of fresh air, expelled all the turbid air from his chest, and silently let the cold wind blow against his face.
"Master... just now... when you were unconscious... many high-level dark creatures... with you..."
"I know."
"You... how did you do it... making them rush to form contracts with you... each one so powerful... Octopus facing them... would only be instantly killed... especially the Frost Dragon... Octopus knelt before it..."
"Your Master is a genius, with infinite potential. Is that explanation sufficient?"
"Uh..."
"Uh my ass! I'm more puzzled about you! When I died, how could you still remain in this world? According to the rules of summoning, you should have obediently rolled back into the space-time rift."
"Octopus also can't figure it out... Octopus only knows how to eat, drink, play, thinks with its butt. Master asking is pointless..."
"Damn strange... Ai, forget it. My soul is already a mess, the things I summon are completely chaotic, and my head is dizzy now... Do you want to return to the space-time rift first? You'll recover faster in your old nest."
"Not going back... Octopus here... lives comfortably... has pretty girls... caring for Octopus..."
"Fine then, continue chatting up your pretty girls. Don't be an eyesore here! Can't you see I want to be alone with Xiao Wanqing?"
"Oh... Octopus will piss off now... But... Master, are you really... okay... The side effects of that are huge... impossible to pay no price at all..."
"Get lost! My business is none of your concern!"
"Master... around three or four in the morning... Octopus sneaked into the girls' bathroom in the dark... stole all the underwear the pretty girls changed out of... tastes delicious..."
Saying this, the Dark Octopus crawled out the window, its tentacle suckers clinging to the wall, taking the unconventional path, looking quite proud.
"Eat my ass! You worthless bastard! Go die!"
Li Jiayu's face turned extremely ugly. He kicked the Dark Octopus on the head. He didn't actually use much force, but unfortunately hit the wound on the Dark Octopus's forehead. Remember, the Dark Octopus had its head pierced by demonic vines earlier, brain matter leaking out. Even after recovering for a night, the wound there was still very painful!
The Dark Octopus, which had been clinging nicely to the wall, suddenly felt the pain and immediately fell from the thirteenth-floor window ledge!
"Ah... Master... you went too far..."
"Falling won't kill you, pervert!"
Li Jiayu rolled his eyes watching the Dark Octopus fall. If an ordinary person fell from such a height on the thirteenth floor, they would undoubtedly die. Fortunately, the Dark Octopus's body was soft enough; it probably wouldn't die from the fall, at most suffering some more heavy injuries. Although the punishment was a bit severe, letting it learn a lesson was also good...
Closing the window properly, pulling down the curtain as well, he turned back to Xiao Wanqing with an awkward smile, strenuously pulled over a chair, sat down in front of her, and carefully studied her exquisitely beautiful face in the flickering candlelight.
"The Dark Octopus is your summoned beast, right... It speaks, so interestingly..." Sensing Li Jiayu's strange gaze, Xiao Wanqing smiled faintly.
"Yeah, the Dark Octopus is good at everything, unfortunately, its brain isn't good enough, intelligence is its weakness, always embarrassing me..."
"It's actually quite popular with the girls, became Xijiang University's mascot overnight..."
"Hehe, it fancies itself a protector of flowers. Who knows how many girls it saved from insect mouths? Being popular is normal. But it's actually a pervert, always wanting to smell girls' scents. One day when those girls see its true nature, they probably won't even have time to hide from it."
"Li Jiayu, the octopus mentioned... side effects, what was that about?" Xiao Wanqing's smile faded, looking worriedly at Li Jiayu. She tried hard to discern his inner world beneath his calm exterior.
"Oh, nothing, just something wrong with my right hand..." Li Jiayu said as if discussing something trivial.
"Let me see!"
Xiao Wanqing's heart trembled. She quickly took Li Jiayu's right hand but saw nothing unusual. She looked at him puzzledly, as if asking what exactly was wrong.
"The meridians in my right hand are severed, can't be repaired... Can't exert strength. Usually doesn't affect daily life much, but using a sword... becomes very difficult. After all, I practice swordsmanship with my right hand. Without the strength in my right hand, I can't exert much power."
Xiao Wanqing was speechless. What she worried about most was Li Jiayu's strength. If Li Jiayu's right hand was crippled, unable to continue performing that sharp swordsmanship, then dealing with insects in the future would be very taxing.
"Is there any way to recover in the future? How about... you ask those old TCM professors? Let them perform acupuncture on you."
"It's a soul wound; ordinary treatments won't work."
"Sorry... Li Jiayu, it's all because of me..." Xiao Wanqing held Li Jiayu's right hand, feeling an inexplicable sharp pain in her heart, both bitter and sorrowful.
"Don't blame yourself. I won't say mushy things... Anyway, you just need to know, I will always protect you! Besides, sooner or later I'll find a chance to restore it... Moreover, I'm a summoner, I don't need to charge into battle like a warrior. Not being able to use my right hand isn't a big deal, won't affect my combat power at all."
Speaking here, a confident smile touched Li Jiayu's lips, and he said happily:
"Compared to the gains from this battle, the temporary inconvenience of my right hand is nothing! That Female Parasitic Vine's crystal core is truly world-rare! If it were an ordinary mid-Tier 2 crystal core, I naturally couldn't absorb it. But that one was half-psychic, half-life type. Not only did it strengthen my life force, making my vitality more vigorous and energetic, but it also nourished my soul, greatly increasing my mental power, laying an excellent foundation! Future enhancements will also be twice as effective with half the effort!"
Saying this, Li Jiayu himself became slightly excited. To actually use a mid-Tier 2 crystal core for foundation building, this was simply an epoch-making anomaly! You know, ordinary people could only use high-Tier 1 insect crystals for their first enhancement. If they used Tier 2, unless they were one of the very few geniuses, they wouldn't be able to withstand it and would be poisoned to death!
Even if the very few geniuses could endure it, it would only be low-Tier 2. At least, based on the data Li Jiayu collected on numerous powerhouses in his previous life, he had never seen anyone use a mid-Tier 2 crystal core for foundation building.
Now, Li Jiayu's mental power had already reached high-Tier 1, five or six times stronger than an ordinary person! He could now easily summon beasts like "Greedy Ghouls" and "Minotaurs"!
With these high-Tier 1 summoned beasts, combined with Li Jiayu's command, they could definitely exert combat power greater than Hyorinmaru. Even without the Dark Octopus's help, Li Jiayu alone was enough to deal with two or three Red-Crested Beetles!
This was truly... a blessing in disguise! Generally speaking, summoners were very difficult to advance. Because a summoner's spirit was connected to too many otherworldly creatures, it became chaotic and impure. Just like Li Jiayu in his previous life, the number of summoners wasn't low, but there was an extreme lack of presentable experts. Most hovered around the elementary and intermediate levels. Even a talent like Li Jiayu only achieved explosive growth after his soul was eroded by darkness, jumping three levels in strength to become a Dark Grand Summoner. Ordinary people simply couldn't replicate his success.
Therefore, advancing to high-Tier 1 overnight, just one step away from becoming a novice summoner, gave Li Jiayu a sense of striking it rich overnight. How could he possibly feel sad about a mere right hand?
"Li Jiayu, you... forgive my bluntness, but I really suspect you're a transmigrator... Otherwise, how would you know so many things we don't? The insect attack, you turned the tide single-handedly. Without you, who knows how many more people would have died... Only transmigrators could be this capable..." Seeing Li Jiayu showed no sign of dejection, Xiao Wanqing joked slightly.
Li Jiayu's heart skipped a beat. Xiao Wanqing's wild guess was actually half right. Li Jiayu wasn't a transmigrator, but a regressor. However, this secret absolutely could not be told to Xiao Wanqing. Li Jiayu laughed it off, bluffing his way through:
"You've watched too many transmigration dramas... Transmigration, that kind of thing, simply can't exist... Tsk, actually I'm also an Awakened, but I awakened two professions: one is Summoner, the other is Prophet. That's why I know so much..."
Xiao Wanqing nodded, thoughtfully saying:
"Jiayu, let's talk about the insects. The insects are like swords hanging over our heads, making everyone unable to eat or sleep peacefully. Actually, this is what I most wanted to discuss with you."
"Talk about insects? What's there to talk about? You saw it too, the insects are actually very docile. As long as they eat enough human flesh and satisfy their frenzy, they'll calm down significantly for a while."
"Stop joking... Those insects are so big, one meal can eat three or four people. By the time they've had their fun, they'll have killed at least a dozen more people... Xijiang City's total population is only around eight hundred thousand, it can't withstand the insects' torment. Just like our school... if it weren't for you, at least another thousand people on the thirteenth floor would have died!"
"It's not that serious... In another future I saw, the thirteenth floor only had a few dozen Acid Bugs. The acid they spray is limited; after spraying ten or so times a day, they can't spray anymore. With two thousand people on the thirteenth floor, they would eventually wear them down and kill them."
What Li Jiayu said was precisely what he witnessed in his previous life:
"Besides... Red-Crested Beetles don't really like climbing high. At most, they'll only rampage around the sixth or seventh floors. After they finish killing people, they'll naturally leave our school... You know, even without me, five days later, four thousand one hundred people would still survive at Xijiang University..."
"But... the entire Xijiang University has sixteen thousand teachers and students! A survival rate of one-fourth... such casualties are too terrifying! Other ordinary people probably face even more tragic fates..."
"No, Xijiang University is in the northern part of Xijiang City, the heavily affected disaster zone for insects, hence the large casualties. The southern part is Flame Crow territory. Starting tomorrow, dozens of streets there will catch fire consecutively, but the death toll will be far lower than in the north... As for the west and east, there aren't many insects or other alien creatures, casualties aren't high... The Xijiang Military Region outside the city has numerous Awakened. Although the armory was blown up, many firearms still remain. They should be able to hold out against the insect attacks..."
"But... even if you say that, I'm still worried. With so many insects in the north, how can we break out? Even if we break out, will places outside be safer?"
"Let's not talk about this for now... Wanqing, cough... Sister Wanqing, your eyelids are almost closing. You exhausted yourself last night, you should hurry and sleep. We'll talk about the insects and stuff after you've rested enough."
"Okay... Anyway... with you here, worrying is useless. I'll just leave everything to you." Saying this, Xiao Wanqing gave an apologetic smile. Li Jiayu also walked behind her, pulled her computer chair back, turning it into a reclining small bed, then touched her face, releasing a hypnotic mental wave. In the time it takes to drink half a cup of coffee, Xiao Wanqing fell into a deep sleep.
Li Jiayu untied the female blanket wrapped around him and gently covered Xiao Wanqing with it. His gaze softened, a rare occurrence, watching her peaceful sleeping face, warmth filling his heart.
Everything I've done... is truly worth it. As long as I can see my relatives and friends smiling happily, no matter how hard or tiring it is, I won't have a single complaint!
Li Jiayu looked out the window. Faintly, a hazy light appeared on the distant horizon. He knew, dawn was breaking!
"Cousin, Cousin-in-law... you are also in Xijiang City... Rest assured, I will come save you! I owed you so much kindness in my past life, I will definitely repay it tenfold in this life!"