Zone 9 High School, back mountain.

Under Pei Jing's terrifying speed, akin to instant teleportation, he took Su Qi and it took less than five minutes to get here from the Old City District.

This made Su Qi secretly click his tongue in disbelief.

With his current top speed, it would probably take around ten minutes.

Don't be fooled by this mere five minutes, it seems only a double difference.

In actual combat, that would be a complete overwhelming posture.

It's like two people exchanging blows, the opponent punches you once, while you're only halfway through throwing your punch, the opponent would have ample time to dodge and counterattack, completely trapping you in their fighting rhythm.

And the improvement of speed, every second is extremely important.

This is also why he can crush so many Overlord Level Transcendents of the Xu Family.

The reason?

Speed, fast enough.

The Hammer of Divine Punishment, ruthless enough.

The combination of the two produces an explosive effect.

At this moment.

Su Qi followed Pei Jing to the front of a castle-like building, faintly he could sense sharp presences in unseen places around them.

The back mountain of the school.

He had never set foot here, and not just him, almost every student was forbidden to enter.

Therefore, the rumors about this place were fascinating, and even though Su Qi had watched many horror movies in his past life, he had to admit they had quite the imagination.

Now, he finally came into contact with the secrets here.

Su Qi didn't ask questions, patiently waiting for Principal Pei's arrangement.

"Do you need to rest for a bit? This might be quite exhausting for you…" Pei Jing finally calmed down after arriving here, but there was still a hint of urgency in his voice.

"I'm fine, not a problem."

Despite just experiencing a fierce battle, most of Su Qi's abilities were not heavily depleted, thanks to his improvement in comprehension and ability level through the state of being God's Favored One.

The most taxing ability was the Hammer of Divine Punishment.

All things considered, using the Hammer of Divine Punishment took only about ten minutes.

It had already drained more than half of his stamina, spirit, and energy.

This level of depletion was already quite terrifying, given that he also boosted himself with various buffs during the fight.

If a regular Overlord Level Transcendent were to use such an extreme violent attack method as the Hammer of Divine Punishment, they probably wouldn't last even a minute.

So, as long as Old Principal Pei didn't ask him to dismantle this place with the Hammer of Divine Punishment, he was fine.

"Alright, then you'll have to work hard later."

Having said that, Pei Jing led Su Qi inside.

Just upon entering the first-floor lobby, Su Qi felt an extreme cold aura permeating the place.

Soon.

A tall man in a white shirt approached, his face expressionless: "Teacher, coming here so late, you are…"

While speaking, the man shot a glance at Su Qi, seemingly surprised by his presence.

Pei Jing appeared rather urgent, directly asking, "Are the others… asleep?"

The man shook his head.

"Go and arrange for everyone to come to the lobby." Pei Jing instructed.

Upon hearing this.

A hint of emotion finally surfaced on the man's perpetually unchanging face.

In his memory, the teacher seldom made such requests; even when distributing potions or inviting special Mysterious Path experts for treatment.

He would personally enter someone's room and ask for permission before disturbing them.

After all, everyone here was already at the brink of death, candles flickering in the wind.

Unable to withstand much disturbance.

Although filled with questions, he dutifully carried out the teacher's instructions, because no one in this world cared for them more than the teacher.

Creaaaak—

Shortly after the man's departure, a harsh metallic screeching sound reverberated throughout the whole castle, one after another.

And then.

Su Qi saw one by one, automatic wheelchairs emerged from the darkness of the lobby.

Each seated figure was bizarrely shaped… human-like.

Some had sharp bone spikes protruding all over their bodies.

Some with hideous faces, their nose and lips gone, only crisscrossed fangs exposed to the air.

Some had wildly swollen bodies, skin cracked open, revealing numerous fine blood vessels, the wheelchairs beneath them struggling under their weight, almost deforming.

Each unique, none the same.

The only thing they shared was the aura of decay and disrepair.

Aliens!

The word flashed sharply in Su Qi's mind.

This was the result of humans being fully eroded by corruptive traits since the Great Cataclysm; both animals and humans have suffered from such traits creeping into them.

Even when humans consume Fierce Beast meat, they inevitably ingest some pollution traits.

Under normal circumstances, humans can rely on their own Qi and Blood to grind down the pollution traits ingested; thus, as long as they don't ingest too much, at most only some bodily functions suffer damage.

This is why the price of perfect quality beast meat remains high.

Clearly, the people before him were beyond the point of reversal from erosion.

However, Su Qi carefully noticed that these people had not completely become non-human aliens. The reason they appeared so quiet and listless was probably due to using energy to resist the encroachment of pollution traits.

Otherwise, if left unchecked by pollution traits, they would exhibit even more power and frenzy.

"Don't be afraid, these are all my old comrades." Pei Jing explained softly.

Soon.

Su Qi suddenly realized.

Those who Principal Pei referred to as comrades could only be the brothers who once guarded the Ninth District alongside him.

That meant everyone here was truly people to be celebrated as… heroes!

"They… shouldn't be quietly unknown like this." Su Qi murmured, whether for school students or city dwellers, the information was that heroes had died in battle.

The Ninth District was different from other Holy Cities, a product cast aside by history; thus, the acceptance level for aliens here was relatively high. As long as there wasn't wanton killing, at worst, people would just steer clear.

Whereas most Holy Cities viewed aliens as potential threats, even establishing courts or organizations specializing in hunting them.

Pei Jing sneered, "If it was for something useless like that, they wouldn't have followed me out of the Holy City."

"Cough, cough."

One of them coughed weakly, teasing themselves, "Boss, don't make us sound so noble, we purely acted out of selfishness, not wanting to show ourselves looking so hideous to everyone."

"I say, you should've let us all chat more often long ago."

"Indeed, staying alone in the room all the time, we're getting moldy."

"Oh wow, isn't this Old Jin? How's that horn on your head getting so thick, almost didn't recognize you."

"How about that, let it grow a bit more, and I'll poke your window at midnight."

"Tsk, tsk, look at Old Chen, no eyelids left, just the eye sockets and eyeballs, I wonder if his eyes dry out…"

Listening to his old comrades jest in their state of decay, Pei Jing rarely found his eyes moist.

He longed to have everyone gather more often for chats, but each person was struggling hard against the erosion of their own pollution traits, with varying amounts on each of them.

If they interacted too much, the transfer of pollution traits might very well be the final straw that breaks the camel's back for some of them.

These old comrades were once defiantly unrestrained young Transcendents in the Holy City, each with a beautiful future ahead.

If they hadn't followed him…

They wouldn't have fallen to this point now.

Su Qi was also infected by this atmosphere, his eyes slightly sore, while also understanding the reason Principal Pei brought him here.

To attempt to save the heroes of the past!

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