Chapter 216: Chapter 216 – I Love Writing Thesis Papers

“Two checkpoints left.”

After an eight-hour-long battle, Ren Suo was also slightly exhausted.

However, he still had other work to do.

Although it took an extremely long time to finish that battle, the entire process was actually very steady. The fifth checkpoint was cleared with barely any casualties, so there was also no ‘opportunity’ for Ren Suo to ‘sacrifice’ the mage.

As they watched the silver-haired mage cleanse the source of the Evil Demon, the Extraordinaires immediately began crowding around him. However, the silver-haired mage looked at them, then cast a spell—

—Healing offering, [Fire of Warmth]!

When the offering was activated, there would be an explosion of bright light. It would then turn into a ball of orange-yellow light, and those who were close to the ball of light would be healed continuously. It was a decent healing offering.

However, the reason why Ren Suo used the offering was simply to make use of the explosion of light to conceal the scene when the silver-haired mage left!

When the light of warmth dissipated, the Extraordinaires realized that both the silver-haired mage and the other female mages had all disappeared from the mystery realm. The commanders all sighed and commanded their troops to gather together by nation. They divided the mystery realm into various sections based on the force size of each nation and began gathering the resources from the mystery realm within their respective areas.

“Mmm… the walls here are really sweet and delicious!”

————————

When Ren Suo woke up and looked at the half-lit sky outside, he could not tell whether it was dawn or dusk.

After eight intensive hours of gaming and another 90 hours of uninterrupted Practice, Ren Suo also felt rather exhausted.

Since it was uncertain whether the effect of [Jade Pendant of the Goddess of River Luo] would be reduced over time, Ren Suo much preferred to practice with [Unlimited Energy] equipped upon completing the checkpoint, rather than waste even a small amount of the power of the Jade Pendant of the Goddess of River Luo.

Moreover, the effect of [Jade Pendant of the Goddess of River Luo] was especially huge. It seemed that all the human-faced locusts were treated as evil demons. After all, the human-faced locusts as a whole were indeed considered the boss of the checkpoint.

Even though one human-faced locust could only activate a small bit of energy in [Jade Pendant of the Goddess of River Luo], and most of the human-faced locusts were eradicated by the Extraordinaires, Mage still killed an enormous number of human-faced locusts himself.

The opportunity Ren Suo had this time was so significant that he was willing to give up on all social interaction and stay at home to concentrate on his Practice. When he was hungry, he would eat the food he stored at home, and when he was sleepy… no, he would not be sleepy, for he was using his life in exchange for unlimited energy.

However, Ren Suo’s drastic efforts this time certainly did not go to waste: his progress was now at tier 1, 56%. In four days, his Practice score had improved by 15%, and his talent score also improved drastically. He could feel that his practice efficiency was almost two to three times higher than before.

It was just that, when he unequipped [Unlimited Energy], he instantly fell soundly asleep on his bed.

After staying up for days, Ren Suo slept until he awoke naturally. ‘What a luxurious life.’

Ren Suo looked at his phone. Well, he had been asleep for about ten hours.

Dong Chengling had sent a message, telling him to inform her if he was going to step out of his house earlier than planned. Before Ren Suo started his intense Practice session, he had informed Dong Chengling about it. He told Dong Chengling that he would not leave his house for the time being, and she was extremely supportive.

However, Ren Suo yawned and fell back asleep.

Even though he had already slept for ten hours, he could continue sleeping if he wanted to—until he had slept for a week’s worth.

At that moment, the wristband on Ren Suo’s right hand started ringing soundly. Ren Suo sighed and was wide awake the next second.

With the Super-Evolution of Cats, Ren Suo could both fall asleep quickly and become awake quickly. The biggest significance of the evolution to him was that he would no longer have to worry about sleeping.

After all, cats were wild animals. They had to regulate their sleep well while remaining vigilant during their sleep. As such, Ren Suo, who had acquired the evolution of cats, could fall asleep very quickly. At the same time, he could rapidly wash away all drowsiness when he awoke, if he wanted to.

“Bugger…”

Ren Suo sat up and clicked on the wristband. It was an emergency rescue notification: the location was the school hospital, and the number of people involved was four.

“Amazing, they did not fight when they were in school, but they decided to get into trouble during the vacation break?”

Nonetheless, Ren Suo’s main role at the Institution was an emergency rescue Practitioner. He only grumbled briefly, then quickly changed his clothes and hurried over.

The nurse at the school hospital also appeared to be waiting for Ren Suo. The moment he arrived, she led him to the operation theater on the second floor and said, “The situation this time is exceptional. Doctor Ren, if you think that it is a tricky case too, we have to send them over to Lianjiang Number 3 Hospital as soon as possible.”

The Number 3 Hospital was a hospital for Practitioners which was located in the suburbs. It was set up with a ‘Great Dispersion of Reiki’ system, and it was the place where Qiao Muyi was brought to for treatment after she was attacked by the unknown monster. Ren Suo had not expected the situation to be so serious. He asked, “Is it not just a fight between the students?”

The nurse replied, “No, it seems like they were attacked by a monster while they were outside.”

“A monster?” a stunned Ren Suo remarked.

The nurse pushed open the door to the operation theater, and Ren Suo saw two guys and two girls lying on the bed. One of the girls was Gu Yueyan.

At that moment, Ren Suo’s right arm suddenly trembled slightly.

Ren Suo walked over and found wounds that looked like claw marks made by a wild creature on the students. However, a foul odor exuded from the wounds, and fresh black-colored blood was oozing out.

The doctor, who was next to them, saw Ren Suo enter the room and he said, “This is not an ordinary wound. It is related to an extraordinary force, and we are only able to stop the bleeding temporarily.”

“Shouldn’t those with such injuries be sent directly to the Number 3 Hospital?” Ren Suo asked as he looked at the wounds on the students. The shorter wounds were about the length of a finger, and the longer ones were the size of a palm. It was quite a terrifying sight. Ren Suo questioned, “Since they got injured outside, was there still a need to send them back to the school hospital?”

“We came back by ourselves, we did not think it was that serious…”

Hearing a familiar voice, Ren Suo turned his head and realized that it was Lin Xianyu. She was in tears and was using a piece of tissue to rub the tears off her face.

Ren Suo asked, “What exactly happened?”

Lin Xianyu sobbed as she replied, “We- we arranged to go out to play today. As we were finding a place to eat after our karaoke session, we passed by a small alley. We felt something inside the alley..”

“I don’t know how to explain it either, but we all had the same feeling—it just felt weird. When we entered the alley, we were attacked by a black shadow monster. The speed of the black shadow was extremely fast, and we could not see it clearly. It was like a fly, but it was not lethal. Although we managed to escape in the end, everyone was injured slightly, except for me.”

“At that time, their wounds were not so big. It looked just like a small scratch on the skin, so we did not pay much attention to it, and we did not even call the police. We thought that we were merely attacked by a strange small animal. We did not expect the wounds to become more and more serious as we were on our way back. When we arrived back in school, they could barely stand…”

It was a monster that specifically targeted Extraordinaires who possessed breathing currents, a monster that knew how to fish?

Ren Suo had not encountered such a monster in “Over My Dead Body”, so it must have been a new breed of monsters.

However, Ren Suo had not come across information about such a new breed of monsters on the intranet either. He was a frequent reader of the intranet, and if he had not read about any such monsters, it was very likely that it was a breed of monsters that appeared very recently.

(Rise in Reiki energy level… Emergence of new monsters…)

Ren Suo narrowed his eyes slightly. He faintly felt as if it was caused by himself. Then, he squatted down and said to Lin Xianyu, “Don’t worry, I will treat their injuries.”

“Thank- thank you!” Lin Xianyu exclaimed as she burst into a cry. She stretched her hand out above Ren Suo’s head and—

She rubbed his head forcefully.

It was only then when Ren Suo realized that he had forgotten to put on his hat in his haste to leave the house.

However, Lin Xianyu calmed down as she rubbed Ren Suo’s head. She said, “Brother Ren, you must save our class chairwoman and the rest of them.”

“Yes, yes, don’t worry,” Ren Suo replied. He walked to the injured students and cast [Ability: Heal] on the teen boy in front of him.

Due to the ability, the wounds quickly stopped bleeding and formed scabs. However, during the process, Ren Suo could clearly hear what seemed to be a faint scream coming from the wound, as if hearing an agonizing shriek echoing from very far away.

“It’s effective!”

Lin Xianyu and the others immediately felt relieved when they saw that the wounds on the boy were healing. Although they trusted Ren Suo’s healing ability, the wound was so strange and peculiar that it was beyond their imagination. In fact, they had already made preparations to transport the injured students to the Number 3 Hospital.

However, at that juncture, Ren Suo felt that the mark of the Jade Pendant on his right hand becoming warmer–

Over the past few days, Ren Suo had kept himself equipped with [Jade Pendant of the Goddess of River Luo] as he was Practicing. He was in such a hurry to leave his house that he forgot to put on his hat. Naturally, he did not change his equipped abilities.

(The Jade Pendant of the Goddess of River Luo was triggered?)

Ren Suo inspected the wounds of the injured students closely and found that their wounds were not really scratches. Rather, they were more like tears made by tiny insects as they nibbled on the skin. The tears were uneven, and according to the doctor, they were still continuously growing larger.

The monster enticed them to enter the alley, and yet it only hurt them but not kill them…

Even though Lin Xianyu possessed an Awakened Ability, she was just a female high school student who had never fought before. She would not be able to use her Ability effectively, although it was a powerful weapon. When faced with a monster, Ren Suo did not think that she was sufficiently capable of protecting others. It was already very fortunate that she was able to remain unharmed.

That would mean that the end of the four students was the result of the monster’s choice.

Ren Suo thought, “Since the Jade Pendant of the Goddess of River Luo responded, it means that I have killed a living monster. Did the monster leave seeds inside their wounds, intending to use them as a medium to reproduce…?”

“No, if it were so, they could well be killed and hidden by the monster. There was no need to let them leave alive… Could it be that their children are already able to protect themselves well and propagate quickly the moment they arise? Is that why they can choose to propagate and increase their population size in such a reckless way?”

The more Ren Suo pondered about it, the more he felt like it would become a piece of huge news. There was no information about such a monster on the intranet yet, so it would certainly be earthshaking when Ren Suo submitted a report of it!

The threat posed by such a new species of monsters was extremely great, especially in a densely populated city, where it could become a biochemical weapon.

Nevertheless, there should still be restrictions on the monster’s capabilities. From the fact that the monsters could only choose to attack the students who were Practitioners, it was likely that the young of the monsters could not be bred in the bodies of ordinary people.

Realizing that there were offsprings of monsters in front of him, Ren Suo gradually entered his ‘work mode’.

Cold, emotionless, and focused.

——————

How unbearable…

Gu Yueyan had really not expected that she was so prone to experiencing calamities and that just a few days after the previous incident, she would be attacked by a monster when she went out to play with her friends.

She felt pain in several different places of her body. The thoughts in her mind were also in a state of chaos, but she had not lost her consciousness.

She felt as if she were in complete darkness, and inch by inch, her body was being devoured by the darkness. Gradually, she could no longer feel her feet, then her hands, then her neck…

All of a sudden, however, a gush of warm air flowed into her body. Then, her legs and hands, which had been devoured by the darkness, returned to her.

The darkness gradually dispersed, and Gu Yueyan gradually regained control of her body.

She forced open her eyes with much difficulty. Under the glare of the lights on the ceiling, she saw a tall, yet familiar figure placing his hand over her neck.

The burning pain on her neck was suppressed by a wave of coolness. When Gu Yueyan first regained her senses completely, she was stunned. She then raised her hands with all her might and realized that the injuries on her arms had already recovered fully. Her arms looked just like they had been before, and there was not a scar left behind.

“You’re awake? Have a good rest then, don’t force yourself to move about. There will not be any scars left behind, don’t worry,” Ren Suo said.

After Ren Suo treated the last of the four patients, he also broke free of the state of work of the Jade Pendant. He told the doctor that the patients were all out of danger, then left the operation room immediately to head home.

Ren Suo would not be of any help in the remaining care required by the patients. After the wounds were healed, the students also awoke, one by one. What was left was for the students to be handed over to the professional medical team for further observation.

On the other hand, it was a race against time for him to submit his thesis paper!

Although Ren Suo had not come across any relevant reports the previous night, it did not mean that no one had discovered the new breed of monsters that day!

In the intranet, extremely high rewards were given for research on and discoveries of ‘significant and highly dangerous targets’. Previously, Ren Suo had come across dangerous targets like [Young Jade Girl At The Intersection], and he found that those who discovered and researched on those targets were awarded with an extremely large number of researcher points.

Such ‘free’ researcher points, which were already within reach, could not be missed!

“Wait!”

Ren Suo turned his head to see Gu Yueyan stumbling as she ran out towards him. Looking like she was going to fall over the next moment, Ren Suo quickly went forward to support her. He asked, “What’s the matter? Although you should be fine now, you still need a lot of rest…”

“Wait,” said Gu Yueyan, panting. She held Ren Suo back and whispered in Ren Suo’s ear, “I have something I must ask you…”

Ren Suo replied, “You can tell me next time, I will tell Dong Chengling that you would not be able to go over for dinner tonight.”

Ren Suo was also in a rush—he had a thesis to write.

This time around, unlike information on “Naisser Ren” and “Heavenly Palace”, the extraordinary information he discovered was obtained with upright and moral means. It was just like a student who frequently cheated in examinations suddenly passing the examination with his own capability—Ren Suo was in a rush to publish that examination answer sheet to prove his worth!

Gu Yueyan said, “It’s not about Teacher Dong. I just wanted to ask you… ask you about…”

Over the past few days, Gu Yueyan had not seen Ren Suo.

She had heard from Teacher Dong that Ren Suo was practicing at home and was not going to take even a step out of his house.

Although she did not know why Ren Suo, a man who was the epitome of ‘someone who was unwilling to put in effort’, suddenly became so hard-working and diligent, Gu Yueyan thought that it was also a good thing. As long as she did not see him, she would be able to calm down and sort out her thoughts, wouldn’t she?

That was what Gu Yueyan thought, and exactly what she did. Apart from studying and practicing, she had been playing with her friends and enjoying her vacation break to the fullest.

She thought that her heart had already calmed down.

She thought that she would be able to go back to her old self.

She thought that…

However, when the first thing Gu Yueyan saw when she awoke on the bed was Ren Suo, she felt that she had lost.

All of her efforts for the past few days seemed to have gone down the drain.

Gu Yueyan hated to be indecisive, and she was even more unwilling to fall back into her state of being at a loss like she had been days ago. That was why she chased after him. Perhaps it was because she was still in a bit of a daze, or perhaps it was because of her long-suppressed urge—regardless, she hoped to get an answer.

Gu Yueyan questioned, “… Why did you appear in front of me again? Why did you save me again?”

“Isn’t it because I am a healing Practitioner,” replied Ren Suo, bewildered. He continued, “If anything happens to any of you, I will definitely come to save you. Actually, I still have work to do, so we should talk after you rest and…”

Indeed, that was a perfectly expected answer—but that was not the answer Gu Yueyan wanted to hear.

“In that case, am I important to you…?” Gu Yueyan probed in a trembling and nervous voice.

“Of course, you are very important,” Ren Suo replied. As he pondered over what he was going to write in his thesis, he added without much thought, “I must have spent all my life’s worth of luck to meet… Salted Fish, hurry over and help your class chairwoman back!”

—— If not for Gu Yueyan and her friends, Ren Suo would not have had the opportunity to discover the new species of monsters. He felt like it was his only such opportunity to earn ‘free’ researcher points in his entire lifetime.

Gu Yueyan no longer had sufficient energy to stand upright, and Ren Suo quickly handed her over to Lin Xianyu, who came chasing after Gu Yueyan. After telling Lin Xianyu to bring Gu Yueyan back in, he left hurriedly.

As Lin Xianyu helped Gu Yueyan back to the ward, Gu Yueyan kept her head down and did not say anything throughout. Lin Xianyu suddenly leaned closer to Gu Yueyan and stared at her eyes. She asked, “Your face is extremely red, are you running a fever?”

“… No,” Gu Yueyan replied as she turned to look away from Lin Xianyu.

A thought suddenly emerged in Lin Xianyu’s mind. She said, “You do not seem to have recovered yet, shall I call Brother Ren back to take care of you–”

“No!” replied Gu Yueyan, suddenly raising her voice. Then, her voice turned back into a whisper as she said, “I’m fine… I don’t want to see him again…”

“… Not for the time being,” Gu Yueyan said.

Lin Xianyu (~ ▽ ~): “Hehe.”

——————

Upon returning home, Ren Suo suddenly came to a realization and thought, “Did I say something very rude just now?”

Having worn [Hat of Cultivation and Practice] for such a long time previously, Ren Suo was unable to change his habit of speaking so straightforwardly even after removing the Hat. It became especially prominent when he was concurrently thinking about other things.

For example, once when Ren Suo was thinking about a game while he was walking, he met Zhao Huo and greeted him. He questioned, “How’s your anus doing?”

The question did not make any difference to Ren Suo himself, but others started suspecting that Zhao Huo was XXX.

“Forget it, I should hurry up and finish the thesis.”