173: A confidante, a target of assassination by a foreign race.

Kunlun Academy, female dormitory.

Su Muyue clenched her phone tightly, her knuckles turning slightly white from the force.

On the screen was a replay of the Battle of Tong City.

Although the camera shook violently and the picture quality was not clear,

she still recognized at a glance that figure standing atop the ruins, single-handedly cutting off the insect tide with a sword.

That was the person she thought of day and night.

“You fool...”

Su Muyue bit her lip, her eyes instantly reddening.

The students around her were screaming and cheering for the heroic figure of that "mysterious hero."

Only she felt a piercing pain in her heart.

Those were tens of thousands of Zerg; even a Rank 5 expert wouldn't dare to fall into such an encirclement lightly.

Yet he had charged in without a second thought.

“You must come back safely.”

She pressed the phone to her chest and prayed silently in her heart... In the sky above Tong City, a giant troop-carrying flying boat pierced through the clouds.

After the crisis was resolved, Qin Lang did not linger for a moment.

He followed a group of volunteers who were also heading to support other cities, rushing non-stop to the next battlefield.

Inside the cabin, the atmosphere was somewhat heavy.

Everyone had just experienced a bloody battle, and their faces bore an exhaustion that was hard to hide.

“Brother, that sword strike just now was too cool!”

A middle-aged man sitting next to Qin Lang suddenly spoke, breaking the silence.

He emanated the aura of the Early Stage of Rank 4, clearly a powerful individual himself.

“My name is Zhao Gang. How should I address you, brother?”

Qin Lang opened his eyes and nodded politely.

“Qin Lang.”

“Qin Lang?”

Zhao Gang froze for a moment, and then his pupils constricted sharply.

“Olympus Academy... *the* Qin Lang with the Dual Mythic Gene?”

This name had been incredibly famous in the Evolver circles recently.

Combined with that miracle-like combat power just now,

his identity could not be hidden at all.

“It’s me.”

Qin Lang did not deny it.

“Hiss—!”

Zhao Gang sucked in a breath of cold air, and the way he looked at Qin Lang changed instantly.

It was the look one gave a monster.

“Heavens! He’s Qin Lang?”

“The number one freshman?”

The other volunteers in the cabin also heard the commotion and cast gazes of admiration and curiosity.

Is this the legendary 'National Hero'?

Indeed, heroes emerge from the youth!

Just then.

A faint, delicate fragrance drifted over.

A white silhouette passed through the crowded cabin and walked straight to Qin Lang.

“Hello, Junior Qin Lang.”

The voice was as gentle as water, making one feel like they were bathed in a spring breeze.

Qin Lang looked up.

Standing before him was a woman dressed in white.

She was extremely beautiful, not with a stunning, aggressive beauty, but an incredibly enduring, intellectual beauty.

She was like a piece of warm, lustrous suet white jade.

“I am Ran Qing, from Kunlun Academy.”

The woman smiled slightly and extended her hand.

“Ran Qing?”

A file instantly flashed through Qin Lang's mind.

The top junior at Kunlun Academy, a top-tier Genius who had reached the Middle Stage of Rank 4 as early as half a year ago.

No wonder he hadn't seen her during the previous Underground Cave Secret Realm assessment.

An assessment of that level was indeed meaningless to her.

“So it is Senior Ran. I have heard much about you.”

Qin Lang stood up and gently shook that soft, boneless hand.

The touch was slightly cool, yet it carried an inexplicable sense of power.

“I heard long ago that Olympus had produced an extraordinary junior. Seeing you today, you truly live up to your reputation.”

Ran Qing sat down beside him naturally, without any air of superiority.

Both were from prestigious academies and were both 'retrograde' volunteers who had stepped forward in this moment of peril.

Between them, there seemed to be a natural understanding.

“What does Junior think of this insect plague?”

Ran Qing looked at the clouds outside the window and asked suddenly.

Qin Lang pondered for a moment.

“There are too many; they cannot all be killed.”

“Exactly.”

Ran Qing nodded, a flash of wisdom in her eyes.

“The most terrifying thing about the Zerg is not their combat power, but their reproductive and adaptive abilities.”

“Moreover, I have observed their attack routes.”

She extended a finger and drew a simple map in the air.

“They always seem to accurately find the weak points in our defenses.”

“I speculate that deep underground on Planet Blue, there must be a group of special scout insects lurking.”

“They are the 'living coordinates' deployed by the wormholes.”

“If these nails aren't pulled out, the insect plague can never be eradicated.”

Qin Lang's heart stirred.

This speculation coincided exactly with his own thoughts.

It was even more far-reaching than what he had considered.

This senior was not simple.

“Coordinates, huh...”

Qin Lang narrowed his eyes, golden light swirling deep within his pupils.

Eye of the Heavenly Dao, activate!

Under that mythic-level God's-eye view, his vision instantly penetrated the thick clouds and the Earth's crust.

His field of vision expanded rapidly.

He saw that in space, the human fleet was engaged in a tragic struggle with endless Zerg Hive Motherships.

Every second, warships exploded; every second, lives were extinguished.

His vision continued to sink.

He caught a glimpse of the intricate underground world beneath the surface of Planet Blue.

In the darkness, there were indeed some strange biological signals flickering.

But the underground interference was too strong, and the range was too wide.

After maintaining it for only a few seconds, Qin Lang felt a stabbing pain in his brain.

The consumption was too great.

“Whew...”

He withdrew the Divine Ability and rubbed his brow.

Although he couldn't directly lock onto the targets, this confirmed that Ran Qing's guess was correct.

“Senior is right.”

Qin Lang looked at Ran Qing, the appreciation in his eyes deepening.

Over the next few days.

The flying boat moved between various disaster-stricken cities.

Qin Lang and Ran Qing became the two sharpest blades in this volunteer team.

They fought side by side with seamless coordination.

Qin Lang was responsible for the frontal assault, his Sword Qi sweeping across and crushing all in its path.

Ran Qing displayed unfathomable strength.

She seemed to be proficient in a special sonic Battle Technique; wherever the sound of her zither passed, the insect swarms fell in droves.

Outside of combat, the two would also chat.

Qin Lang learned that Ran Qing was also an orphan who had grown up in a welfare home.

She had relied on her own talent and desperate hard work to reach where she was today.

Similar backgrounds, similar experiences.

These allowed the two young hearts to quickly close the distance between them.

In Qin Lang's eyes, Ran Qing was like a wise older sister.

Even on this battlefield filled with smoke and blood, just seeing her calm smile would bring peace to his heart.

A feeling of regret for not having met sooner arose spontaneously.

Was this what they called... a soulmate?

However.

While they were fighting bloody battles to protect the cities,

a massive conspiracy targeting Qin Lang was quietly taking shape in the darkness.

A day later, news came from the front lines.

Taking advantage of the Capital City being heavily attacked by the insect tide and its defensive forces being tied down,

a group of long-lurking alien experts attempted to launch a surprise attack on Kunlun Academy and Olympus Academy.

But the two famous schools had deep foundations, and their protective arrays were as solid as a fortress, directly blasting the attackers back.

Somewhere in the Capital City.

Inside a hidden underground space.

The atmosphere was suppressed to the extreme.

Several figures emanating terrifying auras were sitting together.

Among them were a burly member of the Demon Race, a member of the Shadow Demon Clan shrouded in black mist, and a member of the Winged Race with wings on their back.

“Those two broken schools are like turtle shells; we can't fight our way in at all!”

A Barbarian expert angrily smashed the stone table in front of him.

“If we keep wasting time like this, once the human experts return from the ruins, we're dead!”

“Don't be anxious.”

In the shadows, a raspy voice slowly spoke.

It was the leader of the Shadow Demon Clan.

He extended a withered finger and tapped on a holographic screen in front of him.

The screen was playing the video of Qin Lang killing the Rank 5 War Insect with a single sword strike in Tong City.

“Attacking the academies was indeed a foolish decision.”

“Our target was wrong.”

In those crimson eyes, a greedy and sinister light flickered.

“This person is the greatest threat.”

“A first-year freshman, Dual Mythic Gene, and able to kill enemies above his rank.”

“If we don't get rid of him now, once he grows up, it will be the end for our races.”

“And...”

The Shadow Demon leader paused, a cruel smile curling at the corners of his mouth.

“Killing him is more valuable than breaking ten academies.”

“I have already analyzed his movement trajectory through the distress messages on the network.”

He drew a red line on the map, finally pointing to a place called 'Sunset Valley'.

“That is his next inevitable path.”

“Send out the order.”

“Assemble all lurking forces and set an inescapable net in Sunset Valley.”

“This time, I will make it so he cannot escape even if he had wings!”