Chapter 083: Tiger Strike Squad

This young man named Qu Yi—no one knew whether he was the little brother-in-law of the Tiger Squad’s captain or had some other connection, but Zhao Hu always indulged him excessively. While he couldn’t be accused of outright bullying or robbery, he had certainly caused no end of trouble for the Tiger Squad, only to have it all covered up by Zhao Hu’s protective nature. Zhao Hu even assigned him a squad of probationary supernormal operatives to serve as his lackeys and bodyguards, which only encouraged Qu Yi’s overbearing and arrogant disposition.

With the abilities of supernormal individuals, the laws of the mundane world could hardly restrain them. If not for the fact that civilian supernormal squads could never truly contend with the dominant LDH Supernormal Management Department, and if it weren’t for the ever-present “Supernormal Prohibition” looming over all such individuals, Qu Yi would scarcely have hesitated to use his powers to stir up trouble among ordinary people—instead, he confined his mischief to the small circle of the supernormal world. If not for these constraints, his reckless temperament would likely have thrown the entire city of Jiangcheng into chaos.

Chicken Leg was wary of this as well, unwilling for Bai Yuxi to make an enemy of Qu Yi at a time like this. If a fight were to break out, even with Bai Yuxi’s extraordinary talent, it would be difficult to face off against two F7-level supernormal warriors at once. Besides, no one present had the time or energy to break through the barrier that still surrounded the pit. What had originally been a shield to prevent mutant creatures from escaping had instead become a prison, trapping them all inside.

If infighting broke out among the supernormal warriors now, and should the plasma toads from the underground facility burst through, they would all be doomed. The others might risk everything to shatter the barrier and escape, but with five of their own still injured or otherwise impaired, they would be the ones to suffer most.

The two F7-level supernormal warriors at Qu Yi’s side seemed to sense the danger emanating from Bai Yuxi as well. After dragging Qu Yi back and whispering a few words to him, the boy—who had been barking and leaping like a mad dog—finally quieted down, no longer feigning attack. Yet even as they worked to suppress the plasma toads boiling up from the pit, he kept darting venomous glances at Bai Yuxi, plotting who knew what.

Bai Yuxi, knowing this was no time for infighting, suppressed his own anger, ignored the rabid fellow, and focused on holding back the wave of plasma toads. Meanwhile, the Tiger Squad’s two F7-level warriors, having calmed Qu Yi, exchanged a few hushed words with the survivors from the other squads.

Whether out of fear for their strength or wariness of the Tiger Squad’s influence, the others, though resentful of Qu Yi’s earlier act of blocking the passage, nodded in agreement. The two warriors then swapped places with the survivors, stepping away from their position suppressing the toads, and hurried to the barrier at the pit’s edge. There, they produced some metallic components from their gear and quickly assembled two antenna-like devices out of metal struts. Each antenna received an embedded orange crystal, after which two beams of light shot forth, “melting” an opening in the barrier that separated the inside from the outside.

Willie, who had been watching their movements with suspicion, cried out in alarm, “Particle disruptors!”

“This is bad!” Chicken Leg’s face changed as well; he shouted urgently to the others sheltering in the vehicle, “Get out! Prepare to retreat!”

But before they could act, the survivors who had been helping to hold the line against the toads suddenly fell back, dashing toward the newly opened exit in the barrier. The pit’s collapsed mouth was broad, and the masses of earth blocking the passage had already been excavated by the relentless toads. If not for everyone’s combined efforts, the creatures would have broken through long ago.

No one had expected the Tiger Squad to be carrying portable “particle disruptors”—advanced devices capable of opening a breach in such a barrier. After all, the barrier enclosing the entire pit had been erected by the well-funded Tiger Squad themselves. This was no ordinary “secondary barrier” like the ones Bai Yuxi had seen used to contain lesser threats; this one boasted at least E-level defensive strength, with energy readings in the tens of millions—not something that could be destroyed easily by force.

Now that someone had opened an exit, it was a chance at escape for the surviving supernormal operatives. The question was, who would stay behind to cover the retreat?

The sly smile Qu Yi gave as he glanced back made it clear that he had reached some backroom deal with the other teams’ survivors. Sure enough, as Qu Yi darted through the exit in the barrier, he didn’t wait for the members of the Seventh Squad, who were helping each other struggle up the slope of the pit. Instead, he turned and hurled a blazing fireball at the two particle disruptors stationed inside the barrier, intending to destroy the exit and trap everyone else inside.

At this critical moment, Xia Youyou, whose arm had been wounded earlier while trying to stop Qu Yi from sealing off the passage, ignored her pain and threw her last iron spike with all her might, detonating the fireball before it could reach the disruptors. With a thunderous explosion, more of the pit’s earthen walls collapsed, sealing the underground passage once again.

However, the shockwave from the blast not only prevented the Seventh Squad from escaping in time, but also damaged both particle disruptors. The breach in the barrier flickered, then sealed itself as if nothing had happened. The passage at the bottom of the pit was now blocked, giving Bai Yuxi and the others a brief respite. After dispatching the few plasma toads that had managed to break through, Bai Yuxi plunged his regenerative warblade into the earth to steady himself and shouted back to those knocked down by the blast, “Is everyone alright?”

“I’m fine!” Willie managed to pull his head out of the dirt, spitting out a mouthful of mud after nearly being buried alive by the collapse.

“I’m alright!”

“I’m okay too!”

One by one, voices reported their safety, and then erupted in curses against the Tiger Squad’s betrayal, and against Qu Yi, who had been willing to destroy two priceless particle disruptors just to trap them inside.

“Enough! Stop cursing!” someone barked. “That loose soil won’t hold back the plasma toads for long!”

Luo Fei, scrambling back to her feet in disarray, called out, “Willie! See if you can dig out the two particle disruptors—check if they’re still usable!”

Everyone scrambled along the pit wall, digging frantically by memory until they finally unearthed the battered frames of the two devices. The blaze had left one shattered beyond repair, and both X-crystals, used to power the disruptors, had been spent in the explosion, reduced to fragments and vaporized into the air.