The rat swarm beneath the building is estimated to number in the millions—it's terrifying!
Qing Chen didn't even know what Kunlun had done to provoke the Rat King to such an extent that the Rat King was determined to kill them at all costs!
At that moment, someone threw a chair down from the rooftop.
But then the chair crashed down with a loud thud, instantly killing countless stacked rats.
Tables, chairs, and sofas were thrown off the rooftop by Kunlun members, along with burning bed sheets and curtains. The huge flames made the stacked rat swarm sizzle and crackle.
“They must have run out of ammunition and food, and could only throw furniture to slow down the rat swarm attack,” Qingchen said blankly. “How…how did they manage to hold out for so many days?”
This was a question that came from the bottom of Qingchen's heart.
Without ammunition, support, or food, how can a building hold out against a million-strong swarm of rats?
Qingchen didn't understand.
He materialized a black sniper rifle, pulling the trigger one shot after another. Orange bullets pierced through the helical rifling and burst out with extremely high initial velocity.
The incendiary bomb contained aluminum alloy and barium nitrate. When it collided with the swarm of rats, the incendiary agent inside the warhead exploded instantly, burning the rats into fireballs.
The people on the rooftop seemed somewhat surprised by what they saw. They paused in their throwing motion. Qingchen saw Iodine Fu reach the edge of the rooftop and waved to him with a cheer.
More than a dozen Kunlun members came to the edge of the rooftop and waved excitedly to Qingchen, but because it was too high and too far, their voices were drowned out by the squeaking of rats.
Their faces were dark, and their cheeks were sunken from hunger.
But these people still have bright eyes, shining like stars even in the darkness.
Qingchen felt a pang of sadness; these people had come here on his orders.
Of the more than 600 Kunlun members, only a tiny number remain. Perhaps there are still some inside the building, but it won't exceed 100.
Qingchen forced a smile and waved to greet them, but the next moment, the arm that Iodine was waving stopped. He suddenly patted his chest and then gave a thumbs up.
Immediately afterwards, Iodine pointed in the direction behind Qingchen and the others, and then waved again... but this time, the other party's gesture was to tell Qingchen to leave.
Qingyi stared blankly at this scene.
Thumping one's chest means that the task is accomplished.
The reason for pointing in the direction behind Qingchen and the others was that Iodine had spotted a new swarm of rats and was trying to surround them as well.
The wave again meant that there were too many rats to kill, so let's go and leave the rest to us.
Qing Chen ignored the hand gestures and continued to advance towards the building, firing his gun resolutely and turning the rats into fireballs.
When Iodine saw that he wouldn't leave, it immediately became anxious and started waving its hands frantically.
But Qingchen seemed completely oblivious.
Qingyi turned around and looked behind him, where came the rumbling sound of the rat swarm marching, like ten thousand horses galloping.
"Sir!" Qingyi shouted, "I know you don't want to hear this now. I know you ordered them to their deaths. I know you're tempted to die with them right now. I heard from Zhang Mengqian that you've been feeling guilty lately, even punishing yourself by staying up all night. But sir, your death is meaningless at this moment!"
Qingyi followed beside Qingchen, his tone growing increasingly harsh as he watched Qingchen's dazed expression: "Sir, Iodine will definitely find a way to bring what you need back to the surface world. Now that they've completed their mission, what about you? Have you completed yours? Sir, we must go!"
Qing Chen never expected that after spending 21 hours to get here, he would only have a brief encounter with iodine, and would be unable to save the other person at all.
Faced with this disaster, the power of an individual is too insignificant, so insignificant that even someone as clever as Qing Chen doesn't know how to kill the swarm of rats and save Iodine.
Qing Chen slowly stopped firing, gazing at the iodine solution on the edge of the rooftop.
But then he saw that the other person's expression gradually calmed down, and he stopped waving him away and became less anxious.
Iodine simply stood on the edge of the rooftop, gently tapping the sky with its fingers, as if speaking in Morse code.
Then he straightened up and gave Qingchen a proper salute.
Let's go.
Let's go.
Let's go, this is a soldier's honor.
Qing Chen understood. Although the other party hadn't said a word, Qing Chen understood everything.
Qingyi roared, "Yan Chunmi! What the hell are you standing there for? Pull the master away, don't let him do something stupid here."
However, at this moment, Qingchen suddenly said, "No need, I can walk by myself."
With that, Qing Chen turned and ran in another direction: "Evacuate. I'll wait to return."
Qingyi finally breathed a sigh of relief. He was really worried that he wouldn't be able to persuade his master and would end up watching him die stubbornly in the rat swarm.
After running for a while, he subconsciously turned around and looked towards the rooftop, and was shocked to see that Iodine was still in a salute posture.
For some reason, his nose stung, and he dared not look any longer.
...
...
On the rooftop, seeing Qingchen finally leave, Iodine Fu suddenly laughed and said, "Damn it, when I was a kid, I always thought those heroes who sacrificed themselves in war movies were so awesome, but now that it's my turn, I'm actually a little scared. What's going on?"
"Damn, you should have said so earlier! You were acting so tough, making me afraid to say a single guilty word," a Kunlun member laughed and cursed.
Just then, four people carried two sofas up the stairs to the rooftop: "Damn, why aren't you throwing them away? Aren't there still stools? The downstairs has already fallen, and the rooftop probably can't be held either. Candy and Notebook are both dead; they couldn't hold the last floor. Come on, lend a hand and throw these two sofas down to crush those bastards."
Iodine chuckled, "What are you still smashing? We'll be back in about twenty minutes, and our mission is about to be completed."
"Huh?" The Kunlun members were stunned for a moment: "Why the hell didn't you say so earlier? If you had, we wouldn't have carried it up here!"
By this time, everyone was exhausted and had completely forgotten about manners and etiquette, with everyone swearing profusely.
Iodine chuckled and said, "Let's block the door with the sofa so the rats can't rush up through this little door. Everyone, sit on the sofa and rest for a while. I've been throwing sofas down these past few days and haven't even sat on one myself... I'll need you guys to help me stall for time later."
After the Kunlun members blocked the rooftop door with sofas, everyone crowded onto the sofas. Iodine was too late to grab a seat and could only sit on the sofa armrest, which was a bit uncomfortable.
Everyone sat quietly, gazing at the distant night sky.
The rats were banging on the door behind me, but it was blocked by the sofa and I couldn't break it open.
"Do you think Boss Zheng and Lu Yuan will miss us after we leave?"
"Of course I'm thinking about it. Lu Yuan makes me wash his socks every day. I'm about to throw up from it. Don't you think that counts as bullying within the organization? Can I report him?"
"Why didn't you tell Boss Zheng sooner? If you had, he would have slapped him already."
"Should I live a little longer? Or should we get up and keep watch a little longer? I want to hold on until I return to report the long road ahead."
"Ha ha ha ha!"
Hahahaha!
Laughter lingered on the rooftop, echoing for a long time.
Gradually, everyone quieted down. For the past few days, all they could hear in their heads was each other shouting, "The rat is here! The rat is here again!" It was the same few phrases over and over again, and they were tired of hearing them.
Boring.
At this moment, Iodine said, "Brothers, it's almost time... It's an honor to have been able to go through this with you all. In the next life, let's be brothers again."
"I am extremely fortunate."
"I am so fortunate!"
The next second, the rat swarm surged up from outside the rooftop, continuously pouring into it.
"Kill!" The Kunlun members all rushed forward: "Buy some more time for Iodine."
Iodine sat quietly on the sofa, watching his brothers fight, while he remained unmoved.
But he saw the Kunlun members being overwhelmed by the rat swarm one by one. He raised his hand and glanced at the countdown to the return: 00:00:30.
In an instant, Iodine pulled out his dagger, slashed open his abdomen, and then stuffed the 12 hard drives wrapped in a sealed bag into his stomach.
The excruciating pain was transmitted to his brain nerves, almost causing him to go into shock.
Iodine solution was supposed to use the rule that the human body can carry items to bring the hard drive back to the surface world for Qingchen!
The others had fought so desperately just now, only to buy time for the iodine solution, to delay its return.
The next moment, the swarm of rats devoured the others and instantly submerged the iodine solution.
He held tightly to his bleeding abdomen; that was the meaning of his journey.
The countdown has reached zero.
The world was plunged into darkness.
Chapter 689, The Retracted Fist
Countdown 168:00:00.
The world is bright again.
The plaza on Whale Island was silent at first, then sobs began to be heard from the crowd, and finally everyone burst into tears.
Of the 4,811 Time Walkers in the academy, 4,139 remained. Due to their involvement in the defense of the Lower Three Districts, almost everyone except the children was injured.
Of the 132 family members from City 10 who went to the island for the parents' meeting, 19 were killed, leaving 113 remaining.
Everyone was injured.
As for Kunlun... everyone was killed in action.
Qing Chen stood silently in the square. He even felt a little reluctant to look at the skeletons of the Kunlun members. There were 631 skeletons there, with only Iofu's body remaining relatively intact.
But Iodine's neck was bare, only bones remained, and his hands, though mangled and bloody from being bitten, were still tightly protecting his abdomen.
There are things he brought back with his life.
“It looks like he’s hiding something in his abdomen,” Lu Yuan said in a low voice.
Lu Yuan tried to remove the iodine solution from his hands, but they remained tightly clasped together and he couldn't pull them apart.
Lu Yuan squatted beside the corpse, wiping away tears incessantly, unable to speak from his sobs.
Qingchen walked over and said in a low voice, "I'll do it."
As he spoke, he bent down to lift the arm covered in iodine. The arm that had been tightly clasped loosened the moment Qing Chen touched it.
Qing Chen was stunned for a moment.