Because of the agreement, the Academy of Sciences could not keep armed forces as a main component. That meant that whenever a conflict broke out, they had to rely on the Tianpo Army stationed in nearby Pojun Town, and on the retired soldiers who had returned, to protect them.

But the murloc invasion had now proven that relying on others was really not as good as relying on yourself. Pojun Town was only ten kilometers from the Academy. Even on foot, everyone could have arrived within forty minutes, and Ji Yang would never have needed to use his trump card. Yet because of an “accident,” the murlocs had held the upper hand for a time.

So, with everything Su Mo had contributed added in, even if the Academy recruited him by special exception, nobody would be able to find fault with it.

“Wait, Dean Ning, I’m not...”

It had all happened too suddenly. He had not had time to tell Ai Jianqiang and Ning Yushu his true identity and purpose, and the name on the ranking list was still Hou Congwen’s. Su Mo thought for a moment and was about to explain.

Boom, boom!

Suddenly, beyond the glass curtain wall on the seventh floor, three brilliant crimson fireworks shot into the sky and burst. Immediately afterward, two sky-blue fireworks rose as well, with the same thunderous report. In the misty, rainy sky, they were extremely conspicuous. Even after reaching the top, they hung there for dozens of seconds before slowly scattering.

“What is that?” Su Mo looked up, vaguely feeling that something was wrong.

“Those are the signals of the Tianpo Army and the Chen Family. They’re guiding people to their position,” Ning Yushu said beside him.

“The Tianpo Army was formed by merging the old Southern Theater and Eastern Theater units. They used to be responsible for our defenses to the southeast and east. Later, once other human territories were established there, they were pulled back and reorganized into a single force, the Tianpo Army.”

“As for the Chen Family... heh heh heh.” A cold smile appeared on Ning Yushu’s face, and his whole bearing turned gloomy.

“Let’s go, Youzong. Please protect this old man. Let’s go and see just how shameless a reason those beasts can come up with!”

He had drunk high-grade Nether Energy Water, and the terrifying wounds on his body had already healed by more than half. What remained only looked frightening. They were just flesh wounds, and a period of quiet rest would be enough to recover completely.

Seeing Ning Yushu stride toward the stairs, Su Mo did not refuse and followed him down. He was curious as well about what this inexplicable battle had been for. Or rather, what information the murlocs had sensed that made them do something so mad and unreasonable.

Before long, the two reached the first-floor hall. Looking at the lower three floors, which had all but collapsed, Ning Yushu gave a long sigh and walked out along the passage they had come by. Su Mo followed him out of the pitch-dark corridor, lit only by dim blue emergency lights. When they got outside, his vision finally cleared.

“This...”

Su Mo raised his head and gazed blankly into the distance. The Academy itself was completely changed by the ruin of war. As far as the eye could see, a great number of Tianpo soldiers in black uniforms had occupied nearly every commanding height. Like swarms of ants, every one of them wore armor with a full set of assault gear covering them from head to toe, gleaming with a chilly light. They held standard-issue assault rifles and moved forward in quick, orderly steps, questioning the identities of the people still lingering on the grounds.

Behind them were tanks painted in pale camouflage, armored vehicles with four heavy machine guns, helicopters hovering on watch, and drones whining through the air. All of them cast a shadow over this war that had just broken out.

With equipment this powerful and a distance this short, by all logic the murlocs should not have been able to hold out inside the Academy for more than half an hour, let alone trade blows with the Tianpo vanguard. With that much air support, even if the monsters the murlocs had turned into were stronger still, modern human weapons would have blasted them to powder in ten minutes at most.

Unless...

“Youzong!” a voice called, and Su Mo turned his head, then froze.

Under the eaves not far away, he saw a great many wounded. There were men with their legs gone, forcing themselves not to cry out. There were women with an arm missing, one sleeve hanging empty. There were corpses with only half a body left, the rest reduced to fragments. And Wang Qian, covered in wounds, his face smeared with blood, was walking toward him.

“The Tianpo Army has completely surrounded the Academy now, and our people from the Northern Military Region are rushing here too. With Dean Ji’s methods as well, we should be safe for the time being.”

Coming up close, Wang Qian looked Su Mo up and down several times before speaking, as if he could not believe it. He had fought the murlocs himself. He knew exactly how excellent their equipment was and how terrifying their combat strength was, especially the black monsters, which no single human soldier could subdue. Yet those two or three hundred murlocs who had gone inside had left only these flesh wounds on him? How was that possible?

“I’m fine. You’ve worked hard,” Su Mo said, looking the man up and down. In the end, the thousand things he wanted to say turned into thanks.

Wang Qian and the others had truly done all they could in holding off the murloc troops outside for so long. Even though this was a dungeon and none of them had actually been hurt or killed in the real world, that could not erase the contribution and loyalty these people had shown the territory!

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