# 78
Chapter 78 – Explosion
Rose’s war-hammer was terrifying, but the recruits weren’t pushovers either.
The instant the hammer was about to smash them, several beams of light erupted and slammed into its underside, holding the giant weapon dead in its tracks!
A buzzing detonation burst from the impact, gales sweeping outward!
The two forces locked in stalemate, neither able to gain the upper hand.
At that moment the other four Mask Squad members moved, sprinting west at top speed to tighten the encirclement.
“RUN!!”
Lin Qiye, standing at the rear of the group, suddenly roared. Ignoring the chaotic battle ahead, he spun and bolted south!
Molly and Baili Pangpang, still focused on the fight, froze at the shout, then reacted and chased after him, breaking south!
“Captain, a few of them turned and ran south!” Tianping blinked.
Wang Mian hesitated only a second. “First send these forty-odd recruits packing. Vortex, delay the south group.”
“Roger!”
Vortex whipped around and shot after the trio racing south.
Other recruits caught on and tried to copy Lin Qiye, dashing in different directions while the chaos lasted, but by now the net was complete; halfway to the edge they were eliminated by other Mask members.
Lin Qiye never slowed, plunging straight into a half-collapsed warehouse, Baili Pangpang and Molly right behind.
Vortex flickered and reached the doorway, closing at shocking speed.
Whoosh—!
The instant Vortex stepped inside, a hand-cart slid straight at him!
He started, sidestepped on reflex—then a round object dropped neatly from above and plopped into the cart.
Vortex looked up: Lin Qiye stood on a beam, smiling.
Then he leapt to a nearby weapons rack and sprinted off.
Vortex glanced down. In the faint light from outside he saw what filled the cart:
a neat stack of explosive packs.
And on top of them,
a bomb whose counter read 00:02!
Vortex’s pupils shrank!
BOOM—!!
Blinding fire and billowing smoke blew the remaining half of the warehouse sky-high, the blast echoing across the entire training base.
The cart of explosives set off every grenade, detonator, and powder barrel inside—an earth-shaking secondary explosion!
The Mask Squad members who had just eliminated dozens of recruits all paled!
A pillar of flame, clouds of smoke.
The four rushed to the wreckage, faces grave.
From the flames a ragged figure staggered out; only then did they exhale.
Coughing violently, Vortex plopped onto the ground and cursed:
“Damn, that kid’s vicious! If I hadn’t whipped up Devouring Vortex in time I’d be toast!”
He touched his mask—scorched, cracked, one more tap from shattering.
“Still here… didn’t break. Not out yet!”
“Vortex, you got careless,” Tianping sighed.
“H-how is this my fault!” Vortex muttered.
Moon Ghost shrugged. “Wanted to warn you— that Seraph proxy isn’t easy. We set such a tight net and he still punched through.”
Wang Mian stared silently south where Lin Qiye had vanished, eyes flickering.
“Worthy of a proxy— extraordinary.”
“…” Vortex scratched his head. “Captain? Are you praising yourself?”
“…”
Lin Qiye glanced back at the blazing warehouse and said calmly, “Safe. They’re not chasing.”
Baili Pangpang panted. “Qiye, you went that hard—he didn’t get blown to bits, did he?”
“If that took him out he’d never make a special squad,” Lin Qiye answered, regretful. “Pity—looks like the mask survived or we’d have won.”
“Leaving the others like that… feels wrong,” Molly said, greatsword on her back.
“They were never getting out,” Lin Qiye said flatly. “Too big a target. We escaped because there were only three of us; Mask chose the larger group. If even one more had come with us they’d have sent their main force and we’d all be out. We exploited the value gap and forced Mask to choose. Trying to break with the pack would’ve doomed everyone.”
Molly fell silent.
“What now?” Baili Pangpang asked.
“By now the dumb recruits are gone. The rest have split into small cells scattered around camp, looking for chances to take down Mask.”
Lin Qiye knelt, sketching with a twig on the ground.
“About a hundred still on field. Remove the cowering ones, maybe ninety fighters. To bring down Mask you need ten hitting together; if those ninety form four to eight groups spread across school…”
He drew a rough map, circling several spots.
“If I were Mask I’d crush those cells one by one. Next phase: long grind of stronghold battles and attrition. Good ambush spots are few—mess hall, classrooms, dorms, tactics lab… My bet: they’ll hit the dormitory.”
He drew a star over the dorm.
“Why?” Baili Pangpang asked.
“Biggest area, most cover, easiest to hide. I’d bet more than one group is lying in wait there. And Mask—knowing long fights drain psyche—will bite the toughest bone first. So they’ll strike the dorms straight off!”
Eyes gleaming, Lin Qiye looked up—to find Baili Pangpang and Molly staring oddly.
“What? Flaw in my logic?”
They spoke in unison:
“Freak…”