Human Genius? Sorry, I’m a Deviant Chapter 121

The five of them formed a circle with varied expressions on their faces.

"Let's eliminate the top difficulty one first."

Xie Xi spoke bluntly: "Approaching Stream Realm strength, the risk is too high."

Liu Ziming let out a long sigh of relief upon hearing this and patted his chest: "Whew—I was afraid you'd choose that one. Seems like I worried too much."

Xie Xi shot him a glare, her tone cold: "Do I look that overconfident to you?"

Liu Ziming's gaze shifted back and forth between Xie Xi and Su Zhan.

His eyes clearly said: Yes, Su Zhan is the perfect example.

Seeing this, dark lines appeared on Xie Xi's forehead and she unconsciously clenched her fists.

"Then, then let's choose between the high difficulty and medium difficulty ones?"

Feng Jue spoke up: "The terrain is complex, easy to get ambushed."

Liu Ziming pouted: "What about the escort mission? Although the academic credits are less, at least it's safer, right?"

Xie Xi retorted: "The difficulty is too low, and... I don't want to be a bodyguard for 7 days, being alert every moment. I'd rather take another mission and kill all the aberrants—that would be much more satisfying."

Liu Ziming shrunk his neck: "Then which one do you suggest?"

Xie Xi didn't answer immediately, instead looking at Su Zhan as if seeking his opinion.

Su Zhan remained silent for a moment before speaking: "Let's choose that high difficulty extermination mission. It's challenging but not too dangerous."

He continued analyzing: "Three low-risk seventh-stage aberrants—our team's strength can completely handle them. The enclosed environment of the industrial area is indeed a problem, but thinking about it the other way... we can also utilize it to our advantage."

"But the prerequisite is that we need to get the floor plan of this industrial area first, preferably making it into a 3D model."

"Once we familiarize ourselves with the terrain, we'll completely eliminate the disadvantage we have against those aberrants in this aspect."

Xie Xi's furrowed brow relaxed: "I agree."

"Damn it, damn it, even Brother Su says so. Looks like we're really going all out this time."

Liu Ziming turned to Xu Hao: "Mouse, you have to protect me when the time comes!"

Xu Hao had just received benefits from him and couldn't bring himself to retort at this moment: "I'll do my best."

"That thing I just mentioned..."

Su Zhan hadn't finished speaking.

"Leave it to me!"

Liu Ziming puffed out his chest and proudly waved his phone: "This kind of thing is essentially commercial building plans. Spend some money, use some connections, and we can get it easily."

"My dad's assistant can send over the entire industrial park's 3D modeling within ten minutes."

"If we familiarize ourselves with the terrain in advance, we can set up traps and retreat routes..."

Xu Hao's originally nervous expression relaxed considerably.

The group continued discussing tactics.

"Done! The blueprints are here!"

Liu Ziming snapped his fingers and turned his phone screen toward everyone: "Look, even the underground drainage system is clearly marked."

Feng Jue nodded: "Prepare equipment."

"Not urgent."

Su Zhan waved his hand: "The mission shows we have 72 hours to arrive. Winter break was a month long—some people haven't even sparred with each other. Let's take one day to get our combat feeling back first, so we're not rusty when we encounter aberrants."

Combat intuition needs continuous polishing.

A month-long vacation is enough to make the body forget the subtle rhythms of battle.

And there's psychological slackness too.

The soft beds during winter break, the steaming hot meals—these warm daily routines silently wear down combat willpower.

When suddenly facing the terrifying bodies of aberrants and flying internal organs, even a fleeting moment of distraction means death.

Su Zhan's words immediately calmed down the eager teammates.

"True."

Xu Hao flexed his wrist: "Haven't fought anyone for a month, feel like my reaction speed has decreased."

Feng Jue nodded: "Well said."

As for Xie Xi and Liu Ziming.

Xie Xi had been in actual combat during winter break, fighting life-and-death battles with Fog creatures at the border, so naturally she didn't need to consider these things.

Liu Ziming had been arranged by his parents to do awakener training every day. Even if it couldn't compare to Xie Xi's life-and-death battles, at least he wasn't rusty.

"Not just getting our feeling back."

Su Zhan shook his head and continued: "We also need to develop new tactical coordination. Xie Xi broke through to the seventh stage, my strength has also improved, and everyone else has progressed too. The entire team's tactical system needs adjustment."

"Then let's not waste time."

A faint smile appeared at the corner of Xie Xi's mouth: "Let me see how much you've improved this past month."

...

The next day.

Morning fog enveloped the highway on the outskirts of Lincheng.

A black off-road vehicle sped along the road.

Su Zhan leaned against the car window, replaying yesterday's training scenes in his mind.

Sparring with Xie Xi.

Had to admit, her strength had indeed increased quite a bit due to actual combat at the border.

But... not enough.

The result was no surprise.

Still Su Zhan's victory.

Feng Jue and Xu Hao also went from being somewhat rusty at the beginning to gradually regaining some feeling later.

And team coordination.

They trained briefly.

Although the time wasn't long, at least they got somewhat familiar with it.

"We're here."

Liu Ziming's voice brought him back to reality.

There were 5 people in the car, and Liu Ziming was the one driving.

Su Zhan and the other four had taken the high-speed train to this city.

Then Liu Ziming somehow obtained a car from somewhere and drove everyone here.

But they didn't get too close because that would be too easily discovered.

So Liu Ziming parked the car more than 2km away from the target location, with many buildings as cover. From the target position, it was impossible to spot a car parked here.

Su Zhan jumped out of the car and cautiously scanned the surroundings.

Wang Mingyuan didn't come for this operation.

After all, this was accepting a mission, and the important thing was to cultivate students' practical combat abilities.

If teachers participated in such situations, students would lose their sense of urgency, and the purpose of practical combat would be hard to achieve.

But the past six months have been different.

The emergence of the Transcendence Society and Fog incidents made it more dangerous for students to take missions outside.

But Vermilion Bird Academy still didn't send teachers.

The reason was that students accepting missions was confidential information, and the Transcendence Society wouldn't know about it under normal circumstances.

Also, accidents were part of practical combat.

Vermilion Bird Academy chose ability improvement over student safety between the two options.

Su Zhan and the others weren't wearing Vermilion Bird Academy uniforms.

After all, that would be too conspicuous.

Su Zhan's heart wasn't as panicked as before when coming out like this.

Because the mastermind behind the Fog incidents targeting him—Du Shanhe—had already been exposed.

He was currently being pursued by Qin Bai and was extremely busy.

What kind of courage would he have to come target him at this time?

But not being as panicked didn't mean being completely unprepared.

They still needed to maintain proper vigilance.