Kang Dafeng chased zombies into that building? That couldn't be right. Lu Yin's mind started racing; even without sentience, zombies still had the instinctive urge to avoid danger. The mutant spider was extremely dangerous, and they should never have gone anywhere near it. This was the first time in his six months dealing with them that he had ever seen them do such a thing; it was simply unthinkable for them to run from Kang Dafeng towards something far more terrifying.
Could it be a trap? He narrowed his eyes, hoping that he was overthinking things, but after the incident with Kang Dafeng, even he was on edge.
A day later, the troops stopped next to an abandoned toll station where their mission finally began. This was part of the route that had been destroyed and needed repairs, but before they could begin, a soldier ran up to Lu Yin to report, "Captain, there's a battle going on five kilometers away. A small group of cultivators is being attacked by mutant beasts."
Lu Yin sent a few soldiers to go save the group, and thirty minutes later the troops returned with five tattered cultivators in tow. All of them seemed to be starving, but he didn't order for any food to be brought to them. Everyone had to be prepared for death when they went out to hunt mutant beasts; while his army had some food, it had taken great effort and many lives to obtain it. He wasn't a saint to give that food away; if these people were truly hungry, they could go look for some rats to eat.
Thus, the five strangers could only watch in envy as the soldiers devoured their food. After a while, one of them finally called out to Lu Yin who was keeping a lookout from atop the toll station's roof, "Sir, could you please provide us some food? We can pay you with information."
"What information?" Lu Yin looked at the man.
"Will you give us food once I tell you?" came the hopeful reply.
Lu Yin's voice went cold, "Are you trying to negotiate with me?"
"No, Sir, I wouldn't dare! Actually… We actually had plenty of food yesterday, but we were robbed by an expert in silver armor."
Lu Yin's gaze flickered, "Continue."
The cultivator swallowed to soothe his dry throat and continued, "The only Realm of Sky expert in Nanjing is the Executioner, but the one who attacked us could also fly. I'm thinking it must have been his armor. He was about to kill us after stealing our food, but then he started talking to himself like he was crazy and suddenly shot towards the east."
Lu Yin quickly realized that they had encountered Orton, but talking to himself? The more likely scenario was that he had contacted someone with his watch. Could he have called another student? That would be troublesome. Zhou Shan had already struggled to defeat one alien; if there were more, the result was up in the air.
He ordered that the group to be given some food before sitting down and staring at the sky. What was he concerned about? Nanjing? The refugees? He was an outsider like Vesta, but his time on Earth had given him a sense of attachment. In truth, his memories only dated back to about two and a half years ago; he remembered nothing of his life before that. Most of the time he did remember had been spent on Earth; to him, this planet was home.
Lu Yin sighed. It was a pity that he wasn't a powerhouse yet; while he could still try to save some people, he certainly couldn't save the entire planet. Still, he contacted Zhou Shan and informed the man about his guess.
"Sigh, I understand," Zhou Shan answered, "Finish the repairs as quickly as possible, I'll try to find out what the others are dealing with. These students are powerful."
Others? The other Sages? Lu Yin was left wondering to himself as the call ended. Eventually, he just muttered to himself, "I hope Liu Shaoge isn't dead, or how will I get my revenge?"
Clouds covered the sky that night, leaving no stars to be seen. A disappointed Lu Yin slept in his armored vehicle, but was awoken in the middle of the night by Xu San's scream, "BOSS, A HORDE OF ZOMBIES!"
Shaking himself awake, Lu Yin left the armored vehicle and leapt atop the toll station to see countless zombies closing in from all around. Luo Yi shouted to the troops, "ACTIVATE ALL DEFENSES, THROW FIRE AT THEM"
It didn't long for the zombies to flood upon them, attacking the toll station from all directions. Flaming objects were thrown everywhere and started to burn the ground, startling the captain who'd just given that command. She shouted again in warning, "Careful, keep the flames away or you'll all burn!"
The thunderous spray of gunfire resounded in all directions that dark night, 10,000 soldiers doing their best to kill every zombie they saw. The shower was peppered with metallic dinks as the occasional bullet ricocheted off the zombies' steely claws, and screams rang out as soldiers were clawed or dragged into the horde. The five rescued cultivators were terrified by the sight, it was the most horrifying thing they had ever seen.
Luo Yi constantly brandished her blade, the energy wave from each attack tearing through dozens of zombies with every swing. While she was normally quite timid, this Realm of Earth powerhouse was ruthless in actual combat.
Lu Yin was right in the middle of the zombie horde, clearing away swathes of them with his metal rod. Although ballistics were the most effective type of weapons against zombies, Nanjing was almost out of supplies. The bullets lost when the weapons cache was destroyed could have killed countless zombies. Focused solely on killing as many opponents as he could, he only snapped out of it when a panicked voice rang from the radio at his waist, "Boss, the southwest line is about to collapse!"
Shocked, Lu Yin leapt up and headed southwest along the heads of the zombie horde. Just what could have killed so many soldiers there?
"There's a strange zombie there that's very powerful, none of the Realm of Man officers can beat it," Xu San reported from his vantage point above the battle.
Lu Yin plunged to the ground, crashing his metal rod down at the point where the zombies and soldiers met. A slash visibly tore through the sky and ripped the ground apart, drawing a clear line on the ground and killing dozens of zombies in one go. Many soldiers took advantage of the opportunity to retreat, the fear clear in their eyes. They had lost more than fifty people in mere moments. Unable to handle the impact, the rod broke in half with a clang.
"Captain, watch out!" someone shouted. The horde seemed infinite, with at least 100,000 zombies surrounding the entire area. Lu Yin had to activate the Cosmic Art to push the zombies near him away, but one long-haired enemy somehow withstood the attack and remained in place.
"Boss, that's the one. He slaughtered the soldiers," Xu San's voice rang from the radio, but Lu Yin was staring at the zombie before him in shock. He had just noticed something unbelievable; there was a clear sign of intelligence in its eyes! He could clearly see the glint of thought in those blood-red orbs, something that left him dazed until the zombie suddenly charged at him without warning. Its claws stretched out towards him, the aftermath of the attack killing zombies even ten meters away once he dodged it. This zombie was in the Realm of Earth and far surpassed Kang Dafeng; it even approached Zhao Yu's level!
Lu Yin paid attention to the zombie's attack, noticing the structure behind the sloppiness. If not for its clear features, he would never believe the attacker was a zombie. It even roared and fled after a few attacks, trying to escape. His eyes twitched as he saw white threads on its back, confirming his conjecture from the morning; this thing had lured Kang Dafeng into the building with the spider!
With no more time to think, Lu Yin hurled the broken metal rod into the zombie's torso. The zombie turned to throw a glare at him, but it continued to flee to the south. The entire horde roared and tried to block his advance.
"Xu San, where is it?!" Lu Yin shouted.
"Boss, it turned west after a hundred meters, it's heading the same way we came from."
Lu Yin worked his legs and vanished, leaving behind an afterimage that was instantly swarmed by the countless zombies. Xu San just stared from his vantage point in awe; was that a battle technique?
Lu Yin ran out from the wave of zombies at full speed, charging in the same direction they had come from, but it was already too late and he'd lost track. When Xu San reported that he couldn't see it anymore either, he stopped with his back to the toll station and took out Vesta's watch. The device flashed as he activated its tracking abilities, showing multiple mutant beasts within range. He ran towards the direction of an impressive 990, knowing that it had to be the zombie. This was likely the king of the horde; so long as he killed it, the horde would likely disperse. It clearly wanted to defeat Lu Yin's soldiers and Kang Dafeng had been its first victim.