"Finally found you, fellow countryman seeing another, eyes brimming with tears!"
He Sai's expression was as excited as a bull, and behind him followed a group of survivors. It seemed that their overall survival rate was quite high, probably because they hadn't experienced an attack by dry corpses.
But when He Sai ran to the base of the tree, his steps abruptly stopped.
The believers led by the old priest all turned their heads in unison, their crazed and hideous pupils watching this group of delicious lambs, revealing eerie smiles.
"Do you still feel like crying now?"
Lu Bu'er wiped her face and said nonchalantly.
"Goddammit!"
The expression on He Sai's face grew ferocious as he pulled on her arm, "Run, quick!"
The survivors scattered in all directions, while the smiling believers swarmed toward them.
"Brother Lu, you go first!"
With a roar, He Sai took out an oversized chainsaw from behind his back, the full power of which let out a deafening roar—a bit like Lü Bu charging into battle with his halberd, scaring the believers, who didn't know whether they were dealing with something divine.
Lu Bu'er finally understood how this guy had managed to survive—he was truly a god of war.
"He Sai, where did you get that chainsaw?"
"I found a military equipment box on the way here, with a lot of stuff inside, but not much that could be used... Oh, Brother Lu, why do you smell so bad? Did you eat shit?"
"Shut your damn mouth if you want to live, and stick close to me!"
They chatted with their backs against each other, reminiscent of soldiers casually talking in the trenches, but they were not surrounded by gunfire, but by avid, watchful cultists.
The dry corpses finally launched their attack, mainly targeting the newcomers because they hadn't smeared themselves with corpse fluids, so they were torn apart instantly.
The cultists, strangely, were not attacked, most likely because they too were decomposing and emitting a rotten stench, much like the dead.
The scene became chaotic, and the old priest set his sights on the pair of troubled brothers. Clutching the blood-red heart pendant, he lunged at them.
"Brother Lu, watch out!"
He Sai bellowed, "Behind you!"
Lu Bu'er quickly threw out her electric baton with a swing to the head!
But unexpectedly, the old priest reached out with a withered right hand, easily caught her electric baton, remaining unmovable as the electric current surged; he slightly applied force and began to crush the baton!
"Fuck, this old bastard's really strong!"
Lu Bu'er cursed loudly, and then she was punched in the stomach by the old man, the powerful blow sending her tumbling away like a bouncing ball rolling several times on the ground.
He Sai, seeing this, charged with his chainsaw, only to be knocked over by a punch as well.
"You, who have only been baptized by the Divine Tree without mastering the Sacred Rhythm, have not yet embarked on the true path of evolution. You're not real Cocoon Breakers, you are extremely weak!" The old priest discarded the withered electric baton, carelessly tossing it to the ground.
He Sai, clutching his chest, struggled to get up, cursing, "Does this old fucker not know that villains die from talking too much?"
Lu Bu'er, with her stomach churning, spoke through gritted teeth, "Don't you also mock me when you have a clear advantage in playing landlord?"
As soon as his words fell, the old priest's skeletal frame burst with noise as he strode toward them.
That cruel, bloodthirsty gaze seemed to delight in the sight of fresh blood.
"Officer An, save the child!"
Boss Zhang, rolling and crawling, shouted, "Use the grenade!"
Officer An instinctively pulled a grenade from his pocket.
It was their life-saving trump card they had picked up along the way.
But at that moment, he hesitated, fearing that he might also kill the two children with it.
Lu Bu'er just happened to glimpse that grenade and, knowing its importance, forced himself up and charged out, beckoning, "Come at me, old fuck, if you've got the balls to kill me."
The old priest, indeed angered, came charging back at him.
But Lu Bu'er didn't dodge or retreat; instead, he smiled.
The old fucker had taken the bait.
The reason he had charged out was to use himself as bait, to maintain a safe distance from his companions while ensuring the enemy would get a full taste of the grenade.
Of course, he was also using his own life and death to force Officer An to throw the grenade.
At this point, even without the explosion, he would face death.
Better just to detonate it.
With no strategy guide for hidden plotlines, all he could do was take a risk; it was do or die.
After all, he was already terminally ill; death would not be a loss.
Officer An could no longer hesitate, he pulled the pin and threw the grenade.
And just at that moment, as the old priest pounced, the grenade slicing through the air exploded right behind him, blasting him away.
With a boom, it sounded like rolling thunder.
Even with the old priest between them, Lu Bu'er was flipped by the blast wave.
He was stunned by the shock of the explosion; everything in his view went blurry and doubled, with a piercing noise in his ears, the world spinning around him.
Officer An's grenade toss was precise. He was only injured by the shockwave of the explosion, which would be fatal to an ordinary person, but for him, it was bearable.
And the damage from the grenade was mostly absorbed by the priest, who took the full brunt of it.
"Brother Lu! Brother Lu!"
He could faintly hear He Sai's shouts, seemingly close yet impossibly distant.
Lu Bu'er barely lifted his head and was horrified to see the old fucker staggering toward him, with a chunk of his head blown off, thick blood pouring out, grim and terrifying.