Xu Nuo didn't call out Park Su for making excuses; he just smiled, nodded, and threw a talisman with a flick of his hand.
The talisman flew like a dart with eyes, directly striking into the midst of the zombies at a certain point.
Then, Park Su heard Xu Nuo's thin lips move slightly, whispering one word, "Break!"
Immediately, Park Su saw a small circle of light encircle the area around the talisman. The zombies within were instantly devoured by the light; when the light dissipated, all the zombies in that circle were dead, leaving only a pile of zombie cores and ashes. Park Su couldn't help but open his mouth wide at this sight; no matter how many times he saw this miraculous effect of the formation, it always amazed him.
But at that moment, Xu Nuo, who was beside him, tapped his forehead, "Don't be in a daze, let's go. We're here to save people and collect zombie cores!"
With that, he leaped down from the building, and in just a few flashes, he was already by the side of the zombies. Park Su, who had been watching from behind, opened his mouth even wider; this footwork, this posture, was truly damn cool.
He immediately turned around and got up, following while saying, "Save, we definitely will save!"
Hearing this, Xu Nuo, after killing the zombies in front of him, turned his head and smiled at him, "Alright, stop showing off. Remember, don't get close to those people.
They're too desperate now; who knows what crazy things they might do. Don't let them drag you down; it's not worth it.
As for those who still have some sense, they'll find a way to escape on their own. Those who don't, we don't need to care about them anymore. Those with unclear minds won't live long in this apocalypse anyway."
Park Su understood the meaning behind his words, nodded, and followed Xu Nuo, charging forward. At the same time, the green ivy had already extended from his body, spreading out its vines like an octopus.
Only then did Park Su notice that the previously emerald green ivy had now turned a deep blue, with each leaf blade twice as large as before, and the blades themselves were emitting a cold light, indicating an increase in their lethality.
He couldn't help but communicate with the ivy through his mental force, sounding surprised, "You've broken through too?"
A childlike voice immediately echoed in Park Su's mind, "Yes, the moment you broke through, I did too. I'm now a third-tier mutated plant. Actually, I felt like I was about to break through before, but for some reason, I couldn't until you reached the third tier; then I naturally got there too. It feels pretty good!"
Park Su couldn't help but marvel; he hadn't expected this ivy in his dantian not only to communicate with him and automatically attack monsters but now to also break through?
However, he thought the ivy's tone was a bit cheeky. But he didn't have much time to ponder over this because they soon reached the zombie encirclement.
Xu Nuo stopped using his initial Daoist techniques, standing quietly and using his control-type ability to make several zombies fight each other, creating an escape route for the ordinary people along with the zombies he had already killed.
Sure enough, some of the ordinary people saw this exit and hurried towards it, though a small number were still just screaming in panic, running around blindly, and died at the hands of the zombies.
Knowing his ivy had broken through, Park Su wanted to test it out. He put aside his plan to train his wood-type ability and let the ivy show its might. He soon discovered that the evolved ivy was indeed impressive.
At first, Park Su thought the ivy had just widened its blades, increasing the attack range, but when he saw it attack, he realized it was far more than that.
The hardness and sharpness of the leaf blades had increased significantly. Before, when the ivy's blade passed over a zombie's neck, it could barely cut through the blood vessels, at most reaching the bone to kill the zombie, sometimes needing a follow-up attack to ensure death.
Now, wherever the ivy's tendrils passed, zombie heads rolled on the ground; the scene was simply spectacular. One had to admit, the ivy had now become a formidable weapon.
He had been worried about getting tired dealing with so many zombies, but with the evolved ivy, Xu Nuo's help, and the wood spikes he could now condense after reaching the third tier, which were as numerous as when he was at the peak of his fourth-tier ability in his past life, and almost always hit their mark, combined with numerous plants around him being spurred to grow vines that wrapped the zombies like lambs for slaughter, they managed to clear the area of all zombies in just fifteen minutes.
He thought he could at most save some of those who had escaped in the chaos, but unexpectedly, about ten people who had been surrounded by zombies in the middle also survived, with seven or eight of them unscathed.
However, neither Park Su nor Xu Nuo paid much attention to those trembling in fear on the ground.
Both Park Su and the ivy began to scavenge for zombie cores on the battlefield. As Park Su collected them, he felt very satisfied with his and the ivy's combat capabilities. He hadn't expected to kill so many zombies in such a short time.
Unfortunately, his good mood was short-lived. Not everyone among the survivors was mentally sound; one woman, who had lost her son, was crying over his body.
Seeing the two moving among the zombie corpses, she suddenly stood up, rushing towards Park Su and Xu Nuo, shouting, "Since you could kill these zombies so quickly, why didn't you come to save us sooner?
If you had come earlier, my son wouldn't have had to die. You have such abilities and live so close by. It wouldn't have taken this long to get here, so why wait until now? Why wait until my son is dead to come save people? I hate you, I will kill you."
Unfortunately, she only made it halfway before suddenly her limbs wouldn't obey, and she fell to the ground, unable to get up. It was evident that Xu Nuo had done something.
At this moment, Xu Nuo stood there, looking down at her with a scornful smile, then his eyes swept over the survivors trembling among the zombie corpses.
He noticed that quite a few of them, influenced by this woman, were now looking at him with hatred, which only broadened his cold smile.
"Save you? When did I say I would save you? And why should I save you? Who do you think you are? Why should I bother saving you?
You're not my family, not my friends. Even if you die, what does it have to do with me?
If it weren't for my disciple needing to find something from these zombies and pestering me to come here, do you think I would have come to kill these zombies? You really take yourselves too seriously, how laughable!"
Park Su had anticipated that these people wouldn't be grateful, so he had imagined this scenario, but when it actually happened, he wasn't happy, especially since they were targeting not just him but also Xu Nuo.
This made him even more displeased. However, the fact that Xu Nuo confirmed his disciple status while mocking these people slightly improved his mood.
He felt that Xu Nuo was only being targeted because of him; if it weren't for him meddling and wanting to get involved, Xu Nuo wouldn't have bothered saving these people or been looked at with such hateful eyes.
So, his gaze turned cold as he stepped forward, scanning all the survivors, "This is really interesting. When facing zombies, you were all weak and cowardly, without even the courage to stand up and fight back.
Now, you've suddenly grown some backbone, and you're directing your hatred towards us. What responsibility do we have towards you? Have you paid us for protection? No, right?
The people you paid for protection didn't care about your life or death, they just ran off. Why should the zombies eating you be our concern? If I remember correctly, it was you who deliberately threw zombie corpses towards us yesterday, trying to harm us.
Given this situation, do you even have the face to complain here? You tried to harm us, and we haven't even settled the score with you, yet now you want to repay kindness with enmity?
It's truly laughable and foolish, and the most laughable of all," he said, pointing at the woman who couldn't get up, "Your son died, why blame us for it?
You were the closest to your son, yet you weren't hurt by the zombies, but your son died. Why didn't you fight the zombies to save your son's life?
You were so cowardly in front of the zombies, only knowing how to dodge, cry, and rely on others, watching your son get torn apart without doing anything.
In the end, to alleviate your own guilt, you blame us for it. Have you no shame?"
Xu Nuo hadn't expected Park Su to get so worked up defending him, scolding these survivors. He patted Park Su's head, "Alright, they are indeed brainless and shameless."
"Otherwise, how could they show such expressions towards us, who have no relation to them yet saved them, while not harboring any hatred towards those who took their protection fees and left them to the zombies?
Alright, forget about them. How's your collection going? If it's about done, let's leave. I have no interest in dealing with them; they're all a bunch of people with holes in their brains.
Otherwise, if their numbers were not that different from the zombies, with a bit of effort in resistance, the situation wouldn't have been so one-sided.
But one by one, they acted like quails, just waiting to be killed by the zombies?"
Xu Nuo spoke gently at first, but this gentleness seemed directed only at Park Su. By the end, his tone had turned mocking and cold, his eyes still icy as he looked over the survivors who were still trembling on the ground. Then, together with Park Su and the ivy, he finished collecting the zombie cores, no longer paying attention to them, ready to leave.