It seemed that the Dandelion was no longer just a seed capable of creating illusions; its flower's fragrance also seemed to have this power. It had evolved to the point where it had reverted back to its flowering stage instead of remaining in its mature form. Park Su couldn't help but wonder if it could still produce seeds or create physical manifestations to attack others.
But for now, he knew he would have to learn more about the Dandelion later. What mattered most was taking care of his injuries, meeting up with Ge Qing and Lu Shang, and then deciding whether or not to continue deeper into the area.
After all, both he and Xu Nuo were injured, and the dangers ahead were still unknown. They had only just entered the outskirts of the resort, and already things were difficult to deal with. It was hard to imagine what awaited them deeper inside.
More importantly, they had no idea where the energy stones were located. Finding them in such a vast resort would undoubtedly be difficult.
When they returned to their starting point, they found that Ge Qing and Lu Shang had also sustained some injuries. Several bodies lay on the ground around them, including at least three second-tier zombies and five first-tier zombies. Xu Nuo frowned and asked, "You were attacked just now?"
Ge Qing replied, "We don't know why, but suddenly a horde of zombies showed up. Not just a few—there were ten first-tier zombies and three second-tier ones.
We only had the two of us, and it was a bit of a hassle to handle them. Fortunately, after we managed to kill the three second-tier zombies and a portion of the first-tier ones, the remaining first-tier zombies just ran off on their own.
But like you said, I feel like the zombies here move differently from those outside. If it were the outside zombies, they would've all rushed at us together. Even if they couldn't overpower us, they wouldn't have turned and fled. With our injuries and all these corpses around, the scent of blood should have made them more excited."
Xu Nuo nodded in agreement, "You're right. The behavior of these zombies is strange. But I suspect the presence of third-tier zombies inside. I even wonder if there are zombies here stronger than that."
But now, with three out of four of them injured, and given their lack of understanding about what lay ahead, continuing forward didn't seem wise.
Fortunately, the main task they had come here to do had already been completed. Instead of continuing to stumble blindly forward, they decided to retreat, rest for the night, and fight again tomorrow.
Xu Nuo didn't say it aloud, but the series of illusions they had encountered that day had definitely drained him mentally. So, they all agreed to retreat to the car at the resort entrance and rest.
As the four of them settled into the car for the night, Xu Nuo had already anticipated that the third-tier zombies wouldn't miss the opportunity to launch a night-time ambush. To prepare for this, he had intentionally placed protective talismans on their car.
This time, Xu Nuo didn't hide anything from Ge Qing and Lu Shang. He directly placed the protective talismans on their car as well, though these talismans only worked to isolate their presence. He had made these isolation talismans with the assumption that they would only be effective against second-tier zombies. If third-tier zombies came too close, they would easily detect their presence. If these zombies were being controlled by third-tier zombies, they might still be able to find them.
However, with the talismans in place, at least they could resist zombie detection for a while, as long as the third-tier zombies didn't approach. To be on the safe side, Xu Nuo had them park their car near his and Park Su's, so they could protect each other if needed.
That night, Park Su felt the temperature outside grow colder and colder. Although Xu Nuo had told him to rest and promised to take the night watch, Park Su couldn't fall asleep in the car. After tossing and turning for a while, he finally dozed off, but his rest wasn't peaceful. As soon as Xu Nuo moved, Park Su instinctively woke up. Without hesitation, he released Green Vine and immediately opened the car door, jumping out.
Sure enough, he saw that Xu Nuo was surrounded by at least ten second-tier zombies and twenty first-tier zombies. Park Su furrowed his brows and quickly instructed Green Vine to extend its vines first. With the help of his leaf blades and wood spikes, he cleared a path through the low-tier zombies, cutting a bloody route to Xu Nuo as quickly as possible.
He rushed over to Xu Nuo's back and, in a somewhat reproachful tone, said, "So many zombies came all of a sudden, why didn't you call me? Don't you know you're the strongest fighter here? What if you get hurt? Don't forget, you haven't fully recovered from your injuries during the day! Why do you always try to act tough?"
Xu Nuo was surprised that Park Su woke up so quickly. He frowned and said, "Why are you awake? I didn't call you, you should've kept sleeping. This level of threat is something I can handle on my own. You don't have to worry about me. As you said, second-tier zombies are indeed stronger than first-tier ones, but my abilities have already surpassed the second-tier peak. Controlling a few second-tier zombies to help me fight isn't difficult. You don't need to be so anxious. You should take this time to rest properly so that we can be at full strength tomorrow."
Park Su felt as though his ego had taken a hit. Ten second-tier zombies, along with so many first-tier ones, wasn't something to take lightly, and he was only a third-tier mutant. As the saying goes, "two fists can't beat four hands," so he had rushed over, thinking Xu Nuo hadn't called him because the enemies had come too quickly. But to his surprise, Xu Nuo had thought the enemies were easy to handle, so he didn't need any help.
He bit back his frustration, muttering as he helped Xu Nuo clear the surrounding zombies, "Alright, I guess I was just being overly concerned."
Xu Nuo noticed the hint of sulkiness in his voice and glanced at him. There was a fleeting emotion in his fox-like eyes, but it was quickly concealed. Without responding to Park Su's complaint, Xu Nuo's movements became faster, and soon, Ge Qing and Lu Shang also woke up, only to find that there was no need for them to intervene.
As for how many zombie cores Park Su and Xu Nuo had collected, Ge Qing and Lu Shang weren't sure. However, they could tell that the zombie night raid wasn't something simple, and there would definitely be more. Their admiration for Xu Nuo grew even deeper.
When Xu Nuo saw them come out, he simply said, "We've dealt with the first wave. You two will take over the second half of the night watch. If there are too many zombies and you can't handle it, call us. We need to rest and adjust ourselves to be ready for tomorrow."
Gé Qīng and Lù Shāng immediately nodded and took over the night watch. Park Su and Xu Nuo returned to the car to sleep. Park Su glanced at Xu Nuo as he closed his eyes, his profile in the dim light. He felt a bit strange, wanting to say something, but in the end, he said nothing.
Around 4 a.m., as expected, another zombie ambush took place. This time, there were even more zombies. Twenty-five second-tier zombies and twenty first-tier zombies came at once.
These zombies were led by a first-tier zombie, with the second-tier zombies interspersed throughout, pushing from the back. They quickly surrounded them. If it weren't for the isolation talismans that prevented the first-tier zombies from accurately detecting their position for a short time, Gě Qīng and Lù Shāng would not have had time to alert Xu Nuo and the others.
In fact, when they saw so many second-tier zombies rushing towards them, they felt their scalps go numb. They even regretted coming along with them.
Normally, when they encountered two second-tier zombies, the two of them would expend a lot of effort to deal with them. If three second-tier zombies came at once, they'd have to prepare to lose half their lives. If there were more than three second-tier zombies, even with their cooperation, they would have to prepare to sacrifice their lives there.
Now, twenty-five second-tier zombies were coming at once. Gě Qīng felt that he might die here today and could only hope that Xu Nuo truly had the ability to solve these zombies. That was their only hope of survival.
What surprised them was that after Xu Nuo got out of the car, he didn't charge ahead as they had expected. Instead, he loudly ordered them to retreat, backing up all the way to the car.
Although they didn't understand the reason for this, they obediently complied, quickly shaking off the two zombies in front of them and then retreating to the sides of the car.
Park Su immediately commanded the Dandelion Seed to create a few clones of himself, and together with Green Ivy's vines, they pushed the zombies back to about three zhang (roughly ten feet) away from them.
He nodded at Xu Nuo, who swiftly formed hand seals and shouted, "Break!"
Then, Gě Qīng and Lù Shāng saw several light circles suddenly appear around the zombies, and the next moment, the zombies disappeared into those circles, leaving only a pile of powder and a few crystal nuclei. They were utterly stunned.
Park Su, looking satisfied with the reaction, calmly went up to collect the crystal nuclei and casually distributed some to Gě Qīng and Lù Shāng.
Then, feeling some lingering fear, he ran up to Xu Nuo and whispered, "Fortunately, you predicted this situation yesterday and set up traps in advance. Otherwise, we'd probably be in for a tough fight, and we wouldn't have the energy to keep pushing forward.
By the way, are we still going in today? Or should we rest for a few days before heading back in?"
Xu Nuo squinted his eyes and replied, "Of course we're going in now, while the iron is hot. Who knows what might happen in the next few days? There could be even higher-tier zombies. Unless we really can't go any further, we need to strike while the iron's hot."
He paused for a moment, then sent a message to Park Su through his spiritual power, "If what you said is true, the longer we wait, the stronger the zombies and plants inside will become. By then, we might not be able to handle them.
The only way to stop this from happening is to claim the energy stone inside and use its power for ourselves. If they absorb all the energy from the energy stone, our efforts will be wasted."