Chapter 140: Failure
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“They all have to die!”
Sun Xiaoqiang was utterly enraged. His body crackled and popped as he entered the Fearless Berserk state.
He had already been an A-rank Awakened, and after entering his berserk state, he came infinitely close to S-rank.
Then he slammed one foot into the ground.
The force was like a volcanic eruption.
The earth trembled. Soil and rainwater blasted upward from the ground, while several nearby zombies were sent flying in every direction.
Sun Xiaoqiang’s figure flickered, leaving behind an afterimage as he charged straight into the horde of monsters ahead. He thrust out a fist, like a falling meteor.
“Boom!”
Energy exploded outward, smashing the zombies to pieces and leaving a massive crater in the ground.
Rain poured down from the sky, washing through the carnage as filthy blood splattered everywhere, staining the ruined earth with grotesque colors.
Yet the monsters remained savage.
Two lizard monsters lunged at him from the side with shrill cries.
“Give me back my apples!”
Sun Xiaoqiang flew into a rage at the sight of the green monsters. He swept out a leg like a steel whip, striking one of them heavily in the abdomen.
The tremendous force severed the creature in half.
He then drove an elbow into the other lizard monster, smashing its head to pieces.
Sun Xiaoqiang was like a tiger among sheep. With every gesture, he slaughtered monster after monster. Filthy blood whirled around him, while broken corpses and chunks of flesh covered the ground, transforming the scene into a terrifying hellish slaughterhouse.
Because of Sun Xiaoqiang’s rampage, the pressure on everyone else eased considerably.
Cheng Luoyi glanced over from the corner of her eye and could not help sighing inwardly.
“This idiot... He’s actually putting in this much effort today.”
She swung her hand, sending a long blade flashing with lightning. Like a bolt tearing across the heavens, it sliced through the heads of a group of zombies.
Cheng Luoyi fought her way deeper into the monster horde, searching for the creature capable of mental control.
Since it had been able to control Chen Ming and the others, it could not be far away.
A moment later, she sensed a spreading psychic force. Within the horde, she also spotted a peculiar species.
Its upper body belonged to a female zombie, while its lower half was a fish tail covered in dark brown scales, each one as sharp as a steel blade.
The skin of its upper body was blue-black, like that of a drowned ghost left soaking in water for years. Strands of wet hair hung down, concealing its entire face.
“A mermaid?”
“A corpse mermaid?”
Cheng Luoyi could not tell what it was. In any case, it was exceedingly strange. The eerie singing that controlled people was coming from its mouth.
Moreover, the zombies and lizard monsters were most densely packed around the corpse mermaid.
Cheng Luoyi felt no fear.
She gripped her long blade and charged forward.
The surrounding monsters were startled and threw themselves at her. Their savage forms were already on the verge of engulfing the girl’s slender body.
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The corpse mermaid noticed the commotion and hurriedly turned to look.
Through the gaps in its hanging hair, a dead-fish eye was revealed.
Cheng Luoyi suddenly felt the strange singing beside her ears transform into a shriek. Hysterical and piercing, it bored directly into her mind.
This was no longer control. It was a psychic attack.
Pain stabbed through Cheng Luoyi’s brain like needles, yet her expression remained impassive. The corner of her mouth even twitched upward, forming the faintest curve.
The pain level displayed on her bracelet began to soar violently: 16%... 24%... 37%... 51%...
She tightened her grip on the hilt. The lightning that had already been flickering around the blade blazed even more fiercely, piercing the air as electric arcs danced through the curtain of rain.
Now, everywhere she looked, there were only zombies and monsters.
Cheng Luoyi charged straight into them. Her speed reached its limit, transforming her into a bolt of lightning. Wherever she passed, the corpses exploded one after another.
“Die!”
She swept her long blade sideways, cutting straight toward the corpse mermaid.
That corpse mermaid had not even been able to control Li Yun and the others. Clearly, it was no high-level monster, and when faced with Cheng Luoyi’s attack, it had no time to react.
The blade’s radiance tore through the air and instantly severed its neck. Its head flew up as filthy blood gushed like a spring.
The headless body collapsed beneath the rain.
After the corpse mermaid was slain, Chen Ming and the others, who had been under its control, suddenly regained consciousness. Their faces, however, remained somewhat blank, as if they had just awakened from a long dream.
“What... happened just now?”
“You were mentally controlled by a monster!” Li Yun explained from nearby.
“What?”
The group was horrified, and only then did they realize how close they had come to disaster.
They had never imagined that the monsters possessed such bizarre abilities.
“Stop standing around. Hurry and protect the survivors. We’re returning to the shelter.” Li Yun quickly reminded them.
“Right, right!”
Chen Ming and the others immediately sprang into action.
With the mental interference gone, Li Yun and the other crystal-core Awakened also recovered their combat strength. With a wave of their hands, they unleashed their abilities and held back the ferociously advancing monsters.
Under their protection, the ordinary survivors quickly fled this perilous place.
With the strength of Cheng Luoyi and the others, they could have withstood more than a thousand zombies. They were only afraid that even more monsters would be drawn here, so they returned to the shelter and temporarily abandoned the grain depot.
After everyone withdrew, the torrential rain gradually came to a stop.
Around the grain depot, filthy blood covered the ground, and mangled corpses lay everywhere...
.......
Binhai City.
A stretch of ruins submerged beneath seawater. As the waves surged, corpses occasionally rolled into view.
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The Corpse Infant lay on the roof of a building, resting his head on his folded arms with his legs crossed, fantasizing about how he would take revenge. A wave of pleasure stirred in his heart.
Qinglin still stood behind him, waiting for his subordinates to return with news and reveal whether the two teams he had dispatched had achieved anything.
Before long, a Water Corpse came swimming through the water ahead, moving as swiftly as a fish.
Splash!
It burst from the surface and leaped onto the rooftop.
“Boss, I’m back!”
“Mm. How did it go?”
Qinglin asked the question, feeling that the Water Corpse had returned rather quickly. He had only just dispatched the two teams, yet they had already sent back word. He could not imagine what they could have accomplished in such a short time.
The Corpse Infant perked up as well, sitting bolt upright to listen to the Water Corpse’s report.
“Boss, the first team you sent was completely wiped out as soon as they reached Jiangbei City,” the Water Corpse said.
“What?”
Qinglin raised an eyebrow, clearly surprised. “Did they make it into the urban district?”
“Uh... no. They did make it ashore, though.”
“...”
Qinglin was speechless. What did it mean to say they had made it ashore? It would have been more accurate to say they had died the moment they reached land.
“It seems... the zombies there are very powerful.”
“They are!” The Water Corpse nodded. “There are several Corpse Kings right on the shore. Some of them possess extremely strange abilities, and there are also numerous elite zombie hordes with extraordinarily high levels of evolution!”
Qinglin fell silent for a long while.
The overlord of a city was indeed powerful.
“And what about the team sent to attack the humans?”
“That one wasn’t completely wiped out.”
The Water Corpse pondered for a moment before answering as tactfully as possible.
“...”
Qinglin understood immediately. That meant they had failed as well, did it not?
The Water Corpse then recounted the entire situation in detail.
Qinglin remained silent for a long time after hearing it. Jiangbei City’s zombies were powerful, but even the humans there were remarkably formidable. Those two teams had been carefully cultivated by him, yet they had returned with practically nothing to show for their efforts...
The Corpse Infant had stopped listening long ago. He had been thinking about revenge, only for his forces to be wiped out almost as soon as they arrived. He could not help growing furious.
“The things you raised are utterly useless!”
“Hmm?”
Qinglin’s savage eyes turned toward him, though his expression remained relatively calm.
“You don’t have to put it that way about yourself...”
.......
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