“Bang!” A zombie fell from upstairs, struggling twice before going still. Lian Qiguang jumped down from the upper floor, planted one foot on the zombie’s back, and expressionlessly pulled the ice spike from its skull.
“Xiaoguang, I think I can now believe without any reservations that you really are Lord An Guang.” Xiahou Zhong followed Lian Qiguang downstairs. Looking at the zombie beneath Lian Qiguang’s foot, he joked, “That posture, that bearing—they’re exactly how I imagined him when I was little.”
Lian Qiguang glanced at Xiahou Zhong. The ice spike in his hand spun as he cleanly split open the zombie’s skull. With a light flick of the ice spike, a crystalline crystal core mixed with red-and-white brain matter flew toward Xiahou Zhong.
A flash passed through Xiahou Zhong’s eyes. Lightning flowed through his hand, and the crystal core floated motionless above his palm.
“I always thought what the books said about ancient zombies having energy cores in their brains was fake.” Xiahou Zhong sighed softly. “If those old fellows in the laboratory found out about this, they’d probably start messing around blindly again.”
“When tens of thousands of zombies swarm the city, they won’t have time to mess around anymore.” Lian Qiguang withdrew the ice spike and turned to walk downstairs.
Xiahou Zhong’s expression changed. He didn’t even bother wiping the filth from the energy core, simply tossing it into his spatial device before chasing after him. “Xiaoguang, what do you mean?”
Lian Qiguang’s footsteps paused slightly. He glanced at Xiahou Zhong indifferently. “Do you think this is the end?”
“……”
“Everything has only just begun.” Lian Qiguang raised his head, his expressionless voice carrying a cold weight. “The whereabouts of those one hundred and three missing corpses are still unknown, and…”
“And what?”
“Nothing.” Lian Qiguang lowered his head and continued walking. “I suspect that a super-intelligent entity has already infiltrated humanity.”
“What!!” Xiahou Zhong was horrified. A super-intelligent entity? It had infiltrated human society?
“Once a super-intelligent entity launches an attack against humanity, one becomes two, two becomes four. Very soon, the virus will sweep through humanity once again, unstoppable. The apocalypse will come again.”
“……” Xiahou Zhong.
Lian Qiguang had already reached the first floor. The empty floor was a complete mess. Severed limbs and bloodstains were everywhere, a horrifying sight.
A zombie lay on the ground, already lifeless. Beside it, a soldier covered in blood and flesh lay sprawled out, both hands tightly gripping an ice blade that had been driven into the zombie’s head.
Lian Qiguang silently looked at everything before walking over to the zombie. He lifted the soldier and placed him to the side. As the soldier was moved away, the ice blade instantly shattered and turned into water.
Perhaps he had seen Xiahou Zhong behind Lian Qiguang. The soldier’s face was already so mangled that his original features could no longer be made out, yet he struggled to curl his lips into a smile.
Xiahou Zhong hurried over and crouched beside the soldier, grasping the soldier’s remaining half of a hand. The soldier opened and closed his mouth, but he could no longer make a sound. Xiahou Zhong tugged at his stiff lips, his eyes instantly growing moist. Yet he didn’t know what to say and could only tremble as he held the soldier’s hand.
“Kill him.” Lian Qiguang stood nearby and spoke quietly. “He’s already been infected. He’ll mutate soon.”
“……” Xiahou Zhong looked at the soldier, hunched over in silence.
“Mutation will be painful. Give him release.” Lian Qiguang crouched beside Xiahou Zhong and held out an ice spike to him.
Xiahou Zhong looked at the ice spike in Lian Qiguang’s hand. His lips trembled slightly, but he could not utter a single word.
Having heard Lian Qiguang’s words, the soldier struggled to move his lips. Although no sound could be heard, Xiahou Zhong understood what he was trying to say.
Kill me.
Xiahou Zhong clenched his fists. Looking at the soldier’s eyes, which were already beginning to grow cloudy, he fiercely closed his own eyes. Purple lightning gathered in his hand and slowly settled against the soldier’s forehead.
The lightning enveloped the soldier. A moment later, Xiahou Zhong raised his hand. A handful of white ash was placed into a metal box.
Lian Qiguang looked at Xiahou Zhong’s reddened eyes and silently stood up.
“Doesn’t it feel like you’ve gotten very practiced at doing this?” Xiahou Zhong suppressed the moisture in his eyes, stood, and looked toward Lian Qiguang with a bitter smile.
“I’m already this old. I’ve experienced so many partings between life and death that I can no longer count them myself. But when I see such a young life leave, I still…”
“Gotten used to it.” Lian Qiguang looked at Xiahou Zhong expressionlessly and spoke in a low voice.
“Someone around me dies every day. Sometimes it’s an entire squad, and sometimes it’s an entire city. I got used to it.”
Looking at Lian Qiguang’s calm, numb eyes filled with the vicissitudes of life, Xiahou Zhong only felt a heaviness settle in his heart.
Lian Qiguang walked over to the zombie, skillfully split open its head, and removed a crystal core.
“This is a zombie at the peak of the Earth Rank. It already possesses the intelligence of roughly a ten-year-old child.” Lian Qiguang casually tossed the crystal core to Xiahou Zhong. “After killing our way through here, aside from that Void-Rank zombie who looked very similar to me, this one is already the strongest.”
“Roar!!”
A roar came from upstairs. Xiahou Zhong swiftly turned his head. Purple lightning coiled around his body as he coldly stared toward the upper floor.
Lian Qiguang slightly furrowed his brows, flames gathering in his hand as well.
Xiahou Zhong and Lian Qiguang slowly retreated until their backs were against each other. Holding their breaths, they remained alert to their surroundings. For a moment, the empty floor was so silent that only faint heartbeats could be heard.
Suddenly, there was a tremendous crash.
A mutant creature smashed through the glass and fell from upstairs. Six battered and wounded soldiers followed, jumping down as well. Their colorful supernatural abilities attacked the zombie’s head simultaneously.
“Profound-Rank zombie.”
Lian Qiguang’s eyes tightened. He flew forward and positioned himself between the soldiers and the zombie. Flames filled the sky, surging violently toward the zombie.
The zombie had only just landed and had not even gotten back on its feet when Lian Qiguang’s flames sent it flying, smashing heavily into the wall.
“Major Lian!”
Several soldiers saluted Lian Qiguang.
“You’re injured?” Lian Qiguang narrowed his eyes.
“No! We fell on our own. We weren’t grabbed by those monsters.” Understanding what Lian Qiguang meant, one of the soldiers hurriedly explained.
“Roar!”
The zombie climbed up from the ground and glared furiously at Lian Qiguang. Its fingers dug into the wall. The special metal was actually torn apart by its hands, leaving five deep claw marks.
“Major Lian, step back. We’ll deal with it first.”
“A bunch of ignorant little punks who don’t know the immensity of heaven and earth!” Xiahou Zhong roared and stepped forward, glaring furiously at the six men.
“Marshal!”
“This zombie is already Profound Rank. It could wipe you out just by moving a finger, and you’re saying you’ll deal with it? I think it’ll be dealing with you!” Xiahou Zhong was burning with fury.
“Profound Rank?” The six soldiers looked at one another, their faces filled with astonishment. “How is that possible? It was clearly beaten by us until it couldn’t even fight back.”
“It was a trap.” Lian Qiguang spoke calmly. “It set a trap for you. It intended to catch all of you in one sweep.”
“A trap…” one soldier murmured. “It already has intelligence?”
Lian Qiguang ignored them and turned to look at the zombie.
Perhaps the aura radiating from Lian Qiguang and Xiahou Zhong was too powerful. The zombie was clearly somewhat fearful, yet unwilling to accept defeat. It stood in a corner, its pair of blood-red eyes viciously staring at Lian Qiguang as a hoarse growl escaped its mouth.
Lian Qiguang had no time to communicate with it. Flames gradually gathered in his hand.
Sensing the threat from Lian Qiguang, the zombie roared and turned to flee. But how could Lian Qiguang give it the chance?
The flames left Lian Qiguang’s hand and shot toward the zombie, surrounding it completely.
The zombie let out a series of shrill, ear-piercing screams. Within the flames, it quickly burned into ashes.
A crystalline core fell to the ground with a crisp clink.
“Energy core?” several soldiers exclaimed, their eyes widening.
Lian Qiguang stepped forward, bent down, and picked up the crystal core. He examined it in his hand, a trace of confusion passing through his eyes.
“Is something wrong?” Xiahou Zhong came over and asked solemnly.
“If it has a crystal core, then why doesn’t it have a supernatural ability?”
This was what Lian Qiguang could not understand. Since a crystal core had already formed inside its brain and it had broken through the Human Rank, why had it not awakened a supernatural ability?
“Supernatural abilities?” Xiahou Zhong’s voice rose slightly. “You mean zombies have supernatural abilities too?”
“Mm.” Lian Qiguang looked at Xiahou Zhong strangely. “Three thousand years ago, as long as a crystal core had formed in a zombie’s brain and it had gained intelligence, most zombies would possess supernatural abilities.”
Possessing human intelligence and supernatural abilities!
How had humanity survived in such despair?
A roaring sound came from outside the building, breaking the silence.
The group simultaneously turned around and looked outside the window, undisguised joy in their eyes.
“Rescue has arrived!!”
The rescuers were Xiahou Jue and Xiahou Luoyu. Following Xiahou Zhong’s orders, all the surrounding residents had already been evacuated.
The battle inside the building was far more brutal than Lian Qiguang had imagined. Although the zombies did not possess supernatural abilities, their physical ranks were, on average, higher than those of the soldiers. The soldiers’ supernatural abilities simply could not inflict damage on zombies whose physical ranks were higher than their own.
Only half of the zombies had been eliminated, while the soldiers had already been reduced to only a handful.
The appearance of Xiahou Jue and Xiahou Luoyu finally allowed the soldiers inside the building to catch their breath. The wounded were taken away one by one for observation.
Lian Qiguang was also dragged onto the aircraft by Xiahou Zhong and returned to the Xiahou residence.
Before leaving, Xiahou Zhong met with Xiahou Jue and gestured to him. The monsters inside the building had to be completely exterminated. Under no circumstances could they fall into the hands of those people in the laboratory.
After returning to the Xiahou residence, Lian Qiguang was covered in blood, once again provoking repeated screams from An Ruxin.
Lian Qiguang changed his clothes, climbed through the window, and avoided An Ruxin at the door as he went to the study.
At this moment, Xiahou Zhong was preparing for the meeting. He needed to organize everything that had happened today—what should be said had to be said, while what should not be said absolutely had to be kept hidden.
He wanted to completely keep Lian Qiguang out of the matter and ensure his safety.
“You’re going back to school?” Xiahou Zhong put down the ancient book he was reading and looked toward Lian Qiguang.
“Mm. I’m leaving tomorrow.” Lian Qiguang nodded. “I’ve already confirmed what I needed to confirm. There’s no meaning in my staying here anymore. I’m going back and waiting for him to come find me.”
“He is…” Xiahou Zhong’s heart gave a jolt as he cautiously asked.
“Mm.”
“Xiaoguang.” Xiahou Zhong walked over and sat down beside Lian Qiguang. “You said there was something you needed to confirm. Can you tell me about it?”
Lian Qiguang remained silent for a long time before slowly raising his head and looking at Xiahou Zhong.
“The Little Crown Prince is still alive. He didn’t borrow a body and reincarnate like I did. He is truly alive.”
“That’s impossible!” Xiahou Zhong shook his head. “Three thousand years. That isn’t a human lifespan.”
“But what if he isn’t human?”
“What do you mean?”
Xiahou Zhong felt somewhat uneasy. He had a feeling that what Lian Qiguang was about to say would be extremely serious. He reached out and activated the study’s protective shield to prevent eavesdropping.
“He is no longer human. He is a zombie.”
Lian Qiguang finally voiced the suspicion he had been holding all along.
“What!” Xiahou Zhong stood up, staring at Lian Qiguang in shock.
“Those one hundred and three missing corpses are probably the same as him. They are no longer human. Three thousand years ago, he had already arranged everything. Those one hundred and three corpses were all his trusted subordinates.
“When humanity left Earth, he mixed himself among them and drifted along with the spaceship. Then he entered Blue Star. Once everything had been settled, he found an opportunity to escape. Later, he replaced those one hundred and three people.”
“This, this…”
Xiahou Zhong stared blankly at Lian Qiguang, feeling as though his mind had gone completely blank.
“So, if that is the case, then among humanity on this Blue Star, there are one hundred and four super-intelligent entities hiding among us.”
“Wasn’t he the Creator? What… what exactly does he want to do?!”
“Who knows.” Lian Qiguang leaned back against the sofa, staring blankly at the ceiling as he murmured softly.
“Perhaps…”
“Perhaps he wants to… destroy the world!”