The sudden appearance of the black shadow caught several of them completely off guard. Lian Qiguang had no time to dodge. Without giving it any thought, he shoved Xiahou Shaoxuan away and turned around, shielding him with his own body.
With a sound of clothing and flesh being torn open, blood sprayed through the air, reddening everyone’s vision. Lian Qiguang let out a muffled groan and tensed his body. A searing pain came from his back, making his vision go black for an instant.
Seeing the splattering scarlet blood, Xiahou Shaoxuan’s pupils contracted. His suddenly halted heartbeat made him stop breathing.
“Wife!” Xiahou Shaoxuan roared hoarsely. He lunged forward and pulled Lian Qiguang into his arms. Lightning gathered in his hands, and he unleashed it mercilessly at the zombie that had attacked Lian Qiguang.
The pressure belonging to an Emperor caused Qingshi and the other two to stop breathing, their faces turning pale.
With a deafening explosion, the zombie was reduced to ashes. Half of the top floor was forcibly blasted apart, exposing the city that had already entered dusk. Millions of zombies crowded beneath the building, baring their fangs and claws as they frantically rammed against the walls, terrifying roars coming from their mouths.
“Wife…” Xiahou Shaoxuan’s hands trembled as he held Lian Qiguang, looking at the blood covering his body, at a loss as to where to put his hands.
“Major General.” Qingyi was the first to recover. Braving Xiahou Shaoxuan’s violent aura, she hurried over and took a miniature healing device from her spatial device. “Major General, heal Withered Wood first.”
Xiahou Shaoxuan glanced at Qingyi and quickly took the healing device. However, as the device flashed, the wound on Lian Qiguang’s back not only showed no improvement, but the rate at which the blood flowed actually began to increase.
“It’s useless.” Lian Qiguang supported himself against Xiahou Shaoxuan and slowly straightened his body, shaking his head weakly. “Zombies that have evolved into intelligent lifeforms cannot be healed with instruments or medicine.”
“What should we do?! Wife, you promised me that you wouldn’t die! That’s an order!!” The sight of the blood behind Lian Qiguang stabbed at Xiahou Shaoxuan’s heart. His eyes gradually became bloodshot as he roared irritably.
“I know.” Lian Qiguang lowered his head and cracked his lips into a faint smile, speaking softly. “Don’t forget what I told you back then.”
He possessed a mutated wood-type ability, as well as water from the lake in his spatial dimension. The zombie virus was completely useless against him.
After calming Xiahou Shaoxuan, Lian Qiguang raised his head and looked calmly at the three of them. “I was scratched by a zombie. If you want to leave, go ahead.”
Qingyi and the other two exchanged glances. Lian Qiguang had said before that once someone was injured by a zombie, they would become infected with the zombie virus and then mutate.
But…
“What are you talking about!” Qingyi crossed her arms and snorted, looking down at Lian Qiguang disdainfully. “Does this lady look like the kind of ingrate who would abandon her friends? Besides, you haven’t mutated yet, have you? Don’t worry. When you really mutate into one of those monsters, this lady will definitely give you a clean end.”
“I know Withered Wood isn’t someone who accepts his fate.” Feng Qingyang flicked his hair and curled his lips. “As a freak who can crush our entire school with one hand, how could you possibly die so easily?”
“I think…” Lan Qi rubbed his nose. “Instead of arguing about this, we’d better figure out how to stop the bleeding first.”
Looking at the three of them, the coldness in Xiahou Shaoxuan’s eyes eased slightly. He lowered his head toward Lian Qiguang in his arms, tightened his hands, and forcibly suppressed the irritation and murderous chill surging within him. His voice was hoarse.
“Wife, heal yourself.”
“Mm.” Lian Qiguang responded softly. He withdrew his gaze and slowly sat up, closing his eyes.
Green light gradually radiated from within his body, enveloping Lian Qiguang completely. A faint green glow flowed around his body, carrying a warm softness. Against his pale little face, it gave him a faintly peaceful appearance.
As the green light circulated, the blood flowing from the wound on Lian Qiguang’s back slowly stopped, and the wound began to heal at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Qingyi and the other two stood to the side, staring in stunned disbelief.
Once the wound had completely healed, the green light instantly vanished without a trace. Lian Qiguang slowly opened his eyes. Although his complexion was still pale, the fragile weakness from moments ago was gone.
Lian Qiguang took a cup of lake water from his spatial dimension and drank it in one gulp. After confirming that his body was fine, he finally stood with Xiahou Shaoxuan’s support.
“Withered Wood, just now, that was…” Feng Qingyang swallowed and spoke stiffly.
“Healing is a skill that all wood-type abilities can possess. It’s just that…” Lian Qiguang clenched his fist. “My wood-type ability has already mutated. Not only can it heal injuries, it can also eliminate viruses.”
“Eliminate viruses!!?” The three cried out in unison.
Xiahou Shaoxuan swept them with a cold gaze. Their bodies immediately turned cold, and they straightened up, tightly shutting their mouths.
“Ma… Major General.” After a moment, Qingyi cautiously raised her hand. “I’ll keep it a secret.”
Qingyi spoke, and Feng Qingyang and Lan Qi also hurriedly agreed.
“Let’s go.” Ignoring Xiahou Shaoxuan’s threat, Lian Qiguang wasn’t worried that Qingyi and the others would betray him. He hadn’t forgotten the few seeds he had planted inside their bodies.
The top floor of the building had already been blasted open by Xiahou Shaoxuan’s momentary fury. Standing at the edge, they could clearly see that the entire Third District was already shrouded in the smoke of war. The densely packed zombies beneath their feet made their scalps go numb.
Looking at everything before her, Qingyi suddenly felt unbearably heavy and bitter inside, and her eyes grew somewhat sore.
“Is this… the apocalypse?” Lan Qi murmured softly.
“Withered Wood.” Feng Qingyang turned toward Lian Qiguang. Despair that could not be concealed filled his face. “There are no aircraft and no spaceships. What are we supposed to do now? There are already so many monsters gathered below. There’s no way we can leave through the main entrance. The moment we go out, we’ll definitely be eaten.”
Lian Qiguang pondered for a moment before looking toward Xiahou Shaoxuan. Xiahou Shaoxuan looked back, seemingly deep in thought.
“Looks like we’re thinking the same thing. Can you do it?” Lian Qiguang tilted his head.
“What I’m worried about right now is you.” Constantly releasing his ability without stopping was extremely draining even under normal circumstances, let alone when Lian Qiguang was pregnant and had just suffered such a serious injury.
“I’m fine.” Lian Qiguang took a bottle of water from his spatial dimension and handed it to Xiahou Shaoxuan. “You know that.”
Looking at the blue liquid inside the bottle, Xiahou Shaoxuan understood. He reached out and took it, nodding. “Stay close to me. If anything feels wrong, tell me immediately.”
“Okay.”
Xiahou Shaoxuan supported Lian Qiguang in his arms and walked forward two steps. His black eyes swept coldly across the surroundings before finally stopping on a building several hundred meters away.
Xiahou Shaoxuan extended his hand. Water slowly condensed in his palm, growing larger and larger until it finally formed a gigantic vortex.
Xiahou Shaoxuan suddenly exerted force. A column of water abruptly shot toward the building opposite them, like a gigantic dragon, unstoppable and invincible.
Seeing that the water column was about to crash into the building, Lian Qiguang quickly acted. Shimmering blue light transformed into thousands upon thousands of strands in his hands, wrapping around the water column in Xiahou Shaoxuan’s hands and rapidly extending toward the building.
Wherever the blue light passed, the water column released by Xiahou Shaoxuan froze at a speed visible to the naked eye, forming thick ice.
In the blink of an eye, a crystal-clear ice bridge stretched across the air. Amid the smoke and flames of war, it was exceptionally conspicuous.
“This is…” Qingyi and the other two were completely dumbfounded.
“Are you okay?” After withdrawing his ability, Xiahou Shaoxuan immediately looked nervously at Lian Qiguang.
“What is this supposed to be? Back then, when they were hunting me, the entire city was sealed off. Even while three thousand ability users pursued and surrounded me, this lord could still come and go as he pleased.” Lian Qiguang pouted. He appeared expressionless, but the smugness in his eyes was impossible to conceal.
Xiahou Shaoxuan’s heart finally eased. He reached out and tapped Lian Qiguang lightly between the eyebrows, his face filled with helplessness.
“Let’s go.” Xiahou Shaoxuan held Lian Qiguang’s hand and slowly stepped onto the ice bridge. Qingyi and the other two exchanged glances before consciously taking each other’s hands and following behind.
Although the ice bridge was sturdy, it couldn’t stop him from slipping. The entire journey was absolutely nerve-racking.
The few people gradually walking away would never know that not long after they left, a man suddenly mutated and began attacking the people around him. For a time, screams rang out everywhere, as person after person was bitten and mutated.
During the escape, the zombies outside the building broke through the defenses and surged into the building. The building instantly fell. What followed was a massacre.
“Damn it!! What the hell are these things?!” Another mutated bird was shot down. Xiahou Luoyu looked at the densely packed little red dots on the spaceship’s display and couldn’t help cursing loudly.
“Miss Xiahou, if we don’t receive reinforcements soon, I’m afraid we won’t be able to hold out much longer.” A soldier shouted through the communicator.
“Fuck! Do they think I’m easy to bully?!” Xiahou Luoyu had already killed until her eyes were red. She concentrated her firepower and blasted a mutated bird into pieces, cursing incessantly.
This group of birds was extremely strange. Every time they attacked, they did so as a group. From a distance, they looked like a mass of thick black fog. They appeared small, but their combat strength was terrifying. The military’s specially manufactured metal combat spaceships could easily be pecked through by their beaks.
Not only that, once they got close and latched onto a ship, they were like glue. No matter what, they couldn’t be shaken off, leaving only the fate of crashing.
“Miss Xiahou, retreat! Six spaceships have already been lost. If this continues, we’ll all be wiped out!”
“Miss Xiahou! The Marshal’s orders haven’t been completed yet. You can’t die here!”
“Miss Xiahou…”
…………
More and more voices of persuasion came through the communicator. Another spaceship crashed, flames shooting into the sky. Xiahou Luoyu clenched both fists, her eyes bloodshot. The burning fury made her want to tear these damn monsters into pieces, but…
Looking at the only three spaceships remaining beside her, Xiahou Luoyu, despite her unwillingness, understood that if this continued, complete annihilation was all that awaited them.
Xiahou Luoyu closed her eyes, forcing back the tears in them. When she opened her eyes again, they were fierce and sharp.
“All units, listen to my order. Retreat immediately. Return to the ground, store the spaceships in your spatial devices, and shake off these monsters.”
“Yes!!”
Three shells flew out and exploded into a sea of flames. Taking advantage of the opportunity, the three spaceships turned around and shot downward like arrows released from a bow.
The spaceships weaved through the city’s buildings, with a mass of densely packed mutated birds like black fog following behind them, emitting piercing shrieks.
“Miss Xiahou! It won’t work! We can’t shake them off!!”
Xiahou Luoyu looked at the mutated birds on the display, gritting her teeth, hatred and madness filling her eyes.
“You go ahead. I’ll cover the rear.”
“Miss Xiahou! You go! I’ll hold these monsters back.”
“Miss Xiahou, I’ll do it!”
……
The communicator descended into chaos. Xiahou Luoyu curled the corners of her lips, then angrily cursed, “What are you all yelling about? Am I the boss or are you the boss?! Get the hell out of here! You’re just getting in my way!”
“Miss Xiahou…”
“This is an order! Get lost!”
Knowing Xiahou Luoyu’s temper, and knowing that if this continued none of the three spaceships would escape, the soldiers inside the two spaceships secretly gritted their teeth, fiercely wiped away their tears, and accelerated.
Watching the spaceships gradually move away, Xiahou Luoyu grinned. Then she looked at the strange birds getting closer and closer behind her, the beautiful face becoming filled with violent madness.
“Fuck! You dare bully me?! Anyone who’s not afraid of dying, come at me!!”
Xiahou Luoyu turned around to face the swarm of strange birds. Her hands frantically pressed the buttons on the spaceship. Her movements became so fast that they could no longer be seen clearly. Dense firepower formed a gigantic net in the sky, dyeing half the heavens red.
The mutated birds let out sharp, ear-piercing cries and surrounded Xiahou Luoyu from all directions. Xiahou Luoyu skillfully operated the spaceship, performing one difficult maneuver after another between the buildings as she maneuvered among the swarm of mutated birds.
However, no matter how formidable Xiahou Luoyu was, one fist could hardly defeat four hands. The spaceship was repeatedly struck by the mutated birds, leaving one scar after another across its body.
Looking at the dangerous red warning lights flashing inside the spaceship, Xiahou Luoyu grinned and looked toward the mutated birds on the display. Her brilliant smile carried the arrogance uniquely belonging to Xiahou Luoyu.
“You dare show off in front of me? When I was robbing and plundering, you little bastards probably hadn’t even been born yet.” Xiahou Luoyu snorted coldly, arrogance and defiance filling her brows.
The mutated birds around her had already closed in, completely surrounding Xiahou Luoyu’s spaceship.
The smile on Xiahou Luoyu’s face did not diminish. She reached out and pressed the self-destruct sequence, kicked open the spaceship’s door, and leaped out.
With a deafening explosion, a sea of flames filled Xiahou Luoyu’s eyes.
Xiahou Luoyu spread open her arms, allowing her body to fall toward the ground. The wind roared beside her ears, scraping against her skin with a faint sting.
The exploding spaceship scattered burning mutated birds into a rain of fire across the sky. They brushed past Xiahou Luoyu, leaving streaks of blood behind.
The sounds around Xiahou Luoyu’s ears gradually disappeared. Her bright black eyes also slowly began to lose focus amid the shockwave of the exploding spaceship.
In her daze, Xiahou Luoyu seemed to see that person—the ruthless and merciless man whom she had once hated to the bone.
She hated him!
Many people said that he loved her desperately, so much that he had already gone mad.
Yet he had never admitted it. He had never once told her, “I love you.”
Xiahou Luoyu had once thought about it. If that man had been willing to say those three words to her back then, telling her that the reason he had been so cruel and tortured her was because he truly loved her, just as outsiders said, perhaps the two of them would not have ended up like this.
And she would not have been so determined to escape.
Xiahou Luoyu weakly curled the corners of her lips, relief appearing in her eyes.
Gui Ling, looks like I really hated you to death. Yet when I’m about to die, the person I think of is still you, and the past between us.
The roars beneath her grew closer and closer, mixed with the pungent stench of corpses.
Xiahou Luoyu slowly closed her eyes. No one saw the fleeting tear at the corner of her eye.
Just as Xiahou Luoyu was about to fall into the swarm of zombies, a black shadow suddenly shot out and caught her in his arms. A violent gust of wind swept up, forming countless fine wind blades.
A miserable, horrifying chorus of screams rang out. Within several miles, whether human or zombie, everything was instantly reduced to a rain of blood and scraps of flesh.
Xiahou Luoyu opened her eyes blankly and immediately crashed into a pair of deep, icy-blue eyes.
Xiahou Luoyu slowly widened her eyes, her face filling with pain and fear that seemed to penetrate straight into her bones.
The man held Xiahou Luoyu and half-knelt on the ground. Looking at the woman in his arms, a terrifying, violent madness surged within his eyes.
Under Xiahou Luoyu’s frightened gaze, the man lowered his head and kissed her lips. The kiss was crazed and cruel, carrying an invasive possessiveness and torture.
Blood slowly flowed down from their lips, only further stimulating the man’s brutality.
“I finally found you.”
The hoarse voice spilled out between their lips, carrying a gloomy menace that sent chills down the spine.
‘…Gui Ling.’