Zuo Li glared at the monster before him, his furious eyes practically spitting fire!
That made two! This was already the second companion to be brutally murdered right before his eyes!
Something called hatred was howling in his blood. He wanted nothing more than to pounce on that monster and kill it immediately.
But he couldn’t. Every one of them had been infected with those terrifying creatures as fine as strands of hair. Now they were bound inside the cave, unable to move.
By his calculations, news of their disappearance should already have reached the base, right? Based on what he knew of Xiao Ziran, he was certain someone would come to rescue them.
But who would it be? Xiao Ziran? Ouyang Jing? Chu Tian? Surely at least one of the three would come.
Zuo Li felt somewhat conflicted. He hoped someone from the base would come and rescue them. Otherwise, they would have to live in this perverse terror every day, unable even to choose death as an escape.
But he was also worried. What if the people who came to rescue them fell into the same trap? Would that mean dragging even more people into this? The thriving Dawn Base, a place filled with hope every single day—if it lost most of its combat strength or even its senior personnel because of this, could its prosperity and hope continue?
As these chaotic thoughts swirled through his mind, Zuo Li’s attention drifted elsewhere. Meanwhile, Su Muxu had finished consuming his “dessert.”
In the midst of his satisfaction, Su Muxu’s nerves suddenly reacted to something. His expression changed, and he swiftly turned toward the door.
Hostility!
He could sense an intense hostility, and astonishingly, it was coming from one of his own kind!
He had never expected another of his kind to invade this territory, let alone approach his lair so silently and get so close. If that uncontrollable hostility hadn’t alerted him, the intruder might have made it all the way inside without his noticing!
Was it a zombie of the same type as him? Or an intelligent one?
Su Muxu grew excited. It was like having someone deliver a pillow just as he was about to fall asleep. He was on the verge of advancing to the next level, and now a crystal core had practically come knocking on his door!
In the woods,
the cave entrance, which had previously been barely visible, had now come into clear view. Yet Xie Mingxuan was growing increasingly restless, seemingly beyond his control.
In fact, ever since they entered this area, Xie Mingxuan had been acting strangely. Until now, Quan Xiaoyu and Chu Tian had still been able to keep him under control, but at this moment, his agitation had become impossible to suppress.
He looked as though he was prepared to fight with his life just to charge into the cave.
“What’s in there?” Chu Tian wondered, pressing one hand against Xie Mingxuan to hold him back. “What could be attracting him so strongly?”
But Xie Mingxuan suddenly exerted his strength, wrenching himself free of Quan Xiaoyu and Chu Tian’s hands. At incredible speed, he charged toward the cave.
“Come back!” Quan Xiaoyu hissed anxiously.
But Xie Mingxuan seemed not to hear him at all. This was the first time he had ever ignored Quan Xiaoyu’s instructions.
“What do we do?” Quan Xiaoyu wanted to chase after him and looked anxiously at Chu Tian.
Xie Mingxuan’s intelligence was practically that of a young child, and he could not speak. There had to be something inside that was making him so restless!
“Go after him. Prepare for battle. The enemy should have already detected our presence by now, so we need to move as quickly as possible,” Chu Tian said.
Silver armor once again spread over his entire body.
He, too, had sensed a threat coming from the cave and naturally did not dare underestimate their opponent. Their original plan had been to approach quietly and catch the enemy off guard, but Xie Mingxuan had ruined it. Now, their only option was to launch a direct assault!
As soon as Chu Tian finished speaking, the group moved out in perfect coordination, charging forward in formation.
The moment Xie Mingxuan had rushed ahead, Chu Tian had already launched a mental attack. Sure enough, he quickly encountered another powerful mental force.
At the same time, the mental barrier surrounding the area disappeared. Their opponent had also decided to concentrate all his strength on dealing with them.
Quan Xiaoyu followed closely behind Xie Mingxuan into the cave. Before he even had time to look around, he saw someone sitting on the bed inside, eyes tightly closed, while six zombies were attacking Xie Mingxuan simultaneously.
At that moment, Xie Mingxuan’s attacks had become somewhat disorganized. One of the zombies spat flames from its mouth, sending a burst of fire toward his face.
Quan Xiaoyu unleashed his ability to its fullest and rushed forward, pulling Xie Mingxuan back just in time to avoid the flames.
“Six level-five zombies!” he shouted, warning the companions behind him.
The zombie sitting on the bed remained motionless with its eyes tightly closed.
Su Muxu, meanwhile, was locked in a fierce struggle. He had never expected one of his own kind to be working alongside humans, nor had he imagined that among those humans there would be a high-level mental controller.
Fortunately, although his opponent’s level was slightly higher than his own, he was not particularly skilled at attacking. As for the other zombie of his kind, although it possessed the same ability, its intelligence was too low to wrest control of the other zombies away from him.
With his mind fully occupied, Chu Tian could no longer join the physical battle. He could only stand beside the cave wall, his entire body covered in armor.
Xiao Ziran, Pei Qianxing, and Bai Mingxi soon joined the fight as well.
However, the two sides were now almost evenly matched in level. Bai Mingxi had only just learned how to attack and was still inexperienced, while Xie Mingxuan’s attacks had lost their usual order. It was as though something inside the cave exerted a fatal attraction over him. He was single-mindedly intent on charging farther inside, showing no interest in fighting.
The six level-five zombies were all ability-type zombies. They guarded Su Muxu on the bed fiercely, refusing to let anyone approach him.
The battle reached a stalemate.
But Su Muxu was the one growing anxious. After exchanging blows with Chu Tian, he had already realized that his opponent was a higher level than him. The reason they had reached a stalemate was that Chu Tian was not skilled at attacking, yet he also could not easily take control of Su Muxu.
As time passed, however, Su Muxu would inevitably expend more energy than his opponent. Moreover, the other side had another zombie of his kind with the same ability. If that zombie developed its intelligence, Su Muxu would likely meet a very ugly end today!
After a prolonged and fierce battle, one of the ice-type zombies was beheaded by Quan Xiaoyu. Su Muxu began to consider retreating.
Once his resolve wavered, an opening naturally appeared. Chu Tian seized the advantage, unleashing the offensive he had been building up for some time in an overwhelming counterattack.
Su Muxu suddenly fell backward from the bed, his head striking the edge of the frame with a heavy thud.
Damn it!
Su Muxu rolled with the momentum of his fall. Knowing he had lost, he summoned every last bit of strength to activate what seemed to be a barrier surrounding him, switching from offense to defense.
At the same moment Su Muxu fell, the level-five zombies’ movements all faltered. Seizing the opportunity, Pei Qianxing and Xiao Ziran worked together, driving a vine straight through one zombie’s head.
With an opening before him, Xie Mingxuan charged wildly toward the depths of the cave, completely ignoring the battle behind him.
Su Muxu spotted the opportunity and tried to flee farther inside before Chu Tian could launch his second wave of attacks. But Quan Xiaoyu intercepted him once again, cutting off his escape route with a single slash.
To capture the bandits, first capture their leader. With the situation suddenly turning in their favor, Chu Tian and the others had gained the upper hand.
Just then, Chu Tian suddenly felt movement beneath his feet. He looked down and discovered a vast mass of hair-thin vines spreading across the ground once more.
Damn it! Hadn’t those things already been wiped out?
“Watch out for the demonic vines!” Chu Tian shouted.
He reached for his backpack, only to remember that he had already used up all the water inside.
With his entire body protected by silver armor, Chu Tian was not afraid of these things. However, the vines climbed up his body and wrapped around him. Although they could not hurt him, they still distracted him.
Because of the energy they had expended the previous night, Bai Mingxi’s spatial ability was the only one that still contained bottled spatial water. But Bai Mingxi was entangled with a level-five zombie and could not free his hands for the moment.
Su Muxu seized the opportunity once again and tried to flee deeper into the cave.
Quan Xiaoyu intercepted him again. This time, he killed the zombie that had been relentlessly harassing him and focused entirely on Su Muxu.
“Run!”
A furious shout rang out as a figure appeared at the cave entrance. Black, blood-like energy billowed from his body as he roared at Su Muxu inside the cave.
At the same time, even more hair-thin vines, shrouded in black mist, rapidly surged toward the group.
Everyone had no choice but to disengage from their opponents and reach out to catch the water bottles Bai Mingxi tossed toward them. They then splashed the water over the approaching demonic vines.
Chu Tian also abandoned his pursuit of Su Muxu and lunged toward the black figure.
Unexpectedly, the figure neither dodged nor retreated. Instead, it let out a series of strange, cackling laughs. Just as Chu Tian approached, its body suddenly exploded.
Black, slimy matter flew everywhere—and every bit of it was made up of those black demonic vines!
Even Chu Tian was thrown backward by the explosion, involuntarily stumbling away before being swallowed by the vines in an instant.
Although Quan Xiaoyu knew Chu Tian was not vulnerable to this kind of demonic creature, he could not help worrying and rushed over to rescue him.
Water was once again splashed everywhere as though it cost nothing. At the same time, the group still had to fend off the harassment of the three remaining level-five zombies.
This unexpected incident dragged the battle out for another twenty-odd minutes. By the time the demonic vines disappeared and the remaining zombies had been eliminated, Su Muxu had long since vanished without a trace.
“He actually didn’t die!”
The head that had fallen from the exploded black figure was finally exposed when Xiao Ziran rummaged through the remains. To everyone’s astonishment, it was Ji Yan—the very person Xiao Ziran had killed at the foot of the mountain!
He had survived even after that?
Not only had he survived, he had returned with a huge mass of demonic vines. How had he managed that?
Xiao Ziran was not the only one bewildered. Everyone was filled with questions, but this was not the time to search for answers. Their purpose in coming here was to rescue the captives!
After Quan Xiaoyu delivered another slash to the head to make sure it could not come back to life, the group entered the cave together.
There was no point in pursuing Su Muxu now. The fact that he had fought so desperately to escape farther inside proved that there must be another exit somewhere in the depths of the cave. He had clearly prepared a way out.
Twenty minutes had already passed. Chasing Su Muxu through the dense forest while he did everything in his power to conceal his presence would be another dangerous adventure for the group.
When they entered the inner cavern, they had already prepared themselves mentally for what they might see. Even so, the sight before them left them utterly stunned.